Critical Investigation.
Does rap music and artist like
"Nines" create a negative representation of black youth?
This critical
investigation will
analyse the effects rap artists have
on the younger generation and the reason rap artists have become
role models to the younger generation. In order to analyse this correctly,
there will be a main text. The main text is a rapper from the Church Road
estate (Willesden) called Nines. Nines is a black rapper who raps about living a life
filled with money, drugs and women. Although he doesn't refer to himself as a
gangster, the inference can be made, through his lyrics and content, that
he is an alleged one. The themes of his music are about money drugs and women. By analysing two of his
songs, as the audience, you may be able to see the effects
his lyrics and videos may have, predominantly on the
younger black generation. Although
the main text of this investigation is Nines, I will be looking at other rap
artists that share a similar fan base. Also, in
order to back up these points, there will be a use of statistics and other
reasons why black youth
may be represented badly.
My primary
texts are two songs from Nines called Money On My Mind and AJ'd Out. These
songs are also moving image texts. Money on my mind was videoed by SBTV, Jamal
Edward's company. The themes of this music video are money drugs, friendship
and girls. This is the typical theme of most rap songs right now. The themes
are shown throughout the video, as well as the lyrics. There is a lot of
objectification of women in this one track. It is shown through the various
quotes. “Them hoes use to diss when
we always bruk[2]” the use of
the word “hoes” shows how Nines feels about women and how he treats them. This
may show the audience and people who listen to his music that women are
inhumane as they are called a word that connotes disgust. "I
hit that bitch onetime.[3]"
There is again a sense of condemnation of women, causing young boys to do the
same as Nines. “If her body looks dead, I'll just probably get head.[4]”
Lastly, he now conveys exactly what he does to women here. He also glorifies
sexual activities with no feeling, without showing the consequences, leaving
younger people, more vulnerable to pregnancies, sexually transmitted disease
and heartbreak. He also glorifies selling illegal drugs, making it seem like a
“cool” thing to do, which in turn, causes younger people to aspire to do the
same thing. “Even though I'm a star I'm out here selling coke.[5]”
This part of the song shows the audience he is not ashamed to say he does
things like that, and also nullifies the audience to crime and things like this
as he has openly said this. The next
quote optimises my point on effect of this music on the younger generation.
"Then I taught him how to whip crack[6]"
He has taught a younger kid on the block to make and sell drugs. This obviously
makes the younger kids to want to do this also.
Another
one of my texts is a song called “Aj'd out”
again a song from Nines. The content and lyrics are similar to Money on my
mind, showing us there is not just one track from Nines that gives black youth
a negative representation. A quote I have picked out from this song says, “If I
count my stack I finish a day later.[7]” This quote suggests he has a lot of money, which is a theme in
most rap videos, which can cause youth, who listen to rap music to be
controlled by money, causing them to maybe do illegal things. Another quote
from that song is “Niggas say I move hot because I make tools pop.[8]” This quote implies he doesn't think twice about shooting someone.
This shows the audience that he believes shooting and violence is not a big
thing. This again may cause youth to get caught up in gang violence, which in
turn gives them a negative representation of black youth in the long run.
Rap
as a genre has many
conventions. Some
have stayed the same whilst some have
changed from, the 1980s to the present day. The
so called "New wave of hip-hop" originated in the 1980s, and due to
many of its conventions, was condemned by people in higher powers, and it’s the
same in
the present time. A
theme that is in both rap music now, and in the 80s, is the hatred of
police. Both rappers, in the UK and US, both now and then have had harsh words
for the police. An example
of this is when Konan, a rapper said "Coz feds wanna bridman,[9]" this
lyric shows that Konan thinks the police want to put him into prison. Konan is
a present rapper, who has recently signed to Virgin Records. Even before this,
rappers have had problems with the police rapper Ice T said "Cop killer,
better you than me" this
shows that Ice T believes if he doesn’t kill the police man, they will kill
him. An issue and debate that taps into this is the police shootings of Mark
Duggan and Trevon Martin. Both men were killed by police officers, when they
had not done anything to harm the police officer.
