This document discusses the claim that hip hop promotes violence. It argues that this claim is based on prejudices against black minorities, as hip hop actually spreads awareness of important social issues like racism and abuse. The document provides examples showing that hip hop lyrics often reflect the real struggles and experiences of artists growing up in violent environments. Furthermore, hip hop has therapeutic benefits and can help people cope with mental illness. While some genres may contain similar levels of violent lyrics, hip hop is disproportionately judged negatively due to stereotypes.

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Hip hop and Violence
Ruba Alsoheil
Phoenicia University
ENGL202
Dr. Hana Dakwar
Sep. 9, 2020

2. Abstract
Hip hop, a very popular and known music genre, is defined as a culture, for it has many,
elements. One of its features is that it is authentic, for it deals with imperfect flaws. There is a
controversial claim which states that Hip hop including rap promotes violence. This research
paper proves otherwise by mentioning that people judge this musical genre based on intolerant
biases especially against black minorities. Furthermore, it is considered biased judgments, for
Hip hop talks about real social and political issues, for instance racial racism and abuse. Also, the
violence theme is not exclusive to Hip hop which indicates the hostile prejudice against this
genre. Moreover, the second claim is that Hip hop is therapeutic, and it comforts mentally ill
individuals to help them overcome these issues since it creates a resonation effects to its listeners
which make them feel they are not alone while facing their troubles. However, some people
think that it creates negative emotions, and it increases cruel and heinous acts. This claim is
supported by a small sample sized study which was refuted by another experiment. In
conclusion, hip hop is a misunderstood genre, for it has a lot of benefits psychologically and
socially. People should start judging it based on interpreting contents and lyrics where extremely
prejudiced stereotypes should not interfere in this critique.
Keywords: music, Hip hop, rap, violence

3. Hip hop and Violence
It is an aesthetically imperfect musical genre which revolves around the beauty of the
flaws. Its songs are often used as an empowering anthem against oppression, corruption, and
vandalism because they spread awareness about different, numerous, and brutal social issues like
racial discrimination and the disadvantages of the minorities. It is Hip hop which has many
elements which are Graffiti, beatboxing, break dancing, DJ, turntablism, and fashion (Uzeki,
2017). Creating beats using various sounds and pitches is beatboxing, different drawings of
complex, colorful words and images is graffiti, combining martial arts, gymnastics, and
traditional dances together is break dancing. Oversized t-shirts, baggy jeans, Nike sneakers,
golden chains, basketball caps, Nike sneakers, trainers, and hoodies are influenced by Hip hop.
This is the reason why it fits the definition of a culture which is provided by Morrel (2002) who
states that the usage of movies, values, traditions, language, and most importantly music to show
the ideological troubles and problems is defined as a culture. Hip hop including rap, a form of
expression, is a universal language that is well-known and famous all over the world. In other
words, it crosses all the geographic boundaries from New York to Tokyo spreading its lyrics,
lifestyle, and empowering messages (Motley & Henderson, 2008). It is listened to in more than
1000 city which makes it the most listened genre in Spotify (Hooton, 2015). Furthermore, the
expressiveness of Hip hop songs tends to rise its popularity, for it expresses creativity and
originality by rhyming slang words which was known in a later stage as rap. This universal
culture is an outlet for a diverse fanbase who speaks out about impactful, lifechanging social
causes freely, for this artistic genre protects freedom of speech and authenticity. Additionally, this
genre inspires people to rebel against tyranny by inspiring people to lead movements that voice
the unspoken, harsh realities and experiences of the world. However, there is a long-standing

