They Claim that I’m violent, just cause I refuse to be silent

The other day in class the question was asked, “Do you believe that the lyrics generally found in rap music are more violent than other types of music? Why or why not?”  My response to the question is that it really depended on the type of rap music someone listens to.  As examples I cited old school rap/ hip-hop groups like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest whose lyrical content is mostly about social criticism and a response to music of the time and the direction that they themselves were taking.  Generally the lyrical content was not violent and the groups may have written a few songs about violent incidents or referenced some violent stuff but never explicitly stated that they committed any violent actions (at least not to my knowledge).  Also the lyrics tended to be a bit more colorful and metaphorical rather than literal. 

EX. The Magic Number-De La Soul

Difficult preaching is Posdnuos' pleasure 
Pleasure and preaching starts in the heart 
Something that stimulates the music in my measure 
Measure in my music, raised in three parts 
Casually see but don't do like the Soul 
'Cause seein' and doin' are actions for monkeys 
Doin' hip hop hustle, no rock and roll 
Unless your name's Brewster, 'cause Brewster's a Punky 
Parents let go 'cause there's magic in the air 
Criticizing rap shows you're out of order 
Stop look and listen to the phrasin' Fred Astaires 
And don't get offended while Mase do-se-do's your daughter 
A tri-camera rolls since our music's now set 
Fly rhymes are stored on a D.A.I.S.Y. production 
It stands for "Da Inner Sound Y'all" and y'all can bet 
That the action's not a trick, but showing the function

Now if someone were to listen to gangster-rapppers like Tupac, Ice-T, or Biggie they would find the lyrical styles to be very different and feature more violence.  Many times however the things these guys were rapping about was also social criticism, and about growing up in an environment where violence was prominent as well as poverty but they used the language that was at times much more literal and in general violent.  There is a ton of context to those songs as well as figurative language and someone often needs to read between the lines in order to fully understand and appreciate the lyrics.  On the surface however many rap songs can come off as violent, and definatly not something that parents would want their children listening to.  I’m not suggesting in any way that Tupac was less poetic or any less of a musician because of the content of his lyrics but anyone can see that his word choice can lead to misinterpretation and even just rapping about killing people, and fighting or being in love with his gun can be seen as violent especially since gangster-rap as a style is very aggressive.

EX. Me and My Girlfriend- Tupac

Look for me
Lost in the whirlwind, ninety-six, Bonnie and Clyde
Me and my girlfriend, do one-eighty-five when we ride
Trapped in this world of sin, born as a ghetto child
Raised in this whirlwind (c'mon)
Our childhood years recall the tears heart laced with venom
Smokin sherm, drinkin malt liquor, father forgive her
Me and my girlfriend, hustlin, fell in love with the struggle
Hands on the steering wheel, blush, while she bail out bustin
Fuck em all, watch em fall screamin, automatic gunfire
Exorcisin all demons
Mafias on the side, my congregation high, ready to die
We bail out to take the jail back, niggaz united
Our first date, couldn't wait to see you naked
Touch you in every secret place, I can hardly wait
To bust freely, got you red hot, you so happy to see me
Make the frontpage primetime live on TV
Nigga my girlfriend, baby forty-five but she still live
One shot make a nigga's heartbeat stop

 In the, “Who’s afraid of Rap” article it was discussed that rap tends to be the victim of subtle racism because of certain biases and expectations about the music.  Violence however is just one of many themes in any sub-genre of rap but they also talk about other things such as love, poverty, growing-up, gaining wealth, achieving fame, drugs, etc, etc.  The same can be said about almost all types of music from heavy metal to country to even classical music.  Many operas had murders, and wars but they were not interpreted as violent because that is not how they are initially portrayed.  Epic poems like the Iliad are also incredibly violent and feature content that is at times more brutal than any rap song.  But those types of poems are considered historical classics, whereas rap is more contemporary and is at the mercy of our modern media.

Rap has however become a mainstream form of entertainment and it became that way because of the controversy surrounding the violence in the music.  Rappers like Eminem, and 50 cent came up because they had violent history and would talk about it in their music.  It wasn’t the only thing they talked about but the media zeroed in on those aspects of the music and popularized them.  Violence in rap music has been sensationalized because it’s controversial and it tends to increase viewership and profits.  In the minds of many Americans rap equals violence because of the way the genre has been framed for the past 20-30 years.  It’s not totally accurate but there is some truth to it.