DOES RAP MUSIC NEGATIVELY INFLUENCE YOUNG LISTENER"S BEHAVIOR? MICHELLE MACK The infamous rap artist, Tupac Shakur has a song entitled, "Bury Me a G," off his album, "Thugs Life, Volume 1". One collection of lyrics in this song states: "I got nothen to lose sos I choose to be a killer/ Went from bangin" to slangin"/ ... Now I"m a dope dealer/ All my a payed the price to be the loss/Back in school/ Wrote the rules on gettin" tossed/ Popping rocks on the block was a past time/ Pack a 9 all the time" (qtd. in Pelley 3). What are these rap lyrics ... black identity and legitimacy within mainstrea...

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... Every Voice And Sing by James Weldon Johnson. Many African Americans sang this song to show patriotism and hope for the future considering the fact that they were dealing with racism. There was a lot of symbolism within these lyrics, which allowed African Americans to speak subtly against racial injustice. These civil rights ... things that I should say say 'em loud say 'em clear for the whole 'round world to hear." Nina Simone was wanted dead for her song lyrics, many whites had complained that it made blacks have pride and feel that they would eventually be equal and have a place in th...

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... not just a genre of music but also a complex system of ideas values and concepts that reflect newly emerging and ever-changing creative correlative expressive mechanisms including but not limited to song, poetry, film and fashion (quote). This contemporary art form utilizes some of the black community's most pervasive weapons; aggressive imagery, music and the art of storytelling. Here we will consider ... and escape for the black community. Rap pushes the importance of mobility as a sign of freedom in African-American tradition and this resonates in hip-hop music (Stepto, 1991). Rap ly...

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... backgrounds. More importantly, it is often the image of the black male that is tainted by these false depictions of him as a gangster, exotic primitive (Dates and Barlow viii), sexual aggressor (Dates and Barlow viii), and criminal in movies and television shows. With the following underlined traits black men are more apt to be society's source of entertainment, and the primary target ... often time derogatory category. Media research has shown the ways in which the press, cinema, and radio have considerable power to shape opinions and can actively influence behavior (Dates and Barlow)....

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... not Feminism. She claimed that she wanted to be treated as a human among the many races existing within the United States. Janelle Monae in her song Q.U.E.E.N was offended when the media claimed that she was a lesbian because of her track, which she used as a revolutionary tool to reshape the minds ... a sacred tradition from Africa. Therefore, the songs of the slaves were to give signals to other slaves, for example if a slave sung the same song twice then it meant that the coast was clear. Within the present traditions, the conceptualization of music-making as a participatory group act...

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... and the soon to be famous rappers Q-tip and Pheife, to introduce themselves to the world in a burst of mellow jazzmatic rhymes and rhythms. The song addresses the world's attitude towards the African American male, the effects of rap music, the group's belief in god, and ultimately the will to succeed ... is speaking of strength of a unit to stay together, and the other group is speaking of the strength of a man to be without companionship. Both lyrics and songs imply that " all ya gotta do is/Push it along,"" or keep striving for success. This theme of strength is the backbone of both...

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... styles such as jazz, rap, hip-hop, blues, reggae, rock, etc. Every person usually has a favorite artist, a favorite style of music, or just a favorite song. The industry is fast paced though and because of this, people like to be updated with the celebrities and news. That's where Vibe comes in. This is a ... behind. "Bottoms Up," shows how much music can impact ones life. According to the editor, it is a rap/hip-hop tradition to rhyme about butts. In 1987, lyrics from Boogie Down Productions said, "Thought I saw Denise but I was only assum"/Took another look and that butt was boomin." S...

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... look of Marilyn Monroe and Lana Tuner that was all the rage of the time. The advancements of tints, lacquers, and rollers helped to make different styles for each individual girl (Powell,30). The style that also had been influenced by movies was the gangs. each gang had it's own styles that help distinguish them from others. The typical look was ... influence sounds, their stunning stunts on and off stage did too, and things that people came to love about the band were the destruction of their interments after the final song. The excessive partying, fighting made the band exciting and n...

