Negative Aspects of RAP!

I thought it was interesting how it was pointed out that the rappers are acting like some of the white slave holders because of they way they disregard women and human life." ----> That is very interesting thought/ piece of insight. When African American's first thought of rap in the 70's they used it as an "artistic commitment to seize freedom from oppressive social conditions" (www.wikapedia.com). These days it seems the rapper's are moving away from the thought of seizing freedom from oppression because they are oppressing women. Instead of moving forward they are moving backwards. Rap music is getting worse and is a big influence on the youth. I am not a fan of it. Beside's oppressing women they are oppressing themselves. They portrayed themselves as gangsters, hustler's and pimps and that's not good because words like uncivilized, criminal, thug, hoodlum, hoe, hooch, come into play.

Rap music not only oppresses women but promotes violence. Take for example, the lyrics of “Crack a Bottle," by Eminem. " Got my riding shot gun, girls** (not the word used in the song..but replaced with profanity) hoping in my Tahoe and no none of them got clothes on." It doesn't matter if Eminem is serious or not children may take these lyrics seriously because they are developmentally immature. They are still developing. These images of girls as hoes and the idea that it's cool to hop in the car and run around with a gun promotes gang violence. so much violence is being portrayed that "Music Videos average 1 or more violent scenes a minute. That is more than cinema and TV" (Children's Defense, 1).

Generally, rappers argue they portray women like this because, as Snoop said "that it is just for the women who are like that and if you're a real woman, you're classy and elegant. Those lyrics wouldn't necessarily affect you. You'd just groove to the music." Richard Shaw, a.k.a. Bushwick Bill, says "I call women b***hes and hoes because all the women I've met since I've been out here are b***hes and hoes." When Bill was asked at the National Association of Black Journalist's convention what he calls his mother, his reply? "I call her a woman, but I am not f*ing my mother. If I was f*ing you, you'd be a b**ch." (http://www.uga.edu/womanist/rhym2.1.htm).
These lyrics are stupid and make it seem okay for people to use the words hoe, slut, ect. to describe women and this particularly comes from culture. Women are portrayed as objects and are meaningless with no intellect in their blood what so ever and that it simply not true. These rappers don't take responsibility for their actions and disregard the fact that they are promoting sexism, violence, and even racism by using racial terms such as the n word all the time!

Why do they portray men with guns? According to "Hip Hop beats," the symbol of the gun has become power and is linked to masculinity. So to be masculine is to be powerful, and to be powerful is to have a gun. Notice how women don't have guns! This is because women are not in power, a women with a gun would show that she has control and it is seen as not femmine. A Caucasian women said " it appeal to our sense of learning about other cultures and wanting to know about something we will never experience" ---> Why would you want to experience it!? Why would you want lyrics like this to describe your culture? I would be offended... wouldn't you?? Another Caucasian man said, " It's my style, I mean if you guys...uhh colored people can say it's their music, I can get down to it just as they can." The Interviewer, whom was black, replies " Did you just say colored people!?" It's interesting how he is worried about the term "colored people"when it's coming from a Caucasian man, but it's okay when the N* word is used.