Essay #2 writing without prescribing

Cairo Montgomery
English 111
Isha Barnoy
Essay 2: writing without prescribing

Is rap music influentialy detrmemtial?

I remember growing up, one of the only things my parents wound never buy me was a CD player. I would ask every Christmas and birthday and get the same answer every time. "We don't want you blocking out everyone and listening to those raps and watching those [music] videos over and over agin." My parents would say. "The devil will be in your head all day!" Irritated I would respond back to them "I dont even plan on listening to the devil, I'll play Snoop dogg instead." They would always criticized the "foul language" in the music I would play and for the longest wouldn't even let me watch music videos. On tv sometimes I would catch on the news a group of women protesting against rap music in front of record stores as they would destroy new copies of Eminem's latest CD. Some with picket signs that had the word "Bitch" crossed out in a circle. Most older people talking about how the music we listened to would destroy our entire generation, and I always wondered to myself how that would even work. Could something as simple as music actually 'destroy' my generation? Perhaps there's something more to it than that.

Rap music is known to be one of those genres of music that you have prepare yourself to listen to before you hear it. It contains lyrical imagery of a life style that includes crime, drugs, violence, and loose sex. A lot of material that would make the average soccer mom shiver, and in my opinion that's a half of the reason why most kids like it so much. On the front of every popular rap CDs there is a parental advisory sticker that brings attention to the fact that this music is reserved for a certain audiance however of course, young kids still seem to gain access to the music. When they do so they often interpret the overall message of a song the wrong way. I believe music its self is a form of artistic expression and sense that's the case the over all message of a simple rap song cant always be understood on your first listen. You might need to fight though the curse words and tough talk to acquire the more important motivational message almost buried in the lyrics. The more you listen to this music the easier it is to decipher the concealed inspirational message. It's extremely easy however to pick up some head phones, hear the catchy hook and jump to most shallow conclusion of what a song is about. This is what most people do although I can't say I blame them. The beats, the catchy hooks, and the overall deliverance of the song can easily distract someone who doesn't listen to rap music often from grasping the desired concept. Much like surrealist art, where if you look at it it my seem random and senseless but there is actually logic to the art peice. Artist are fine with this. At the same time many people take the lyrics and run with it disregarding the intended message. Some fall victim to the allure of rap culture, they worship the persona of these rap artist, idolise their life styles, and adopt the negative habits of their culture and simply because its easy to.

It has been assumed by many people that the influence of the Rap/Hip-hop culture is responsible for the a number of flaws in this country ranging from teen pregnancies, gang violence, school shootings and the list goes on. Some might also refer to situations like Tyler Hadley's,  a 17 year old boy from Florida who was on trial for two murder charges for killing his parents last year. He was reported having beaten them to death with a hammer, then throwing a house party via Facebook invites  while their bodies remained in their bedroom. He was said to have popped three extacy tablets prior to the party. When caught Tyler confessed that rap music and the devil influenced him to do such a malicious act. Many people vaguely familiar with rap music might read a story like this and start to instantly think of ways to disconnect them and their children from such a negatively influenced genre of music. If there are rap songs about killing people, doing extacy, and having parties then surly there must be a connection. I however don't believe it to be that simple. At what point does personal responsibility come into account? Extacy tablets don't just come package inside of rap albums, you have to take it upon yourself to disregard everything you've ever heard about extacy being harmful to you, find who has it and buy it.

Is Tyler Hadley and others like him being influenced by something from more detrimental than their iPods on an everyday basis? Some my think If this was not the case then everyone with a radio would be a manic. Perhaps it isn't what these people are listening to, but rather what they haven't heard that effects them. At the end of the day, I feel as though anyone without a strong moral foundation is liable to be negatively influenced by, well, anything.