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How does rap and hip-hop music impact the

Professor Baran
COM 260
12/9/19
Group 2: Alexa Silva, Olivia Boyce, & Daniel Daley
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The focus of our research was on the influence that rap and hip-hop music have on the

identities of young teens through the medium of music. Throughout our research, we found that

there are 4 major criteria that impacts our demographic of young teens when any of them are

presented in music. We chose to make our demographic, young teens, broad because

realistically, music can have an impact on anybody. We will explain our findings on the impact

of this criteria in our content analysis, which includes violence, drugs, sexual objectification, and

product placement in rap and hip-hop music. Initially, we began researching popular songs and

artists that use this criteria in song lyrics and music videos. After further research, we found that

this criteria is more present in rap and hip-hop music than any other genre, which are also the top

genres consumed in the U.S. Therefore, we chose to shift the focus of our research to how the

presence of this criteria in rap and hip-hop music affects teens while finding examples of artists

and songs to prove this.

According to our findings from our research process, there is a correlation between

listening to rap and hip-hop music and the influence it has on the perspectives and behaviors of

adolescents. “Listening to music is the number one rated leisure-time activity for American

Some music genres contain more references to substance use and social defiance than do other

genres” (Chen 2016). Rap music is also known for glorifying and encouraging drinking alcohol,

using drugs, and violence more than other music genres. “A closer look at some features of rap

music is warranted. Rap music is the predominant musical genre of hip hop culture” (Chen,

2016). When teenagers are consistently exposed to rap and hip-hop song lyrics and music videos,

they may develop disrespectful and incorrect beliefs and stereotypes.

According to a 2003 study on over 600 eighth and ninth graders from public and private

schools in Minnesota, students reported spending almost 21 hours each week listening to music
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(Roberts, 2003). The amount of time listening to music increases with age so this is a pattern that

can be seen throughout larger ranges of age. The purpose of listening to music is different for

everyone as music promotes extreme experiences to its consumers. These experiences include

celebrations, break-ups, vulnerable periods of time, and emotion. Research shows that males use

music differently than women as they use it to increase their energy and stimulation. Females are

more likely to listen to music to lighten their mood when they’re feeling sad or lonely. The way

listeners respond to music is different, too, as their social, psychological, and physical responses

have an impact on how they use music and the meaning they make from it (Roberts, 2003). The

risk factor of this approach is that because young teens and children who are at risk of violence

or suicide may have an increase in risk when listening to music that shares similar feelings.

However, music with these themes most likely only have a small, short term effect on children

without previous risk factors. There could likely be long term effects, but there is not enough

research to prove this.

A 2017 report from Nielsen Music helps to further explain why we chose rap and hip-hop

music over other genres as the topic of our research as it found that “R&B and hip-hop music

account for 25.1% of all music consumption in the United States while rock music accounts for

23%” (MacIntyre, 2017). This report also notes that rock music was previously the most popular

genre, but with an increase in music streaming, rap and hip-hop music has taken the lead. Both of

these genres also “account for 29% of on-demand streams in the US” (MacIntyre, 2017). The

launch of Jay Z’s streaming service in 2014, Tidal, may also be responsible for the increase in

streaming these genres because it has exclusive content. “At least seven of the top 10 most

popular songs on streaming platforms in 2017 fit squarely into the hip-hop field, while another,

Bruno Mars' "That's What I Like," blends pop and R&B” (MacIntyre, 2017). As fans of the
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biggest hip-hop and R&B artists continue to play newly-released singles and albums, the amount

of songs streamed in the U.S. will continue to increase. Hence, putting those music genres ahead

of others more and more.

