Teens In today’s culture people are influenced by more than Just their friends and family. The problem being discussed is that music videos send a message that It Is k to live as a thug and hustler through the use of appeals by showing these thugs In music videos as living glamorous lives. People’s personalities are Influenced by what they see and hear, whether It Is through television, radio, or video games.
The television Is by far the most effective tool for influencing people. The invention of the TV gave advertisers and television networks the ability to advertise products and broadcast elevation shows to their audiences. Companies focused on marketing strategies to make the consumer feel as if they have the best product. Today, television advertising is a multi-billion dollar a year business with companies shelling out millions per commercial to sell their product.
There is no debate that the television is our main source for receiving information but what if this Information was influencing people, children specifically, in a negative way? Today’s economy has forced parents to work more and more, which Limits the amount of time they can spend and talk to their children. According to the A. C. Nielsen Co the average child spends less than 3. 5 minutes a week having a meaningful conversation with their parents and over 1,680 minutes watching television. Which has a bigger Influence on children, TV or parents?
Music videos can send negative influences through Walsh 2 advertisements, lyrics, and the actions taking place in the videos TV has all sorts of shows that influence children in negative ways, but there is one form of television that has the most appeal and influence to younger generations. Music videos provide its viewers with images and sounds simultaneously to convey a message and a meaning. Some of the most famous musicians that have the most popular videos are people like 50 cent, Jay Z and P Daddy.
All three of these artists have been arrested for numerous crimes, drug possession, assault and battery, possession of an illegal firearm, and the list goes on. The music videos that these artists put out are filled with everything that they themselves have been Involved In; drugs, sex, violence, and hatred for the police. The views and opinions of these rappers are not discouraged; they are considered a way of life, what the rap and hip-hop community calls “the hug life”. The thug life is a glorified way of living, where people shoot first and ask questions later; where image is key.
The use of advertisements is seen in almost all music videos displaying the most exciting images to the viewers. These videos almost exclusively show the same images over and over again; expensive cars, promiscuous women and running from the police. Studies have shown that violent videos do in fact cause violent behavior. As read in the article, violent rap lyrics can encourage violent behavior; “students were found to experience an Increase in aggressive Houghton after listening to songs with violent lyrics” (Woodward).
For people to say that rap music videos do not have a negative Influence on youth is arrogant and dangerous. “More than 1,000 studies since 1955 have linked media violence and aggressive behavior” Lapping). “Surveys conclude that music videos are watched by a majority of teenagers. Take the MAT network, for example. “Designed for Walsh 3 of boys and 78 percent of girls in this age group for an average of 6. 6 and 6. 2 hours each week,” (Crime). Why is it that MAT and BET continue showing these music videos, knowing the harm it does to society? It is because sex, violence, and hatred are today’s biggest sellers.
On February 2003, 50 Cent released his commercial debut album, Get Rich or Die Trying’, which sold 872,000 copies in the first four days of its’ release. The song and music video “In dad club” was the album’s big hit, and was number one on the music charts for weeks. In the video 50 Cent raps about getting shot, selling drugs, having expensive cars and sleeping with multiple women. I see Exhibit in the Cut that n**** roll that weed up If you watch how I move you’ll mistake me for a playa or pimp Been hit wit a few shells but I don’t walk wit a limp.
I got the X if you into taking drugs I’m into having sex, I anti into making love. These are Just a few of the lyrics in 50 Cent’s “In dad club”. In the video the viewer sees 50 Cent and his crew practicing shooting guns at targets, aiming for headsets, and other violent and inappropriate images. To think that millions of children and teens listened and watched this video countless times is scary. When children are exposed to as much TV as they are it is scary to think that these kinds of videos are the most popular. These are the kinds of artists that kids and young adults see as role models.
False images can be seen in the way 50 Cent presents himself. He is funny, persuasive and even comes across as a Walsh 4 nice guy. 50 Cent does not care, or even think about what his music is doing to its viewer because he feels like he is Just expressing himself and making a lot of money. The music industry gets away with putting these videos and songs out there by labeling them as forms of art. The only problem with this is that the music industry is usually the only one who views it this way. What is most important is how the viewers see the videos. Younger viewers see “In dad club” as ways to model their own behavior.
They strive to be like 50 Cent and desire his lifestyle. His “gangs” attitude is appealing to younger and older audiences alike, and his music is created by some of the most talented producers in the world. The talent behind 50 Cent makes his songs so successful and allows 50 to package his negative themes in catchy well- produced songs. It is hard for a kid not to listen to something that is well made and sounds good. “The combination of music and images is more potent than either alone,” Rich points out. “Music lulls and disinherits, making it easy to suspend reality.