I
think rappers reinforce the stereotypes of black youth by openly
admitting the things they do. Also, as a result of the publicity rappers get,
what they say is taken as gospel from both the youth that listen to it, and to
other people who scrutinize it. Perkins'
theory of stereotypes come in here as she says "Stereotypes can be positive." Rappers
are quite influential and are well known, which means they are able to get
their point and views across easier than the person who works in the corporate
world. Using
Hall's representation theory, there is a dominant reading which is that black
youth aspire to be like gangsters, but the alternative reading is not looked
at, the alternative ready may be that black youth may aspire to work in the
corporate world. People
who listen to music can be influenced more by rappers and the lifestyle rappers
portray. So if they portray a negative lifestyle, youth will aspire to have
that lifestyle, and other people will believe this is the lifestyle that most
or all black people have. It
seems that some of the rappers have created a moral panic due to what they have
said about themselves, causing it to reflect badly on other black youth. This
point here can be backed up with a quote from Ndubuisi Nkem Okoronkwo which says "Sportsmen
and musicians, particularly rap artists, are considered the most prevalent role
models amongst young black men and women... The findings
from this study show African-Caribbean youths tend to aspire to emulate
sportsmen and musicians, who many consider to be negative role models.[10]” This quote
shows that musicians and sportsmen are looked up to. This could be bad for two
reasons; firstly, musicians and sportsmen are two careers which only 1 in
millions succeed from. This means that a lot of youth may put their eggs in one
basket as they will put all their time and effort into something virtually
impossible and lack a back-up plan. This means if they don't make it to be a
rapper or sportsman, they have no other options. This may result in crime or
just being at home, claiming benefits.
The second
thing is that there is a lack of role
models because there is a lack of fathers in households now. The quote “57% of
black Caribbean children grew up in lone parent households, compared with 25%
of white children[11]”(BBC, 2006).
This shows that musicians and sportsmen may be role models to black youth by
default as they lack tangible role models in their lives causing them to form a
so called “bond” with the most successful male they know. Which is normally men
whom are well known, or on television. This is not
just a problem in the UK; a quote from the Washington times says “The lack of
live-in fathers also is overwhelmingly a black problem, regardless of poverty
status, census data show. Among blacks, nearly 5 million children, or 54
percent, live with only their mother.[12]” This shows
musicians and sportsmen around the globe are classed as role models to black
youth as there is a lack of father figures in the black community, if musicians
are behaving in the wrong way, children and youth will pick up on that, and
because they look up to those particular people, they will replicate it.
My historical
texts are two different groups, The Specials and N.W.A. The
Specials are a group
who produce Ska punk music.
They are an a-typical, lyric conscience group. “The
political and economic parallels between Britain in 2011 and 1981 may be
self-evident, but musical reactions to today's tempestuous times are
conspicuous by their scarcity.[13]”
There were riots in both 2011 and 1981, but the approach by songwriters
differed, as songs may have had more meaning, in the 1980s than they do now.
Also, because The Specials reached out to a lot of races, genders and ages,
they needed to express their views in a peaceful and calm way but with rap
music there is less need to do that because it is the norm and it is okay to
speak your mind without the use of filters. The Specials were around at about
the same time as N.W.A, and you can see the rap group from Compton Los Angeles,
had a song called “Fuck the police” the song had near enough the same meaning, about
the government and people in power, but the lyrics were
completely different. For instance in Ghost Town it says “Why must the
youth fight against themselves?[14]” Government
leaving the youth on the shelf This place, is coming like a ghost town No job
to be found in this country” Just from reading the
lyrics, you can see the intelligence of The Specials, due to the use of a
question. Also, even though they are having a little rant about the government,
and people in higher power, they still blame their own people, showing a bit
more of an objective view than N.W.A as the lyrics “Fuck the police comin straight from
the underground A young nigga got it bad cause I'm brown.[15]”
The use of a profanity already shows the aggressive tone used, again showing
the difference in genres but not time. In my opinion, I think this shows that
rap music is more aggressive and youth who listen to it may base their views
and opinions on certain topics depending on who said it.