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... you? Did you really believe you were a little teapot? No, you didn't. It was just a silly song with a catchy melody. This goes for hip hop music as well. Most of us don't take the explicit sexism in Hip Hop personally because we know it doesn't define us. ... because she fails to establish credibility to offer an opinion of this music genre. This lack of credibility makes it appear as if McLune simply picks a song by Jay-Z that degrades women and slaps the lyrics in the article to use to prove her point. Although this article is a response to Powell's article, McLune fails to establish...

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... every male artist has been suspect of being homosexual or bisexual. LLCool J, P.Diddy all of WuTang, and Jay"Z sexualities have been questioned even in the face of their hyper heterosexual song lyrics and music videos. But what if one of these suspected brothers were to come out of the closet just think if Jay"Z rapped about freakin a boy in the back of ... his limo. It would change Hip-Hops preconceptions of the homosexual and challenge the production of homophobic lyrics But if an ordinary African American gay male decided to announce his Sexuality publicly he would risk losing his id...

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... we watch TV or a movie, there is some sort of stereoype occuring.. Currently on the radio, I would hazard to guess that half the songs are in hip-hop style. The lyrics of these few songs often lead to negative stereotypes of blacks. ("It's getting hot in here...so take of all your clothes."- Nelly, a black male.) I also would be willing to ... teenagers. This is not to say that all black songs are hip-hop, nor is it to say that all white songs are good, better, or even quality with decent lyrics. Nor does it say that one culture wants to be like another for whatever reason. The point is...

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... "anything goes" period of the 90's." (Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 1999). During the last decade critics have brought up controversial lyrics in some artists styles, like Eminem and vulgar and violent language, or the Dixie Chicks recent speak out against the president. The rising ... will beat" and "I slit my teenage wrist" are just a sample from two songs. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry the troublesome lyrics of some teen music: o Advocate and glamorize the abuse of drugs or alcohol o Present suicide as a "solution" o Display graphic violen...

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... America's Jazz Poet, the chronicler of life in Harlem in the 1920s. Setting out to write about black Americans, Hughes created a body of work-poetry, fiction, journalism, essays, plays, and song lyrics. While decrying racism and the inequities it created for blacks and other minorities, Hughes called for cooperation among all races. With one ear tuned in to the voices he heard ... ...

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... on this gangster image in order to succeed. Not true! Violence in the main element in gangster rap, these lyrical poets do have talent but if they could stray from lyrics about killing, they would receive more respect. " African-American youth nihilism stemmed from the rise in police brutality, the crack cocaine epidemic, and its prison industrial complex counterpart." (Tyson P. 7) Gangster ... performer thinks it's cool. Mentioning how fun drugs supposedly are in songs is unnecessary. The last, but probably most common element of gangster rap is crime. Nearly every gangster rap song me...

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... famous work Their Eyes Were Watching God and in all Hurston wrote four novels and two books of folklore. Most of Hurston's stories were about her experiences as a young Black girl living in a small town, but she also wrote about racial inequalities and women's self expression. Hurston died January 28, 1960 in poverty and buried in an unmarked grave that was ... Americans. James Weldon Johnson is another well-recognized African American writer for the early 20th century and Harlem Renaissance. Besides his published novels, Johnson is also known for writing the lyrics to "Lift Ever Voice ...

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... only provides man with a means to express the freedom of his soul, but it also gives man relief. In contrast, a different side of nature is depicted in Hughes poem, Song for a Dark Girl. The language in this poem paints a morbid picture of a racist south. In this poem, nature is harsh, unfair, and cruel. Instead of providing man with a means to express the ... . Nature serves as a symbol for the captivity and death of the soul. The black man that is lynched in the poem could not be free in this society, and the girl he leaves behind mourns at the sight of the tree. For her, the image of ...

