Rap music have grown so
much in the culture of hip hop. You can turn to almost any music channel and
hear your favorite rap song. What haven’t changed is the stereotypes and the
labels put on rap music. The genre gangsta rap and is seen as violent and poisonous
to the consumers. “It promotes destruction of community values” (Mcdaniel.) Music is a form of art. The lyrics and the
beat is the artist’s way of expressing themselves. How can someone’s art
destruct a whole community?
“There’s
a preoccupation with the gun because the gun is a central part of the
iconography of the ghetto. Too many young black and brown men view their sense
of strength, and industry and machismo and manhood through the lens-and
sometimes literally through the scope-of a gun.”(Dyson,pg 359). Black men may
see the gun as their strength but it can also be all that they know. In many gansta rap songs there’s a reference
to a gun. Whether they’re talking about carrying it around with them for protection,
or openly talking about shooting and killing their enemies. Gangsta rap started
off with rappers like ice-t, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Easy E. But in this era we
have rappers like Bobby Shmurda. “Everybody catching bullet holes”. That was
the infamous line of summer 2014.Everytime you turned on the radio you heard
bobby shmurda rapping his song ”hot nigga”. A song openly talking about
shooting and killing people. The song got so much commercial success with its
catchy lyrics. And the easy shmoney dance that went along with it. The song
gained so much success that even Beyonce shmoney danced during a performance.
He performed at award shows and concerts. The song spent 15 weeks on billboard’s
top one hundred and the video had over a million views on YouTube (Billboard) On
December 17th,2014 Bobby Shmurda was arrested during a raid and 16
guns were found. “He is being charged with murder,attempted murder,dealing
drugs,weapons possession and a list of other crimes in connection with a long
term investigation into shootings and narcotic dealing in Brooklyn”
(Sullivan,2014)Many were surprised that the catchy violent song they were
jamming too all summer was actually about real life events. Gun violence in rap
music is common. Rappers rap about the things that they have been through and
the harsh neighborhoods they are from. Many began to paint him as a thug and
couldn’t believe that he may be living the lifestyle that he raps about. But
rappers use their music to tell their story. “If there is in fact a culture of violence,
the true parents of rap lyrics is America herself, who financially rewards the glamorization
of behaviors deemed socially unacceptable.” (Richmond,Scott.pg 187(2002))
America has played its role in the commercialization of Bobby Shmurda, They saw
him as brand new artist with a catchy song that they can make money off of.
Saying that rap music promotes gun violence; but rewarding the rappers for
their “violent” music seems like a big contradiction.
Gangsta
rap is seen as the route of all violence for the consumers. Rappers are judged
for promoting violence in their music. A culture cannot be labeled for promoting
violence if the music is a testimony of their lives. Hip hop cannot be fully to
blame for expressing themselves when a society rewards them with millions of dollars
to continue to tell their stories.
Work Cited
Michael
Eric Dyson & Bryon Hurt(2012). “Cover Your Eyes as I describe a Scene so
Violent”; Violence, Machismo ,Sexism, and Homophobia. In Murray Forman &
Marc Anthony Neal. That’s the Joint!(pg.359-369)New York, NY. Routledge
Richardson,
J. W., & Scott, K. A.. (2002). Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny: America's
Culture of Violence in Context. The Journal of Negro Education, 71(3),
175–192. http://doi.org/10.2307/3211235
Dan Rys.(2015,Dec 17). Bobby
Shmurda's Year in Jail: Breaking It Down By the Numbers. Retrieved from http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/6812895/bobby-shmurda-year-in-jail-arrest-bail
Mississippi Senate Tea Party Challenger: 'Hip-Hop' To Blame For Gun
Violence Retrieved from. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mississippi-tea-party-challenger-mcdaniel-blamed-gun-violence-on-hip-hop
Gail.Sullivan
(2014,December,19)
How rapper Bobby Shmurda, charged in murder, drug trafficking sting,
became an alleged gangster. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/19/hip-hops-bobby-shmurda-charged-in-murder-drug-trafficking-sting/
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