Sound has a profound strength in affecting your brain. It's quite amazing how much music can impact and individual by what seems as easy as osmosis. The following video is a small glimpse into how music affects the brain and the individual. From there you can have a better understanding on how racism in music can diffuse into our brains without us realizing it.
Rap Music has often had a negative stigma to it. People describe it as noise or even worse "jungle music". Also it is a genre believed to be run by predominantly black artists. Rap has been attacked by racists since it developed but many are blind to the racism IN the rap music. Instead of promoting a positive image of black culture or African Americans, rappers feed into the stereotypes about the race. Rap music is filled with expletives, misogynist messages, promotions of drug use and high amounts of sex. It is almost like these artists are embracing the racist stereotypes people impose upon their culture. Of course there are exceptions and not every sing artist in rap or hip-hop sends these messages in their music. However most of the music that is popular has almost all of those components to them. Our culture has accepted these stereotypes and actually glorifies them as if they are something to be. Because of so many impressionable people listening and seeing these messages in music and the music videos they feel as though this casual racism is normal and acceptable, even something to act like.
Producers make money selling this image or stigma to the public. And in turn the public fills those producers pockets when they buy the product and feed into the fad.
Popular rapper, Lil Wayne put out a song called "Mrs.Officer". In the song he alludes to the Rodney King beating but he uses it in a sexual way. "And I beat it like a cop. Rodney King baby yeah beat it like a cop." In this case "beat" is a slang for rough sex. Clearly, Lil Wayne is ignoring the significance of the Rodney King beating and uses it almost comically to talk about a sex fantasy he has with a women cop. This song in particular has the components of explicit sexuality, no respect for police and an image of women as pure sex objects.
Producers make money selling this image or stigma to the public. And in turn the public fills those producers pockets when they buy the product and feed into the fad.
Popular rapper, Lil Wayne put out a song called "Mrs.Officer". In the song he alludes to the Rodney King beating but he uses it in a sexual way. "And I beat it like a cop. Rodney King baby yeah beat it like a cop." In this case "beat" is a slang for rough sex. Clearly, Lil Wayne is ignoring the significance of the Rodney King beating and uses it almost comically to talk about a sex fantasy he has with a women cop. This song in particular has the components of explicit sexuality, no respect for police and an image of women as pure sex objects.
"It seems like more people are focusing on the trashiness or the dancing, the clothes. But I, actually, am uncomfortable with the racial aspect of it. I feel like she’s sort of taking a culture that isn’t really hers and sort of using it as an accessory, and that actually bothers me more. I feel like maybe someone needs to go to her and sort of explain the race issue.” - Paramore's Haley Williams
A big name in pop culture right now is Miley Cyrus. A once down-home, country girl made a dramatic change in her appearance and persona. Cyrus has been getting a lot of heat from her sudden involvement with the hip-hop culture. Many critics say that this transition is trashy and that her image is ruined. Parents are even saying they no longer want Cyrus as a role model for their children. Just because Cyrus involved herself with the hip-hop and rap culture some automatically assume she has less decorum than she did before.
At the same time, Cyrus has been exploiting and promoting racial stereotypes in her music and music videos. After her transition she has become a far more promiscuous figure, suggests involvement with drugs and takes on things like "twerking" which is a dance move born in the African American community. Her VMA performance left little to the imagination. First Cyrus only had black backup dancers and would grab their butts, like in the picture above, which speaks to the stereotype that black women have larger rear ends. She also used big dancing teddy bears as almost an insult to innocence, or introduction to her heightened sexuality."The Teddy Bear Fund charity told gossip site TMZ that the former Disney starlet should really have been more mindful where using such classic symbols of innocence and childhood were concerned during her raunchy performance:"
Then she preformed with Robin Thicke, this time she had an even more raunchy performance as she was hardly clothed and extremely sexual to the point where it was explicit. Robin Thicke's song is extremely suggestive and exploits women as just pieces of meat, which can be seen in his music video for the song where women are tramping around him completely naked. Unfortunately, women are affected by these suggestive videos and music. What is demeaning towards women has become a theme in almost all music and then hurts women's self esteem because they are being "told" to act trashy just to get a guy. Maybe not in all songs, but in far too many.
Even after all the backlash, no producer has dropped Miley Cyrus and instead of apologizing for her raunchiness she defends her actions and makes statements like she knew she "was always black", as if the thing to being black are all the racist stereotypes she is promoting. Is just involving oneself in rap music or hip-hop culture even if one never had a similar background racist? Of course not. But promoting negative stereotypes and profiting along with one's producers off of societies numbness to this racism is. These stereotypes have become so glorified because they are prevalent in today's society. What some may consider a "celebration of being African American" is actually a poor representation of black culture. Instead rappers and hip hop artists could rap about a new equality.
At the same time there is a double standard present. Mike Will Made It is the producer that worked with Miley Cyrus. He spoke out about how society views him working with a white woman and a white woman working with him. "For me, my biggest achievement has been working with a white girl—but for a white girl to work and associate with black producers, you're being ratchet."