The barrage of brief scenes allows images of violence and sex to be mixed in far more insidious ways than in a narrative drama,” such as the “soaps” or sitcoms (Crime). Dry. Deer makes 50 Cents beats; he is arguably the best rap producer of all time. If a rap song has a good beat and a nice flow people will listen to it. The lyrics within the song are only a small percentage of the songs appeal and not understood after Just listening once. Combining negative lyrics and images with a great sounding beat is usually rap producers recipe for a hit album. Jay Z, famous multi- ultimatum rapper, released a song called “99 Problems” in 2003. 99 Problems” was a song aimed at police, and Jay G’s belief that the police are out to get him. Jay Z was, community. His opinion influence’s many people and what he says is often times taken as a truth in the urban culture. A music video like “99 Problems” is very dangerous for young adults to see. The video is convincing and makes the viewer feel bad for Jay Z. He is portrayed as the victim of many problems, his biggest problem being the police. When children grow up without a role model they look to others for advice and someone they can strive to be.
Jay Z encourages youth to do whatever necessary to obtain wealth regardless if what you do breaks the law. “Young minds aren’t always capable of separating fiction and reality,” Rich comments. “They may see violence as an easy way to settle conflict or relieve stress. The media doesn’t show the consequences, and they don’t think about them”(Crime). In one scene in the music video Jay Z raps about getting pulled over by the police for no reason, as the camera pans around the car while Jay Z is rapping you see the trunk filled with brief cases full of drug money.
He disrespects the cops and out wits them by saying hat they need a search warrant to search his car, and that he is so rich that he can higher a lawyer if they decide to do anything. Jay Z is considered a smart guy so people listen to what he has to say. This is where advertisement comes into play, these words are convincing and could easily be seen as truth. When watching the music video for “99 Problems” the viewer really starts to think that cops are bad guys out to get them. In the following lines Jay Z says that he was given a high bail Just because he was black.
D. A. Tried to give the n**** shaft again Half-a-mil for bail cause I’m African All because this fool was Harris’ them Walsh 6 Trying to play the boy like Hess saccharin. To suggest that the police and Judges will someone a high bail because you are African is a little far-fetched and gives authority a bad stereotype. In his John Woodward says, “many writers and thinkers see a kind of informed political engagement, even a revolutionary potential, in rap and hip-hop. They couldn’t be more wrong.
By enforcing the stereotypes that long hindered blacks, and by teaching young blacks that a thuggish adversarial stance is the properly “authentic” response to a presumptively racist society, rap retards black success. If kids start to believe that this is how the government is and that respect for authority is useless there will be an overwhelming amount of disorder between youth and the law. After hearing this kind of message over and over again people will start to believe artists like Jay Z and his depiction of the police as bad guys.
A good example of a song and music video that promotes every kind of negative image for kids and young adults is the song titled “Bad Boys for Life,” by Sean Combs, also known as P Daddy. The name of the song in its self gives the audience an idea about what to expect to hear in the lyrics. In the beginning of the video there is a nice quite neighborhood. As the camera angle changes a bunch of black cars pull up to a house. When the cars stop, the music starts, and a group of girls wearing close to nothing start walking out of the bus with P Daddy behind them.
The video’s main theme is to show how P Daddy and his crew completely turned a nice neighborhood upside down by having crazy parties and racing through the quiet streets in low riders. They rap about drugs, violence important in their lyrics. The very first line mentions that the rapper P Daddy is waists involved in drugs and that he has a hit list. I’m the definition of, half man, half drugs Ask the clubs, Bad Boy – that’s hasps After bucks, crush cruise after us No gaze, we anti laughing much Nothing but big things, check the hotlist” This video sends a bad image because it is the definition of a negative rap video. Bad Boys for Life” has all the harmful components found in most rap videos grouped into one. Having fun and going crazy is the real message in this video. P Ditsy disturbance of a neighborhood is seen as funny when in reality should be seen as seriously bad. This kind of video promotes insane behavior and a disregard for the people around the viewer. Our findings raise concern for the effect of violent portrayals in music videos on adolescents’ expectations about their own safety and the way they view people of another gender or race.
Their approaches to interracial interactions and male-female relationships, and their strategies for conflict resolution are vulnerable to the effects of these portrayals. “(Crime) When a child sees this video they will start to think of violent and disturbing behavior as being fun and acceptable, especially when behavior like this is unacceptable; for example in a quiet neighborhood. These three videos are Just a few of hundreds of USIA videos that contain harmful images that are seen by millions of children every day.
For some reason the rap and hip hop community is responsible for the vast majority of the most violent, sexist, and racist videos. Something needs to be done in regards to monitoring what children and even teens can see on TV. These video are not meant to be seen as fictional, they are meant to Walsh 8 be seen as real life depictions of the rappers glorified “thug life”. When images of money and success are combined with images of violence, complete disregard for the law, sex, drugs and parties, only harm can come.
People, especially kids, start associating all these images and start to form completely wrong views of what life is really all about. The videos seen today are so dangerous to society as a whole because today’s society is more fueled by media than it has ever been. Because of this fact people need to make sure that they are not feeding our youth things that will destroy lives later on down the road. Instead of promoting negative images artists need to step it up, and realize that they can make a difference by using their status to influence children in a positive way, rather than in a negative way.