Hip Hop and Violence

by Candace Henderson


The topic of whether hip hop has a violent nature of if it causes violence is very irritating to me. How can one say that one music genre is the cause of violence among today’s youth? That statement alone is crazy and ridiculous.
When I read the article, Listening to Rap: Cultures of Crime, Cultures of Resistance by Tanner et al, it made my mind race a mile a minute. I wanted to see/ read what the findings were at the end when it came to does hip hop cause violence. I was shocked to read that the study concluded that blacks are less likely to commit crimes just because they listen to hip hop. What was funny to me was that the article stated that whites and Asians were more likely to commit crimes after listening to rap. I’m not saying that I’m this world renowned scholar who has completed intensive studies on the issue, but I have to say that I have always felt that whites and other non- black groups would be more likely to commit crimes after listening to hip hop.
When whites and other non-black groups listen to rap, they feel as if they have to fit in or prove themselves worthy to become a part of the hip hop world. So, those groups take what the rappers say literally. They forget that hip hop is an art form and sometime art forms are fictional. By them taking the lyrics literally, crime rate will increase. And when asked why did you do it, their response is “hip hop made me do it.”
Now, I’m not saying that blacks don’t commit crimes based on hip hop lyrics because there are a few who feel they need to prove their “hardness” by committing crimes. All I’m saying is that I agree with the study performed in the article. With that being said, the world needs to stop using hip hop as a scapegoat for all violence. Hip hop is not the cause of violence. Stupid people who don’t have any regard for human life, let alone their own life, cause crime. People need to stand up and start taking accountability for their actions and stop blaming others. No one tells a person after listening to hip hop to go out a rape, kill, or rob someone. If the listener cannot decipher between reality and fiction, they need not listen to music, watch movies, or read books. They should have 24 hour supervision at all times because clearly they are a danger/ hazard to themselves and especially to society.