Hip Hop Wars Analysis

Superior Essays
Tricia Rose’s “The Hip Hop Wars” commences and entitles the first chapter as “Hip Hop Causes Violence.” Before furthering on with the chapter, one may intuitively develop a bias supposition that what is titled is based on an actual fact without having any valid evidence to prove why it is the way it is. Tricia Rose, whom is an author, a scholar, and a public speaker presented an argument stating “a key aspect of much of the criticism that has been leveled at hip hop is the claim that it glorifies, encourages, and thus causes violence (Hip Hop Wars, pg.34).” Although several critics may agree that hip hop promotes violence, Tricia Rose covers the significant aspects of the controversy whether hip-hop indeed causes violence. These aspects …show more content…
In this essay, I choose to support Tricia Rose’s inviting statement. In “Hip Hop Wars” Tricia Rose presents an array of arguments. One argument she presented is the stereotypical assumption that rap music seems to promote violence due to the association of African Americans. The history of white Americans labeling black Americans as uneducated, deviant, and felons initiated the stereotype of African Americans. Because of such belittlement, interpretations of black Americans made critics reckon them as that. Another argument is the five components that led to the decline of economy in black communities. These elements consist high levels of chronic joblessness, loss of affordable housing and urban renewal, drug-trade expansion, access to automatic weapons, and incarceration over rehabilitation. The destruction of low income black urban communities led to homelessness. Corporate business owners would purposely employ white Americans and black Americans last to prevent business loss. Although employed, the job security for black Americans were uncanny and abrupt. Hence, when business is slow, they would be the first ones to be laid off! As a result of this inequality, it led to …show more content…
One may come to an assumption that violence presented in rap lyrics might promote emulated actions among young listeners. For instance, teenagers who listens to derogatory rap lyrics or see violence in video games may integrate such actions in their lives. This assumption is due to the firm societal perceptions and the stereotypes among African Americans. To support this statement, Carrie B. Fried, who is a social psychologist claims that “Lyrics presented in rap music are judged more harshly than the same lyrics presented as country music, which concludes the stereotypes of American Africans (37).” Because people only see and hear the surface of the story, black Americans incessantly suffers from belligerence. Dismally, I do have to disagree with such minimal acclamations as there is not enough evidence to conclude that hip hop encourages violence and that the stories and rhymes in rap music are not the primary source to blame. Without further ado, I hereby agree with Tricia Rose’s statement that hip hop does not cause violence. Tricia Rose profoundly outlines the injustices, discriminations, and stereotypes that African Americans experienced. She conveys two main solutions which is includes the following: One solution is to take this matter into consideration and initially express these concerns to black youth and the legitimate violence they face in a form of social change. And the second

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The results have been a little mixed, but the general results are “that listening to rap music does not cause aggressive or deviant behavior.” One studies as found that those who watch violent rap videos were more accepting of violent actions especially toward women.” In addition, Teens hold a negative view on the chance that they will pass school and as such will not try that hard to do well in school. A third study found that when teen females watch rap music videos that depict “women in sexually subordinate, were more inclined to express acceptance of violence against women in a dating situation.” These studies have shown that the acceptance of crime and violence has more to do with the music videos rather than the lyrics itself.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Some people may even argue that rap music is rooted in misogyny and sexism. This article investigates themes in 403 rap songs in order to further understand the gender dynamics of rap music, and how lyrics create a set of norms for listeners. The researcher discovered that rappers who portray women negatively are usually influenced by larger gender relations, the music industry, local neighborhood conditions, or a combination of the three (Weitzer 5). Perhaps most importantly, society’s larger gender order influences artists’ attitudes about masculinity, and the need for male domination over women. It can also be noted that focusing on material wealth and sex may increase sales and appear as appealing to elites in the music industry (6).…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hip Hop Planet Summary

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages

    This music educates people about several issues from different perspectives. Artists use Hip-Hop music as a platform to voice their opinions, share their stories, and simply state current issues. An article called, “How Hip-Hop Music Has Influenced American Culture and Society,” by Kathleen Odenthal Romano discusses the key contributions Hip-Hop has made in American culture. The author writes, “Hip Hop culture stands as a poignant and historically significant factor of society as it represents a reflection of socio-political woes and widespread sentiment of traditionally marginalized and oppressed communities” (Romano). This statement readily explains the role of Hip-Hop in American culture as it portrays the social and political issues as well as the perspectives of minority…

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kiese Laymon Allusion

    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In his book How To Slowly Kill yourself and Others in America, Kiese Laymon uses very specific, detailed allusions as a hidden tool to add to the experience of the reader and various aspects of his argument . All of Laymon 's essays in this book are packed full of Allusion, but they all have different effects. Throughout this book, Laymon uses Allusions to connect with the reader, add a dark side to his essays, remind the reader of past greats, provide second opinions, and build his credibility. Overall Laymon choses to uses these allusions in his work not only because they connect the reader to the story through the recognition of places, people and events, but they also because they each work on distinctive aspects of Laymon 's argument through the…

