Rap Music and Media

Rap Music and Media

Rap music has grown to be an essential style in the music industry. Currently, Rap music can be put in a position that was initially held by Jazz music in the early twentieth century. The media has continued to represent Rap music negatively throughout the years, but the music has risen against the odds to dominate the field. Like other music genres, the negative presentation of Rap music has considerably turned listeners’ perception towards Rap music for the worst, and the duty has remained the responsibility of the musicians to win back the trust and reputation by listeners. The success of the media’s negative presentation, however, is attributed to the Rap musicians’ general appearance in the public which makes the attacks by media outlets make a lot of sense to the listeners. For example, Rap musicians like posting pictures representing rotten societal morals or in one way or another suggesting as if to support immorality. The videos in the Rap music also are nothing to go by if looking for role models for the young generation. The media has continued to give a negative presentation of Rap musicians with the attacks being based on the musicians’ way of public representation and the quality of videos for Rap music.

The media has taken advantage of the way Rap musicians present themselves in a position for criticism. The electronic media has brought with it a platform where musicians easily interact with listeners, but the public representation of most rap musicians has not been impressive. Rap musicians tend to enjoy praising behaviors that the general society terms as immoral and the media outlets have not been left behind in a bid to exaggerate the moral impact of the rap culture and its role in the moral panic facing the society. Think for example of a picture posted by the Migos group with one of the group members with smoke oozing out of his mouth and nose. The other members are dressed in a way as if to create an impression of pride in lack of decency. Also, the behavior of keeping long hair is always associated with a lack of morals by the society, and the rap musicians do not seem to care about the impression created by the media due to such presentations (Jon, AR. 7). An example of negative media presentation of the rap music is when Migos’ hit with Drake is used to end the Versace runway show and the newspaper reports,” the chaotic hit by Migos and Drake…, that’s exuberant consumerism incarnate.

Figure 1 Migos gang poses for a picture with one of the members letting out a cloud of smoke from his mouth. It is a show of serious lack of morals.

Every negative presentation by the media outlets against rap musicians has a target audience and purpose as well. The dominance of the electronic media by the rap musicians poses a risk of quick influence on young children since music is left to go public without serious regulation, or maybe strict parental guidance. Rap musicians have a habit of displaying irresponsible praise of materialism and immorality, which could act as an easy trap for youngsters who dream of living lavish lifestyles and may end up committing crimes. The rap musicians could purely be doing business without any intention of creating unnecessary attention, but the media will not let the musicians walk peacefully. The definitions given by media outlets about musicians are heartbreaking and leave many questions unanswered concerning the need for media uproar. In the US major Dailies newspaper, Migos is defined as a “trio of insistent noisy and chaotic rappers from Atlanta, fluent in drug-dealer fantasias…,” (Jon, C. 1). The claim would be hard to refute, and if the media were to provide evidence, then the pictures posted by the group would serve enough to clear the air.

The rap music is full of show-offs and use of abusive language that easily influences the listeners especially the youngsters. The media intervention to condemn rappers behaviors could be said to be an attempt to protect the ruining of a future generation’s moral fabrics. In most rap music lyrics, the information passed is only about pride and swearing of possession of money of power. Most rap musicians will parade vehicles and women as a show of prowess and success. Through the pride and presentation of cars and women as a show of success, most listeners especially the youngsters are deceived into believing that only success matters in life and that upholding societal morals do not count in the journey to success (Andreas, 67). Also, the media does not fail to criticize the rude nature of most rap music lyrics. For example, the US Major Dailies gives an example of a song lyric that goes, “I’m going to aim my headlight into your bedroom window…” and raises the concern of the kind of generation that will be raised listening to such kind of songs.

The representation of rap music by media has somehow changed for worse over the years. In the 1970s the Sugar Hill Gang used not to suffer the same fate as the Migos. The media was not always against the activities of the rap musicians claiming that rap music was responsible for the moral panic in the society as is the case today. The media’s involvement seems to be motivated by the fact that most musicians have a vast following and attacking any of the famous musicians will guarantee the media station significant recognition. The issue of media recognition could be thus said to be a business issue since the media stations are in business just like the rap musicians are in business. The Sugar Hill Gang gets caught up in the media-musician conflict as well, but at the time, the media gave a positive review (Robert, C23). The New York time reports, “they were able to inject some personality…were as disciplined…” The positive presentation of the rap musicians by the media in the 1970s could be attributed to the fact that the musicians were considerate of the society’s perception concerning the musicians’ public presentation. The pictures posted by musicians at that time seemed to be considerate of the society’s morals, and not much would be criticized on them.

Figure 2: The Sugar Hill Gang of the 1970’s posing for a photo. There is not much to criticize in the photo.

The media had little adverse influence on the racial divisions caused by rap musicians. Most rap musicians attempted to champion for the rights of the blacks and thus created some panic among the nationals. The New York Times notes, “the message is blasting from the radios… especially in black neighborhoods…it is an angry tone…” The newspaper, however, does not present the issue as being racial or being negative in any way. Instead, the paper reports the event as a significant development by rap music to dominate the music industry. The presentation of rap music in the 1970s appears different from the present day presentation. For example, the shows performed by Migos are depicted as being dominated by crime and violence. The New York Times reports a series of violent events that happen in shows held by Migos with the recent case being the Washington concert that turned out violent and six people were reportedly injured during the melee (Chow, C. 3). The current media does not seem to have any positive news concerning the rap musicians.

The presentation of rap musicians has changed over time. Currently, the media presentation by media outlets has changed for the worst. The success of the media’s negative performance can be attributed to the Rap musicians’ general appearance in the public which makes the attacks by media outlets make a lot of sense to the listeners. For example, Rap musicians like posting pictures representing rotten societal morals or in one way or another suggesting as if to support immorality. The videos in the Rap music also are nothing to go by if looking for role models for the young generation. However, rap musicians in the past seemed considerate of the society’s perception of their public presentation. The media has continued to give a negative presentation of Rap musicians with the attacks being based on the musicians’ way of public representation and the quality of videos for Rap music.