Article Has Hip-Hop Had an Adverse Effect on Our Young?
Article: “Has Hip-Hop Had an Adverse Effect on Our Young?” by ScholarMan
The other day while I was updating my account on Twitter, I noticed a “re-tweet” from an associate of mine. For those new to Twitter lingo, a re-tweet is when you re-post something someone already posted, including the original author to give them credit for their post. For the sake of non-name dropping I will leave their account names out.
The re-tweet was this:
“i HATE to say it but truly think hip hop had an adverse effect on a lotta brotha’s character development [folks gon b mad i said it]
2:07 PM Sep 15th”
After reading this I was positive that a debate would spawn as yes, many folks would have an opinion on this – I being one of them. My associate noted that he “didn’t agree” with the user’s statement when he posted the re-tweet. After reading it myself, I replied to both my associate and the other user with this:
“not the culture, some of the the people maybe”
My associate responded that he agreed with my sentiments. The user who wrote the tweet saw my response and here is where the discussion went at this point:
User @ScholarMan “the people are a part of the culture.”
ScholarMan @User “Indeed, so if anything, blame the people, not the culture.”
User @ScholarMan “the culture is the people!”
ScholarMan @User “a couple bad apples doesn’t mean the tree is bad.. but I hear you”
Nothing more was said. Can you really say hip-hop is the cause of the lack of growth of the young men who listen to it? I don’t agree. My argument was that yes people are the culture, in the culture but you can only blame the leaders within the movement for the negative effects the movement might have had on those within it. My analogy was “a couple bad apples doesn’t mean the tree is bad.”
Hip-hop is huge with many layers and areas and a statement like “hip hop had an adverse effect on a lotta brotha’s character development” is too broad. If the user had said “gangster rap has had an adverse effect on a lot of brothers character development” then I would agree. I know plenty of people who have been listening to hip-hop since their days of wearing diapers (including myself) and the certain type of hip-hop they listen to has helped them much or not at all with their character development.
This is no different than a company who has had bad management causing the quality of work from its employees to go down. The company is great, been around for years, but because of bad management the employees are disgruntle, tired, etc. What happens then? Complaints are made about the management and then eventually (hopefully) those ineffectively managing the company are removed and new personnel is brought in. So who is truly to blame, the company or the management?
In hip-hop there are many sub-genres and styles of music, and perceptions of them. Just because a dude who listens to gangster rap 90% of the time can’t separate the music from his reality doesn’t mean hip-hop as a whole is to blame. Looking at it deeper, I blame lack of parenting and sound guidance as the REAL issue.
Some folks were stabbed or shot after both a Jay Z and Fabolous concert recently – did hip-hop do this? No, the people did. You can’t blame hip-hop.
This article was contributed by ScholarMan
Jay-Izzle wrote:
It’s like Mos said, WE are hip-hop. People are not a reflection of hip-hop, hip-hop is a reflection of the people.
However, dude might have a point. It’s cyclical really. Since the youth look up to hip-hop artists, and some hip-hop artists are ignorant, then that type of hip-hop may adversely affect the youth.
But in reality, it’s not hip-hop that adversely affects the youth, it’s the ignorant motherfuckers in hip-hop that adversely affect the youth. It’s just unfortunate that hip-hop is the medium they use so easily.
Posted on 23-Sep-09 at 11:21 am | Permalink
GrizzlyRhetoric wrote:
If a blame has to be put on any one group of people, I would say it has to be the mainstream media. There is PLENTY of positive, mindful hiphop coming out every day, but you won’t hear it on the radio or see it on the television because that’s not what’s “hot” at the moment. Hip hop is just another great vessel being affected by our society’s mass “cookie cutter-ization” of all things. I’ve been down with hip hop since the very beginning, and I honestly thing that this era is the most exciting era for hip hop YET, as long as you know where to find the good stuff! The people that are committing these sensless violent acts and chasing money and fame have always been here, and until some sort of shift in consciousness occurs, they will continue to be here. The important thing is that there is a movement to counter the acts of these people, and show that hip hop is, always has been, and always will be a positive influence on those who choose to make it so. Long live the power of the word.
Posted on 23-Sep-09 at 11:43 am | Permalink
BeatRoot wrote:
I hear ya ScholarMan
I always find the best way to describe hip-hop culture is like buying a chicken.
In a supermarket two chickens for sale one is from a big mass produced battery (mainstream) and is fed hormones and what not, the other is a free range (underground) and is raised organically. So the consumer has two chickens they look the same from the outside, but they taste differently and say two different things about the food production cycle. The average consumer is unaware and think that the cheaper, mass produced chicken is the only kind of chicken. So the more organic natural chicken gets lumped in with this as the average consumer knows no difference.
