mainstream rap

i think mainstream rap is a big reason why so many black people are underachieving and turning to gangs, drugs, and other negative things rather than helping themselves and their families by furthering their education. if you think about it, who are the role models for kids in inner-city communities? rappers and athletes. everybody thinks that the "only way out of the hood" is if you can shoot a ball or rhyme some words and the thing is, that's not true. however, the more it's drilled into the minds of young people, the more they will believe it. the more they see gangstas and thugs shooting each other and selling drugs on tv, the more they will emulate these people and turn to these types of activities.

and the worst part is that nowadays you're looked down upon if you don't project an image that is "hood" or "street" or "hard" or "real". even middle class youths these days, like many of my friends from back home in Sterling, VA, would rather dumb themselves down to fit into the mold that hip-hop culture has given them than actually try to enrich themselves through all of the channels of opportunity that they're presented with. it's a sad reality that our youth are continuing to be fed negative reinforcement that leads them down the path of self-inflicted wounds such as involvement in drugs and criminal activity.

rappers set horrible examples for black youths because they encourage the types of things, such as drugs, guns, gangs, etc., that only increase the probability that our young people will end up either dead or in jail. so every time someone in the black community blames "The Man" for their failures and shortcomings and for holding black people down, they should instead analyze the messages they listen to in their music, those of hate, ignorance, and negativity, and then ask whether "The Man" is the one feeding these messages to their kids and pushing them into this never-ending cycle of failure, delinquency, jail time, etc....because while the majority of executives at major music labels are white, it's still the black artists who choose to write and perform these types of songs.