HOW RAP GETS A BAD REP
From its early days in the Bronx to its international popularity, rap and hip-hop, the two words used interchangeably, have become a big part of the entertainment industry. Despite its success, the rap industry has been plagued with controversy. News media’s attention on rap seems fixated on instances of violence at rap concerts, “gangsta” rap’s lurid fantasies of cop killing, female bashing, and black nationalist rappers’ suggestions that white people are the devil’s disciples. The reality of the situation, however, is that the lyrics many rappers use contain positive messages of philosophy and of personal experiences. Artists use their songs to express themselves and their situations. Much of the criticism Received is due to a biased media which portrays content of many rap songs as nothing but endless profanity and extremely offensive language. In addition, much is said about the extent to which violence is used in the songs. Violence towards women, homosexuals or rival rappers. Also, rap artists themselves, for the most part have become victims of the stereotypical media which portrays them very negatively. Finally The urban youth of America have been given a bad reputation as gang members . . .
Often in hip-hop, artists rap of stories they may have experienced or head of first hand. Many in the media also feel that the violence in rap music contributes to violent behavior in youth. Tupac, like many other rap artists use their lyrics to comment on our society and inform the rest of America what people are going through on a daily basis. And when , the media start portraying unfair images of the rappers themselves and show them as criminals, then the rappers will lose their credibility and their ability to express themselves and their experiences in their songs. By unfairly portraying the work of rap artists as nothing but bad words, the media does a great injustice to hip-hop artists everywhere. There are still countless Young rappers that are unable to get their songs heard on television or the radio simply because they are not known to mainstream America or because the media feels that American children will be affected in a bad way by listening to the real life stories of these youth that are trying to get their message across. Furthermore, because hip-hop speaks the voice of a younger generation in urban areas, it is only natural that different audiences may interpret certain words differently. This can mean that the meaning of a song can be misinterpreted because two different audiences are hearing different things. A Times, Eminem was described as the artist who raps in a “gleefully explicit style…. Even before hip-hop was created, popular media would show black people and black youth in particular as a threat to mainstream America. In an interview with Rolling stone, former Def Jam head Rick Rubin summed up the notion of Hip-Hop as an expression of youth culture. From these starts evolved the rap scene as we know it today. Celebrities in other forms of entertainment, like TV and movie stars, have the luxury of having both good and bad news reported about them.
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