“Gangsta Rap: Helps Impoverished Youth” University of Arizona Student
“Gangsta Rap: Helps Impoverished Youth”
by. Miles Fowler 2014
Gangsta rap is known and loved in the suburbs, inner cities, and college campuses everywhere. It has become part of our society and it’s artists and lyrics are supported by millions of people worldwide. However, many parents throughout the country disagree with the lyrics and messages behind gangsta rap. They claim that it promotes violence, sex, racism, and both the distribution and use of drugs. The purpose of gangsta rap’s lyrics is to depict inner city struggles and explain the hardships faced in ghettos across America. Although the lyrics may be aggressive and explicit they are used to show the true horrors of the projects and other poor urban regions. Millions of Americans live the lives that are explained through gangsta rap everyday and even though many parents may not approve of their children listening to this specific genre, they need to understand the reasons and motives behind gangsta rap. Gangsta rap gives inner city children a voice in society, and provides opportunity for impoverished youth everywhere. The problem with so many parents harshly criticizing gangsta rap is that they do not understand the true meaning behind the genre; they only hear the explicit lyrics but haven’t learned or experienced the reasons behind them.
Since the 1920’s parents have never agreed with the music their children were listening too, whether it be jazz, blues, swing, pop, or Rock and Roll parents were always upset with the messages that music sent to their kids. Much like gangsta rap is today, Rock and Roll was harshly criticized by parents of teenagers. Rock and Roll often identified with the first baby boomer generation and is seen as the first genre that defined teen culture. It allowed for teenagers to rebel against their parents and teachers through music. One of the main reasons why so many adults in America hated Rock and Roll was because of the overlap of black and white culture. Rock and Roll was a combination of the Blues and Rhythm, which allowed for teens of different races to enjoy the same type of music. The creation of Rock and Roll was the beginning of rebellious music that teenagers could identify with and support. It has now been almost 70 years since the start of Rock and Roll, yet every teen generation since it’s creation has had their own genre of rebellious music their parents disagreed with.
Music is forever changing and gangsta rap is one of the newer trends that much of America’s youth support. The majority of parents that harshly criticize gangsta rap have never lived in ghetto conditions and therefore have no right to criticize music about places they have never been too or experienced. Gangsta rap was created in the inner city of New York in the early 1990’s and its purpose was to serve as an alternative to violence; it was a way for the impoverished youth to escape the harsh urban realities. At first gangsta rap was only popular amongst the people that it represented, which were the poor youth located in ghettos throughout America. After time passed, the genre became more and more popular amongst teenagers and young adults everywhere. One of the most beautiful things about rap and gangsta rap is that all races enjoy the music and support the movement, whether they are African American, Hispanic, Asian, or white, it makes no difference because every race has supporters of gangsta rap.
It is understandable why parents may not necessarily approve of their children listening to this genre of music because it is by far the most explicit and graphical genre available today. Parents also make many valid points when they say that the genre is about gangs, violence, drugs, and sex because each of these topics are often rapped about and explained. However, no genre of music has ever been criticized as harshly as gangsta rap, it is not meant to influence your children to sell drugs or remote to violence. It is purely meant to explain to the majority of the country that does not live in the harsh environment of the ghettos, the lifestyle they live on a day-to-day basis. The artists of gangsta rap are realists that have come from the depths of the most impoverished urban areas in America. The realism behind their lyrics depict the truth of the inner city, although it is unfortunate and ugly, people live this way everyday and the rest of the world should be told about the lifestyle that so many of our own citizens are forced to live.
Gangsta rap provides a different type of opportunity than rap, hip-hop, or any other type of music genre does for America’s youth. It gives young adults that may have previously made the wrong choices by either selling drugs, joining gangs, hustling people, or just being criminals in general, the opportunity to finally leave the ghetto and live quality lives. We all know that criminals should be punished and it is frowned upon to live the way that many of these gangsta rappers formally lived, however many of them did not have much of a choice. Unfortunately for our youth in impoverished areas there is not much opportunity to make money, which is why so many young men and women resort to theft and criminal acts. If you listen to famous gangsta rapper Biggie Smalls lyrics, “I was just trying to make enough money to feed my daughter,” it is easy to understand that they must hustle to survive. The reasons behind gangsta raps vulgar and aggressive lyrics are not to make parents angry, but to give the rest of the world a perspective on just how bad poverty really is in America. Gangsta rap and sports are two of the only ways for the inner city youth to become rich and famous, it really does provide an opportunity for the poor to better themselves and their lives. There isn’t much opportunity for our youth to get out of the hood and there is no reason why one of the very few ways for them to make enough money to finally leave is constantly criticized.
Gangsta rap should no longer be looked at in such a poor manner by parents, it has earned its way into our society and should continue to grow and help our impoverished youth. Many adults nowadays have forgotten about their youth and about how their parents caused great controversy over the music that they loved. It is easy to criticize something if you don’t know the motives behind why it was created. Gangsta rap is one of the few genres to ever be supported and followed by all different races, and although it may at first have only been listened to by African Americans and Latinos, it has grown to be popular amongst all races of youth. The publicity and opportunity that it provides for inner city areas cannot be argued with, it publicizes the rough life they are forced to live to survive and provides a way to escape out of poverty. Gangsta rap was created to keep kids off of the streets; it provided a new way for youth to express their anger and hatred through music and poetry, rather than violence and criminal acts.
