Rap’s Contribution to Violence Debate Thread

[dora_da_destroyer]

This is egregious but how does this apply to Takeoff who isn’t really one of those types?

Wouldn’t it be more fair to blame the culture of violence in America in general in this case?

culture of violence in america and particularly our community, but hip hop/rappers are also expected to reflect and take part in the worst of our community. to me, that's the issue. even the "square" ones have songs where they have to prove their toughness. seemed in the past rappers were mostly moving beyond the streets when they got on, now they double down on it.

edit: and to the exceptionalists - yes, there are hundreds of non street rappers, but those aren't usually who get the glory and spins in our most at risk communities

 

[SchoolboyC]

Blaming rap music for violence in the black community is like when people used to blame video games & heavy metal music for school shootings. It’s just not based in reality. Now are there valid critiques about the lack of positive messages in the music, 100% absolutely. But is it directly influencing the behavior? I don’t really think so. And just in general, considering people of all races listen to hip-hop, I resent how this conversation always only singles out black listeners, as if we’re just inherently more impressionable than anyone else.

But like I said in the Takeoff thread, this current culture is a combination of easy access to guns and low emotional intelligence. If you give a loaded gun to people who don’t know how to process/control their emotions, who grew up in environments where the first resort to solving problems is with violence, you will keep getting results like this.

Where a minor ass argument or inconvenience causes a person to lose their composure to the point where they’re firing a gun into a crowd. As long as we continue to have mentally unfit people walking around with loaded guns, we will continue to have senseless gun violence.

 

[Nomad1]

Rap is only used as a vehicle to flame crimes such as when a rapper disses a rival gang member. If you removed rap today it would be replaced with another vehicle. Instead of dissing each other on records they’ll diss each other on twitter.

So let’s stop having this played out convo and talk about the cause of the crime in our community: government policy

Or we can be straight forward and call out the people responsible for funding this crap: the Jewish community

Twitter doesn't offer anyone access to money, no other platform does the way rap music has been doing.
This is just one dynamic in the violence we see, I know rap music doesn't influence every form of violence we see today, especially in the black community. However, the culture surrounding this genre has taken a life of its own and needs to be addressed properly.

 

[that guy]

Twitter doesn't offer anyone access to money, no other platform does the way rap music has been doing.
This is just one dynamic in the violence we see, I know rap music doesn't influence every form of violence we see today, especially in the black community. However, the culture surrounding this genre has taken a life of its own and needs to be addressed properly.

That proves my point. Rappers diss their rivals on twitter where they aren’t getting paid. At least you can say they make money off of music. That shows you that it’s not hip hop that’s the problem.

It needs to be addressed by holding responsible the people that are propagating this genre. That is the Jewish community. As long as white kids keep consuming this type of rap they’ll keep investing in it because they have no morals

 

[spliz]

culture of violence in america and particularly our community, but hip hop/rappers are also expected to reflect and take part in the worst of our community. to me, that's the issue. even the "square" ones have songs where they have to prove their toughness. seemed in the past rappers were mostly moving beyond the streets when they got on, now they double down on it.

edit: and to the exceptionalists - yes, there are hundreds of non street rappers, but those aren't usually who get the glory and spins in our most at risk communities

Nothing is ever gonna get solved if people keep focusing on what it is instead of why it is. Do the history of your people in this country. That will get u closer to the answer.

 

[L. Deezy]

Here's an excerpt from an interview with a rapper called JuiceWrld:

Juice WRLD on Calling Out Drake’s Baby Drama, Working With Future, and Kanye

“People can take it however they wanna take it, but I’m pretty sure Drake knows it’s a joke.”

www.vulture.com

Good point posted

 

[spliz]

Even in the beginning of hip hop. Rappers wanted to be like the street nikkas and not the other way around. The street nikkas and hustlers was the cool ones and the ones who had clout, Money and girls. Rap wasn’t making money like that yet. Once the street nikkas realized rap was a legit tool to make legal money. It took a lot of otherwise lost brothas off the streets. Who otherwise had no way out. This hip hop shyt has saved ALOT of lives. Yet people continue blaming it for the loss of life. Go ask anyone who can tell u what the streets was like before hip hop became a big deal. Let them tell u the horror stories.