Product placement has been present in music videos since the 80s as marketers have

continuously been using music to advertise for their brands. It is considered a powerful way to

manage consumer’s perceptions of brands. According to a study on how brands and their

messages are presented in hip-hop music and videos in 2014, this use of product placement in

music videos is not a conventional way of advertising because it tries to secretly sway consumers

through pop culture (Burkhalter, 2104). The reason why this is unconventional is because

socially consumed products, so products advertised in music videos and song lyrics, allow

individuals to express themselves and show what they personally like. The issue with this is that

‘bandwagon fans’ are real, meaning that an individual will feel influenced to purchase specific

brands or products that their favorite music artists associate themselves with. This is why it is

important for children to be educated on media literacy because it is not necessary to abide with

every behavior their idolized music artist may do.

Product placement is so prevalent in rap and hip-hop music because these genres

combined have created their own culture. This culture lets artists influence what happens within

this culture, which makes their association with big brands much more impactful. Based on the

study, 90% of hip-hop music videos reference brands. Furthermore, a study from 2014 showed

that over 93% of hip-hop videos referenced brands or products “varying in prominence, prestige

and consumption” (Burkhalter, 2014). The use of prominence is important because “it is an

indicator of the product’s position as the central focus of the audience’s attention” (Burkhalter,

2014). An example of this would be a music artist drinking from a soda can versus the soda can
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sitting on a table in the background. “This variable has been discussed based on

foreground/background, number of mentions and duration – a measure of how long, or often, the

brand is referenced at each portrayal throughout the program (ie: soda can shown once for 10

seconds vs. once for 3 seconds vs. several times for 3 seconds at a time).” For music videos,

placement prominence has shown to positively impact consumers' memory of the products.

Targets may be reached by artists being associated with brands visually, verbally, or audiovisual

placements. The use of verbal and visual ‘codes’ increases the chance that an item will be

recalled because “the response can be retrieved from multiple codes”.

Luxury brands are commonly mentioned in song lyrics or heavily displayed in music

videos. For example, DJ Khaled’s music video for No Brainer in 2018 featured 6 brands

including Belaire, Kandypens, Bumbu, Ciroc, Fashion Nova. and D&G. Post Malone’s music

video from 2015 for White Iverson is also a good example because it shows a Rolls Royce and

Mercedes-Benz (Malik, 2019). It is also important to note that some artists do mention or display

brands that are more common for consumers. An example of this is Nirvana’s music video from

1991 for Smells Like Teen Spirit because it shows Converse from the beginning. The 80s hip-

hop group Run-DMC’s Walk This Way music video from 1985 is also an example because the

group members wore Adidas Trainers throughout (Malik, 2019).

Since brand placement draws younger consumers in, parents need to teach their children

that it is not necessary to like or purchase specific brands or products because their favorite

music artist does. While socially consumed products can allow individuals to show who they are,

they may also make purchasing decisions based off of brands that their favorite music artist is

associated with. In other words, they will join the bandwagon! This is why it is important for
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young teens to be reminded that their favorite artists are paid usually to promote these products

or brands whether they actually like them or not.

Many popular rap and hip-hop artists have expressed their personal experiences and

struggles with drugs, drinking and abusing medications in hopes of helping others and

encouraging fans who are struggling with using these substances to abstain from these negative

behaviors. “Listening to rap music was significantly and positively associated with alcohol use,

problematic alcohol use, illicit drug use, and aggressive behaviors when all other variables were

controlled” (Chen, 2016). The rapper Lil Xan, whose real name is Nicholas Diego Leanos,

created this rapper name for himself because he struggled with a Xanax and pill addiction. In

many of his songs, he talks about his experiences with using drugs. He uses the name, Lil Xan, to

keep him feeling inspired and to help him continue to overcome his battle with addiction.

Another rap artist Gustav Elijah Ahr, who went by Lil Peep, also consistently mentions using

pills, drugs, alcohol, marijuana and cocaine. Unfortunately, his music showed the dark side of

these addictions as he passed away in 2017.

