In the article “Killing Women: A Pop Music Tradition” by John Hamerlinck, he expresses how that society today has become tolerant to domestic violence towards women in songs, but states that popular music does not affect the audience’s attitudes toward violence. He states that, “if the beat is good and the chorus has a catchy hook, we don’t need to concern ourselves with things like meaning, right? We can simply dance on and ignore the violence around us” (171). This quote can be interpreted in any way: sarcastically or realistically. I believe the author quotes this sarcastically because there is a truth to music having an influence on our lives. I feel that some popular music does have an effect on the audience’s lives. Music affects my life.
I love rap music. I love it because the rappers I listen to rap about the same struggles I go through in life, like growing up poor, losing family members and friends, dealing with drugs, and crime. I can relate to the things they are talking about in the songs and it motivates me to overcome these life obstacles. No other music has that affect on me. I don’t know what I would do without hip hop.
There are all types of different hip hop music. There’s rap I listen to when I feel good, when I’m mad, and when I want to get motivated for competition. When I feel good I like to listen to more upbeat songs. For example, there are artists like Outkast. They are a southern rap group who usually rap about love and happiness. They don’t have a negative attitude in their songs. A song like “Hey Ya” is an upbeat, enjoyable song that any audience can listen to, and that’s all Andre 3000 is singing for the hook in an enjoyable way. One line goes, “My baby don't mess around, Because she loves me so, and this I know for shooo..” Another song from them is “I Like The Way You Move” which is a song for women which again is a feel good song. A line from this one goes “Now let me listen to the stories you tell and we can make moves like...