Hip-Hop, the downfall of society?

Hip-Hop music has been one of the most overanalyzed and controversial music genres of the past few decades.Hip Hop music originated in the 1970’s in New York City when Jamaican born Clive Campbell better known as DJ Kool Herc arrived in New York City and the Bronx.Campbell integrated the sounds of Reggae, Disco, and Funk with a type of rhythmic chanting that would later be referred to as rapping. From its early days, the Hip Hop movement came under fire and has been an underappreciated genre of music and culture.Hip Hop in its youngest days was a form of music almost exclusively listened to and created by the African-American community. With Blacks at the lower end of the social ladder at this time, it was obvious that Hip Hop music was not going to be immediately accepted into main stream culture.Throughout Hip Hop’s history is has been slowly but surely eating itself from the inside out.Even today’s the Hip Hop culture is under fire by those who see its potential for creating a destructive lifestyle in America’s multicultural youth.The liberating self-expression that an infant hip hop culture provided for a segregated Black community has been diminished.Today much of Hip Hop embodies all that it means to be a destructive society. Primarily during the 1980’s rap music took a darker turn from the upbeat and happy dance sound created by DJ Kool Herc.Hip Hop quickly dropped its newly adored groove to make way for a more “gangsta” sound that spoke of the hard, cruel life offered by the desolate ghetto. Rappers dropped their old lyrics to make way for those that spoke of violence, drugs, and promiscuity.Hip Hop also began to be portrayed as a militant cry against Black persecution that at times could lead to violent acts in real life situations.The majority of those who advocate for the Hip Hop culture speak of its violent nature as retaliation against the years of persecution and the people that forced Blacks into the ghettos in the first place.Others think of it as a political and potentially revolutionary movement that empowers a society that deserves empowerment. What many do not see however is that the act of racism cannot be a “fight fire with fire” situation.By reinforcing all the stereotypes that once hindered Blacks from achieving the rights that they deserved and by teaching young Hip Hop fanatics to live a thuggish hateful lifestyle, rap music retards Black success in mainstream society.Music critics have longed supported Rap as poetry for the streets; a true art form that deserves recognition.In some cases this is true. Many Hip Hop artists speak articulately about the struggles they went through living in poverty and truly understand how to spread the message to create a better life for yourself and those around you.One of these artists being the late Tupac Shakur who despite his occasional hard manner and thug lifestyle, preached a better life for the hurt Black community by shedding light on and warning against the violent drug strewn world many people were falling into. Other artists however end up doing nothing more than propelling an already catastrophic plague of misogynistic and hateful attitudes into further dominance.Music is supposed to inspire. But with the lyrics that appear in today’s rap songs, inspiration is that last thing anyone would want.Lyrics from songs like Jay-Z’s “Is That Yo Bitch” teach young men to treat women as objects to use and then discard as if they were trash. The lyrics are as follows: “I don’t love ’em, I fuck ’em, I don’t chase ’em, I duck ’em. I replace ’em with another one…she be all on my dick.”Another artist that has taught violence to those who listen is former rapper Ice-T with his infamous “Cop Killer.”An excerpt of the lyrics goes like this: “I got my black shirt on, I got my black gloves on, I got my ski mask on…I got my 12-guage sawed-off…I’m about to dust some cops off…I’m ’bout to kill me somethin’…Cop Killer, better you than me, Cop Killer fuck police brutality…Die, die, die pig die, Fuck the police.”It is hard to believe that songs with lyrics such as these could be made to better a culture that has struggled valiantly to overcome such adversity. It is only too obvious that Hip Hop is hurting itself and our fragile U.S. society and can only get worse in years to come.