Having constant exposure to these negative and dangerous lifestyles makes it seem as

though these behaviors are okay for children, adolescents and teenagers to engage in. Rap music

has created an environment where teenagers think it is deemed acceptable to engage in risky

behaviors because that is the type of behavior that rap lyrics contain. Many children look up to

these celebrities and artists and want to be like them, so when they hear about all of these

negative behaviors, they will think that doing drugs, drinking and smoking is okay. It is

important for children to be educated in media literacy in order to avoid thinking that engaging in

risky, illegal behaviors because they hear it in songs is normal and acceptable. This type of

behavior in rap music can also “communicate to women that if they engage in substance use they
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will be hot, sexy, and both admired and desired by men” (Szymanski 2011). It is sad that this

type of music can tell a woman her place in the world.

The use of drugs is a prevalent topic in rap music as rappers glorify it which then

influences listeners to think this behavior is normal or to try those drugs. Rap wasn’t always

saturated with drug references. Only 11 percent of rap songs from 1979–1984 contained any

references to drugs. The references then jumped to 19 percent in the late 80s. Rap was

considered “party music back then, but then switched to talking about more serious topics. They

would talk about the problems of the ghetto, or the African American experience. GrandThe

song didn’t glorify drug use, but discussed it in horrifying ways. Due to the influence of those

songs, rap groups like Public Enemy in the late 1980s and early 1990s came out in a socially

conscious way. They were against drugs, saying that they damaged too many lives of African

Americans.

However, many other groups including N.W.A, had a more aggressive approach to rap.

They promoted a “gangsta” lifestyle which influenced what they rapped about. They were also

one of the first rap groups to glorify drug use. In the early 90s, there was a drug epidemic

spreading. While the federal government tried to fight against it, the fights were usually

ineffective. Also,drug references in rap became more and more frequent, so more people were

influenced to use drugs and a result.

As a result of cultural changes, a whopping 69 percent of all rap songs by 1993

mentioned drugs in one way or another. While many of these references were negative or

condemning drug use, many were not. In fact, the same study mentioned above stated that about

77 percent of all rap songs between 2005-2008 contained references to substance use, whether

positive or negative. All of this built up to where we are now; In a culture where glorifying drugs
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is normal. This is troubling to hear because adolescents are exposed to this music every day.“The

average adolescent listened to 21.8 hours of rap a week and they heard about 40 references of

marijuana a day”(Primack 2018). With that many references to drugs in music, a lot of people

are desensitized to what the lyrics are actually saying about using drugs. Adolescent listeners are

most likely to abuse drugs after hearing song lyrics related to chemical dependency. These

findings indicate "a shift from cautionary songs, such as those that emphasized the dangers of

cocaine and crack, to songs that glorify the use of marijuana and other drugs as part of a

desirable hip-hop lifestyle," Herd said. "This is alarming, because young children are exposed to

these messages. I don't think this is a story we as a society want them to absorb."(Herd 2018)

Many children see rappers as role models and if they are mentioning many drugs in their

rap, they will see it as something cool to do. Something that they should do because their favorite

artist does it a lot of the children being introduced to drugs heard about it in music first. Journal

of Ethnicity in Substance did a study with people that took molly. 82 percent of people in the

study said that music was their key influence to use molly.
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It is no surprise that music has become more aggressive over time as studies suggest there

is a connection between the types of music teens listen to and troublesome attitudes and

behaviors. For example, listening to violent song lyrics is associated with teens having increasing

aggressive thoughts. Rap artist Eminem and female artist Rihanna have a hit song, Love The

Way You Lie, that shows themes of domestic violence in an abusive relationship throughout the

music video. Violence in song lyrics does not have as strong of an affect in young teens as

violence on TV. While there are not many studies that show violent lyrics being closely

correlated to an increase in aggressive feelings, they are typically short term effects. The issue

with violence in music stems from the growing presence of more visual and violent media. This

growth makes music videos much more powerful than violence in song lyrics. This is because

lyrics can be difficult to understand compared to when watching a music video, the meaning of

the words are more easily understood. Seeing violence displayed in music videos can make

viewers feel less happy, the more anxious and aggressive, antagonistic towards women, and

more accepting of violence.