So when a statement “i HATE to say it but truly think hip hop had an adverse effect on a lotta brotha’s character development” is made are they talking about hip-hop from an underground perspective (which makes the statement highly wrong) or the mass market perspective (which makes it more right). Just look at how many beefs are reported in the mainstream world or the actions of Kayne and Eminem at an awards ceremony. All this stuff gets shown all over the world on TV and kids take this in much they do like the actions or lyrics in there video. Yet a local underground emcee helping out at a community centre to help kids use hip-hop in a positive manner might get a small write up in a paper and spreads through the underground world slowly (props to Nat for posting positive reports when he comes across them)
I agree Parents do play a big part in a kids life but a song influence a great impact on a adolescents life. I remember when I was 12/13 my mom could have said anything to me and I’d have ignored her, but the words of Chuck D and Dres held mad sway, it was these lyrics that defined who I was and what I thought…
Posted on 23-Sep-09 at 12:21 pm | Permalink
303 b-boy wrote:
I saw a commerical once where that organic chicken whipped that mass produced chicken’s ass!
Everything has positive and negative influences. It just depends on what people are going to take from it. Some hip-hop influences us positively, and some negatively. But to blame some ideal called hip-hop is stupid.
I agree with Jay – blame the rappers. I agree with Griz – blame the media. I agree with Beat – blame the perspective and eat the organic chicken.
Posted on 23-Sep-09 at 12:31 pm | Permalink
ScholarMan wrote:
Appreciate the post Nat and the comments from everyone. Long live hip-hop.
Posted on 23-Sep-09 at 1:22 pm | Permalink
Clever Tricks Landed wrote:
Hip Hop is positivity bred from crippling poverty. Nothing bad can ever come from hip hop. Only bad can be brought to hip hop, which in the long run hip hop will only reject.
Which brings me to KRS-One who says” ” ‘Hip’ is the knowledge, ‘Hop’ is the movement. Hip hop is intelligent movement.”
Hip hop has given cats a second chance at life all around the world. The people that exploit it and manipulate it for their own gains are the ones at fault and truly have nothing to do with hip hop at all.
Posted on 23-Sep-09 at 3:55 pm | Permalink
Kats wrote:
I taught for 5 years … middle school … and I have to say first that most of us who are not regularly around kids, and don’t necessarily remember our own selves at that age underestimate the influence artists have. We also forget that it isn’t usually until later in high school or even college that you really begin to seek out music you like (i.e. Mos Def, Talib, Brother Ali, etc.) … at the age I am talking about, most kids just listen to the stuff on the radio, MTV and BET … and if you carefully observe the way these outlets package hip-hop, it’s hard to say that an adverse affect isn’t taking place. For instance, it would be almost impossible to argue that hip-hop (of which I speak) is in any way inspiring or positive for young girls…I would certainly argue that both their self image and the way young boys expect girls to be has suffered. This is not unique to hip-hop…you can find plenty of negative influences in mass media, and unless there’s a strong foundation built by parents, grandparents, teachers, neighbors, etc. it’s tough to expect kids to not take it seriously, or dismiss it as some stuff on TV…kids actually believe all that stuff. So I certainly wouldn’t blame hip-hop alone, as that’s quite drastic. But I have to say kids don’t listen to KRS too much…they are much more often exposed to “supersoaking that ho” and stuff like that. So whether you blame media, corporations, or whatever, in the end the bulk of hip-hop that does reach young listeners’ ears is likely not best for character development.
Posted on 23-Sep-09 at 5:31 pm | Permalink
Jacob Broesder wrote:
“They say music can alter moods and talk to you
Well can it load a gun up for you , and cock it too
Well if it can, then the next time you assault a dude
Just tell the judge it was my fault and i’ll get sued
See what these kids do is hear about us totin’ pistols
And they want to get one cause they think the shit’s cool
Not knowin’ we really just protectin’ ourselves, we entertainers
Of course the shit’s affectin’ our sales, you ignoramus
But music is reflection of self, we just explain it, and then we get our
checks in the mail” – Eminem (but i’m sure i didn’t have to point out who said it)
Posted on 23-Sep-09 at 5:49 pm | Permalink
Clever Tricks Landed wrote:
The problem here is taking hip hop and making it synonymous with music, which (get this) it isn’t. Hip Hop is an idea. The music is the product OF that idea. Hip hop encompasses not just music but a mind frame, a culture and a way of life.
