Humphrey B

Music critics said rap music wouldn't last. Record companies said it was too harsh and black-oriented. In twenty years, rap music has grown from its street beginnings in Harlem and the South Bronx. It now comprises a dominant media pattern through traditional music medium such as cassettes and CDs, as well as television talk shows and Music Television (MTV). Rappers can be seen in concerts, advertisements, and movies. Rap music has become a popular American culture, so why is it so bad?Rap music started in 1979 with Rapper's Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang. Ever since, it has been criticized, praised, and censored. Rap music can be defined as the style of rhythm-spoken words across a musical terrain (Chuck, 1999). It was originally part of the African American culture, which refers to the man's purpose of winning the sexual affections of a woman (Smitherman, 1997).

Hip-hop emerged from rap music. It is the term for urban-based creativity and expression of culture (Chuck, 1999). It is the backing music for rap, which is often composed of a collage of "samples" from other songs (Farley, 1999). Hip-hop sampling is a way to revisit Black musical tradition. It may sound like imitation, but it is really just reworking earlier music. The sampling of rappers represents an artistic continuity and connection to Black cultural roots (Smitherman 1997). Hip-hop proved its staying power by reaching into and affecting every corner of society. Rap's exemption to geographic and economic boundaries has made it rich. But with the strength that comes from diversity also comes disunity. The Hip-Hop Nation has become like its mother country: widespread with decision. Suddenly too complex to move as one, hip-hop is discovering the dilemma of power.Rap is seen as an icon of resentment to the white status quo. As in any situation where an icon such as rap or hip-hop is attacked, there is always the potential that the attention will grant the music even further symbolic power, and increase the number of listeners.

The music represents black urban youth, but more white teens purchase it. The music may be in white's homes, but the violence is in black's neighborhoods (Chideya, 1997). Rap music energizes kids, but their parents are offended. Parents, along with politicians, have accused the music of being harmful to society and its youth for twenty years. It is believed that the music creates legions of misogynists who pose a danger to women, particularly because rap music depicts rape and other brutality (Binder, 1993).

C. DeLores Tucker has been battling record companies of rap groups since 1993. She is a member of the National Political Congress of Black Women. She has been arrested for blocking access to music stores that sold rappers' albums that contain demeaning lyrics (Dunham, 1995). Rap lyrics tend to have a high frequency of offensive themes and hard swear words, like "fuck" and "shit" (Binder, 1993). In 1995, she focused on gangsta rap lyrics on the Time Warner label. Today's rap lyrics are still being protested for evoking sex and violence. The lyrics include abusing women, dealing drugs, and killing cops. "They're pimping pornography to children for the almighty dollar," says Tucker (Dunham, 1995).The power and promise of rap music rests in the hands of urban environments where black males will be killed by violent crimes, and where black children grow up in poverty. Years of corruption, welfare handouts, institutional racism, and discrimination have created a community where little hope, low self-esteem and frequent failure translate into drugs, teen pregnancy, and gang violence.

Rap music began by expressing the emergence of guns, violence, misogyny, and poverty. Now, it voices its resistance against White America's racism and its Eurocentric cultural dominance (Smitherman, 1997). Some protesters claim that the sole purposes of some songs are to degrade women, celebrate promiscuity, and encourage Black-on-Black violence (Chappell, 1995). The discourse surrounding censorship is rarely based on research about the negative impact of rap music. It is founded primarily on observations of rap's harmful effects on others. Research on the third-person effect suggests that individuals who advocate censorship believe in powerful effects on others but not necessarily on themselves (McLeod, 1997). Many people believe that they are able to resist negative media effects but that others are less capable to do so and must be protected by censorship (McLeod et al., 1997). People do overestimate the effects of media content on others.Rap music is constantly testing the boundaries of commercialism, sexism, and feminism. A growing concern over the music's rudeness for typical boundaries keeps it on the cutting edge. Despite, or maybe because of, the controversies, groups such as 2 Live Crew, NWA, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Salt 'N Pepa, Tone Loc, and Queen Latifah have reached mainstream popularity, and each success urges the rap genre into new directions.2 Live Crew appeared in the public eye in 1986 with their first album, The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are. Their most successful hit, which is now considered tame, was entitled, "Hey, We Want Some Pussy." It sold half a million copies without the backing of a major record company. The Crew's next album took sexual rap to a new level. Move Something sold more than a million copies and included songs like, "Head," "Booty and Cock," and "Me So Horny."One of the groups most publicized when exploring violence is NWA (Niggas with Attitude). NWA consists of five L.A. rappers whose controversial lyrics include topics like gang banging, drive-by shootings, and police confrontations. MTV refused to air their video, "Straight Outta Compton," because they said it praised violence.

Negative images of rap have been dominant in the news. In June 1990, a U.S. District Court judge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida found the 2 Live Crew album As Nasty as They Wanna Be to be obscene in three counties in his jurisdiction (Binder, 1993). Two members of the group were taken into custody when they performed material from the album at an adults-only show in the area (Binder, 1993). In New York, a charity basketball game by rap artists resulted in nine kids being trampled to death. The music of defiant rap groups like NWA has been considered radical and extremist. They made history as the first musical group to receive a warning from the FBI about the negative content of their song "Fuck tha Police," which encourages a lack of respect for the system. Violence has also been reported at movies where rap themes are outstanding, like Boyz 'n the Hood and Menace II Society.In 1996, Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting. Six months