4. controversial debate about whether hip hop glorifies violence or not. Hip hop does not promote
violence, and the main assumption that hip hop increases crime rates and ferrous acts is based on
prejudices and biases against black minorities, for it speaks about different important social
issues like racial racism and abuse. Also, Hip-hop therapy helps in coping with mental illnesses
by venting especially for young people which serves in decreasing violence.
Hostile Bias against Hip hop
History of hip hop
History helps in understanding the stereotypes and misconceptions about hip hop, and
lyrics of the songs are similar to history books that show the agony of facing racism. A lot of
scholars believe that this genre is an outgrowth from slavery, for black people in the USA used
music during the slavery era as a survival and empowerment method (Morgan, 2009; Gilory,
1995). The songs that were sung accompanied by dances by the black slaves hid explicit
criticism and were aimed at the white people’s cruelty and racism (Rose, 1994).On the other
hand, other researchers state that rap was a response to white superiority, racism, and the
society’s violence (Rose, 1994). Fast-forward to the 1970s to Bronx in New York City where
USA was facing an economical collapse, and the black youth were living in poor living
conditions with the escalation of crimes, gang activities, vandalism, rise of HIV and AIDS rates,
corruption, and most importantly racism, music was the only escape (Morgan, 2009).
Consequently, music helped the black youth to deal with the chaos and turbulences in their lives
from the slavery era till nowadays. This shows that no matter the origin of hip hop, it is a
respond and reaction for violence.
Tupac as a Significant Example

5. The story-telling songs tell the experiences and the troubles of rappers in their daily lives
which mirror realness and authenticity. For example, Tupac Amaru Shukur or mostly known as
2PAC, a famous Hip hop artist, lived in a violent unstable environment in his childhood, which
lead to the lyrics of his songs being an inspiration of his life (Light, n.d.).In “Dear mama” he
mentions the reason behind his addiction, “I hung around with the thugs, and even though they
sold drugs, the showed a young brother love .. ,and even though I sold rocks, it feels good putting
money in your mailbox”. Tupac’s life which is full of instability, financial problems, and
addiction is clearly shown in the lyrics of his songs, so these lyrics mirror a reality. This reality is
not exclusive to Tupac because a lot of black people lived the same distress, so they were able to
relate on a personal level to Tupac. This can be proven in Shukur’s song (1995) “So Many
Tears”, when he states, “Back in elementary, I thrived on misery. Left me alone, I grew up
amongst a dying breed”. He called his black people a “dying breed”, for they faced a lot of
problems where they were victims of poverty and assaults. Thus, Hip hop does not glorify the
life of crime, but it is a voice for the unprivileged, poor people.
Social Issues likeAbuse
In other words, rap spreads awareness about a cruel reality which is fairly different than
promoting it. It mentions subjects that victims are shamed for sharing like rape, sexual assault,
racism, or abuse. Rappers cannot talk about hurtful, painful experiences without using aggressive
lyrics, for example the psychological and physical effects of abuse will not be emphasized if the
rapper did not describe the process cruelly. For instance, LL Cool J (1997) raps in “Father” about
abuse saying, “Dad, where was you when he made me strip. Beats me with a belt like a slave
with a whip.. punched me in the chest stomped me out on the floor”. After all, abuse is a terrible,
unhumanitarian act, and people should realize it as a reality that has multiple negative outcomes

6. on one’s life. Hip hop speaks about important social messages that are vicious, heartless realities,
and their existence will not be denied if Hip hop stopped speaking about them. Thus, Hip hop
faces a lot of biases concerning a content which is urgently needed to be talked about.
Police Brutality
Hip hop has a long history of educating people by spreading humanitarian messages.
Exposing police brutality especially in the USA where black people are treated with overbearing
bias is one of Hip hop’s themes. According to researchers, racial injustice rate in the USA is very
apparent in everyday life and throughout history (Johnson & Lee, 2013). Black people are three
times most likely to be murdered by the constables and officers even though they are 1.3 times
most likely to be weaponless with respect to the white citizens (Mapping Police Violence, 2020).
These statistics provide further explanation about the weight of tyranny black people suffer from.
For instance, 28% of the murdered people by the police in 2020 are black even though they are
13% of the USA’s population (Mapping Police Violence, 2020). Although Hip hop and rap
defend the right to live peacefully, they are criticized by the patriarchal white supremist system,
so the rap’s transcript has started using disapproving messages aimed at the government urging
people to rebel. One of the first and most influential songs that spreads the message of how
police officers kill the black minority due to unjustified biases was by N.W.A’s (1988) “…. The
Police”. This song proves the importance of Hip hop, for it acted at the time as news outlet for
the black to express their suppressed rage, and it was a turning point for them to stand up for
their basic rights in order to live a life free of agony. Another problem which is faced by the
black minority is racial profiling by the police. Racial profiling is arresting someone because he
is the same race as the suspect even though he looks fairly different. This ordeal is mentioned in
songs like in Jay-Z’s (2003) “99 problems” and “O. C’s (1994) “Constables”. It was supported

