Rap And Its Effects
Rap started off as a fun way to release stress and relax long ago mainly in the form of free styling, (a streamed form of conscious improvised flowing) a.k.a "off the dome," graffiti, beat boxing, djing and scratching, and poetry. Since the beginning, rap has mainly discussed hardships and joys with what's happening around the rapper's community and life. Lyrics were very explicit since most mainstream rappers in the early days spoke of gangs, sex and women, drugs, violence, money, and trying to "live the life". The explicit lyrical content of most rap songs is the reason it hasn't flourished into a wide-spread genre fully embraced by society. Harsh words degrading females and promoting drugs and violence aren't things our parents want to here. The people that listen to rap music usually come from the same background as the people that rap, however this is not always the case. For instance, Tupac. 
He came from California and promoted peace and happiness through his lyrics that talked about his life struggles and what was wrong with the world we live in such as racism and social injustices which he based on the hardships of growing up and having to deal with violence and life in inner cities. Most of his original following were the people that grew up around him that he influenced as a young man in Californian streets who had similar problems that listened as coping methods and to relieve tension. But after acknowledgement and popularity struck he was a worldwide phenomenon. After his promotion, Tupac’s following became multicultural because of the deep meanings fans could relate to in his songs and the sound and flow he rapped to over his beats. Tupac along with hundreds of rappers paved the way to the rap game and influenced its audience.
Another thing rap has done to society is change the image of the American Dream to pursue the wrong goals. The American Dream used to be to own a nice house in a nice neighborhood with a fence, lawn, two kids, spouse, nice neighbors and friends, and enough money to live adequately. With the excess of jewelry (a.k.a bling), drugs, houses, clothes, shoes, and impulse purchases, the life of a rapper is highly desirable. Therefore, the rapper attracts audiences and crowds and performs better with more popularity birthing a star and influential figure that many rely on to cope with how the roller coaster of life is moving. Depending on what this figure does and how easily influenced the particular fan is, he or she indirectly influences his or her fan base to think almost everything that the rapper does is acceptable and something they should be doing too.
Rap has continued to influence the youth of the nation. A study was done in which 700 15 year-olds listened to rap music that was sexually degrading for a period of time. After listening they were asked about their opinions and all of them respectively had a degraded image of sex in their mind. Drugs, another huge topic in rap and hip-hop music has also influenced many teens around the world. An increase in the use of drugs by teens can be correlated to rap through the lyrics again. Rappers talk about many types of drugs they have used or sold and gotten high on sparking curiosity in teens that don't know about them and want to experiment.
Rap has influenced society greatly both negatively and positively but the point is that in order for rap to continue and maintain a healthy relationship with society it needs to “pull a Jenny Craig” and slim down its references to very hardcore and demeaning things such as cocaine and other strong illicit drugs. In order for the integration of hip-hop to the adult-world to be bright, new stars need to emerge and promote good causes and influence society in the right direction and put out some sick tracks. I’m not saying that rappers should instantly change and be goody two-shoes though. They got where they are by doing what they did, and they shouldn’t have to change who they are just for the promotion of a better society however, with the large crowds of young kids they are influencing I believe that it would be in the best interest of America.
Today mostly all of mainstream rap is about comparing lifestyles of the rich and famous to those of the Average Joe, talking about who they had sex with and/or how they did it, and how good they are. This style is very appealing to those who want to be like the rappers, rich, famous, and banging really hot chicks. However, it does not appeal to other crowds such as older audiences. People need to be able to relate to the music, and the fact that rap is mostly affiliated with gangbanging, drugs, violence, and money is the reason it is an underappreciated music genre. This is where alternative rap comes in.
Artists with songs that depict everyday life scenarios and beautiful subject matter such as Mackelmore and Sage Francis in their songs Macklemore’s – The End (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Pqrmid42E) and Sage Francis’ – Best of Times (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA8hzUDXvtk&ob=av2e) are more appealing to older crowds because their lyrics are very easy to relate too. If more songs and artists like this got widespread attention instead of the Young Money artists, G.O.O.D music record label, Bad Boy Records, and Interscope Records, etc. that only talk about living fast dying young and having as much fun as you can in the moment while promoting drugs and sex that demeans women; the industry would be flourishing.
Again, I’m not hating on those rappers who promote the things I listed above, I’m simply saying that it would be in the best interest for record labels to be signing alternative artists because this would increase the amount of listeners. As a rapper myself, I believe that freedom of expression is the greatest thing, however, it is important for society to keep its morals so that the easily influenced youth don’t turn to the wrong things and become a failed generation.
References:
Youtube.com (videos)
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur (picture of Tupac and minor information on him)
