Popular culture is a wide range of universal things, anything that appeals to people, Music, TV, Books, Radio, Cars, Clothes, Entertainment, and the list could keep going on. Just about everything is popular culture and if it isn't popular to someone it might be popular to another person. Just about every famous person influences popular culture, by the way they dress, the way they act, what they look like, who their dating, just about every aspect of their lives is known by people, because they read it in magazines and see it on the news or any other way they get it.
Music is one aspect of pop culture that I think has a great impact on society, especially teenage kids. There are a number of rappers or artist who have been through tribulation in their life and because of that they portray themselves in a certain way, usually to appeal to the people as a more interesting person. What they do not understand is that by portraying themselves as gangsters or pimps, they are opening the window for kids follow along with the act. The one problem with this is that some people do not see that it is all an act, and they think the artist really lived that life, one of guns, drugs, and women. Because they believe it is real, and can not distinguish the fake part of their life, they begin to try and live the way the artist did, they want to be cool, or gangster like that artist once was.
A perfect example of this is well know rapper 50 cent. This artist has portrayed himself as the self made millionaire who has been through every possible “hood” situation, meaning he has been convicted of crimes, got shot, dealt with drugs and plenty of women. The artist whole career was based on how he was shot 5 times and survived, giving him a window to show people how his street encounter has made him change from violence to music. This was appealing to many people, as we can see now he is a millionaire. While coming up in society he has also been able to pick up endorsements...