A big name in pop culture right now is Miley Cyrus. A once down-home, country girl made a dramatic change in her appearance and persona. Cyrus has been getting a lot of heat from her sudden involvement with the hip-hop culture. Many critics say that this transition is trashy and that her image is ruined. Parents are even saying they no longer want Cyrus as a role model for their children. Just because Cyrus involved herself with the hip-hop and rap culture some automatically assume she has less decorum than she did before.
At the same time, Cyrus has been exploiting and promoting racial stereotypes in her music and music videos. After her transition she has become a far more promiscuous figure, suggests involvement with drugs and takes on things like "twerking" which is a dance move born in the African American community. Her VMA performance left little to the imagination. First Cyrus only had black backup dancers and would grab their butts, like in the picture above, which speaks to the stereotype that black women have larger rear ends. She also used big dancing teddy bears as almost an insult to innocence, or introduction to her heightened sexuality."The Teddy Bear Fund charity told gossip site TMZ that the former Disney starlet should really have been more mindful where using such classic symbols of innocence and childhood were concerned during her raunchy performance:"
Then she preformed with Robin Thicke, this time she had an even more raunchy performance as she was hardly clothed and extremely sexual to the point where it was explicit. Robin Thicke's song is extremely suggestive and exploits women as just pieces of meat, which can be seen in his music video for the song where women are tramping around him completely naked. Unfortunately, women are affected by these suggestive videos and music. What is demeaning towards women has become a theme in almost all music and then hurts women's self esteem because they are being "told" to act trashy just to get a guy. Maybe not in all songs, but in far too many.
Even after all the backlash, no producer has dropped Miley Cyrus and instead of apologizing for her raunchiness she defends her actions and makes statements like she knew she "was always black", as if the thing to being black are all the racist stereotypes she is promoting. Is just involving oneself in rap music or hip-hop culture even if one never had a similar background racist? Of course not. But promoting negative stereotypes and profiting along with one's producers off of societies numbness to this racism is. These stereotypes have become so glorified because they are prevalent in today's society. What some may consider a "celebration of being African American" is actually a poor representation of black culture. Instead rappers and hip hop artists could rap about a new equality.
At the same time there is a double standard present. Mike Will Made It is the producer that worked with Miley Cyrus. He spoke out about how society views him working with a white woman and a white woman working with him. "For me, my biggest achievement has been working with a white girl—but for a white girl to work and associate with black producers, you're being ratchet."
People think that the white rappers are the inspirational rappers or the less vulgar rappers but there have been African American rappers who were inspirational. There are vulgar songs which have been made by both white rappers and African American rappers. Dreamin by Young Jeezy and Hey Young World by Slick Rick are both inspirational songs by African Americans. The song Hey Young World has lyrics like, "Hey , little kids don't follow these dopes, here's a rule for the non cool... your life, don't drool, don't be a fool like those that don't go to school, get ahead... and accomplish things, you'll see the wonder and the joy life brings, don't admire thieves... hey they don't admire you." This song is trying to teach the young kids that look up to them to have a future and stay in school, not to follow all they've heard about in other rap songs. At the same time there's been the vulgar songs made by white rappers. The song Kim by Eminem is a perfect example of this. Eminem uses the lyrics, "You can't run from me Kim,it's just us, nobody else, you're only making this harder on yourself, ha-ha, got ya, go ahead, yell, here i'll scream with you, ah, somebody help! Don't you get it bitch, no one can hear you, now shut the fuck up and get what's coming to you, you were supposed to love me, now bleed bitch, bleed!! Bleed bitch, bleed!! Bleed!!" to express how mad he was at his ex wife Kim. He talks about killing her and is demeaning a woman, this shows that a white rapper can also demean woman, not only African American rappers.
Rap music began from disco, Jamaican"Dub", rock, and R&B music. It began from MC's talking over the mic to mix various types of music. It began with a message of the hardships in African American inner-city communities. It opened a new path for African Americans to express their frustration and hope. Along with this new type of music came critics as well, they felt said it was gang and drug related, demeaning to women, and destructed American's values. People will refer to it as "gangster rap." The gangster, drug dealing, violence, was meant to attract wealthy, white, suburban teens. People have began to accept this one-dimensional, negative, form of music.
So after all this you are probably thinking, "Wow, rap music and hip hop is horrible", or maybe you're not. Maybe realized something you didn't already know. And possibly none of this was news to you, in that case, good job for figuring this out on your own. Regardless, a bunch of expletives and sexual references does not make rap and hip hop something big, bad and horrible. And just because someone who one wouldn't expect to be in the hip hop crowd does not make them suddenly a bad person or influence. Where the issue lies is in the exploitation and glorification of negative stereotypes of African Americans. Whether one wants to believe it or not but listening to those messages constantly causes the brain to automatically make assumptions of black individuals. The negative stereotypes become ingrained over time and then making assumptions become second nature. Don't worry though, it's not your fault, being told the same thing over and over again about someone's race makes you believe it. But there is something you can do to STOP this RACISM. Do not buy music that promotes this negative image of black culture. Do not watch the music videos that promote these stereotypes. Do not fund these producers and artists that can not send out a more positive image.
Do Not Be A Product Of Societies Ignorance To Racism In The Music Industry!
Do Not Be A Product Of Societies Ignorance To Racism In The Music Industry!