The Impact of Rap and Hip-Hop Music On American Youth

The article I read was The Impact of Rap and Hip-Hop Music On American Youth written by an author who goes by abkoobthoj on www.teenink.com 

This article goes on to focus on more on the negatives aspects of rap and how teenagers will listen to everything they hear. The writer hits on the age old concepts of most rap just being fouled mouth, misogynistic, death endorsing music. As well as giving studies in which he didn't site about how a group of teens listened to hip hop music about sex ( most likely R & B) which is full of sex filled music, and in turn they then thought about sex in the way any hormonal teenager would perceive sex to be only showing this study to be inaccurate. He also talks about how these rap songs influence teenagers to use slang and in become unintelligent because they don't always use full sentences. He ends it by stating that he mentioned pros and cons but the whole article shot down rap music as a genre. I can understand how in some cases rap music can be degrading to women and give off some preconceived notions about sex to those who know nothing about it. However I have been listening to rap since I was little and rap has never influenced my views of women and sex. I have grown up in areas that some of these rappers talked about filled with drugs, robbery, and death and where I disagree is that rap has that big of an influence on youths who follow this lifestyle because if you were born and raised to do these things then how much will music actually influence. As for the slang teenagers are not as stupid as the writer makes them out to be and using slang has been around for decades so in all using slang doesn't make you anymore or less intelligent. So in all rap will not lead you down the wrong path in life what will are those people around you who will lead you into that lifestyle.

Is Rap a Dead Art form?

If you think about rap and hip-hop are now generally a part of everyday life. To concerts on t.v rappers getting famous from Youtube, rap in commercials and on billboards the list goes on and on, however even as I write this actual lyrical and meaningful rap is losing its fight to all the incoherent and ignorant rap all over the place now a days. Our generation as well as older generations grew up with people such as 2Pac who talked about many important issues such as how we should treat our women better,  bring gang violence to the end, and get the drugs out of the streets and away from the kids. There are many others who have or had similar messages for example Nas, Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar, biggie, Jadakiss, the list goes on and on. Even with all of the power of their message it has gone to be drown out by the constantly replaying message of sex,drugs, and money all of which the rappers I previously mentioned tried to pull people and other rappers away from the materialistic lifestyle. But if you look around at the youths and some of our peers you can see that the only thing that matters to the people who listen and actively follow raps one track lifestyle end up buying things they cant afford to fit in or dead because that way of life will lead to a sad end. The best thing to do is to introduce all of these kids to "real rap" and show them there are deeper meanings in rap in comparison to what is said in today's music.

Are we dumbing down education?

As I look back on classes when I was little I can remember being taught things necessary for life and in such a constant flow that it stuck with you for the rest of you life, we would be taught how to actually read and break down stories, taught how to figure out math problems in a way that made it simple and fun, and taught to be the best that we could be. Unfortunately as time passed you can see how all of younger siblings and relatives lack all of those essentials that should have been picked up a long time ago. I remember being in high school last year and I went to an alternative school where those who cannot function in a normal learning environment are sent and in my class I was with kids from all the different high schools in the Peoria area. Only after being in an English class with these individuals did I learn that a large number of these kids were barely reading at a high school level which normally would shock anybody, except if you ask any kid anymore teachers don't teach instead they handout worksheets that you don't understand only to sit at their desk and get paid and won't even help you when you actually need it. In most cases they put on an unrelated Disney movie and let you go about your day and I feel as a movie is good on rare occasions every other week is ridiculous when our kids are practically illiterate. So all I can say is we need to pick up and restructure our educational systems because its painfully obvious how far behind we are on an intellectual standpoint.

Is Football Just Too Dangerous?

The article I chose to read is called Is football just to dangerous? by Larry Strauss at Huffington post.

      In this article Larry talks about him playing football way back when and how much he loves and appreciates everything the game has to over. He then starts to take a different approach through the rest of this article by describing all the harm the game can bring to kids and can potentially be a killer. Then he ends the article by saying all the good things football brings such as gang deterrent and stress reliever but ultimately ends by saying how can any school condone football knowing the side effects.


     After reading the article I can say there were points in which I'd agree such as the many way the game of football can create a better lifestyle and keep people on the right path. I also agreed with how we should have more up to date safety restrictions on football gear in order to protect the people wearing the gear because no matter what sport safety should always be a first. However the majority of points he made I didn't agree with. As a human being I could see where he comes from with allowing these kids and teenagers to get hurt may create a moral issue, but I used to play football and even though these injuries exist I can say first hand that these "life threatening injuries" and concussions are not as common as he was making them out to be. Not only that but Larry starting out by talking about how positive football was to our youths but proceeds to write about how bad the game is really confusing his whole point. All in all this article stays true to its title by reiterating the question at hand is foot ball just to dangerous?

A blind eye

            I'm sure as of now just about everyone who has some sort of access to social media or T.V has heard about Justin Beiber and his "substance abuse" or reckless behavior or maybe the ridiculous acts of other celebrities in recent news. While i'm quite used to our society paying attention to irrelevant things such as these but at the recent news coverage they've given to the more fortunate around us is astounding and is why I feel our society has turned a blind eye. When I say blind eye I dont just mean toward paying attention to things that actually matter im talking about turning a blind eye toward any sort of intullectual though at all. For example when ever has a celebrity "who are allowed to get away with way more that we could" been such a big deal that CNN or any other national news network needs to mkae it a top story. Considering that there are still people fighting for their freedom,  fighting to eat, and just overall survive like in iraq, iran, georgia, many parts of northern africa, and even more so here in America. I grew up in neighborhoods where gang violence existed and people would die for all the wrong reasons and back then we had a lot of the fight political opression message in music back in the day you would see people on T.V talking about the things ariund us that actually mattered. However now there is no outlet to have that message heard and our outlets have been flooded and submerged by such one sided thinking that now all we hear about is celebrites and the problems with the one percenters and never how poverty and hunger not only affects us but everyone and I hope this changes but for now all we see is people turning a blind eye.