Music?

Through out the past few years certain genres of music have been considered derogitory. One that has especially gained the spotlight for its use of not only violent but sexual lyrics is rap. Rap actually falls under the Hip Hop genre. Rapping began in the late 1970's but its popularity has grown tremendously over the years. It was considered part of the "hip hop scene" which included not only rap but break dancing, graffiti artists, and DJ or MCs. It began in the streets of New York City but it is not spread through out the entire world. A new style of rap came about in the 1990's and became popular quite fast, it was known as gangsta rap. This style mainly gained the ears of teenagers. Many people believe it was due to the amount of profanity and violence mentioned within its lyrics. Within the past two decades many public figures have spoke out against rap, majority of them mentioning that the lyrics, whether they mention killing a cop or raping a girl, influence children.

Bill O'Reilly, amoung the other public figures, made a very persuasive arguement with a rapper by the name of P-Diddy (Sean Combs) in his book The No Spin Zone. To get an idea of the debate between the two here is a little excerpt.

"Combs: ......We had to sing our problems away and we had to sing to help get things better. And right now that's the way a rap song may feel to an inner-city kid who has to deal with being trapped in a bad situation.
O'Reilly: But do you go too far with the cop-killing lyrics and the bitch stuff?"

O'Reilly's opinion is clear in his book. Through out the entire chapter he repeatedly mentions all of the bad situations that rappers have gotten themselves into. Based off all of his statements you could infer that he does not agree that rap helps people deal with their problems, but on the contrary it creates more problems by making people act out in a violent matter.

While O'Reilly is welcome to his opinion there is a complete different side to this arguement. Many people believe that rap is a good source for problems. Some even believe that listening can help remove your mind from reality and just get away from all your problems for awhile. Obviously, P-Diddy is on this side of the arguement. He believes that his music helps teenagers avoid violence in many ways. One way would be the teenager listening to his music and realizing that someone relates.

I personally do not completely agree with either side. I agree with Bill O'Reilly in the aspect of some artists going to far with their profanity. I believe there is no point in me listening to a song if every other word is a curse word and there is no message within the song. I also agree with P-Diddy in the aspect of there are other things that Bill O'Reilly does not know or maybe even understand. It is hard to take a side when the positives and negatives of the situation cancel one another out.

Which do you agree with?






http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/rap-music-history-and-facts-revealed-582481.html

http://www.ez-tracks.com/Hip_Hop/hip_hop_music_history.html