I have decided to make my blog project about rap music and it's affect on american youth while examing both sides of the issue from the perspective of actual rappers as well as from a school principal in Philadelphia. Rap music has always been known to promote violence, sex, the demeaning of women, and the life in "the drug game." Although it is true that the majority of rap music does include these overally negative aspects and views of "urban life" it is also true that alot of the things which are exemplified in rap music are true and are things that are not only seen, but literally are lived on a daily basis in neighborhoods all across America. Although there are many negative aspect about rap music, there are also many positives which are rarely ever discussed. It is much easier to see the negatives instead of the positives in almost any scenario and in the video interview from 2003 on the "O'Reaily Factor" both sides are discussed in a somewhat heated segment. The interview between rapper Cam'Ron and former Roc A Fella records CEO, Damon Dash can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnhUYWbW3jQ
The two sides of this discussion are very apparent in this interview. Although I don't believe Cam'Ron and Damon Dash appropriately addressed the principal's issue about their negative influence on America's youth with their music, I also think that Bill O'Reilly also was merely trying to make the rap industry look bad. This caused the interview to almost be personal which caused both sides, the rappers and the principal, to only want to focus on their perspectives. Not once did Cam'Ron or Damon Dash want to specifically discuss lyrical content and negative affects of their music and on the oppesite end, O"Reilly and the Princial didn't want to focus on the positives of rap music. Both sides were very clear on how they felt and although the interview didn't really go anywhere, both sides did make very clear and valid points about their perspective.
In examining both sides of this topic, it is clear to see there is a very negative view about rap music in America. And rightfully so, as a true hip-hip fan, (not a rap fan) I can agree with the fact there are alot of things wrong with the rap industry and it's affect on American youth. I say I am a "Hip-hop" fan and not a fan of "rap" because I think there are very distinguishable traits about true "hip-hop" and "rap." First of all, music creators in "hip-hop" include people such as Mos Def, Common, Talib Kweli, Pharrel, Lupe Fiasco, and local acts such as the Blue Scholars and Common Market. These artists create music which have real lyrical content that describe alot of the same things in urban America as "rappers" while maintaining postives lyrics, great overall music, and more often then a postive message. In a remix of a song called "kick push" by Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell exemplifies my thought on hip-hop with this verse, "I skateboared past all the shit I coulda been i know my dead homies wish they were much gooder than, i mean gooder then not because im better than see as it got hooder man the blood got wetter man I was tryin to bring it home and set a trend but they would laugh like letterman" This song is about skateboarding and how it was able to push Pharrell past the drugs, past the violence, and past the things that suck in inner-urban youth, things such as rappers "rap" about. The mainstream rappers in America are the biggest reason why rap music gets such a bad wrap. These rappers include Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Young Jeezy, and T.I. These are some of the most successful people in the rap/hip-hop industry, yet they have by far the weakest lyrical content in their music as they rap about drugs, money, guns, killing, demeaning women to purely sexual objects. Unlike the artists I mentioned who I consider to be apart of hip-hop, these rappers' music rarely ever contain positive messages or even lyrics that are clean enough to get the majority of their music on the radio. 
But as seen in the "O'Reilly" interview, even though these successful rappers with horrible lyrical content are overally seen as negative influences by the American public, they are doing good things in the communities across the country. I think one of the most important things to take away from this topic is that though the "rappers" rap about alot of things that are not worth even thinking about, they are rapping about things that they either witnessed growing up or things that they went through because they were simply a product of their environment, which alot of can be blamed on the American goverment going back to the Regan days, which is a different subject altogether. There is rap and there is hop-hop. There are positives and there are negatives. We can find negatives in nearly anything if we really want and those negatives are much easier to distinguish instead of the positives but, as seen in this interview, when the rap industry puts a spotlight on the negatives by rapping about what they do, how can the general American public possibly see the positive aspects of the rap industry in which Cam'Ron and Damon Dash were trying to describe. If a rapper donates $100,000 to charity or contructs an elementry school, the only people that will know about this are going to be the communities affected and these communities will in turn listen to the artist's music because they feel they can either look up to them or relate to them. The general public won't know about these good things the rapper has done because that same rapper was in the news a couple months ago for gun charges, or his music is about drugs and sexually objectifying women. As with everyone, the image we project says who we are, what we are like, and how we live. It is up to people in the rap industry to properly address this issue and really determine if their image is one they want their own kids to someday portray.
And just a side note, the "Ceo, entrapeneur, and postive influence "Cam'Ron" in the "O'Reilly" factor was closely related and involved with a murder case in which it is believed he was the shooter. He went to jail but was later let out because it was believed, after, that he was innocent."
http://skylight.wsu.edu/s/6831b16b-fa85-4ede-8fa7-2025f61c994b.srv