7. by a study by Dabney et al. (2017) which states Hip hop’s clothing style and person’s race play a
big role in arresting suspects by the police (pp. 1310-1338.). This genre is clearly misunderstood,
for it is a genre which delivers the news of the ferocious victimization and spreads the prominent
values like freedom of speech and authenticity. Moreover, American white supremist calls Hip
hop violent based on biases, but all they have to do is look up the America’s history which is full
of slavery and wars in order to know the causes of these reactions. As Tupac (1990) says in
“Violent”, “If this violence, then violent what I gotta be ,If you investigate you’ll find where it’s
comin’ from ,Look through our history America is the violent one”. It is noteworthy to know that
when hip hop became very popular in the United States, the rates of crimes and homicides
decreased (Bump, 2014). This statistic highlights that Hip hop does not increase crime acts
though it has a theme of violence.
Guns
Other artists wrote and sang songs that protest the usage of guns from the birth of hip
hop till the recent days. When people talk about rappers, they view them as gangsters with guns.
However, a lot of rappers condemn the usage of guns in their songs. For instance, Organized
Konfusion (1994) raps in “Stray bullets” about the impacts of gun while telling an example about
a six years old little girl who lost her life while playing with her friends. Organized Konfusion’s
usage of this realistic story explains the huge consequence of people’s actions on one’s life, and
that guns are not toys to play with. In “No guns allowed”, Snoop, Drake, and Cori B (2013) deal
with gun violence while arising the problem of the usage of guns, and in the end of the song they
dedicate it to Shyanne and Josh, children who lost their lives. Such songs shed light on the fact
that bullets don’t choose who to kill, the shooter does, in order to prove the responsibility of
shooting recklessly with a gun. These songs spread awareness urging the government especially

8. in the USA to set an effective gun control law, and they mention the inevitable, irreversible
miserable outcome of guns. Notably, there was a movement in the 1987 by famous rappers like
M.C. Lyte, Kool Moe Dee, and Heavy D which was a reaction of the violence in a concert in
New York City (George, 1990). This movement criticized violent crimes especially black-on-
black ones by recording a rap music video called “Self-destruction” (George, 1990). In this way,
Hip hop serves as a vital educational tool which educate the unknowledgeable, disadvantaged
youth about the consequences of their violent actions. Moreover, these are clear examples that
back up the claim that Hip hop does not spread violence, but it severely criticizes it.
Other Genres
Extreme racial unfairness against black people lead to the linkage of Hip hop with
violence. However, pop music has the same quantity of violent lyrics as Hop hip and Rap which
was researched by scholars from Missouri-Columbia University in 2019. “Wake up call” by
Maroon 5 (2007) and Russian Roulette by Rihanna (2009) are toxic, aggressive pop songs. Also,
country music contains violent lyrics, for example Carrie Underwood’s “Before He cheats”
(2009) which talks about how the singer sabotages her boyfriend’s car because he cheated on her.
Furthermore, it can be deduced that the theme of violence is not exclusive to Hip hop, and that
people judge it negatively due to the negative stereotypes that rappers promote sabotaging and
illegal activities which imply that they do not base their judgements only on the content of the
songs.
Evolutionary Therapy
Music therapy is a therapy that is used to help people in venting and expressing their
complex hidden emotions. The positive impact of music in reinforcing or discharging of one’s
feelings assists people to relieve stress and anxiousness. Also, it aids in cognitive, physical, and

