... good clean lyrics that Will Smith uses, compared to the vulgar and violent lyrics of past rap artists such as Tupac Shakur and Chris Wallace a.k.a. Notorious BIG. I became aware of this topic because I listen to rap music. I own 20 rap CD's. I became concerned about rap lyrics bad influence when Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG were murdered in the middle of the 1990 ... the buying force. Those older styles of music like jazz and classical constitute a mere 5.9 percent of the music market (Considine 76). Rap music reaches a lot of impressionable young minds. Violence in rap music is very ...

• Word Count: 5064
• Approx Pages: 20
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , and disk jockeys mixing records and playing with turntables, helped to create what we now call Rap music. " Hip Hop, like Jazz and the Blues, is the music of the oppressed-,The blues is a ramification of the feeling of disenfranchised blacks after the civil war. This music helped troubled African Americans deal with their conflicts by airing the situations out. Hip hop itself, arose ... most emerging genres, has had a difficult time gaining mainstream exposure. It is often marginalzied by mainstream radio stations that are otherwise comfortable with Alternative music. Both Alternative ...

• Word Count: 2539
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... If that were the case, she said, gospel music would have saved the world(2)." She understood that her son's music, while often condoning violence and urban destitution, was music that people could empathize with and relate to. Gangster rap, often termed gangsta rap has maintained a bad rap since its beginning. Newsweek columnist Johnnie L. Roberts offers a solid explanation. "Gangsta rap, which chronicles the bleak, often violent life of ... it emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Much of the controversy has centered on violent lyrics. And the music industry, insisting that it is ...

• Word Count: 3526
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the Nile while the water flows, I"m contemplating plots wondering which door to go, brothas getting shot coming back resurrected". It is clear by studying Tupac's music that he uses metaphorical examples that represent himself. Does this verse imply that he is somewhere, just waiting for the right time to come back, as many ... his constant references to being resurrected? In the song "Hold ya Head" he says "Switched my name to Makaveli, had the rap game closed up .I hope for better days, trouble comes naturally, running from authorities til they capture me". His death had a huge impact ...

• Word Count: 4248
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

... music is spiritual. It's like Negro spirituals, except for the fact that I'm not saying 'We shall Overcome.' I'm saying that we are overcome. Nobody can talk about pain like Tupac. No one knows it like me," he says. "It separates me from other rappers. All that pain I"m talking about in my rap, ... you can see it."  Apparently, this pain is not just something he works out in his music or in his acting - it's something he carries into his relationships with women, with his peers, ... Mountain, Georgia. It will also come equipped with a museum of past Tupac possessions, and will inclu...

• Word Count: 5308
• Approx Pages: 21
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , Tupac was often said to be the Marvin Gaye of hip-hop, complex and talented, but a "Trouble Man" to the core. He parlayed his music career into a successful film career and was one of the hardest working men in show business, putting out five albums, five films and numerous guest appearances ... another album, "Strictly for My N.I.G.G.A.Z." which was a strong selling album and got him a nomination for an American Music Award as best new rap hip hop artist. The media stopped focusing on Tupacs music career and started focusing on his troubles with the law. He was accused of shooting two...

• Word Count: 1619
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Born December 4th, 1969 in the Bronx, he lived in the famous Marcy Projects. Nine albums and 33 years later Jay-Z stands at the top of the rap industry not only as an emcee, but as a writer, producer, and business man. His life seemed to start off really bad. At the age of 9, ... ring of his. Then at the age of 12, his parents divorced. After his tough childhood, he got into hustling, which provided money for his early rap career. By the late 80's, he had come out with his first underground CD. In 1990, Jay appeared in collaborations with Jaz and Original Flavor. Jaz ... the title trac...

• Word Count: 691
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... you to believe, experts who have studied art for several years or your own heart? Tupac Shakur, also known as Lesean Crooks, is a well known rap artist that (the police say) was supposedly gunned down, back in 1996, by former best friend Notorious B.I.G. Yet, the fans know otherwise. He was murdered ... about his riches, he simply wrote about the truth of life; the agony and struggles people go through in their everyday journeys. All of his music, lyrics and directions were original, deep, and very therapeutic, in which he has helped millions of people over the world face their fears, co...

• Word Count: 485
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School