Being a university student in my 20s, it’s clear to me that rap music has held dominance of the music world we see today. Artists who have influenced me consist of, J Cole, Kanye West, Jay Z, and many other thriving artists over the last decade.
In the year 2018, 'Statista research’ department conducted findings that rap music accounted for 21.7 percent of the entire music consumption. Listeners towards this populated genre range from 16-year-olds to anywhere around the 40s, the popularity of this music isn’t defined by one person or group of people, various artists and producers helped shape what we see rap as today.
If rap is such a dominant genre worldwide, why is such a common denominator is there still held by opposed audiences to rap music, being simple, the representation of gang violence and drug use.
With rap asserting its dominance being the most listened to the genre, the question of ‘Why does this younger generation enjoy this music so much?’ And ‘what do these kids get out of this music?’
Therefore, I'm going to give my perspective. Across rap lyrics, it is easy to hear the profanity, discriminatory tones, along with the references to violence and drugs, although when listeners use a critical ear, they will pick up on describable stories of growing up in poverty-stricken cities.
For me, I will always argue rap music has a positive influence on all the youth, it tells a story, more of a heroic upbringing in an institutionally drained society. Both for listeners and musicians, a greater understanding of the hardships of growing up within the struggles of intergenerational racism, are really the inspirations of the black youth to also have faith in these cities.
One of the most influential artists in the UK Dave, expresses pain and suffering throughout his south London songs and how music was his shining light, saved himself from going to jail, and followed his brother’s footsteps.
The following video is a representation of the black community suffering and injustices created from such intergenerational racism. Dave performed his life at the Britts award ceremony version of Black on his Psycho Drama album. The power exhibited within his choice of lyrics combined with his tone of voice is what I believe a child going through similar injustices, should classify Dave as a hero.
Black goes into the racial issues faced throughout the last 100 years, from police brutality to slavery, the lyrics represent what has been seen by these artists and the outside world every day. Dave states:
‘The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice, the kid dies, the blacker the killer the sweeter the news, and if he’s white you give him a chance his ill and confused, and if he's black he’s probably armed you see him and shoot’
Although Dave is a UK rapper, this comment relates to false imprisonment cases in the United States.
African American defendants constitute 47% of 1900 released in the national registry of exonerations’ (October 2016), an additional stat of more than 1800 innocent defenders were framed and convicted of crimes. (Samuel R. Gross) Dave also goes into the situation of naming the African coastlines after what they trade most, showing a saddened expression of Benin being claimed as the slave coast.
In relation to the effects rap music has on the youth, more of a focus needs to be shown on what has been overcome in these artists’ lives, instead of the negative outlines in their lyrics. Daves's story is influential, and I believe kids in these disadvantaged areas where even they may need someone or something to look up to and claim as ‘hero’s’ and that’s what artists are to these people.
They survived the same issues as a white privileged man like me couldn’t fathom.
To conclude, a quote from recording artists Royce da 5’’9,