In
order to gain a more objective view of the representation of black people,
issues and debates that give views for and against should be looked at. The
issues and debates shown in this investigation are both stereotypes and moral
panics. In regards to stereotypes, The dominant representation of black youth
is that they are criminals and are also good for nothing. This is showed by the
title of the Daily Mail. It says “Black men 'to blame for most violent city crime.[16]” As the title is for quite a mainstream newspaper, large
amount of audiences will believe that
without looking elsewhere, or for maybe alternative views on the same
situation. However, using Medhurst’s theory of some stereotypes being true and a shorthand, there
is an argument that black people may do things or act a certain way in order to
receive that type of labelling from the media and people. The quote "It
found that 67 per cent of those caught by police for gun crimes were black. Among those proceeded against for street crimes, including
muggings, assault with intent to rob and snatching property, 54 per cent were
black males.[17]" Shows that the fear and the panic of the media and
other people may be valid. There are a few statistics that may validate the
representation of black youth, one of which is “Black
children are disproportionately likely to be excluded from school, and black
adults to go to prison... 56% of African-Caribbean boys got five A-C grades at
GCSE, compared with 65% of African boys and 70% of
African-Caribbean girls (for all pupils, the figure was 74%).[18]” This stat shows the lack of education black youth have, which may lead
them to crime. Also, there are many athletes and rappers who have little
education, which may be seen as cool and a desirable trait to have. LeBron James didn’t go to college,
but relied on his sporting ability to get him through and is now the nest
basketball player at this moment. Kayne West dropped out of college and is now
one of the best rappers in the world. Both men are quite proud of what they
have achieved as LeBron is famous for not going to college. Also Kayne West has an album called
“College dropout” implying he is not ashamed that he didn’t go to college.
Also, there
is an issue and debates regarding the news and the publicity that black youth
get in the media. In newspapers, black youths seem to get negative publicity, which
can cause audiences to have negative attitudes towards black youth. More than
two thirds of newspaper and broadcast stories about black youth, are to do with
crime This shows that black youth are negatively portrayed, leading to a moral
panic as crime is something that ‘threatens social order.’ Crime stories which
were based around all types of youth were 41% of the time to do with crime.
This means black youth are in the newspapers for crime more than any other
group. In print alone there were 71% of stories which were about black youth
and crime. Also, youth in general are mentioned in tabloid newspapers 70% of
the time whilst they are mentioned in broadsheets 30% of the time. This is
compared to 60% to 40% in favour of tabloids for stories about black youth.
This can be seen as a problem because it shows that there is more balance of
where the stories are. By having a balance of stories, it means, more people
can see opinions from different journalists and writers and not just tabloid
readers, but broadsheet readers. As a result of this, it is not just people in
the C2-E category that may stereotype black youth but it is also upper classed
people from A-C1, this is because broadsheets have stories about black people,
which are mostly negative, giving sophisticated audiences a negative perception
of black youth.
Another issue and debate is the amount of black people in prison. This
is a big issue, because it makes it seem like a lot of black people are
criminals due to the large number of black people in prison. The number of
black people in prison is quite shocking. "Black prisoners make up 15% of
the prisoner population and this compares with 2.2% of the general population –
there is greater disproportionality in the number of black people in prisons in
the UK than there is in the United States.[19]" According to a range of sources, including the US
justice department, about 12% of the US population is black and about 40% to
45% of the US prison population is black. According to Roy Walmsley's World Prison
Population List 2009, the US jails 756 of every 100,000 of its population.[20]" This shows that a
lot of black people are jailed in the UK and US. A lot of these men would be
fathers to more than one child, and may have had children with multiple women.
