You’ve probably heard this a million times before; “Rap corrupts the youth” “Rap promotes crime and violence”. You’ve heard this get said, by conservative politicians and overprotective parents, about how awful and terrible rap music is. But take a look for a minute and think about how many other genres of music could “corrupt people.”
You see rap was born out of struggle, it combined poetry and music to create a vivid image of what inner-city black America was like from the perspective of those who were born and lived in it. However due to the graphic nature of rap it is seen as violent and depraved by those with privilege who do not and cannot understand the art. Like Doughboy said “Either they don’t know, don’t show, or don’t care about what’s going on in the hood.”
But you may wonder if there’s any other genre of music that causes any real or perceived harm; well my dear audience there is. A lot actually. One notorious example is old school country music. In the past I have frequently have criticized country as being extremely annoying, dull, and uncreative, but after doing some research I can see why. You see country music in earlier times was some of the most depressing music ever recorded and sold. So depressing in fact that some of its listeners committed suicide. There was actually a study in 1992 about the correlation between suicide and country music. But how come no one talks about this?
The answer to that question lies in the subject matter of the music. Rap is a brutally honest genre of music. It ranges from talking about just a regular day in the hood, to the desires of one to leave it behind. Musicians, such as 2Pac, talked about revolution and the uplift of black women. What did country music at this time, and even earlier talk about? It talked about alcoholism, divorce, depression, and problems at work. This, as the academic article talked about, provided a catalyst for people killing themselves due to listening to it, yet there has yet to be one study that shows any rap related violence.
Another criticism is the violence against whites and/or police that rap supposedly promotes. Well in my decade and a half or so of listening to rap, I have yet to hear a song that explicitly states “You should shoot cops.” But if we’re talking about violence and hate against people then country music has a doozy for you. Meet Clifford Joseph Trahan, also known as Johnny Rebel. He’s a country artist known for such song as “In Coon Town”, “If I Could Be A Nigger For A Day…”, and “Quit Your Bitchin’ Nigger!” I’m going to answer the first two questions that probably came to your mind as you read that sentence; yes this is real and yes these were released to the general public. I don’t think I really need to go into more depth than that.
But it isn’t just country that is avoiding the scrutiny. Rock and Roll music also has it’s share of questionable content. Now to be fair when rock and roll started to evolve into the way it is now, particularly in the 70s and 80s, it was considered heavily controversial. Yet rap music, which in some cases actually had less violent content than rock, was publicly addressed by the president for how controversial it was. This is where the privilege in music begins. A genre that reflects the environment of those who live in it was under more public scrutiny than a genre of music that promotes devil worship. I’ll let a hip-hop legend summarize rap’s purpose for those who still see it as violent. When 2Pac was asked what effect he wanted his music to have he simply said “Think. Use your head.” That’s the essence of rap.
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