Gangster Rap and Its Social Cost: Exploiting Hip Hop and Using Ra ...

they have reinforced racism in American public life. Content analysis has been done of gangster rap lyrics to document its abuses. In comparative studies, young people living in various settings have been asked about their musical preferences; those who listen exclusively to gangster rap music have been compared with those who do not or to those who listen to several genres. Exclusive gangster rap listeners exhibit significantly higher HIV/AIDS risk levels, more sexually transmitted diseases, and more sex partners, and they are more likely to strike a teacher, to have emotional and developmental problems, and to drop out of school. One cannot say that listening to gangster rap music causes these outcomes, but it is very clear that the music does not help. Intense listening to gangster rap is enough to push those who are already troubled into greater difficulties. Furthermore, experimental studies have isolated gangster rap’s psychological influences even on young men who have never heard the music before. After listening one time, they are more inclined to violence and more likely to behave abusively toward female friends and partners. The effects of racial stereotyping in the music have been examined, as well. Compared to heavy metal (or any other genre), gangster rap falls into a class of its own for violence and other negative effects. These studies were not conducted by alarmists or cultural conservatives who believe that simply listening to gangster rap or any other music will be sufficient to cause harm and lifelong damage; rather, scientific methods disciplined these findings. This evolving work is the first generation of such studies, and if subsequent studies take care to separate gangster rap from the more moderate hip hop, a devastating cumulative picture of gangster rap is likely to emerge. Most commentary on hip hop and gangster rap has ignored this scientific evidence, and many people may not even know that it exists.

Unique to this Study

As a work within the rapidly growing body of literature on hip hop and gangster rap, this study makes a number of unique contributions. First, the object of this work is to assess the ways that this music has affected and can