How Rock & Rap Have Influenced Their Listeners by Christina Bates and Peter Kenton

Why has Rap and Hip-Hop become such a popular style of music? The answer is simple. No one wants to be left out of the latest fad. But this latest fad has many problems; the lyrics in many cases are very inappropriate for young listeners. In many cases, people will copy what a rap song says to do.

Rock music has almost become a mythical genre with many kids who say, “Rock is dumb, it doesn't have good lyrics.” However, the saddest part is that many people don't know where rap came from. If you told a kid you should be thankful to the Beatles for giving their favorite artists their inspiration, they would probably say “I don't care, and who the hell are the Beatles?”

A good percentage of Rap songs are either talking about getting Laid, getting money, strippers
and other profound things. The music industry is now mostly interested in writing songs about such topics. This also influences young listeners to do things that even young adults shouldn't be doing. In a lot of songs now a days rappers talk about love and sex, in a very literal way to
express their heated feelings. The songs are straight forward and say exactly what they mean. If writers wrote things in a more reserved kind of way, I think it would be more appropriate for us younger listeners. When we hear our supposed “Role Models” say things like “shawty wanna lick me like a lollipop” it makes them think that, “oh well if he or she said it, we can say it.”

Then in other situations some kids go out and do what they are hearing in these provocative
songs. Many of these subjects would be appropriate in rock songs but in Rap; forget it. The word
choice in some cases could possibly gross out the wrong listener. Perhaps the style of rap is to tell the listener immediately what they are about to listen to. Rock song topics include Love, sex, committing suicide, telling a story about something. If you listen to a rap song that is about having sex, you might have to listen to the song several times to figure out what the song is about. Good rockers have a wonderful way of combining words and music, something that the average rapper has only heard of occasionally. Rock songs are generally supposed to written like a story, a poem, to give the listener a challenge to figure out what the song is about. In my prospective I don't like the way women are being portrayed in a lot of rap songs. I know it also happens to men but a good percentage of the time its towards women and it's degrading. If you agree with this statement or disagree please go down to the bottom of this post and vote.