OPINION: Stigmatism behind hip-hop music is only a fallacy
Rap and hip-hop actually does not have a bad influence on society as so many people believe. Rap is not bad itself, it’s the society that is bad and they are reflected in rap music. Rap is used as an education tool by drawing attention to problems of poverty and racism.
Rap is criticized for the violence in its lyrics but it gives us the realistic look about the negative aspect of American culture, problems which most of us are ignoring and not trying to fix
Rap gives the public forum to urban America. Through rap music, they tell stories about their hard life, growing up in poverty, and doing anything to support their family.
Nowadays, sex and drug are not only found in rap music. The other genres of music such as rock, metal, country, pop music also have inappropriate lyrics and little artistic merit as well. We cannot say the whole genre is bad just because we hear something inappropriate from that certain genre.
Rap also has a lot of good songs with meaningful lyrics. A lot of rappers write songs about their family, their loved ones or to send out a good message to public. Eminem wrote a touching song “When I am gone” dedicated to his daughter years ago, or Macklemore stood up to support gay marriage in the song “Same Love.”
It also depends on the listeners and how they perceive what they are listening.
I think it’s a fallacy when everybody believe that children are turning to drugs and dropping out of school because of rap’s influence. It all depends on the parents to raise their children attentively.
As a rapper myself, I don’t think that I’m getting a bad influence from rap.
I started listening and writing rap since I was in middle school but I’ve never done drug or committed a crime in my life.
I’m going to college and have a GPA of 4.0. I treat women respectfully and have a good attitude.
I enjoy the music, the rhymes and flow and the creative metaphors in the lyrics.
People are looking at the bad side of rap without admitting the good side of it. All they know about rap is cussing and violence, so they are more ignorant to the more meaningful side of the genre.
At the end of the day, rap is just music, like the other genres.
Everything has its good side and bad side. It really depends on the listener, rather than the medium, to decide what their life will be like.