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Controversy Surrounding Rap Music and Its Affects on Teenagers (Unfinished) Essay Example

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Controversy Surrounding Rap Music and Its Affects on Teenagers (Unfinished) Essay Example
Controversy Surrounding Rap Music and its Effects on Society

There are a lot of questions about rap music- Where are Biggie and Pac? Who’s the GOAT? Should whites be allowed to rap?
Does rap music affect teenagers?
In my opinion, what we see can affect us as much as what we hear. A large percentage of what we watch on music channels includes videos that show things that society shuns: violence, misogyny, drugs and sexuality.
Here’s another question: Why are ‘vulgar words’, violent and sexist lyrics censored on channels like MTV while the videos they are showing are acting out their offending lyrics? I think it is worse for children to watch sexual or violent videos than to listen to music containing lyrics of the same nature. For example, 33.9% of MTV and BET videos combined contain violence. Violent ideas in music, especially misogynistic ones, are offensive to many people. In addition, violent rap music videos create stereotypes against black people, whether we believe in them or not. African-American men are portrayed as aggressors in 25% of violent videos and 95% of them are men. Aggressors are portrayed as role models, not villains 80% of the time. 47% of the victims are white women.
The song "Brother (Watching)" by Shad is about racism towards black people. "Well, I opted not to bring That to the booth/But after a while, it sort of starts naggin’ at you/The crazed infatuation with blackness/That trash that gets viewed/And the fact that the tube only showed blacks/Actin the fool and I was watching..." This lyric talks about how blacks are often portrayed as gangsters and thugs on television.
Subconscious or not, racist thoughts are part of what makes people blame rap music for so many problems because rap is used by mostly young black men as a platform to express themselves. Sometimes their art is violent and angry, sometimes it is promoting love and other times it degrades politicians and attacks insufficient education systems. Good hip hop music
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