 

[that guy]

Blaming rap music for violence in the black community is like when people used to blame video games & heavy metal music for school shootings. It’s just not based in reality. Now are there valid critiques about the lack of positive messages in the music, 100% absolutely. But is it directly influencing the behavior? I don’t really think so. And just in general, considering people of all races listen to hip-hop, I resent how this conversation always only singles out black listeners, as if we’re just inherently more impressionable than anyone else.

But like I said in the Takeoff thread, this current culture is a combination of easy access to guns and low emotional intelligence. If you give a loaded gun to people who don’t know how to process/control their emotions, who grew up in environments where the first resort to solving problems is with violence, you will keep getting results like this.

Where a minor ass argument or inconvenience causes a person to lose their composure to the point where they’re firing a gun into a crowd. As long as we continue to have mentally unfit people walking around with loaded guns, we will continue to have senseless gun violence.

This whole narrative about hip hop (like all other played out “black on black crime” narratives) was created by the dominant society to deflect their culpability for causing the problems in our society.

How come nobody asks where are all of these guns coming from? There has been murder weapons found that were guns turned into police during gun buyback programs. Now how does a gun that’s in police custody get back on the streets and used in a murder? These guns are coming from the white community.

 

[King Jove]

Some people act like everything was peachy in the Black community before 1988. Like the Black community was peaceful and living in harmony, where there was no violence before rap. Dudes were doing drive-bys to Teddy Pendergrass

With that being said, If the violence is a fire, then gangsta rap music didn't start the fire, but gangsta rap is pouring gasoline on the fire.

 

[Mastamimd]

Violent crimes were at it's apex from say, the late 70s to the early 90s. The crazy irony is as gangster rap became more popular violent crimes decreased substantially. Don't believe me? Check the stats

New York Crime Rates 1960 to 2019

New York crime statistics, New York , New York rape, New York murder, New York property crime, New York crime index, New York violent crime, violent crime in State, New York burglary, New York vehicle theft, New York larceny, New York robbery, rate, New York, ucr, fbi, index, New York crime...

www.disastercenter.com

 

[Matt504]

When Reagan took office in 1980, the total prison population was 329,000, and when he left office eight years later, the prison population had essentially doubled, to 627,000. This staggering rise in incarceration hit communities of color hardest: They were disproportionately incarcerated then and remain so today.

The History of Mass Incarceration

From Alexis de Tocqueville to Ronald Reagan, the forces that have shaped the current state of our prison system.

www.brennancenter.org

 

[Left.A1]

Violent crimes were at it's apex from say, the late 70s to the early 90s. The crazy irony is as gangster rap became more popular violent crimes decreased substantially. Don't believe me? Check the stats

New York Crime Rates 1960 to 2019

New York crime statistics, New York , New York rape, New York murder, New York property crime, New York crime index, New York violent crime, violent crime in State, New York burglary, New York vehicle theft, New York larceny, New York robbery, rate, New York, ucr, fbi, index, New York crime...

www.disastercenter.com

They don’t want stats ..they want feelings and I intellectually lazy arguments that make them go to sleep easy at night Ben see they think the have the silver bullet that will solve decades old violence problems in this country

 

[Rollie Forbes]

 

[CrimsonTider]

culture of violence in america and particularly our community, but hip hop/rappers are also expected to reflect and take part in the worst of our community. to me, that's the issue. even the "square" ones have songs where they have to prove their toughness. seemed in the past rappers were mostly moving beyond the streets when they got on, now they double down on it.

edit: and to the exceptionalists - yes, there are hundreds of non street rappers, but those aren't usually who get the glory and spins in our most at risk communities

This doesn’t seem like a post blaming rap music

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

This doesn’t seem like a post blaming rap music

i have never blamed rap music, rap music creates a negative feedback loop with the street element of black culture, but the street/hood element is clearly the root issue