9. social functioning among its listeners. One of the most common music therapy types is HHT,
Hip hop Therapy, which is not just an abstract theory, and patients with mental illnesses are
getting treated by it. For instance, Chicago clinic helps a lot of patients who need psychological
help by HHT (Vaughan, 2018).
Hip hop therapy regulates one’s emotions, and it tends to reduce depression. People often
listen to sad music when they do not feel well, and they listen to happy music when they are
ecstatic. Music including Hip hop helps people to better understand their complex feelings by
putting them into words. Hip hop has a lot of references to important, psychological issues like
mental illnesses. A lot of rappers including Logic talk about their suffering with mental issues.
Logic (2017) released a song featuring Cara and Taggart which is called 1-800-273-8255, the
national suicide prevention lifeline. This song aims to help men and women who have suicidal
thoughts where he describes how it feels to be unaccepted, worthless, and morose. The way he
describes his perplexing emotions of choosing between of living or ending his life resonates with
people. This resonation effect which Hip hop creates saves individuals from ending their lives
since it helps them understand themselves better, for one of its main themes is overcoming
obstacles. For instance, NF (2018) talks in “Why” about questioning every step you take and
lying about needing help. This song deals with a mental issue, obsessive compulsive disorder,
where NF states signs of over doubting to the point of anxiety. A lot of people experience this
feeling of doubt and frustration. It helps people know signs of mental illnesses to seek
professional help, so it aids in the rediscovering of one’s self, finding his identity, and dealing
with overthinking and doubt.
Some individuals are afraid to open up about several, painful memories, and hearing
someone authentically raps about similar problems and situation is beneficial in encouraging

10. them to speak up. For instance, Tupac in “Never Lose Hope” he raps saying, “my uncle used to
touch me. I never told you that..”. Tupac’s mentioning about getting sexually assaulted by one of
his family members reassures victims of assaults that they are not alone, while encouraging them
to speak up. Also, these encouragements help them in coping with their trauma by not keeping it
to themselves and feeling shameful. Furthermore, rap teaches to accept and learn from the
mistakes committed in the past while urging people to change the future. Additionally,
insecurities affect the decision-making process, choices, and social life because they are linked
with overthinking, and Hip hop teaches self-acceptance by stating that being imperfect is perfect.
This is proved by a study done in Cambridge University which states that Hip hop creates a
“Positive visual imaginary” to its listeners (Hip hop psych, 2014). Moreover, rap motivates and
boosts its listeners’ self-confidence and self-esteem. For instance, Tupac’s (1993) “Keep Ya head
up” asks women to believe in themselves and be strong. Both the beats of the songs and the
lyrics stimulates emotions of empowerment to the listeners. Additionally, it changes someone’s
mood for the better by alternating the state of mind. For example, an experiment where twelve
rappers were asked to rap while they were connected to functional magnetic resonance imaging
machines showed patterns in certain areas in the brains that are related to motivation, sensory
function, language, and creativity (National Institutes of Health, 2012). It improves
communication skills, so people who have social anxiety benefit from it since one of the main
elements of this genre is speaking. Moreover, one of the additional themes is toxic relationships
where songs talk about cutting the ties with toxic people. Listeners start getting more aware
about signs of toxic relationships which determinately affects the mindsets. In therapy session,
individuals talk about the darkest moments in their lives including their trauma, misery, and
violent past. Rap songs are a coping mechanism for both the artist and the fan who both feel

