is rap music changing the way people act?

[Bakiryu]

Lets face it, music has shaped peoples views, and fashions from the beginning of time. I think that some of the older members that listened to the beatles, and the beach boy's, and tried dressing like the beach boys, and beatles, and becoming, in a way the artists. Many people's views were also shaped by musicians, like Bob Dylan, and some musicians who treated drugs, like an heavenly experience, many people tried drugs, and it ended up in death. However with the explosion of Hip Hop, this generations values are changing also. Today in my school, most people listen to Rap. Many of my friends in junior high, never listened to Rap, Hip Hop, or music that was negative in nature. However in high school my friends and many other people started listening to rap, hip hop, and other music. And all of a sudden they started to hate "Pigs" [cops], whenever a police officer came to my school, people would actually give him the middle finger, and all I ever heard was "pig" being said by students. Most students at my school now do some form of drugs, and many try to mirror the "gangsta's" they listen to. I watched one of fifty cents video's, where he depicted police officer's as evil, and as racist "pigs". I watched one of Tupac Shakur's video's, and police officers were portrayed as the evil in society who are against the "black man". Here is one of the most violent songs probably ever written.

[warning, some people may find the language disturbing]


[MC Ren as Court Officer]
Right about now, N.W.A. court is in full effect
Judge Dre presiding
In the case of N.W.A. vs. the Police Department;
prosecuting attourneys are: MC Ren, Ice Cube,
and Eazy-motherf%$kin-E

[Dr. Dre as The Judge]
Order, order, order
Ice Cube, take the motherf$#kin stand
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothin but the truth so help your black ***?

[Ice Cube as Witness]
You god damn right!

[Dr. Dre]
Well won't you tell everybody what the f*&k you gotta say?

[Ice Cube]
F%$k the police comin straight from the underground
A young nigga got it bad cause I'm brown
And not the other color so police think
they have the authority to kill a minority
F*&k that ****, cause I ain't the one
for a punk motherf*&ker with a badge and a gun
to be beatin on, and thrown in jail
We can go toe to toe in the middle of a cell
F^%kin with me cause I'm a teenager
with a little bit of gold and a pager
Searchin my car, lookin for the product
Thinkin every nigga is sellin narcotics
You'd rather see, me in the pen
than me and Lorenzo rollin in a Benz-o
Beat a police out of shape
and when I'm finished, bring the yellow tape
To tape off the scene of the slaughter
Still gettin swoll off bread and water
I don't know if they fags or what
Search a nigga down, and grabbin his nuts
And on the other hand, without a gun they can't get none
But don't let it be a black and a white one
Cause they'll slam ya down to the street top
Black police showin out for the white cop
Ice Cube will swarm
on ANY motherf%$ker in a blue uniform
Just cause I'm from, the CPT
Ounk police are afraid of me!
HUH, a young nigga on the warpath
And when I'm finished, it's gonna be a bloodbath
of cops, dyin in L.A.
Yo Dre, I got somethin to say

{*"F%$k the police" -> cut and scratched 4X*}

Example of scene one

[Cop] Pull your god damn *** over right now
[NWA] Aww ****, now what the f*&k you pullin me over for?
[Cop] Cause I feel like it!
Just sit your *** on the curb and shut the **** up
[NWA] Man, f$#k this ****
[Cop] Aight smartass, I'm takin your black *** to jail!

[Dr. Dre]
MC Ren, will you please give your testimony
to the jury about this f$#ked up incident?

[MC Ren]
F**k the police and Ren said it with authority
because the niggaz on the street is a majority
A gang, is with whoever I'm steppin
and the motherf&^kin weapon is kept in
a stash box, for the so-called law
Wishin Ren was a nigga that they never saw
Lights start flashin behind me
But they're scared of a nigga so they mace me to blind me
But that **** don't work, I just laugh
because it gives em a hint, not to step in my path
For police, I'm sayin, "F*&k you punk!"
Readin my rights and ****, it's all junk
Pullin out a silly club, so you stand
with a fake-assed badge and a gun in your hand
But take off the gun so you can see what's up
And we'll go at it punk, and I'ma **** you up!
Make you think I'ma kick your ***
but drop your gat, and Ren's gonna blast
I'm sneaky as f%$k when it comes to crime
But I'ma smoke 'em now and not next time
Smoke any motherf#@ker that sweats me
or any *******, that threatens me
I'm a sniper with a hell of a scope
Takin out a cop or two, they can't cope with me
The motherf#@kin villian that's mad
With potential, to get bad as ****
So I'ma turn it around
Put in my clip, yo, and this is the sound
{*BOOM, BOOM*} Yeah, somethin like that
but it all depends on the size of the gat
Takin out a police, would make my day
But a nigga like Ren don't give a f%$k to say

{*"F%$k the police" -> cut and scratched 4X*}

[Cop] {*knocking on the door*}
[NWA] Yeah man, what you need?
[Cop] Police, open now
[NWA] Aww ****
[Cop] We have a warrant for Eazy-E's arrest
[Cop] Get down and put your hands up where I can see 'em
(Move motherf#@ker, move now!)
[NWA] What the f$#k did I do, man what did I do?
[Cop] Just shut the f%$k up
and get your motherf&^kin *** on the floor
(You heard the man, shut the f^%k up!)
[NWA] But I didn't do ****
[Cop] Man just shut the f*&k up!