Rap music appears as extremely violent when it is compared to country-western music,

popular rock, and other genres of music. The commodification of rap has allowed large

paychecks and platinum records to erase the historical, social, and economic truths of how rap

music originated in the first place. This is because rap is derived from a culture that has been

seeped in the fight against political, social, and economic oppression throughout history.

Therefore, this has greatly influenced the culture of rap and hip-hop music genres that has been

created today. “In the last decade, hip-hop music has followed the path of commercialization that

destroyed African-American radio stations in the 1970s.” (Blanchard, 1999). Many popular
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music artists rap about fighting, guns, drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence. This in turn is a

reflection of the struggles, hardships, actions and daily lives that these people have experienced.

Many people do not know that rap music was derived from a time of racial inequality,

and was created to get the word out of how their lives were affected. For many children that live

in these poor areas, guns play a major role in gangster rapper lyrics. For many low-income

minorities who are unfortunately faced with poverty, police brutality, drug abuse, and

educational inequality. “While rappers struggle to "keep it real"-a term which reminds those

inside hip-hop to be true to their roots-some admit that many rappers do as their record labels

wish-simply, they write lyrics that sell”. (Blanchard, 1999). In order to express their feelings and

discontent with their environment they have used rap as an outlet and a form of expression to

appropriately display their feelings of dissatisfaction. This shows a way to empower oneself and

gain respect within continuing cycles of racial and economic prejudice. “America's most recent

census reported that African-American youth are the most likely group in the nation to live in

poor households and neighborhoods, to be unemployed, to be the victims of homicide or AIDS,

or to spend time in prison at some point in their lifetimes.” (Blanchard, 1999). Overall, rap lyrics

often celebrate negative themes of violence, misogyny and materialism. Adolescents often have

associated this with being a true reality.

While violence is very prevalent in rap music, pop music also references violence but the

sound of the songs themselves makes it less noticeable. For example, the best-selling pop songs

contain violent images. According to the article, “99.5 percent of the pop hits they analyzed (198

in total) referred to violent acts. That's slightly higher than the 94.7 percent of hip-hop numbers

to feature such language, and far greater than the percentage of any other genre”. This study also
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found that while rap and hip-hop continue to take the lead in promoting, violence, cursing, and

misogyny, pop music also promotes violence at almost the same level.

Throughout mass media there is sexual objectification of women’s bodies throughout

almost all forms of mass media, and is basically unavoidable. This issue is especially prevalent

in rap and hip-hop music lyrics. The most active consumers that this affects are young teenagers

and adolescents. In today’s culture, due to these music lyrics have constructed a reality that the

sexualization of women is something that is seen as the norm and overall is culturally condoned

in society. This creates an environment where people are being told to constantly judge and ‘rate’

other women’s bodies. It has been researched and studied that this self-objectification manifests

in a greater emphasis placed on how one’s appearance attributes, rather than other qualities are

viewed and how frequently a woman watches her appearance. This has been quite problematic

for women because it poses many mental health risks and negative psychological experiences.

This ranges from developing an eating disorder or battling mental health illnesses such as

depression and anxiety.

It has been revealed that women are depicted more often than men in sexualizing and

objectified manner. This includes wearing revealing and provocative and little clothing, clothing

that hypersexualizes young females and clothing that is portrayed in ways that emphasize their

body parts and sexual behavior. In addition, women portrayed in the media are frequently the

target of men’s sexist comments. Women are constant targets for use of degrading and

deprecating words to describe women. Evidence of this theory “of women can be found

practically everywhere, from the media, to women’s interpersonal experiences, to specific

environments and subcultures within U.S. culture where the sexualization of women is cultivated

and culturally condoned” (Szymanski 2011). Throughout rap and hip-hop music genres, there
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has been a large emphasis placed upon a woman's physical appearance, this created unrealistic

standards to uphold.

Objectification of women occurs when you focus less on someone’s personality and more

on their physical features. Rappers do this a lot in their songs. Rap music places female roles in

positions of objectification, sexual exploitation, and moral degradation in comparison to men.

