The Influences of Hip Hop Music
             The media has many influences on the way people act in today's society. Media such as music has had a great impact on young America. The different genre's of music affect people in different ways. Today, hip hop music has grown into a culture that influences the way a person may speak, dress, think and act.
             Listeners of hip hop music may interpret the lyrics of an artist differently then what he is trying to portray. These lyrics may influence people in a negative way, due to the fact that many rap artists use their own life experiences in their songs. Many people try to mimic these life experiences when they do not live under the same conditions. For example, rap artists may talk about their struggles in life and how they had to support themselves by committing illegal actions such as theft, drug dealing, and gang violence. A listener may hear this and follow in that example not realizing that these songs consist of just words. A rap artist is not trying to tell people what they should do in their life but instead through the lyrics of these artists they are showing people what they had to go through.
             Secondly, hip hop music has also greatly influenced the way we speak. It has developed much slang also known as Ebonics that is used by many people especially the youth. Not only are slang terms used but profanity also plays a role. Personally I have noticed many children starting from the age of 5 singing songs that are unsuitable and inappropriate for their age group. Many parents do not safe guard their children from the explicit lyrics in hip hop as well as in other music in the society today. Slang terms that are heard in songs are widely used. Many people refer to the usage of slang as uneducated and improperly spoken, but as a hip hop listener myself, I often may use these terms and I do not consider myself uneducated. These slang terms are expressions that must...