Messages Rap Sends to Black men
Lyrics in rap music are expressed in explicit ways that tell the listener to dominate other by any means. It's not likely that you'll hear a rapper advising a young black man to get a legal job and work his way up to success. Instead they tell men to commit acts of violence, sale drugs, and even women to earn a large rapid profit. Rap groups like N.W.A give young black men the idea that if they want to make a large fast profit, they are better off selling drugs. Rappers appear aggressive and violent in their videos which men find so intriguing that they begin to emulate the rappers behavior. In other videos rappers are seen as players, rapping about sleeping and prostituting a number of women. Young black men see images of the rappers flaunting their chains, women, and money, and begin to believe they must rein-act the behavior to be seen as a man. Below is N.W.A 's famous video "Straight Outta Compton" and "Where Da Cash at?" by The Currency featuring Lil Wayne and Remy Ma. These videos depict the aggressive, distasteful, and masculine behavior young black men find themselves modelling today.
The message it sends to women
Rap music degrades the image and value of women. Women are exploited and shown being promiscuous in rap videos like "Tip Drill" by Nelly, which became very problematic for his career. Black women become labeled as "hood rats", women who come from the hood, dress and behave provocatively. Young Black girls see these images and think that they must emulate what the women are doing in the videos in order to be noticed. Constantly, rappers are referring to black women as "bitches" or "hoes" symbolizing that we have no place in their lives, and that we are merely objects for their use. The number one stereotype about black women is that we all have the "hour glass" figure. A majority of rap videos always have video dancers that have a big butt, big breast, and a small waist. Young black women begin to think it's okay to be degraded and disrespected by men like them because they get glorified, and showered with their riches but fail to realize that it won't be long before they move on to the next girl. Below is Juvenile Featuring Mannie Fresh and Lil Wayne , "Back That Ass up".