Inherent to that, an adverse effect is not present.
What you’re mentioning Kats, is arguably not hip hop music. But hip hop music isn’t even in question here. It’s hip hop itself. And no, hip hop itself does not cause adverse effects. It never has and never will.
If you want to call radio and TV “hip-hop”, go ahead, but in actuality these images and mainstream radio cuts are what Hip Hop is actually fighting against.
So I say again with conviction. Hip hop does not create adverse effects. What does create adverse effects: poverty and corruption. Which hip hop at its core is made to relieve.
Posted on 24-Sep-09 at 2:03 am | Permalink
Kats wrote:
OK…but that’s just an abstract argument and your idea of what hip-hop is…I was actually talking about real life and the way hip-hop music that is heard on the radio, tv, itunes, limewire, cd’s and all other forms of mass media may be interpreted by young people who are hearing it. And you should really send a memo to 99.9% of rappers (pardon me, hip-hop artists) about the whole fighting against radio and tv thing…because I believe they may be going about that fight a little bit backwards….and I say again with conviction, in real life, real children believe that lil’ wayne is hip-hop, and the way hip-hop is presented in the “media” is the only way kids are getting it. So you can’t just say it’s not hip-hop, that’s not even the point here, in my humble opinion. Obviously poverty and corruption create adverse afffects on folks, and blaming hip-hop alone is silly, as I mentioned above. That doesn’t mean that there’s no blame there, and you can’t just say “that’s not hip-hop” … it’s more than a musical genre for sure, but it IS a musical genre as well, and you can’t just discount the bulk of the music.
Posted on 24-Sep-09 at 6:07 pm | Permalink
dawnlight23 wrote:
I disagree. I think that the people determine what is played. We can blame it on the media, but at the end of the day we have to take responsibility for our own actions. There is probly good hip hop being produced, but honestly-no one wants to hear that. Everyone wants to hear about super soaking hoes, and having sex with all the women in the world, getting money, and living their life how they want with no consequences! Its what the people want. Whatever is placed in front of you is what you will recreate. Until the mindset of the people change as a whole, dont expect change. We have become so desensitized to profanity and pornography, it has become a part of our everyday lives. We even feed it to our children at a young age. Parents allow their children to watch BET all day and spend no time helping them with their school work. Then when they reproduce what they see on videos or hear in the music, we blame everbody else except the man in the mirror. The power of choice is one of the greatest things that has ever been given to man. You have a choice to be different or you have a choice to do the same thing over again. Does the music you listen to effect how you talk, dress, treat your friends and family, respect other men or women. Nine times out of ten-it does. It should not be that serious. Who you are as a person, your character, should come from inside and be original. It shouldnt be determined by a rapper. It should be shaped by values, morals, and who God created you to be. I’ll be glad when we finally realize how valuable we are and stop with all the craziness.
Posted on 30-Oct-09 at 10:34 am | Permalink
ScholarMan wrote:
Even Lupe blames hip-hop..
http://hiphopwired.com/14327/lupe-says-hip-hop-was-a-factor-in-derrion-albert-murder/
Posted on 05-Nov-09 at 4:04 pm | Permalink
Brian Ngugi wrote:
Am tired of this debate. I have been faithful to this hypocrisy and deception about HipHop’s apparent greatness long enough but I beg to be no longer. HipHop is nonsense. HipHop is bull. HipHop never liberates, only decapitates. Hiphop yes allows the hopes and frustrastions of our alienated people to be answered and dissolved. But answered and dissolved falsely. HipHop’s worldview impedes clear thinking, only making its followers to ‘imperfect’ their hustles as it were, and only entrenching their misery. The same misery that HipHop’s artistic incline is supposed to free us from. And the real no-nonsense world needs real education and skills to make it, not illusions and fantasies of revolution and community. HipHop as such never empowers. Only condemning those it supposedly should empower to death through disease and crime, misery, thru poverty and more misery thru jail terms. HipHop is bull and nonsense. Am tired of this debate.
Posted on 25-Nov-09 at 10:58 am | Permalink
BeatRoot wrote:
@Brian, your argument is without basis and merely rambles with no real purpose.
@Dawnlight23: At some level no one gets a record deal with someone at some level making a decision. We here all the time about artist who get dropped from a label as they are forced to make an album they don’t want too. I work in the games industry and it’s no different, the money men hold the power over what you produce…
Hip-hop is an abstract it has no power without those who speak in it’s name, Hip-hop like religion has no inherent, it’s only those who use it to spread their misguided views to the world… Let’s leave Hip-Hop alone as it can’t defend itself and put pressure on those who spit this misguided nonsense to the masses.
