Gangsta Rap and Violence Go Hand In Hand

Gangsta Rap and Violence Go Hand in Hand

"Mr. Officer, I want to see you layin' in a coffin, sir," from The Chronic and "F--- the police," from N.W.A., are few lyrics from the music genre "gangsta rap." This kind of music is being sold to young children without any thought of concern. When many children listen to this kind of music they think that was being said in the songs is not wrong or against the law. The lyrics in many songs contain violent and explicit lyrics that usually talk about killing someone along with sounds of gunshots in the background. It is also music that refers to women as "bitches," "whores" and sex-dispensing "hos".

"Gangsta rap" has been criticized and debated over for its graphic sexual content, violent imagery and misogyny. When rappers were asked why they refer to women as bitches and hoes their replies were similar. "Snoop" says, "that it is just for the women who are like that and if you're a real women, you're classy and elegant. Those lyrics should not necessarily affect you. You'd just groove to the music" (Farley 78). If our society does not have respect for our women, why should anyone else? Do these rappers think that they can dissplot women and treat them any way they want to? If this is the way our black men really think about their Nubian sister. If we let this go on, then the media and the generation that follows us, would basically have no respect for women. Young children and adults, who listen and memorize these rap songs, think that it is acceptable behavior. "Gangsta rap" is hardly the only source of violence, but it is a potent one. Not only is the music violent but the rappers lifestyle is also. Many rappers have been in trouble with the law and young people see that it Okay, their rich and money talks. Today most people think that if your rich and famous then can get away with anything.

Not all rappers have run-ins with the law, but the ones that do are very well known. Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in 1996, has had many run-ins with the law. Shakur was arrested for aggravated assault, charged with shooting two off duty police officers in Atlanta of 1993, but the charges were later dropped. He was accused of beating a limousine driver in Los Angeles and found guilty of threatening a fellow rapper with a baseball bat in Michigan. He was also found guilty of sexual abuse in 1994 and was serving time up to 4 Ð... years in prison (Sims E3). In some raps he glamorized the life of a gangster and fun gunplay. He lived the life tattooed on his stomach, "Thug Life," and died doing it. "Gangsta Rap" has attracted a high-profile of enemies and no one may ever know who really killed Tupac. The police are still not sure of who shot and killed Tupac, but they think that it may have been linked to Death Row Record's ties with rival gangs. There are no witnesses who can identify the driver or shooter in the Cadillac that pulled up next to Tupak and driver, Marion Knight. Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Doggy Dogg, was arrested in 1993 on murder-conspiracy charges. He pleaded not guilty and was acquitted. He also has a police file that Hawkins 3 identifies him as a member of Long Beach Insane Crips, a notorious street gang (Cheevers A1). He was also a drug dealer and user. His music also glorifies violence and demeans women. Andre Young, a.k.a. Dr. Dre, served five months in a halfway house in 1993 for violating his probation for breaking another rap producers jaw in 1992. He was also convicted of hitting a New Orleans police officer in a hotel brawl and of slamming a TV talk-show host into a wall at a Hollywood club in 1991 (Sims E3). His music demeans women and generates bad vibes against police officials. The Chronic, an album by Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, has many explicit lyrics and unnecessary foulmouthing. In one song they say, "that if f--- with Dre you f--- with death row...", more or less saying that if anyone messes with them they will have to worry about everyone that is with Death Row Records. In the same song they tell a woman, referring to her as a bitch, to yell-187 (police code for someone that has been killed). In another song they ask anther black man why he has been talking crap about them, he says it was not he. Then they put a gun in his mouth asking him, "what's wrong can't talk with a gun in your mouth?...Do you know Lucifer?", he replies,"no",and they tell him, "well you're about to meet him"(Rap). All of the songs on this album contain foul mouth language, violent and sexually explicit lyrics, drugs and misogyny. Is this the kind of music that young children should be able to listen to? William Drayton, Flavor Flav of the group Public Enemy, was arrested for attempted murder. The police were lead to his home after a source told them that shots were fired at a neighbor during an argument. The police found a loaded 38-caliber semiautomatic handgun with one round missing. His music also glorifies violence. Hawkins 4 Eric Wright, known as Easy-E, has also generated bad vibes against police officials. This album He died at 31 years of age after revealing that he had the virus AIDS. From his deathbed he urged young people to learn about the disease. His music also talked about having the lifestyle of being promiscuous and that lifestyle killed him. All of these rappers criminal records depict their lifestyles. They say that their music depicts the harsh reality of life in the hood. To these rappers, people dying young and going to jail is an everyday thing (Marriott 75). Tupak says that violence is all we know and telling it like it is a way of getting the people to listen to what is really going on. Ice-T's controversial album Body Count, produced by Warner Bros. Records, had provoked a sharp debate in 1992 when the album first came out. The song "Cop Killer," with obscene and violent lyrics, forced Time Warner to stop selling the album with the song on it. The lyrics on the song said it was dedicated to the L.A.P.D. It also talked about "dusting some cops off," with sounds of gun fire he then asks the listener to sing along for their freedom-"cop killer" (Ice Body). "Cop Killer" is not the on song on the album that glorifies violence. Even though the song was cut from the album the other songs on it were just as bad. Another song talks about killing his mother by setting her on fire, hitting her with a "louieville slugger" and then cutting her up with a carving knife, all because she was racist. Is this reality and whats really going on in the world today? In other songs the lyrics talk about being promiscuous (giving very explicit sex lyrics) and yet the album was still being sold to young children.

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