Many lyrics associate women in derogatory terms and portray men as more dominant. Thiscan

negatively affect the child because teens will think this is ok because music is saturated with

objectification. Men will think it’s ok to be dominant 24/7 and women will think it’s ok to

seduce themselves to men. “Out of the 279 rap song studied, 37 percent made references about

sex and 60 percent of the lyricss were demeaning and degrading to women(. ) self

objectification is when you comparey ourself to those around you.. This can lead to many health

problems like eating disorders and depression(). Rappers play a huge part in building our

culture, so listening to music that focuses on tips like sexual objectification can be mistaken as

real life for adolescents because they are the most vulnerable out of the groups that are listening

to it. Sex in rap music is also a big issue. Rappers talk so much about it, it makes younger

listeners want to engage, and makes it seem like everyone participates in it. This can result in

peer pressure because you believe the false reality that everyone engages in sex at a young age.

It was found that music television exposure directly affected sexual behavior in boys,

while, the reverse effect, the direct influence of sexual behavior on music television exposure,

was found among girls. Second, results showed an indirect impact of sexual behavior on boys'

and girls' music television exposure through perceptions of male peers' sexual behavior. More

specifically, sexually active boys and girls were demonstrated to believe that many of their male

and female peers were also sexually active; however, among boys, the perceptions of the sexual
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activities of same-gender peers resulted in increased music television exposure, whereas among

girls, the perceptions of the sexual activities of male peers resulted in decreased music television

exposure. The discussion focuses on the explanation and understanding of these (unexpected)

findings in the context of gender differences in sexual socialization.” Objectification theory may

explain the co-occurrence of depression and disordered eating among women. A researcher

named Stice et al showed 4 potential ways to obtain those 2 illnesses.. “First, depression and/or

disordered eating might be risk factors for substance abuse. Thus, in addition to the direct effects

theorized above, SO may influence women’s substance abuse indirectly in that it is mediated by

several objectification theory variables. Although Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) identified six

potential mediators (i.e., self-objectification, body shame, appearance anxiety, insensitivity to

bodily cues, opportunities for peak motivational states or flow, and anxiety about physical

safety) of the SO experiences–depression/disordered eating links, only self-objectification and

body shame have been consistently empirically supported in the literature (Moradi & Huang,

2008). Thus, it may be that SO experiences lead to self-objectification, which contributes to body

shame, which leads to depression and/or disordered eating and results in substance abuse”

(Symanksi, Moffitt, Carr 2016).

Sexual objectification of women is also associated with many other identities, such as

one’s sexual identity, or orientation, one’s ethnicity, socioeconomic status, race, etc. Consistent

exposure to music lyrics and music video, those especially of rap and hip-hop creates an

environment of constant judgment. In many song lyrics, there is constant discussion and

degrading of women and their bodies. In many songs, artists use lyrics about how some women
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should have an ideal body, and they were hypersexualized. The ideal body that many artists refer

to is having a large, voluptuous behind and large breasts. This creates a constant standard that

people and adolescents are unable to decipher between what is malicious and inappropriate

content versus what is a legitimate reality.

There are plenty of rap artists and songs that contain derogatory content about women

and objectifying their bodies. Some examples include the artist Tyler the Creator, in his entire

album titled ‘Goblin’ he constantly referred to women in offensive manners. Much of the lyrics

include demeaning terms and phrases toward women. Another popular rap artist that has been

prevalent for the past decade is Lil Wayne. In many of his songs he mentions women negatively,

and uses expletive language to describe them. Specifically, in his song lollipop, it contains

objectification lyrics about women, as well as the music video. A recent top his song, Psycho by

Ty Dolla $ign and Post Malone glamorize their luxurious lifestyles, referring to women like

objects and money, completely disregarding the fact that they are human beings. In this song

they rap a lot about ‘acquiring women’ and rap about how they use women for the mere fact of

getting pleasure and using their bodies. Another song called Walk it, Talk it by Migos displays

objectification of women’s bodies. In this song in particular he raps about how he would like

women to have specific kinds of bodies. In this song he described how he wants women to have

a large chest and a slim, tiny waist. This sets up unrealistic standards for how women are

perceived. This makes it seem like women have to have a certain look in order to be deemed

socially acceptable in society.