11. understood and connected with each other pains. As NF (2016) in “Therapy session” says, “I am
aware, it is aggressive.. what do you expect when you walk in a therapy session”. Hip hop
through its lyrics and beats comfort people and guide them to a healthier lifestyle.
Violent Lyrics Increase Violence
Some researchers believe that Hip hop especially gangster rap’s lyrics increase different
types of aggressive behaviors which include hurting one’s self or others. They believe that it
promotes sexual assaults, bullying, and aggressiveness. For instance, Eminem (2009) in his song
“Stan” talks about violence, “But I didn’t slit her throat, I just tied her up. See I ain’t like you.
Cause if she suffocates she’ll suffer more and then she’ll die too.” The whole theme of the song
is “Obsession” with a celebrity. Eminem talks about a fan’s mental issue where he sent him a
message every day, and he ended up killing his wife after Eminem ignored his message. At the
end, Eminem sent a message to the fan saying sorry for ignoring him in the concert. Rap does not
encourage violence, for such crimes will happen even if rap does not deal with them since these
issues are real outcomes of psychological, social, and economical disorders.
Negative emotions lead to cruel acts like rape and abuse. Some believe that Hip hop’s
songs arise feelings like frustrations, jealousy, and envy. For instance, Journal of Personality and
social psychology (2003) proves that Hip hop tends to increase negative emotion. Those who
support this claim think that themes like abuse, suicide, and rape lead to have a disturbed, violent
personality. One of the experiments which proves this claim is done by Heller (2009) where
thirty-one women and eleven men from the departments of psychology from the University of
Wisconsin Oshkosh listened to aggressive lyrics. However, this experiment has limitations which
are the small sample size, the fact that women participants are more than men, and that they are
from the same university. In other words, the claim would have been more supported if the

12. experiment was done with a larger and more diverse sample size. Also, there is a claim that youth
might mimic vandalism and sabotaging action because of the ferrous lyrics. However, a team of
researchers from university in Australia, Institute of psychology, ARC center of excellence in
Cognition and its Disorder, and the Chinese Academy conducted a thorough study and found
violent music does not impact its listeners into committing violence (Yirka, 2019). After all, Hip
hop tends to help people vent all their aggressive emotions. It is similar to screaming in a dark
alley or learning boxing. It uses aggressive, expressive words to better understand life and their
emotions.
Conclusion
As the research paper demonstrates Hip hop including rap does not encourage violent
actions, but it does not erase the fact that it has very aggressive themes. After all, it is an artistic
movement against the harsh, biased judgements of the society and a rebellion for the people who
live in disadvantages. People judge Hip hop based on negative stereotypes about black people
who face numerous problems like police brutality which is due to racial discrimination and
intolerance. The role of this music genre is to spread awareness about various social and political
subjects that are rarely talked about by the media, so it assists in educating people and teaching
them about life and its numerous downs. For instance, it talks about the negative outcomes of
guns and less shared topic like abuse and sexual assaults. Furthermore, people think that the
aggressive theme is exclusive to Hip hop, but a lot more genres like country and pop have violent
lyrics showing the biases against this genre. Also, Hip hop therapy is an evolutionary therapeutic
cure in the field of mental health since it helps people connect with their problems in order to
better comprehend and understand it by creating a resonation effect that urges people to speak
up. Thus, they will become more comfortable and confident in their own bodies, and they will be

13. able to find their voices and identities which were lost due to traumatic events. A lot of people
misunderstand Hip hop thinking that it leads to negative emotion, and it has a tendency to
promote individuals into committing crimes, but a thorough, detailed, and universal study proves
otherwise. Furthermore, Hip hop is an art which helps in realizing and expressing different type
of fears. Its authenticity is one of its main pillars attracting its listeners, for it deals with topics
that matter to its diverse fanbase. In other words, it helps individuals who feel lost in a world full
of chaos to find a secure and safe place to vent their hidden thoughts, so it does not teach
violence rather than it provides assistance to cope with it. Linking Hip hop to violence is a
controversial matter which should be better understood, for this music genre has many positive
benefits as an outlet for truths and a cure for the troubled ones. All in all, critiques should judge
Hip hop fairly according to its content and target rather than prejudiced rumours.

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