Is Rap Music Responsible For Violence In Urban Communities?

This is a topic that has caused ruffles in rap for years. People have been asking: What is gangsta rap? Where did it come from? Does it bring negativity to urban communities? in this article i will be addressing the questions and hopefully by the end of it you will have a better understanding of this sub-genre of rap music.

.

Hip Hop started out as a way to express the hardship that was going on in urban communities. The first commercially released rap song documented was “King Tim 3” From a funk group called “The Fatback Band”. But the most known and most popular rap song that the world is familiar with was released a couple of months after, and it was called “Rappers Delight” from a group called Grand Master Flash and The Furious Five. The hip hop song displayed lyrical content, and was very light “hearted” in mood and tone.

.

In 1982 Grand Master Flash and The Furious Five released their most influential and prominent album called “The message.” Which featured their smash single by the same name “The Message”. The song addressed the harsh conditions of the ghettos that they and many black people living in these ghettos around the world grew up in. The song was a driving force behind what we now call conscious rap music.

.

In the mid 1980’s a sub-genre of hip hop emerged called “Gangsta Rap.” If we look at the Genesis of “gangsta rap” the two initial rappers who received the title as gangsta rappers creators.

.

The first is Schoolly D from Philadelphia (East Coast) and a few years after was Ice-T (West Coast). Schoolly D without a doubt is the creator of what we call Gangsta Rap. In 1984 he released a single called “Gangsta Boogie”. In it he rapped about guns, drugs, sex, violence and other elements of gangster activity. He was actually the first to do so.

.

In 1986 west coast rapper Ice-T followed pursuit on the gangsta rap vibe by creating a single called “6 In The Morning”. He has mentioned several times in interviews that it was his attempt to make an adaptation of Schoolly D’s gangsta rap single “P.S.K. What Does It Mean?”.  Ice-T released that single in 1986, but an east coast rapper by the name of Just-Ice also released a single in the same year called “Gangster of Hip-Hop”.

.

.

On the east coast Cool G. became more popular using the gangster style of rapping. And on the west coast after the national attention that Ice-T and N.W.A attracted in the late 1980s and early 1990s, gangsta rap became the most commercially lucrative sub-genre of hip hop. As we all know “gangsta rap” is filled with lyrics of crime, violence, and the question is always posed “Does gangsta/street rap influence urban communities to act violently towards one another?”

.

The answer to that question is that these types of records have a direct influence on different communities in different manners. For some individuals living in lower income and violent areas, it’s easy to relate to the lyrics of the songs as that is what they see on a daily basis.

.

If you come from the same place, have experienced some of the same events or have witnessed them, then it speaks to you and these rappers become a voice for you. This is what the song “The Message”  achieved. It addressed the ills of the ghetto and those living there felt proud they had a voice speaking for them.

.

The negative side is that you have people within those same communities who have never lived the gangster life, but chose to use it as a way to boost their self esteem and/or ego. If a rapper talks about drug dealing or guns, someone who may be ignorant to that, or not have a full understanding of that life style may do it so their peers will look at them with admiration.

.

It produces both kinds, people who respect it and understand it, and those who try to use it or exploit for their own personal gain whatever that may be. The Youth of today are very impressionable and if they hear their favorite rapper saying he/she made it out of the ghetto by killing people and selling drugs, there is a good chance that they will mimic that same type of behavior in order to get out of the ghetto as well.

.

For better or worse “Gangsta Rap” will never leave rap music. The reason being is that violence is an aspect that is prevalent in everyday life in a myriad of ways, and rap very well may be the music that most closely depicts life; so they go hand in hand. Unless violence, drug dealing, and crimes cease to exist – which is highly unlikely – these topics will always be a part of rap music.

.

It parallel’s drug dealers and drug users for the lack of a better example, as long as there are dope fiends, there will always be someone to sell them drugs. If there’s violence or crime, there will always be someone to speak about how it negatively impacts society.

.

Presently, the issues at hand will always take a back seat to the fad of the moment, until the emphasis of rap music is put back on the lyrics and subject matter whether it is gangsta rap or not.

.