With the presence of objectification in the male dominated music genres of rap and hip-

hop music, it is important to understand the feminisit perspective that criticizes male dominance

over women. According to a study on this perspective, black women and sexuality are
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represented in music with a derogatory meaning that is based on history. These representations

are stereotypical as they deem black women as unfeminine and their sexuality as anti-male. This

portrayal has yet to make less--stereotypical progress as this study also explains that black men

choose to portray themselves as a source of pleasure for black women. These rappers also

portray themselves as being “opposed to society or the criminal justice system” (Herd, 2015)

while describing a black woman who will be loyal to them regardless. This sends a horrible

message to young girls. When comparing male hip-hop artists to female hip-hop artists, there is a

huge difference in the meaning of their music content. Male hip-hop artists, who dominate the

cultural space of hip-hop, show black women in controlling ways including sexism along with

physical and emotional abuse. Female rap artist’s songs send a very different message as they

promote a woman’s right to feel pleasure for themselves rather than a man, resists patterns of

sexual objectification, and promotes women’s economic power and independence.

In order to understand why these women are now hypersexualized more than ever, it’s

imperative to look at the political and economic underpinnings of the rap and hip hop genres. As

with most mainstream music, the target audience for rap and hip hop focuses on what appeals to

men, and what men see as desirable. It is like we are in a male dominant society, but there should

not be so much put on the desires and wants of men. It should be an equal distribution of males

and females. This is due to the fact that this genre was mainly marketed by and through male

artists. In comparison to female artists, the music industry is majorly filled with males. Children

and adolescents do not know how to decipher what is true or merely what is considered popular

or cool in the music world. This is extremely problematic because their views and perspectives

of things will be incorrect. There is also an extreme lack of female rappers to reverse this

ideology of viewing women as sexual objects and being rapped about. Throughout music one
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main theme is the sexualization and degrading lyrics toward women. An important theory

included is Objectification theory. Objectification theory postulates that females are viewed as

objects, “many women are sexually objectified and treated as an object to be valued for its use by

others… occurs when a woman’s body or body parts are singled out and separated from her as a

person and she is viewed primarily as a physical object of male sexual desire” (Frisby & Behm-

Morawitz 2019).

While females continue to be objectified in music, female artists are also objectifying

themselves and males do the same thing. The ideal woman's body in media has only gotten

thinner while the ideal male body is getting more muscular. When men and women are exposed

to this sexual objectification in the media, there are many consequences including an increase in

self monitoring, poor body image, depression, and eating disorders. “Scholars have suggested

that the effects may be part of a process wherein internalization of objectification experiences

may lead to increased self-monitoring and/or poor body image, which then may result in

depression and the development of eating disorders” (Flynn, 2016). Although research on this

process is limited, scholars have noticed the relationship between self-objectification and

psychosocial consequences. These consequences include lower overall well-being, lower

relationship satisfaction, and increased risk behavior. “Because music is a pervasive medium that

has a long history of influencing individuals, it is paramount to examine how objectification is

depicted in music lyrics” (Flynn, 2016). Sexual objectification in song lyrics can be linked to an

increase in self objectification in music consumers. This highlights the importance of modeling

in the objectification process. This idea of modeling is why out topic shifted to focus only on rap

and hip-hop music as it models permissive sexual attitudes, it’s heavy consumers are most likely

to model it, too.

One theory important throughout research has been the Social Cognitive Theory. This is a

common theory used not only in the communication field, but can be applied to many different

fields. This theory was studied by Albert Bandura, and despite this theory being older, it still

most definitely plays an important role. Social cognitive theory stresses how important

observational learning, imitation and modeling is for children on behaviors and attitudes that

they have been exposed to. Bandura’s social cognitive theory integrates a continuous interaction

between behaviors, personal factors, including cognition and the environment around us.