Posted on 25-Nov-09 at 11:46 am | Permalink
Brian Ngugi wrote:
Yo BeatRoot, You merely brushed me aside with contempt, you’re not i can see courageous enough to talk on the the truths I raised. But i understand, not many can handle the truth. See, I have been in this culture long enough to know intimately, its ugly side, which in truth, is its only side. I hope you come around some time seeing as it is, that knowledge is relative, not absolute and only after so long do we arrive at truth on anything. You’re where you are not because of HipHop but because of your education. We deal with HipHop as a favourite pastime but masquerade it as a way of life, when it selffishly suits us. I wish we’d all stop being hypocrictical and pretencious.
Posted on 26-Nov-09 at 12:02 pm | Permalink
BeatRoot wrote:
Brian, to speak of the truth without providing any examples or evidence is merely hear say. You speak of education but our education comes from many sources and experiences.
Artist have produced hip-hop music that has informed my understanding and beliefs over the years and cannot be considered anything other than part of my education. You saying it’s only got a dark side is from your experience which isn’t absolute because as you rightly said knowledge is relative.
Hip-Hop informs Music, Dance, Fashion, Art and I would argue political and philosophical beliefs also. Hip-hop is nothing, as CTL quoted KRS earlier “hip’ is the knowledge, ‘Hop’ is the movement. Hip hop is intelligent movement.” Hip-hop is an movement an movement based on knowledge, anything else is just noise getting in the way of the idea…
Maybe it’s your position which is hypocritical and pretentious, this is not said with contempt but merely in respect to the contradictions within your logic.
I believe that hip-hop is not truly good or bad… It is merely a idea, that people have taken it’s name as a blanket term and repackaged it for their own reasons is something which every idea and movement has had to endure throughout history.
Posted on 26-Nov-09 at 2:50 pm | Permalink
Brian Ngugi wrote:
“Artists have produced hip-hop music that has informed my understanding and beliefs over the years and cannot be considered anything other than part of my education.” “Part of my education” is the key word here. And now you’ve seen me home brotha. I have beef with fronting HipHop as the panacea to the problems afflicting the oppressed youth. As if it were a magical pill which when consumed would cure all his mental, spiritual and economic yearnings. There, was my beef. Much as we love HipHop, we need to branch out, widen our horizons and excel in other fields. HipHop is a great culture, the music you know, is mad amazing. Countless artists speak to me, pierce right through my very soul, in ways nobody ever could with their great rhymes, great thoughts. Its a beautiful culture I know. The defiance that marks it, the refusal to be put down, against all odds, makes it precious to me. Its how sometimes we loose focus and front it as everything you need to make it in life as it were that concerns me. Am not the one to bluntly say as others would that HipHop retards our success, but i feel we sometimes err in presenting it as the best gift to us since man’s first landing on the moon. A renowned proffesor in my country recently wrote a lengthy write up in a national daily going on and on about HipHop’s relevance in empowering and liberating oppressed classes. Instead of urging kids to stay in school n see whether formal education would open doors for them, a proffesor found it cool to trumpet hiphop’s greatness to many impressionable kids. This is the hypocricy and pretence as all the respondents to the article above exhibited, that pissed me off. Otherwise this is a great culture, you and I know. One Beatroot.
Posted on 28-Nov-09 at 6:10 am | Permalink
Diction One wrote:
Posted on 02-Apr-10 at 8:22 am | Permalink
buy beats online wrote:
hip hop is great, and if you don’t love hip hop then I don’t know what’s wrong with you
Posted on 27-May-10 at 4:19 pm | Permalink
beats instrumentals wrote:
hip hop is everywhere around the world!
Posted on 27-May-10 at 4:22 pm | Permalink
“Has Hip-Hop Had an Adverse Effect on Our Young?” by ScholarMan « Brand Newz wrote:
[...] Hip-hop is huge with many layers and areas and a statement like “hip hop had an adverse effect on a lotta brotha’s character development” is too broad. If the user had said “gangster rap has had an adverse effect on a lot of brothers character development” then I would agree. I know plenty of people who have been listening to hip-hop since their days of wearing diapers (including myself) and the certain type of hip-hop they listen to has helped them much or not at all with their character development. Read complete story at Hip Hop Linguistics [...]
Posted on 25-Aug-10 at 6:04 pm | Permalink