Within recent years, people have been quick to blame hip-hop music for a trend in youth violence and the bad habits they have inherited over the years. As a massive hip-hop head myself, that is nothing but ignorance to me. It’s never been about the music and the music has never been the problem… if anything, hip-hop has been the most important outlet for our youth. From the ever too common East Coast – West Coast rivalry, to the death of Tupac & Biggie, to even the notion of past rappers who are in the limelight now having been drug dealers and cons in the past, the impact of hip-hip is indisputable. Ever since the rise of rap and hip-hop music, teens have been turning to them to help solve their problems. Despite our youth being exposed to
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Whether it 's lines like 'coppin ' a brick ' (referring to cocaine) or words like 'finna ', 'bando ', and 'trap house ' (both referring to a spot that condones illegal drug pushing), those terms are all starting to become permanent in today 's youth speech. Contrary to the counterargument, these terms and violent actions in lyrics do not influence our youth to go out and do the same, or act a certain way. “If someone was to claim that hip-hop is ‘all about bitches and hoes and money’, then clearly they have educated themselves enough about the genre to know that there are a myriad of different rappers who are lyrical masterminds and don’t fall into those stereotypes. People will say anything instead of educating themselves. (Ladue 1).” Like I stated before, it has nothing to do with the music and all about the type of person you are. Parenting is a big part of it as well. LL Cool J, notable hip-hop star, was quoted saying “The thing that is going to make your child do or feel negative things is a lack of good parenting. Now, if you try to let BET or MTV raise your child, then you are going to have a problem. (Jet 34)” Hip-hop also has the ability to change the meaning of words. For example, though usually used as a hate word or as a means of insult, the hip-hop community has changed the word “nigger” from a detracting term to one of affection. …show more content…
Hip-hop feminists are like other feminists in that they advocate for gender equality. Where they separate from other feminist groups is that they take effect as part of hip-hop culture. As another counterargument, misogyny seems to be a huge problem in hip-hop. Young adults between the ages of 16 and 30 are the most likely age group to consume hip-hop music, and in turn, may become desensitized to the lyrics pertaining to relationship violence. Additionally, the physical abuse of women is prevalent in hip-hop songs promoting setups of masculinity, which raises the obvious question: How do women actively participate in a culture that seems to hate them so passionately? Hip-hop feminists, instead of being forced to participate in an anti-mysogynistic movement of the masses, hope that it will assimilate a women-centric view, where the realities of the hip-hop generation’s women are taken into heavy consideration. Nicki Minaj once told an interviewer, “When I grew up I saw females doing certain things, and I thought I had to do that exactly. The female rappers of my day spoke about sex a lot … and I thought that to have the success they got, I would have to represent the same thing, when in fact I didn’t have to represent the same thing.” Hip-hop feminism is teaching our youth that we all have to take a stand, not just women. It 's teaching our male youth that
Whether it 's lines like 'coppin ' a brick ' (referring to cocaine) or words like 'finna ', 'bando ', and 'trap house ' (both referring to a spot that condones illegal drug pushing), those terms are all starting to become permanent in today 's youth speech. Contrary to the counterargument, these terms and violent actions in lyrics do not influence our youth to go out and do the same, or act a certain way. “If someone was to claim that hip-hop is ‘all about bitches and hoes and money’, then clearly they have educated themselves enough about the genre to know that there are a myriad of different rappers who are lyrical masterminds and don’t fall into those stereotypes. People will say anything instead of educating themselves. (Ladue 1).” Like I stated before, it has nothing to do with the music and all about the type of person you are. Parenting is a big part of it as well. LL Cool J, notable hip-hop star, was quoted saying “The thing that is going to make your child do or feel negative things is a lack of good parenting. Now, if you try to let BET or MTV raise your child, then you are going to have a problem. (Jet 34)” Hip-hop also has the ability to change the meaning of words. For example, though usually used as a hate word or as a means of insult, the hip-hop community has changed the word “nigger” from a detracting term to one of affection. …show more content…
Hip-hop feminists are like other feminists in that they advocate for gender equality. Where they separate from other feminist groups is that they take effect as part of hip-hop culture. As another counterargument, misogyny seems to be a huge problem in hip-hop. Young adults between the ages of 16 and 30 are the most likely age group to consume hip-hop music, and in turn, may become desensitized to the lyrics pertaining to relationship violence. Additionally, the physical abuse of women is prevalent in hip-hop songs promoting setups of masculinity, which raises the obvious question: How do women actively participate in a culture that seems to hate them so passionately? Hip-hop feminists, instead of being forced to participate in an anti-mysogynistic movement of the masses, hope that it will assimilate a women-centric view, where the realities of the hip-hop generation’s women are taken into heavy consideration. Nicki Minaj once told an interviewer, “When I grew up I saw females doing certain things, and I thought I had to do that exactly. The female rappers of my day spoke about sex a lot … and I thought that to have the success they got, I would have to represent the same thing, when in fact I didn’t have to represent the same thing.” Hip-hop feminism is teaching our youth that we all have to take a stand, not just women. It 's teaching our male youth that