This essay discusses the influence and pressure that rap and hip-hop music bring upon the African-American youth.

Essay by armstrongjdUniversity, Bachelor's March 2003

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The Young Black Male and Rap Music

I am going to study the role of a young black male in today's society. I will look at the pressures that predominantly black music puts on the young black male and the kind of impression it can make on them.

When a young black male is presented, some people might think of lazy, drug and alcohol users, own weapons, and people that talk in the "Ebonics" language. Also you may think of them being racist towards some whites. This may occur because of the family that they grow up in. It's possible that their parents may have had bad experiences with white people, or possibly even all the way back to their grandparents. Hearing their parents and grandparents tell stories might put them in a mindset to also be prejudice towards whites. This prejudice against whites may be their reason to act different than those people that are white.

Not to say that this applies for all African Americans, but the descriptions above could be described as folkways. Although, to some blacks, the prejudice against whites maybe set as a more by their family. African Americans acting different takes us to the music.

When someone says "black music" most people would probably think of rap. Rap songs usually talk about womanizing, drug and alcohol use, and killing people that they don't like. The four songs that I will be using to back those points up are "Gin and Juice" by Snoop Doggy Dogg, "Natural Born Killers" by Dr. Dre, "One and One" by 2 Live Crew, and "Back That Thang Up" by Juvenile. These four songs will represent what young black males have grew up listening and hopefully prove my point that rap music refers to what young black...