How Rap Music Affects Teens – Youth Voices (2024)

April 23, 2019April 24, 2019, Showcase, Music, , Spring 2019, Judge Memorial Catholic High School, 29

It is easy for all of us to agree that music is loved and listened to by all. No matter the age group, gender group, or even race or ethnicity, music is loved, listened to and created by all. For many it is a way to feel in touch with not only others but ourselves. It connects with how we are feeling whether happy or sad, there is always a song we can relate to that expresses the way we feel towards a certain situation or problem life has thrown our way. But this specifically pertains to teenagers, for parents are quite aware that the music a teenager listens to as they begin to develop and grown into adult, has much to do with how they chose to act in society.

Taste in music seems to change each generation, your children are less likely to have the same music taste that you have/had. Nowadays rap music has become the most popular genre, grasping the attention of many adolescents. It is a very controversial topic for many believe that rap has an overall negative effect on the youth do to it’s harsh and explicit words used, along with the very sexual music representations that carry negative hidden messages according to the “Content Analysis of Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs in Popular Music” research group.

According to American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, many of the rap lyrics contribute to the suicide, violence, and inappropriate sexual content in lyrics that also influence and contribute to teens taking part in drugs and alcohol in a younger age. It is believed that many males who listen to rap music are viewed to be have more violent tendencies compared to those who dont listen to rap music. This includes being more disrespectful and aggressive towards women in general. A study from Emory University concluded those teens between the age of 14-18 who listened to music roughly around 14 hours a week were three times more likely to get in a fight with a teacher, 2.5 times more likely to find themselves getting arrested, and 1.5 times more likely to take partake in illegal activities such as underage drinking and experimenting with drugs, including getting a sexually transmitted disease. Another study from 2005 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that the top rap songs for teens that year had 77% mentions of drugs and alcohol. This was a problem because for many teens, rappers are what are becoming to be their idols in life, and a good majority of them partake in using drugs as well as participating in gang violence. Not only do rappers influence lifestyles but fashion plays an important role to many. Rappers create fashion trends such as wearing bagging clothes, and for some wearing less is more .

Classical music is shown to improve a child’s vocabulary as well as improve one’s comprehension. Those who also participate in playing different kind of music instruments also helps ones self confidence and self esteem.