This gives black youth a negative representation because a lot of their fathers
are in prison. Another eye opening quote was from “More black
males are in prison than are enrolled in colleges
and universities… In 2003, according to Justice Department figures, 193,000
black college-age men were in prison, while 532,000 black college-age men were
attending college. On an average day in 1996, more black male high school dropouts aged 20–35 were in custody than in paid employment;
by 1999, over one-fifth of black non-college men in their early 30’s had prison
records.[21]” This quote allows audiences to understand the amount of
black males in jail, compared to the amount of black males doing well. Due to statistics like this, the audience are wary of black youths, and
have negative representation of them due to a lot of them being
incarcerated. Also quotes like this
do not help either. "One
in every three black males born today can expect to go to prison at some point
in their life, compared with one in every six Latino males, and one in every 17
white males, if current incarceration trends continue.[22]" This quote may be true, but the way it
has been composed shows that black people are destined for prison at least once in their
lives, implying they are born criminals. This can be backed up with Alvardo's theory of black people being put into
categories. A category that they are being put into now is the category of "danger." This is because they create
a fear to other people which has been regarded as "true" by
rappers.
My additional
research is a one-on-one interview with a rapper called Giggs. Giggs is from South London and is a pioneer of mainstream ‘Trap
Rap.’ In his interview with The Guardian newspaper, he says a few things that
may cause us to understand the reason rappers like him or Nines exists and
whether it’s for glorification or not. “We can't hide away from our history of
gritty youth culture[23]” This quote from Giggs shows that he doesn’t mind showing people about drugs guns
and crime because it was his life and he is not ashamed of doing so. Also,
another quote from the interview “It
sounds like you’re making it up or bragging.[24]”
This quote shows he understands the dominant representation of rap music being
platform to brag but he knows they are just giving a visual representation of
their life. The next three quotes tell us that he doesn’t care about what
people think of his music because what he says in his lyrics are all true.
“They’re scared of that world being true.9”
Because other people are doing so well in life, some people don’t want to look
at poverty in the streets, but they would prefer to scape goat them and condemn
them. “I’m going to talk about what I am going to talk about[25]”
This shows that regardless of whether people like his music or
not, he will still rap about the same things because those things are the
things that mean a lot to him as he has went through that in his life. “That’s
not the life I am living[26]”
He’s not going to change is lyrics to nice fun things because his
life isn’t nice or fun. This shows he raps about how he feels and relevance of
his lyrics.
In conclusion, Society has created a negative representation of
black people, but Nines and other rappers have reinforced it to make it seem
true. However, there are stats to show black youth underachieve and are menaces
to society. The reason for this is due to lack of father figures, unfair
treatment they receive from people in higher power, and also, what they see in
the media about themselves, makes them not want to correct their behaviour, but
prove people who say those things right.
Word count: 3,389
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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzvzxytPUzg]
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Ice T. Cop Killer
Krept and Konan.
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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM4KgpyepRE]
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[1]
Skrapz ft Nines- “Free”
[2]
Nines- “Money on My mind”
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7]
Nines- “AJ’d Out”
[8] Ibid
[9]
Krept and Konan- The Motto
[10] The phenomena of Black youth crime and how black youths are
portrayed in the united kingdom
[11] BBC News
2003 (No name)
[12]
Washington Times
[13] Ghost Town: The song that defined an era turns 30
[14]
The Specials- Ghost Town
[15]
NWA- F**K The Police
[16]
Daily Mail
[17] Ibid
[18] Ibid
[19] More black people jailed in England and Wales
proportionally than in US
[20] Ibid
[21] The Impact of Incarceration on Wage Mobility and Inequality
[22] Ibid
[23]
Giggs interview with Guardian
[24] Ibid
[25] Ibid
[26] Ibid
