Last Thursday's article \Gangsta Rap: a musical menace to society"" cited inconclusive research and drew shaky conclusions about the dangers of rap. But it provided a great example of how targeting rap is often poor logic that avoids the larger causes of problems for underprivileged youth.
These arguments address rap as a singular category. The music most associated with ""gangsta rap"" is by NWA and its immediate aftermath. But this type of music largely went out of vogue in the mid-'90s. These days, the rap landscape is flooded with non-thug artists like Mos Def and Talib Kweli, who deglamorize violence. The Roots and` Outkast have gained broader audiences with love songs where sex involves emotion and consequence.
50 Cent and Ja Rule may have a nihilistic and negative influence on America's youth, but more important are the causes of that influence. With entertainment, children need adults to help them separate fiction from reality. Parents and teachers should be the ones explaining that there is no glory to violence or pimping and that nothing they see on MTV is reality. If 50 Cent is affecting the values of our country's youth, that should be a warning about the rise of single-parent homes and an indictment of the public school system.
This reflects the problems that arose after desegregation. With successful black professionals fleeing America's worst neighborhoods so went strong role models and tax dollars for local schools. Combining this with the spread of crack cocaine, poor neighborhoods became susceptible to bad role models, but also subject to thoughtful commentary.
That's what rap's critics fail to reflect. Rap is a descendant of the blues-both party music and an outlet for commentary about urban life's difficulties. Now it is often a rallying cry for progress. The two biggest influences on today's rappers are 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. Both had criminal pasts, but both stressed the importance of leaving a better life for the next generation. Even Nas, with his hard image, records socially conscious songs with pleas for uplift.
Want to criticize gangsta rap? Acknowledge that it is not the entirety of the rap game. Want to criticize putting Eminem on magazine covers? Criticize the magazine with the misogynistic, heroin-using Rolling Stones. Want to criticize rap music for causing the inner city's problems? Understand the larger causes. Want to criticize rap's conscience? Don't deliver the same speeches our parents heard about Elvis Presley's hip shaking.
