Is Hip-Hop Killing the Youth?

Today we speak, dress and drive what the stars do. Where we shop and eat even the

types of homes we buy is dictated by what we "hear" the celebrities are doing. That

is a powerful influence over an individual adult but only imagine what type of

influence this has over an impressionable pre-teen. Due to the fact that hip-hop/rap

music appeals to the thirteen to eighteen year old audiences and the artists

performing come from very similar backgrounds of the listeners, rap music is able to

control the way that youth think. Teens and pre-teens are using their part-time job

paycheck to buy grills (a form of jewelry worn in the mouth) and other types of

jewelry.

The "N" word, which once degraded African Americans, has now become an all too

frequent word used amongst the younger generation and not only by African Americans.

Hispanics and Caucasians greet and refer to each other using the word "nigga" as

well. That comes as no surprise that according to 2005's sound scan report states

that suburban pre-teens brought just as much rap music as urban teens. It was

tolerable when rap music affected fashion. It was tolerable when Will Smith put out

his hit record "Parents Just Don't Understand" in 1989 and it was even tolerable

with the introduction of Lil' Bow Wow in 2000. Now, the new generation is taking the

lyrics of rap music more literally.

Without the youth being able to distinguish fantasy from reality rap music has

turned the youth more violent, utterly disrespectful and it is teaching them that

it's acceptable to have multiple babies' mommas, stand on the block and hustle or

even kill someone over a minor disagreement. It's easy to assume that I dislike rap

music but it's quite the opposite. Growing up my mother wouldn't let me listen to

rap because I discovered it in the era it began to turn violent. However, when I was

old enough to listen to rap music I was amazed at how creative a person could be

with words and music as a result I was inspired me to take my poetry more seriously.

In the same light, I saw a lot of my good friends drop out of high school and get

locked up due to following Master P and other rappers who made selling drugs

appealing to my peers. It was bad then, now it is horrible.

On the fashion side, amongst the hip-hop generation white tees, made popular by drug

dealers and rap group Dem Franchize Boyz, has been replaced by Trap or Die, Snowman

and Rubber band Man t-shirts made popular by southern rap stars Young Jeezy and

self-proclaimed seven-time felon T.I. The meaning for "snowman" is the "snow" which

stands for cocaine, in translation is man who deals cocaine. Trap or Die means to

"trap", sell drugs/hustle, or die. That is sending a message that the only thing our

young black males are able to do to acquire money is to sell drugs or hustle and the

only alternative to that is to die, a lot of young men are taking this message to

heart. I am only sixteen years old and a third of the male friends I grew up with

are drug dealers, a third are in prison for dealing drugs and I just had one friend

die over the summer and his death was drug related. What is the meaning for all of

this? These are the T-shirts our youth are choosing to wear which is show!

ing the mentality they have when it comes to street life and the neglect of their own.

Today's rap music is bolstering with the fact that it is all right to have a court

case and that it really isn't a big deal. "Seven-time felon, what I care about a

case man." T.I. boasts in this 2004 hit single "Rubber band man" The point is that

the next generation is being deteriorated by the lyrics and images portrayed in rap

music and videos. Vacationing in Philadelphia in a society and a community heavily

influenced by hip-hop music I witness young African American males walking around as

if they are in a 24-hour music video. They are wearing huge fake silver/gold

necklaces, over sized glasses, and an outfit they had to work almost two months to

buy. Then when they open their mouth every other word is a curse word and women are

b****** and h***. There is no desire for social or economic advancement unless it is

attained through criminal activity.

Rap music is influencing our adolescents to become hustlers, pimps and murderers

and that can be seen by viewing the death toll in Philadelphia since the start of

the year. How does this happen? How is rap so powerful that it can have a hand in

violent confrontations? It may help if we start with a brief definition and history

of what rap music is and where it came from.

The "Oxford English