[Dr. Dre]
Eazy-E, won't you step up to the stand
and tell the jury how you feel about this bull****?

[Eazy-E]
I'm tired of the motherf&^kin jackin
Sweatin my gang, while I'm chillin in the shack, and
shinin the light in my face, and for what?
Maybe it's because I kick so much butt
I kick *** -- or maybe cause I blast
on a stupid-assed nigga when I'm playin with the trigger
of any Uzi or an AK
Cause the police always got somethin stupid to say
They put out my picture with silence
Cause my identity by itself causes violence
The E with the criminal behavior
Yeah, I'm a gangsta, but still I got flavor
Without a gun and a badge, what do ya got?
A sucker in a uniform waitin to get shot
by me, or another nigga
And with a gat it don't matter if he's smaller or bigger
(MC Ren: Size ain't sh&t, he's from the old school fool)
And as you all know, E's here to rule
Whenever I'm rollin, keep lookin in the mirror
And ears on cue, yo, so I can hear a
dumb motherf^%$#^ with a gun
And if I'm rollin off the 8, he'll be the one
that I take out, and then get away
While I'm drivin off laughin this is what I'll say

{*"F^%k the police" -> cut and scratched 4X*}

The verdict

[Dre] The jury has found you guilty of bein a redneck,
white bread, chicken**** motherf%^&er
[Cop] But wait, that's a lie! That's a god damn lie!
[Dre] Get him out of here!
[Cop] I want justice!
[Dre] Get him the f%^& out my face!
[Cop] I want justice!
[Dre] Out, RIGHT NOW!
[Cop] F^%K YOU, YOU BLACK MOTHER-F^%KERRRRRRRRRRRRS!

F*** the police! (repeat 3X)

[By the way, I tried my best to censor the swears).

-I would like to know what the people at this forum think of this new Hip Hop craze, and whether or not it is having a positive or negative influence today.

(copied from another forum)

[kratsayra]

I don't know about hip hop as mainstream culture and how kids are responding to it.

But I don't think that hip hop and rap's response to racism in the United States should be disregarded entirely. There are some artists that have done interesting things with it like Saul Williams.

And hip hop and rap artists in France and West Africa have used their work directly to respond to social issues in those places in an open and interesting way. When no one else will talk about things, they will.

[Pensive]

Any form of music that people become obsessed with (or any other thing), influences whatever they do or how they do it.

[Oniw17]

Hip-Hop/rap music isn't negative in nature. You're thinking of most commercial hip-hop/rap.

[Koa]

I'm sure we had this topic several times in the past. Isn't it weird, this has never come up on any of the other forums I visit, while it comes back here like a boomerang :D
(maybe there are just more Americans here so they are more exposed to hip-hop, even if it's been scarily popular in Europe as well in the past years - although a lot of it is imported so most people dont understand that well, while the local version is more linked to the local culture)

[kratsayra]

Any form of music that people become obsessed with (or any other thing), influences whatever they do or how they do it.

Thank you so much for that Pensive. I was trying to think of something similar to say but I couldn't think of the best way to phrase it.

[Shea]

I think I may have a different perspective on this topic Bakiryu, since I've never heard the words to rap and don't really care about them. My problem with this genre is that it causes people to be incredibly inconciderate of others (from my experience).

When I lived with my Ohio parents for 3 years, they lived next door to a 24 hour gas station. My step-dad owned the house long before the gas station was even built, so it wasn't just a poor choice in housing. Living next door to a gas station wasn't so much of a bother really, except when a car would park beneath my bedroom window with the booming base going. It didn't matter what time of the day or night it was. It would be 2am and I'd be woken up with THUMP-THUMP! I'd try to shout down at them to turn it down, but most of the time, they either weren't there, having gone into the store, or they couldn't hear me.

I really could go on ranting about this topic, but just try to imagine living next door to that for 3 years, and I think you can "get it".

[metal134]

Any form of music that people become obsessed with (or any other thing), influences whatever they do or how they do it.
I agree. I think too often, society wants to look for a scapegoat; somthing to blame for why others act a certain way. No one wants to hold those people individually accountable. Some teen blows his head off? Let's not blame him, let's blame Ozzy Osbourne. Some kid flips off a cop and calls him a pig? Let's not blame the kid, let's blame NWA.