According to a research study conducted by Soley & Spekle in 2016, they studied the effects of

music on young children’s social preferences and they found that “Music is particularly

conducive to testing such issues for three reasons. First, like language, music is a human

universal with culture-specific properties, making it a potentially useful marker of group

membership in all cultures. Through everyday exposure to music, individuals become sensitive

to the melodic and rhythmic structure of the music of their culture Sensitivity to the music of

one's culture emerges in childhood….is implicit knowledge of culture-specific musical

regularities often leads to an advantage in understanding emotions that are conveyed by an

unfamiliar tune of one's own culture” (Soley and Spekle, 2016).

The unique feature of Social cognitive theory is the emphasis on social influence and its

emphasis on external and internal social reinforcement. Social Cognitive theory considers the

unique way in which individuals acquire and maintain behavior, while also considering the social

environment in which individuals perform the behavior. The theory takes into account a person's

past experiences, which factor into whether behavioral action will occur. These past experiences

influence reinforcements, expectations, and expectancies, all of which shape whether a person

will engage in a specific behavior. Therefore, having children constantly be exposed to explicit
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content in music can lead to them thinking all content portrayed in rap lyrics is appropriate

behavior. “Music is particularly conducive to testing such issues for three reasons. First, like

language, music is a human universal with culture-specific properties, making it a potentially

useful marker of group membership in all cultures. Through everyday exposure to music,

“individuals become sensitive to the melodic and rhythmic structure of the music of their

culture…Sensitivity to the music of one's culture emerges in childhood….is implicit knowledge

of culture-specific musical regularities often leads to an advantage in understanding emotions

that are conveyed by an unfamiliar tune of one's own culture” (LaMorte, 2019). Constantly being

exposed to this creates a new norm for children “music serves as a cue to social group

membership and influences social preferences in adolescence and adulthood” (LaMorte, 2019).

For example, adults make various inferences about others based on their music taste: they

use others’ preferences for certain music genres as cues to their individual, social and ethnic

characteristics” (Schwartz 2017). Therefore, it was found that children interacted more with

other children who shared a similar taste in music as themselves. “Young children are also

sensitive to others' preferences and make inferences about other individuals’ preferences based

on various social categories that predict social and evaluative preferences” (Soley and Spekle,

2016).

Another important theory that we researched is the Social Cognitive Theory of Gender

Development and Differentiation. This theory offers a framework for understanding how

exposure to models may impart gender lessons to consumers, influencing children’s attitudes and

beliefs about gender and their own gender-related self-concepts, perspectives and views.

According to Bussy and Bandura (1999), media messages serve as one source for “the

development of gender-linked knowledge and competencies,” (p. 686) influencing perceptions

of appropriate gender-based conduct, normative gender roles, self-evaluative gender-specific

standards, and self-efficacy beliefs”. According to Bussy & Bandura (1999) “mass media

messages serve as one source the development of gender-linked knowledge and competencies”.

This discusses that the media plays an important source of information for people, as well as

providing important information about gender roles for boys and girls and how to act.

Throughout mass media, content primarily refers to males being more powerful, and in

dominant roles. This negatively influences young boy’s perceptions of women in society and

how they should be treated. Past research conducted previously has also demonstrated the

influence of music lyrics on young adolescent health and development. This illustrates how

influential music lyrics can have an effect on the portrayal of gender roles in society. It has been

shown through research that the more frequently exposure to sexually degrading and demeaning

song lyrics, did in fact have a correlation with adolescent’s sexual activity and behaviors, in

comparison to those adolescents who were not frequently exposed.

