Taken from:
http://www.liberatingboys.com/gangstarap.html
'Gangsta' Rap: Violent Displays of Masculinity
Music is prominent in adolescents' lives. Teenagers all spend various hours a day listening to music and watching music videos. They name music as their preferred non school activity. Rock stars have been replaced with hip hop stars, and rappers who drive fast cars, wear expensive jewelry, date beautiful women, and fight amongst themselves to see who can come out on top. The lyrics in their songs are harsh. They speak of gang life, life in the ghetto, gunfights, drug use, and they often degrade women. Yet whenever one turns, these songs are being played over and over again on the radio and music videos are being shown on TV. As harsh as they may be they are in fact the real lives of many and sometimes have been the real life realities for some rappers. Eminem and 50 Cent are contemporary examples of Gangsta rappers.
Although not all rap music sends these negative messages. Some rap forms have enabled the Black communities with the form of a protest movement that has spoken out against racial injustices, oppression, racism and many other 'ism's'. One contemporary rapper that comes to mind is Canadian rapper K-OS. However some forms of rap music do send negative messages, including lyrics filled with violence, gunshots, anger and aggressive displays of masculine behaviors.
Commentators have said that there are men of color poses called 'cool poses' which is a front that males put on, by using there bodies in ways to present gesturing and poses. The 'cool pose' originates from urban street culture and has been turned mainstream to glamorize street style and the Black pose and body. They tell us that some middle class White boys today emulate poor Blacks who are emulating Italian mobsters from gangster films. The idea behind this is that men of color are feeling the need to assert their dominance that has been stripped of them from the dominant culture. Some of the effects on society that we see are events like school shootings across the US.
Tips for Parents
Parents could take part and show active interest in children and teenagers music interests and ask them what they like about these artists in their choices.
Parents can encourage violent free programming and introduce children to different cultural forms of expression in music.
Parents could take an active approach in discussing issues around gun violence, media portrayals of violence or can voice concerns over gun related violence in music
The Columbine shootings were done by two white boys who didn't fit into the dominant and mainstream sports physicality of other boys who bullied them, at their school, and through the use of guns felt they could reassert their masculinity from the power that these guns provided for them. Although it is believed that these boys had not listened to rap and instead heavy metal music, these boys have resorted to gun violence because of the pressures of dominance and aggression from other boys who embodied more physical strength and social power.
It is not easy nor fair to assert that the violence in rap music is the direct cause of the increases of societal effects like urban violence since the problem of urban violence is bigger than rap. Violent lyrics made by rappers are a reflection of the violence that takes place in many urban cities. It is simply unjust to blame rap music lyrics for social violence. However what is just, is noticing that gangsta rap is harmful because it reinforces hyper-masculine aggression behaviors expressed in increasingly violent ways.
Gangsta rap, with its repeated imagery and similar portrayals of dangerous gangster life, makes use of the visuals and sounds of guns, and all it takes is to listen to a number of different songs of rappers, and one will hear either a gun shots, or the raps of an artist of color expressing his anger for another and talking about wanting to do harm to another man of color. Not to mention, gangsta rap supports materialism, sexism, crime and murder in such a way that makes such violence sound cool, masculine, hip and that the violence displayed by rappers is rewarded with power of money that buys the 'bling'.
Tips for Teachers
Include reading materials that portray different views of masculinity in terms of race, class, and culture and behavior in relation to topics addressed on subject matter.
Educators in English, writing, social studies, personal relations studies, could assign individual or group projects on, either, the real life work cases or imaginary cases of men who are pro-active against violence of all forms that harms both men and women.
Educators in teaching culture, music, or history studies, could explore media related violence in entertainment with students and discuss how it may compare to everyday violent events presented in the news media and also compare gender differences in crime statistics.
Gangsta rap supports sexism and in a way can cause it as well. It supports it in the way that we do see other forms of sexism in society, like in all kinds of movies and other shows on television, and this makes gangsta rap just seems to be part of a bigger sexist problem. But it can also cause it and more so than any other form of music, gangsta rap includes sexism and sexist lyrics to such a degree that it normalizes it as a part of culture and its music, that it almost becomes expected when we think of rap videos but this goes against struggles for gender equality and ridding society of the sexist treatment of women. The women in music videos use their bodies and may seem to act like sexually assertive women while they are called 'hoes' and other worse labels by the rappers who they are subjecting themselves to. The message sent to boys and girls is hardly liberating and really sets up false advertising for what are the cool discourses of behavior between the sexes.
Although gangsta rap cannot be said to cause urban violence, it can be said to portray masculinity in one hyper- masculine, aggressive way, which has the potential to be harmful to the developing identities and images of young boys and men. Howard C. Stevenson suggests that Black youth often feel pressured to perform static identities and this is because certain social interactions within context of certain situations demand it and negative images can take control over a person's identity.
Howard says that the 'cool pose' functions as a coping mechanism for young boys and men, and are necessary in situations where there is apparent danger to oneself or family. The posturing and stances of the 'cool pose' builds up certain identities that can create pressure on a young boy or man, where without the posturing can leave him feeling vulnerable. Howard also tells us that the 'cool poses' of rappers are where these young boys and men learn this way of acting and that it's really an example of insecure masculinity where one needs to act tough, be emotionless, and use intimidating body language.
The form of masculinity that gangsta rap portrays is hypermasculine and violent, as well as homophobic and this has been seen as a way for Black males to reclaim their masculinity, abid in an aggressive form. What makes this harmful is that other males from various cultures and race may take part in this form of masculinity, perhaps to various degrees, but still in violent and sexist ways, which only reinforces these forms of masculinity.
Gangsta rap only portrays the hyper-masculine that includes anger; sexism and frustration, combined with gun violence which makes it seem militant without a cause. The concern lies with gangster rap's effect on males who see and adopt the forms of masculinity that gangster rappers embody and talk about in the popular media. Educators and parents rather than avoid addressing these issues, should talk about how and in what way these harmful images mask and override other real and appreciated aspects of masculinity, to children and teenagers. These violent homogeneous images are harmful to the development of the full real picture of what it means to be a male, which is not about showing toughness, imitation or resorting to violence of any sort, in order to be seen as strong and as a powerful influence in today's world.
