Hip Hop and Americas Youth Essay

Music is a large part of life, it is important to America’s culture and identity. Music can   produce a negative effect on behavior and susceptible audiences, leading to aggressive behavior   in many of American youth. There have been many debates over hip-hop and its influence on the  youth community in America. Some people believe that it has a negative impact while others feel  that it does not account for any change in youth society. I believe that hip hop plays a role in the   destruction of the youth community in the America. How does music and human behavior   correspond? What are the negative and positive effects that hip hop has towards Americas youth   community?  Before I reach into the negative influences I would like to discuss the positive influences hip-hop  has brought to the society. Hip-Hop is among the top 5 most played genres. The oral creativity   the performer uses to generate a certain simile, metaphor, language and rhyme. Hip-hop and   poetry share the same methods that expedite into the youth culture to grow companionship   throughout the audience. Many devotees have agreed critical thinking about the society is   encouraged by hip-hop. Hip-hop is being used as an instructional tool by many instructors to   employ it for teaching grammar, mathematics and the periodic table.  The development of hip-hop started in Bronx New York. The evolution of hip-hop continues to   expand to our present day. It has become a movement and culture that began 30 to 40 years ago.   Kool Herc (DJ) is known as being a founder of hip-hop in 1967 when he made his first gig at his   sisters’ birthday party. Alterations within the culture have taken the originality to a whole new   level with technology taking its jump and commercialism overrunning the music industry.   (Palvic, 2006) The four elements condition (social, economic, cultural and political) reflects the  youth community allowing them to listen in a way they can relate or portray society. The Black   Arts Movements, Black Power, Civil Rights, New Negro Renaissance, Blues and Jazz are all phenomenon’s that can be drawn as similar artistic movements such as hip-hop. Rapping,   graffiti art, break dancing, and disc jockeying are considered to be among the four elements that wrap around hip-hop. Ever since hip-hop appeared in the Bronx, hip hop has incorporated a style  of language, dress and dialect and a way of looking at the world. (Alridge and James, 2005)  The relationship between human behavior and music is strong. Music effects human behavior in many ways and can summon emotions. (Gurney, 1982) There are types of music that   can relax a person, get a person pumped, and eve make a person feel sad. Music can increase   levels of memory as well as increase concentration levels. M usic is subject to bring a straight influence on the behavior of an individual. Studies have proven that music decreases the   accuracy of handwriting and keyboard typing. Nearly over one thousand studies have shown that  violent lyrical music produces a negative behavior in not all but certain children. The average   teens spend 4 to 5 hours daily listening to music or watching it on television. A Swedish study showed that more children that are conducted around violent music are more like to be influenced by their fellow peers than influenced by their parents/guardians. One can estimate that  youths are spending more time listening to music than listening to the guidance of their parents/guardians. More parents/guardians are getting less involved with what their children are listening to. One may believe that these parents/guardians may think that there is no consequence  for their children .This is a result in youths being lead down the wrong path which will eventually stab them later in life. This compilation almost works like the butterfly effect. Its starts out with something small and gradually work its way into something big. Human personality is developed unconsciously in the stages of growth in child hood. What we learn in  Hip Hop and America’s youth community 4  and become accustomed to in our childhood development will insure what we will become in our  adulthood. The concern is not within hip-hop itself but it’s the songs that promote racism, sex, violence, and drug use. These elements are the outlook of the world that hip-hop brings to society. I believe if you can change this outlook you can change the world. Violent hip-hop is just entrainment or gangster stories painted through lyrics like picture movies, simply believe everything a rapper says and sometimes begin to behave the same as well. (Mcwhorter, 2003)Dr. Tricia Rose conducted a research to determine whether violent lyrics,and in the case of music videos, violent images, can cause violent youth behavior. She gathered 5 youth ranging from the ages 5-12. In this experiment the children are the independent variable and hi p hop music being the dependent variable. Dr. Tricia had four computer monitors set up. Each child would watch the music videos with headsets on. Dr. Tricia then would study the behavior the children showed. She concluded from four out of five children were showing signs in change of behavior as the hip hop music was being played. The younger children would follow what they were seeing. The children would raise their hands up and flash gang’s signs up as they saw in the music video. Dr. Tricia proves that the majority of the children that sat and watched the music video were affected by what was being played. Hip hop artist have changed rapidly over the past 30 to 40 years. The culture is now usingdrugs, money, foul language and many other things to get inside the listener’s head. (Mcwhorter, 2003) One may wonder if developing a clean version of hip hop music to be played on the radio is enough. It doesn’t change what the artist is really inferring. The people o f America should not allow their youth community to listen to such music for it will only cause bigger problems in the long run. First off the black youth community in America will not be able grow in the society. The Black community will always looked upon as being a group of uneducated ignorant people. When playing music human behavior is to mimic what they see or hear. One can believe that children will be cursing, having adolescent sex, dressing inappropriately and etc. The hip hop culture has become more inappropriate the past 30 to 40 years. Classic hip-hop is the MC who raps from the heart while enlightens the people with a different way of seeing the world. The term MC is short for master of ceremonies, which was started in 1974(before rap).We’ve noted that many of the youth community in America can have a negative and little positive effect on hip hop music. Music can affect human behavior in psychological ways. Parental guidance is overrun by the amount of hours youths listen to music. Although music is a large part of life, it’s important to America’s culture and identity. The debates over hip hops negative effect on youth will continue unless the culture puts in the effort to change the hip-hop industry. References Alridge, Derrick P., and James B. Stewart. â€Å"Introduction: Hip Hop in History: Past, Present, and Future.† The Journal of African History 90.3 (2005): 190-95. Print. Gurney, Edmund (1982). â€Å"The psychology of music.† Mind, 7(25), 89-100.Print. Mcwhorter, John H. â€Å"How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back.† (n.d.): n. pag. City Journal. The Manhattan Institute, Summer 2003. Web. Feb.-Mar. 2014. . Palvic, E. (2006). Rap, Soul, and the Vortex at 33.3 RPM: Hip-Hop’s Implements and African American Modernisms. Callaloo, 29(3), 956-968.