    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the article “Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny: America's Culture of Violence in Context” written by Jeanita W. Richardson and Kim A. Scott, the authors search to see if rap music is causing an increase of violence amongst its listeners. The authors observe music from a more hypothetical angle and the essence of rap music. It is addressed that contents of rap music during the time of the study was largely the honest confessions of the artists; from financial status and police…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    But as time went on, it has also perpetuated and contributed to the reestablishment of certain social issues in black spaces. With sexism and homophobia being perpetuated along with violence, it still raises the question of whether black spaces have improved or worsened as a result of hip-hop. Hip-hop has always been a form of resistance from ‘normative’ American culture, but it backfires when that same normative culture uses the implications of hip-hop to justify wrongdoing. American culture sees hip-hop as something that afflicts the black community with violence and causes occurrences such as “black on black” crime. That is exactly what happened with “Don’t Shoot”: its message was overshadowed by the existence of “blacks killing each other all the time” and the rappers who promote such violence in their music.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cathleen Rountree author of “In Defense of Hip-Hop” issued her article of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, May 19,2007. She believes that hip-hop shouldn’t be the scapegoat and blame of the violent acts that goes on. Her rhetorical tools such as evidence makes her argument very effective. It is not just negative music, without credibility never judge a book by its cover.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hip hop culture, more commonly known as sub-genre rap, is often characterized by excessive violence compared to other popular culture genres like country-western. However, hip hop is the symptom of cultural violence, not the cause. It results from a prevalent problem of youth living in the racially stratified inner-city ghettos, thereby having sharpened socioeconomic worldviews through deep racial and economic disparities. This behavior is clearly portrayed in the book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace in which hip hop, the dominant music genre in the “illtown”, subconsciously impacts Rob’s decision of staying in his suboptimal neighborhood East Orange even after graduation, which results in his eventual downfall. Brotherhood, or…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    All rappers degrade black women and the people who support these corrupt rappers hate black women also. Jennifer Mclune’s “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women” creates this biased inference within its readers after reading the text. Mclune is a writer, activist, and librarian that lives in Washington D.C. Her article, “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women,” first appeared in an online magazine called Z Magazine in 2006. The story discusses how rappers feel that they have a privilege over women and they rap about it in their music.…

    • 1405 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Rap Effects On Society

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Society’s views on rap and hip-hop music are often negative, despite other genres having similar social messages. One must ask themselves, why is hip hop and rap under such constant scrutiny? Authors Feagin, Vera, Batur, & Rose theorize, “From the start, the public viewed hip-hop culture and rap music through a racist lens. Rappers and rap fans were often portrayed as menacing Black adolescents, and rap music was vilified as violent and misogynistic” (qtd. in Sullivan 607). Although most people agree that modern day hip-hop and rap music have negative social effects, upon analysis, these views appear to be defective and based on bias perceptions— reinforcing racial oppression, racial stereotypes, and inequality.…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The results show that people who listen to Rap music had higher levels of aggression, misogynic views, reported substance abuse, and promoted the idea of unprotected sex. Although some listener’s moods were affected negatively, there was another study were Rap music was used as an outlet for African Americans. The lyrics to Rap music mirrored the daily life struggles African Americans face from systematic racism to defining street code.…

    • 1253 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Negative Effects Of Rap Music

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages
    • 6 Works Cited

    Morrison states, “Marketing messages of hate and violence to children sends the signal that violence is widespread and normal, that it is acceptable to abuse women, and that there is glamour in lawlessness” (Morrison). Teens are listening to music that sends the messages that it is okay for men to beat their wives and girlfriends because they are above the law. This has had an extremely negative effect in the black community. As stated by McWhorter, “Rap music is harmful to the black community because it links to racism, violence, and misogyny ” (McWhorter). In “Rap Music and Rap Audiences,” it states that “many scholars note that some rap lyrics attempt to objectify, devalue, or subjugate African American women through insults and name calling” (Dixon).…

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages
    • 6 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Hip Hop Culture

    • 1059 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hip Hop is seen everywhere, in movies, shows, soap operas, fashion, works of art, and hundreds of other forms that have been embodied in modern society. According to Carl Taylor and Virgil Taylor in Hip Hop is Now: An Evolving Youth Culture, “Hip Hop culture has a proclivity towards violence and self destruction” (210-213) and they believe it is the most disturbing aspect of Hip Hop culture. The media and parents would see Rap and Hip Hop as if it was promoting gang, violence, drug use, and other negative things so they saw this music as a destructive influence on the young. At one point in history Hip Hop lingo did regard acts of violence, heard frequently in the streets by young individuals. As Hip Hop grew it started to become known as Rap.…

    • 1059 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In regard, rap artists are sending out a negative message to youth. Among the many youth and negative lyrics in rap music, rap artists remain an influence on youth education. Many youth are starting to come up without a decent education, because youth are dropping out of school to pursue a rap careers (Toms, 2006, p2). Youth want to become rap artist, so they can live a thug lifestyle, in order to have the lavish women, expensive cars, and money. Communities, generation and legacies are suffering because of the negative visualizations that producers and record companies are promoting to rap artist, along with BET and MTV broadcasting their videos (Toms, 2006,…

    • 2224 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Language Used In Rap

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Rap is becoming an increasingly popular genre of music specially with today’s youth as it is somehow considered a part of the youth culture. Today, it is featured increasingly among popular advertisements, radio and even on television shows. Rap is genre wherein you can express challenges and experiences in life in a form of a story. Although that is sometimes the case, rude and inappropriate themes are also expressed in rap.…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays