Hip Hop Music as a Tool Used by Rappers to Enhance Gang Activities

Gang Members and Music
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Gang Members and Music
Introduction
People say a lot of things about music. Some call it the ‘soundtrack of life’ while some say it is life itself. Others believe that music is the only truth in the world. Regardless of how one perceives music, the truth is that the world will be significantly different and, to a great extent, lackluster without music. Music helps people communicate their emotions or experience their emotions. At times, music makes people happy or inspires them to do something. The essence and importance of music in life are indeed unquestionable. However, there are instances when music can become poisonous and be used as a channel to propagate or spread hate, threats, racism, and anti-Semitic message. In Germany, for example, musicians like Richard Wagner, who lived before Hitler assumed leadership of the country, were known to compose music that heavily contained anti-Semitic content (Ticker, 2016). Therefore, through music, people can communicate a lot of things, including their inclinations, beliefs, and values. Different groups have also identified with particular music genres. Gangs, for example, happen to identify with music that glorifies violence, assault, and the hoisting of weapons. Rap music, for example, happens to have heavy links with gangs and gang violence. Gangs such as Curtis Blow and 59 Brims are known to have rappers who directly associate with them. Furthermore, these rappers include lyrics in their rap music that identifies with these groups. Often, lyrics that glorify violence, the use of drugs, and issuing of threats and assault happen to percolate such music heavily. Provided herein is a paper that discusses how music, especially hip hop, has become a tool used by rappers to enhance gang activities while also detailing reasons why some of these rappers end up joining gangs.
Background to Gang Membership
While assessing gang membership, it is crucial to consider several factors. First, the neighborhoods that a majority of the gang members grow up in happen to have a pre-determined destination. A majority of the gang members grow up in dilapidated neighborhoods, and most of their families are poor (Lauger & Densley, 2018). Secondly, many of them grow up without their fathers. For example, a popular rap artist known as Bobby Shmurda, who was recently arrested and jailed for six years, grew up without a father. His father, Gervase Johnson, was arrested and charged with “attempted first-degree murder” (Kolker, 2015). Shmurda grew up making the same mistakes his father made and soon found himself in jail with no sense of direction. For a majority of the rappers who join gangs, their fates are immediately sealed after they are born because of their neighborhoods. In such environments, no one is expected to become extraordinary. Drugs, violence, assault, and weapons seem to be the order of the day, and the expectation is that a person will at one time or another find their way into a gang.
Rap Music and Gangs
As already indicated, gangs start from people’s neighborhoods, and here is where the sense of brotherhood and a unified identity becomes evident. Marshal (2015) calls rap music an &lsqu...