The Impact of Rap Music on White Youth
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2011 The mpI act of Rap Music on White Youth Freddie J. Dantus Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Community-Based Research Commons, and the Music Commons Recommended Citation Dantus, Freddie J., "The mpI act of Rap Music on White Youth" (2011). Honors Theses. 963. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/963 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dantus 1 The Impact of Rap Music on White Youth by Freddie J. Dantus ********* Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Department of Sociology UNION COLLEGE March 2011 Dantus 2 ABSTRACT DANTUS, FREDDIE J. The Impact of Rap Music on White Youth. Department of Sociology, March 2011. Music is a primary source of entertainment for American adolescents. Hip hop culture and rap music, in particular, have become the dominant genre of music among American youth. Hip hop rose primarily from the disadvantaged African American neighborhoods of New York City. Perhaps not surprisingly, though, it is White, middle class, suburban adolescents who drive the rap music industry with their disposable income and desire to resist the cultural norms of their parents’ generation. While sophisticated analyses of hip hop itself are appearing, the connection to white youth has not been well-studied. This project begins to fill this void, specifically exploring how contemporary rap music affects White middle-class American adolescents. Interviews and surveys were conducted with a sample of students from a small selective northeastern liberal arts college. These interviews and surveys focused on the presence of rap music and hip hop culture in their daily lives, assessing the ways music has penetrated youth culture and influenced their perspectives on race, gender, class-consciousness, and other pressing social issues that affect America’s youth. Dantus 3 Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………….………2 Chapter One: Literature Review………………………………………………………4 Introduction………………………………………………………………………4 The Role of Music in Society……………………………………………………..5 Youth Culture…………………………………………………………………….9 Music and Youth Culture………………………………………………………...12 A Brief History of Hip Hop Culture and Rap Music……………………………..14 Rap Music’s Influence on White Youth…………………………………………..22 Chapter Two: Research Methods……………………………………………………..30 Population and Sample………………………………………………………….32 Interviews………………………………………………………………………..33 Surveys…………………………………………………………………………..38 Analyzing the Data………………………………………………………………43 Chapter Three: Analysis of the Interviews……………………………………………44 Overview of the Interviews……………………………………………………….44 Analysis of the Interviews………………………………………………………..50 Nice to Meet You, Rap Music…………………………………………...50 Lyrics of Rap Music……………………………………………………..54 Negative Themes of Rap Music…………………………………………57 Race Relations Through Rap Music……………………………………..59 Chapter Four: Analyzing the Survey………………………………………………….66 Chapter Five: Discussion and Conclusion…………………………………………….76 References………………………………………………………………………………80 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………...84 Appendix A – Informed Consent Form…………………………………………..84 Appendix B – Interview Questions……………………………………………….85 Appendix C – Survey Questions………………………………………………….87 Appendix D – Interview Transcriptions………………………………………….90 Jason……………………………………………………………………...90 Tyler……………………………………………………………………...92 Sam………………………………………………………………………95 Mackenzie………………………………………………………………..98 Brandon…………………………………………………………………100 Ryan…………………………………………………………………….103 Laura……………………………………………………………………107 Dantus 4 Chapter One: Literature Review Introduction Music is one of the primary sources of entertainment for adolescents in America. Hip hop culture and rap music, in particular, have become the dominant genre of music among American youth. Rap is the commercialized music that can be heard on the radio while hip hop is the cultural phenomenon that encompasses rap music, breakdancing, dj- ing, graffiti artwork, fashion, language, and style. Hip hop arose from the primarily African American disadvantaged neighborhoods of New York City, and quickly dominated the national music charts. With the ability to reach the masses, rap and hip hop musicians took up social issues that affect their often difficult lives, addressing themes of politics, violence, gangs, misogyny, alcoholism and substance abuse. Perhaps not surprisingly, though, it is White, middle class, suburban adolescents who drive the rap music industry with their disposable income and desire to resist the cultural norms of their parents’ generation. The influences of hip hop resonate through fashion, style, language, sexuality, television and other sources of entertainment. This thesis examines the impact of rap music on White youth culture. Through interviews and surveys, I found a strong relationship between rap music and adolescent culture. Despite its controversy, in the last decade, rap music has become an important and influential aspect of American popular culture. Before examining all of the literature on rap music, one must look to the relationship between music, sociology, and youth culture. I began by looking at the sociology of music, and the way that music acts as an activity and an object. Music is present in nearly every aspect of individual and community life, and it is able to unite Dantus 5 people. Next, I turned to youth culture, as a subset of the parent culture, and the way that adolescents resist the status quo. This is closely followed by the connection between youth culture and music. Throughout history, the music that appeals to the adolescent community has created a wedge between the parent culture and the youth culture. This idea can be traced back to the 1950s and the advent of rock and roll music, but holds true for grunge, punk, rap, and other youth music throughout history. The history of hip hop culture is outlined, which began in the South Bronx in the late 1970s. The tumultuous history has had an influence on the themes found within the music, which often include violence, gangs, drugs and misogyny. Finally, I examined the pervasive influence of rap music on white youth culture. This can be seen through the influx of music, movies, television shows, radio stations, clothing lines, magazines and other popular culture mediums that are targeted at the youth of America. With an understanding of the sociology of music, youth culture, and the impact of music on youth culture, one can begin to understand how rap music is so influential. The history of rap music and hip hop culture is important to understanding the way that America’s youth received and incorporated the music into their own culture. In the last decade, rap has taken over as a dominant genre of music and the effects of its influence can be seen in White youth culture. The Role of Music in Society During a candid interview with Tia DeNora, a well-known sociologist of music, a Nigerian man said, “Europeans merely listened to music, whereas in Africa people made music as an integral element of social life” (2000: ix). Dantus 6 In the twenty first century, sociologists have used their analytical tools and general theories of sociology applied to nearly any subject of study to determine what is sociological about the matter. Many sociologists have been able to combine their personal interest in a topic with their desire to understand the sociology of that topic. Music is a field that is entertaining and insightful while it is able to reach a vast audience of listeners through radio, television, advertisements, and the Internet. Music also has the power to influence feelings and moods (DeNora 2000), making it a compelling choice of topic for sociologists. Roy and Dowd found the common themes of music in the important works of Max Weber, W.E.B. DuBois, Alfred Schutz, Howard Becker, Richard Peterson, Pierre Bordieu, and Tia DeNora (2010: 184) who were able to see the significance in the study of music, the people who create it, and its effect on those who listen to it. DeNora argues, as shown in the above quote, that the social effects and powers of music have been underestimated in Western culture, despite the “plethora of music’s uses in daily life” (2000: ix). Regardless of whether or not society understands the impact of music on its people, there is an important connection between culture and music that sociologists work to uncover. The Oxford English Dictionary defines music as, “the art or science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds to produce beauty of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, expressive content, etc.; musical composition, performance, analysis, etc., as a subject of study; the occupation or profession of musicians” (Oxford English Dictionary 2010). In sociological terms, defining music is more than just this formal explanation; it is a “force in social life, a building material of consciousness and social structure” (DeNora 2000: 2) that can affect each individual differently. Music can be treated as an object or as an Dantus 7 activity (Roy and Dowd 2010). As an object, music has a moment of creation with notes and tones that are repeated as the building blocks for songs and compositions. Music is also a commodity that can be bought or sold, which