What are the TEN WAYS that rap music has negatively impacted, even degenerated &
demoralized, postmodern American society, cultures & mores?
It has gotten in the minds of young people. The profanity, the violence, and the thug life has been legitimized by this type of music. Songs about murder, killing cops, and all sorts of derogatory themes that these people who listen to this music become desensitized to the world they live in. It also glorifies all types of crime and discourse.
I'm not sure if I can come up with 10. However before I list the negatives I must admit that Hip/hop and rap artists have accumulated wealth and power over their brand like no other artists before them.
Dr. Dre's net worth is $750 Million, P-Diddy $450 Million, Jay-Z $550M.
I grew up during the 60s and 70s where singers had to actually be able to "sing" in order to get a record on the radio. Songs had a meaning or they told a story which people could relate to. And yet the Temptations, the Stylistics, Kool & The Gang, Blue Magic, The Isley Brothers, the Dells, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, and James Brown never made that kind of money!
Rap artists have infiltrated fashion, alcoholic beverage, perfume, jewelry, sports, and the movie industry like no other brand of music in our history.
Three 6 Mafia's song; "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" won a Oscar in 2006 for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture after Eminem's "Lose Yourself", did the same for 8 Mile (2002). Rap has become "mainstream". Even Prince William is a huge fan of Snoop Dog and Jay-Z.
The main negatives are the lyrics used in the songs, the dress, sexually aggressive, and violent behavior of the artists that teens and children often (look up to) over example their parents set. Usher's hit song "Nobody kisses (it) like you" is an anthem of encouragement for teenage girls to indulge in oral sex.
However it's not just the men who are pushing women to be sexually aggressive. Nicki Minaj, Foxy Brown, Britney Spears, Madonna, Rhianna, along with Jennifer Lopez and Iggy Azalea's "Booty" video encourage women to use their bodies to get what they want. Bear in mind J-Lo is the mother of twins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxtIRArhVD4
Last but not least so many young men in impoverished neighborhoods believe they can replicate the success of their idols if given a drumbeat and some "dope" lyrics to "spit" out. Even back in the day when poor kids had the dream of playing professional sports they knew for the most part they had to get into college to get national attention in order to be drafted.
A lot of young people interested in becoming rappers see school as a waste of time! I'm far from being a "dream killer" but come on!
Those names of history you mention I just mentioned some of them in my hubs about Influential Music in history. The younger generation needs to know what real music is. Thanks for keeping their name alive.
Rayne123, Those were the days of "real music". The "rap" was that part of a song where the singer did some smooth talking like EW&F "All About Love" or The Spinners - Love Don't Love Nobody (It Takes A Fool) or Cause I Love You - Lenny Williams :
One way it has degenerated, to be sure, is that it's nearly 100% formulaic nowadays. People aren't really being creative as much as finding out what people want to hear, plugging in some beats and tunes, and churning out hits.
Don't hate the come up. The movie industry has been putting out negative, violent movies for decades. It has influenced society too. Maybe worse. Most people had guns, did drugs and alcohol before hip hop was big. Now that the hood is making millions, people want to blame them for destroying the morals. No. There has always been evil people in the world before hip hop.
Very true! However would you say rap music has had (no negative impact) on society? If it has, in what ways?
Yes, it has shaped some attitudes, but so did Rock and Roll, heavy metal, punk etc. Kids may or may not grow out of it. Each generation has their own rebellion. But evil is already alive. Hitler didn't need rap music to kill 6 million people.
I agree with what you said but what are some of the negative impacts that (rap) has had on society? Is it just attitudes?
I think there is a difference between negative and "evil". No genre of music contributed to Hitler's actions.
My point is degenerated and demoralized people have always been here since cavemen. It is in the DNA. Even if there were no music at all.
Excellent point! However it seems you're having an issue with coming up with any negative regarding rap. We've covered Hitler, heavy metal, punk, cavemen and DNA. Can you attribute anything negative that (rap music) has contributed to society?
I'm saying it cannot be totally pinned on rap. There are other factors involved, like anger, poverty, lust, low self esteem, hero worship encouraged by Hollywood, images of wealth, swagger, fashion. Rap is the current scapegoat for deeper issues
by TheBlondie 12 years ago
Am I the only one who thinks rap shouldn't be considered music?It isn't singing, its just fast talking- they are pretty much all about the same things, and all sound similar. Why is rap such a popular genre of music?
by Grace Marguerite Williams 10 years ago
How has religion profoundly negatively impacted, even retarded the advancement of society interms of scientific research, reproductive rights/health, medical advancements, human sexuality, status of women/children/LBGT people, &overall general quality of life/well being?
by Lybrah 10 years ago
We study Shakespeare's poems, and those of other classic writers. Shakespeare's poetry has been around for more than five hundred years! And yet today, children are learning about it in high school. Which makes me wonder: Who will be remembered and celebrated five hundred years...
by PR Morgan 13 years ago
Do you like listening to rap music?
by karl 12 years ago
Does rap music reflect society's problems or add to them?
by Williamjordan 14 years ago
With the times being as they are how do you feel about using rap to promote postive teen enviornment.Me personaly feel that it's wrong there nothing postive about today rap music and the message it sends teens. To many teens are dieing a head of time by living the message that rap promotes.
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |