Does Rap Music Promote Violence in High School? Essay

Music has a myriad of lifestyles with lyrics and pictures that are decoded differently, be it constructively or destructively. Contrary to ancient generations, today's teenagers face digital materials on diverse platforms every day. Every genre of music spurs mixed reactions and emotions to its audience. Recently, rap music has gained a lot of prominence and others have expressed their concerns as to whether it can provoke violence in schools. Rap music can demonstrate hurtful and elegant tales. However, rap music is a manifold genre, which can convey a multiplicity of fantasies. This paper will focus on unraveling the role that rap music plays in furthering violence among teenagers as well as explain how other variables in tandem with music can result in violent behavior in schools.

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Teens like to stay abreast with the latest release to maintain relevance. However, teenagers are usually caught up in the entanglement of life experiences that they do not spare time to assess how the music and its fundamental message influence their thought process (McFerran and Wolfl 5). Teenagers become helpless and have no choice but to internalize the defamatory media that is perpetually fed to them and then exalt it for its eminence. That eminence results in more and more children yearning for validation to switch to this genre of music, irrespective of their will to fit into social class their environment might have and ultimately, emulate a lifestyle that is depicted as aggressive and uncaring, lacking moral compass that is self-destructive.

The nature of videos of rap music can be paradoxical in the sense that on one end, the video upholds substance abuse and the exaltation of intoxicants and misogyny and on the other end illustrating how youths can be more successful and impactful with such kind of lifestyle, therefore, creating a strain in the societal practices and norms. This genre of music is stealing the freedom of choice from our children by enforcing a lifestyle that renders sexual misconduct and belligerence acceptable and makes it almost mandatory for teenagers to behave like a thug and sex objects (McFerran and Wolfl 9).

The lyrics featured in rap music are emotionally profound and usually tell of how one can transition for poverty to riches quickly. Teenagers are normally attracted to the fantasies of abundance, and allure in rap videos. For children in underprivileged neighborhoods, rap lyrics resonate with their prevailing reality and their visions of escape (McFerran and Wolfl 11). Just like other genres of music, rap provides a creative method to relate with peers. Not every rap music incorporate explicit content. However, researchers indicate that the more teenagers dedicate time to watching aggressive and sexual videos in Hip Hop music, the more they are inclined to participate in risky behavior and influence their peers. Rap started in underserved urban communities where there may be poor monitoring of criminal activities. However, economic and social variables are blameworthy in the widespread of violence among teenagers.

Conclusion

Music can be interpreted in a variety of ways particularly, rap music. Constructive or destructive, wrong or right, the implications of these depictions may not be indicative of the actual behaviors of the children who enjoy them. Our children are not entirely culpable when they try to experiment whatever precarious action they watched in their favorite music video, primarily, because it is salient and alluring. Rather than blaming teenagers, it would be worthwhile concentrating on the music landscape that typically upholds lifestyles that praises violence that ultimately makes it acceptable for teenagers.

Works Cited

McFerran, Katrina Skewes, and Andreas Wolfl. "Music, Violence and Music Therapy with Young People in Schools: A Position Paper." Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Vol. 15. No. 2. 2015.