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... Mississippi of the segregation era, it is also a chronicle of the Civil Rights struggle and racial politics of that time. The early part of her book relates Moody's experiences as a girl in the rural small town of Centreville, Mississippi. Not only is there racial tension between the black Moody and the whites, there is also problems with her lighter colored black ... Money, Mississippi. Emmett attended a racially mixed school in Chicago. In his wallet were school photographs of both white and black friends, including a photograph of a white girl. He told his astonished Mississippi cous...

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... good and how not to fall into the hole. The novel I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou gives us the concept of the one girl's world which is filled by racism. On the other hand it is a good example for people; because they can take the advice from this book and ... last drop of the sea is when Margarite is tripped by another child and runs away from church "If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat."(3). All childhood Margarite is in depressed because her parents sent her away ... a...

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... , against the monotony of life... Jazz is an attempt at individual expression. No two people jazz dance alike. Others may smile and even sneer at the way the young factory girl and her boy friend fling themselves into the anarchy of individual jazz expression -but it is their dance, and they are finding freedom, liberty, release in it. They need it ... of sorts of the 1920's. Free, wild, and unencumbered, many people were puzzled when they first heard it being spoken. Jive, as it was called, was influenced mainly by the lyrics in some jazz songs, such as "The House of Blue Light": Man: W...

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... jazzier beats and hip-hop tunes to get their attention. To trace gospel music you would have to go back to the African roots of song. Gospel music was virtually ignored by white Christians and it was not until the twentieth century that denominational churches included gospel as a form of ... directly refer to the UGRR. John Lovell lists the purposes of the spiritual in this way: To give the community a true, valid, and useful song To keep the community invigorated To inspire the uninspired individual To enable the group to face its problems To comment on the slave situation To stir .....

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... jazz musician to just let go and pour his heart out with an instrument. In a Jazz piece, the song is often just a starting point or frame of reference for the musicians to improvise around. The song might have been a popular ditty or blues that they didn't compose, but by the time they were finished ... with it they had composed a new piece that often bore little resemblance to the original song (Alexander). Jazz is distinctively an American form of music. Its history occupies a much smaller span of time. Its origins are found in the early 1900s ... to show and reflect their talents thr...

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... singers was born in New Orleans, a few years before the turn of the century. Her name was Emma Barrett. She was a self-taught musician who became a jazz legend. As a little girl, Emma use to listen to the guys that gathered on street corners at night with their guitars. She began practicing on her own, and eventually landed a spot in Papa Celestin ... , 1983, at the age of 85 years old. Her last performance was just 10 days prior to her death. The twentieth century saw the development of a specific form of religious song in African American society. This form of music is known as gospel ...

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... " first heard the music of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith on a Victrola at Alice Dean's, the Baltimore "house of ill repute" where she ran errands and scrubbed floors as a young girl. She made her singing debut in obscure Harlem nightclubs (borrowing her professional name from screen star Billie Dove), then toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw before going solo. Benny ... my favorite songs is "Strange Fruit." In "Strange Fruit" she described the terrible conditions of racism in America and the horrible lynching that were going on at the time. The song was very controversial because n...

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... a bar and stop to look inside. Sonny's friend seemed to be looking for people he knew but the narrator was examining the barmaid. "When she smiled one saw the little girl, one sensed doom, still-struggling woman beneath the battered face of a semiwhore." (Baldwin 83) The narrator does not know anything about the barmaid and "Rather than listen to the conversation ... narrator asked the barmaid to send drinks to the bandstand. When the barmaid delivered the drinks, she placed the cup of scotch and milk on the piano. When finished the song, before starting another, he sipped from the cup ...

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... troop of Canadian actors, to create a Canadian theatre industry. To be more specific, it took the release of Melvin Van Peebles, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, in 1971, to change the tradition view of Black people in American film. "Porter's tom was the first in a long line of socially acceptable ... , Black film experienced an epiphany. It came in the form of a low-budget, badly made French film by the name of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. It was created almost entirely by one Black man- Melvin Van Peebles. This marked a radical change in Black cinema. "In 1971, Melvin van Pee...

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