Andrew Tilley

Expository Writing

Ms. Johnson

February 28, 2017

Rap Music Is Not Detrimental To The Behaviors Of Adolescents

Rap music, on its own, does not cause destructive or otherwise negative behaviors in

adolescents and is often falsely blamed for these behaviors as well as being generally thought of

in a more negative light than it belongs. Taste in music is a common scapegoat when

determining the cause of someones behavior. Take, for example, Marilyn Manson, a

quasi-controversial music artist. After the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, many

blamed him and the content of his music for the deaths of several high school students that were

killed in the event. The media and many parents all over the country thought that the lyrics and

content of his music influenced the assailants, even though neither of the shooters listened to

Mansons music (Robinson). In a similar manner, rap is being framed to be the cause of alcohol

and drug abuse in adolescents, as well as sexual deviancy and violent tendencies. As violent

content in rap music increases, having crept from 27% of rap songs containing violent content in

1979 to 60% in 1997, it is important to know what effects this genre of music has on its listeners

(Robinson).

More and more, uncouth behavior is being falsely attributed to being a product of

listening to rap music. However, it is not the musics fault that poor behavior occurs. J. Johnson,

a researcher, found that when teens were shown violent rap music videos, they were more
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tolerant of violent actions, especially towards females (Copley). This displays that it is not the

music that causes the behavior, but the visualized accompaniment. It is worth noting that the

videos chosen to be presented to the test subjects were cherry-picked and should not be used to

formulate a generalized conjecture about the entire genre of rap and the music videos associated

with it. When different test subjects were shown both violent and non-violent rap videos, several

of them, regardless of which type of music video was seen, were more likely to commit crimes

and even display materialistic tendencies, which are tendencies to gain material items through

almost any means. While this is an issue, it proves the point that the music itself is not the source

of the problem. The problem that causes these changes in behavior is derived from the videos

that often accompany the songs.

A large number of people believe that rap music is misogynistic and causes people to

have beliefs of the same principle. This is only true of a small group of people and only when

specific conditions are met. For the music to plant or cultivate misogynistic ideals in peoples

minds, it must contain misogynistic content or violence towards women. This condition is met by

only a small fraction of rap songs. Also, out of the listeners of these songs, an even smaller

fraction will end up sharing the misogynistic ideals present in the music. This makes the

generalization that rap music causes misogynistic principles false. This was shown in a study

conducted by researchers Barongan & Hall in 1995 (Copley). Rap music only has the potential to

cause uncouth behaviors if listeners allow it to do so. This absolves the art form of any

responsibility when determining who is at fault. Listening to rap music on its own has been

proven not to be detrimental through the aforementioned studies and evidence, and it can also

help to alleviate the problems of listeners.

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Rap music is popular among troubled teens and adolescents, and is often blamed for

many of these people's problems. Usually, rap songs are filled with emotion and often try to

appeal to an audience that is troubled with a specific problem. This makes the songs appealing to

people, sometimes young students, who feel like they need advice or perhaps even a retreat.

Several rap songs discuss issues like drug abuse, alcoholism, or the stresses of adolescence.

Because troubled people are the target audience for rap, the genre of music is often associated

with the kind of behavior exhibited by its listeners. However, it is not the musics fault that

people behave this way. This genre is simply attractive to people with poor behavioral

tendencies. The same is true for those with lower grades in school. Several of them turn to rap

for a retreat and, as a result, rap is blamed for their low marks. These results were reached in a

collection of studies performed by J. Tanner as well as Baker & Bor (Copley). It is because of

this that people who believe that rap is not to blame for inappropriate behavior can hold true to

their argument while, at the same time, acknowledging that rap is popular among delinquents and

troubled teens. The negative traits that are associated with rap cause it to have a bad reputation

and it is often judged poorly as a result.

People who are not fans of rap or have not listened to a lot of it may assume certain

characteristics of it based on its conventional image. For instance, they might believe that all rap

songs are misogynistic, violent, and focus on being a high profile person in a gang or group.

However, this is not the case. Varying from artist to artist and from song to song, there are

countless themes that shape rap music as a whole (Searcy). Some rappers focus on creating

music that tackles political issues or social issues. Others choose to tell stories about their

childhood like J. Cole, honor friends or companions that have died, or show off their lyrical
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capabilities, like Eminem. Others choose to do comedic rapping, an example being a fairly new

artist by the name Lil Dicky. The possibilities for expression are truly endless with this type of

art. Some people have a hard time recognizing this fact, especially if the person in question has

never or barely ever listened to rap music. In 1999, researcher Carrie Fried did a study and found

that, when given a violent passage of lyrics, people tended to assume that it was dangerous if told

that it came from a rap song, but were less likely to assume that it was dangerous if, given the

same passage, they were told that it came from a country song. This profiling is a direct result of

the bad reputation that rap music gets and is unfortunate as it bars many from even attempting to

listen to it, whether the barrier be their parent or guardian, or their own discomfort with the

assumed message of the music.

Rap music, in general, does sometimes contain violent or uncouth behavior, both in its

lyrics and in its visual accompaniment. This, however, does not mean that listening to this genre

causes these characteristics in a person, as proven by several studies. Instead, the music videos

tended to be the cause of behavioral changes, not the music itself. Rap is often blamed falsely for

causing this type of behavior because it is more popular among adolescents who have already

expressed delinquent behaviors. Because the genre is more appealing to people with delinquent

tendencies, it is unjustly pegged as the cause of these behaviors. The music, for these students

and other teens, is simply a way to help them emotionally through their troubles. Also, rap gets a

bad wrap because people who have not listened to much or any of the music assume that the

entire genre contains certain characteristics that they may be wary of. These include

presumptions that all rap music contains misogyny and violence, promotes drug and alcohol use,

and makes teens more likely to commit violent crimes. These stereotypes are precisely the thing
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that keeps people from listening to rap music or allowing their children to listen to it. Succinctly,

rap music is unharmful to teenagers and, because of its negative stigma in todays world and

what is associated with rap today, it is underrated as a form of expression and aid to people who

suffer from the issues discussed in the medium.