Rap Music and Violence

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Research Paper April Rap Music and Violence Interviewer - Critics are saying your lyrics encourage violence against gay people and women. Eminem’s response - Whatever. Let them say it. I'm not even trying to defend it. I've answered this gay-bashing thing many times. If people would listen to the lyrics, I say, "Half the shit I say/I just make it up to make you mad." And you know what? I shouldn't even have to fucking explain myself. I could just say, "Faggot, faggot, faggot," and leave it at that. Even a song like "Stan" is a message to critics -- like, look, this is what happens if somebody takes my lyrics seriously. "Stan" is about a sick fucking kid who took everything I said literally -- and he crashes his fucking car, kills his bitch and dies. Rappers have always been pushing the limits to how far they can take their lyrical content. There have been many references in rap music that discriminate against gay people and women. Critics of rap music are stating that violent lyrics could be the cause to some crimes or homicides. Many rappers such like Eminem are not scared to speak their mind, which brings the question: Does rap music cause people to become violent? Does it make people commit violent crimes? To understand the influences that rap music has on people, there have been a number of experiments and observations that can help us determine if rap music is responsible for the accusations it has endured. Huniccutt and Andrews authors of “Tragic Narratives in Popular Culture: Depictions of Homicide in Rap Music”(2009), described of an experiment that explored rap music in the 90’s to see that use of homicide in the lyrics. Their experiment was searching every top billboard song from the 90’s to see if they had any reference to the use or act of homicide. They examine the data related to the violence in rap music by this experiment. Their
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