Overall rap music has had a significant impact on the lives of many adolescents. Rap and

hip-hop music condoned themes. At many times adolescents are unable to decipher between

what is malicious and inappropriate content versus what is a legitimate reality. “More than one

third of popular songs contain explicit or strongly implied references to sexual activity,12 and

there is strong theoretical and initial empirical support that exposure to such media may lead to

early sexual activity” (Primack 2010). According to the social cognitive theory, people learn not

only by direct experience but also by exposure to modeled and rewarded behavior, such as that

represented in popular music. “Music is well known to connect deeply with adolescents and to

influence identity development, perhaps more so than any other entertainment medium”
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(Primack 2010). This is quite an issue in our culture because it has been causing negative effects

for adolescents.

Many adolescents and teenagers do not have accurate education on media literacy. It is

pivotal to instill media literacy education in school curriculums. Many people associate negative

connotations with rap and hip-hop music, however there is a way to combat this, instead of

romanticizing and glorifying the negative connotations of rap music. Overall, “The findings

suggest that young people’s substance use and aggressive behaviors may be related to their

frequent exposure to music containing references to substance use and violence. Conversely,

music listening preference may reflect some personal predispositions or lifestyle preferences”

(Chen, 2016).

Without media literacy knowledge instilled in children and education/academic

curriculums they are unable to differentiate between what is legitimate in the world today.

People tend to glorify this and do not appropriate or appreciate the roots of this genre. It is

extremely important to realize that rap music was originally created for people to understand

their struggles and their fight. It is important to know the correct information about these music

genres so that rather than glorifying the content that is inappropriate, we can create a new

environment where it is truly appreciated for its roots and origination. Many people have the

wrong impression of rap and hip hop music. Therefore, teenagers that do not live in lower-

socioeconomic classes, these themes do not necessarily relate to their lives. It is beneficial and

important to encourage and motivate the music industry to promote more positive influences and

educate others about these social issues with inequality. “Specifically, misogynistic lyrics,

profane language, and glorification of violence have become hallmarks of some rap music

known as “gangsta rap has the undercurrents of violence and profane language of “gangsta rap”
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are criticized for its potential detrimental influences on youth” (Chen 2016). This would be a

great way to bring people together and educate them with media literacy, as well as create a new,

positive reputation.

As mentioned previously, not all rap and hip-hop music negatively impact young teens.

For example, Mackelmore’s song ‘Same Love’ and Eminem’s song ‘Lose Yourself’ do not only

talk about drugs, sex, or money and actually contain positive messages. They provoke good

actions while Wiz Khalifa promotes smoking weed, The Weeknd shares his experiences with sex

and drugs, and Chief Keef raps about comitting crimes. “Over 47 percent of Americans listen to

the hip hop genre, showing that this type of music is deeply rooted into today’s society”

(Unzueta, 2015). It appears that many political and media groups have quickly placed the blame

on rap music for a growing trend in violence among young teens. However, these critics are

missing an important point of rap music’s message. The theme of ‘thug life’ that is present in rap

because it may provide an opportunity for economic and social power in neighborhoods that no

longer have hope. Many popular rap artists talk about fighting, guns, and gangs, but that is a

reflection of their daily lives while they were growing up in ghettos or housing projects

(Blanchard, 1999). Therefore, the content of rap does not pose a threat to teens in America

because it is only showing a pre existing problem from “youth whose views of the world have

been shaped by experiencing deep economic inequalities divided largely along racial lines”

(Unzueta, 2015).

Music is an important part of socialization in children and adolescents. It has become part

of the norm to listen to music in the car, at the gym, in your bedroom, etc. Music can have many

positive uses, such as a way to bond or create relationships, coping mechanism for stress and

emotions, or as a mood-booster. One of the most popular genres that young teens listen to today
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is rap music. As our research has shown, this music heavily contains references to drugs,

sexualization of women, objectification, violence, and product placement. While this criteria is

very noticeably negative, the effects it has on the identities of teens are short-term. Teens with

preexisting risk factors are at a greater risk for experiencing effects, but there is not a lot of

research on this or the long term effects.

Regardless of how someone may be impacted by a genre of music, every person is

responsible for their own decisions and actions. In conclusion, people are responsible for leading

their individual lives which is why it is necessary for them to develop mindsets that are true to

themselves and make the best decisions for their lives.