Rap Since the Increased Interest

Rap

Since the increased interest in gospel in the 1950s and the beginning of rap (including hip hop) in the 1980s, African-American music has grown considerably from local streets to global listeners and to marketability on such mainstream vehicles as shopping networks, entertainment channel, and fashion TV. Overall, it does not appear that this increased interest has eliminated stereotypes about blacks, since the white media continue to make wrong assumptions about the music. It may be up to black journalists to use their authority and power as communicators to tell the true story.

Although rap is presently receiving a great deal of notoriety, black music has long been a part of American culture. Gospel music, for example, has defined black identity for generations and continues to do so. "Black gospel music is one of the new seminal genres of contemporary black culture which continually maintains its self-identity while it nourishes and enriches the mainstream of the world's cultural sources" (William-Jones 373). Black gospel music, a combination of West African and Afro-American music, dance, poetry and drama, includes contemporary black religious music of rural folk origins that celebrates the Christian experience of salvation and hope (William-Jones 376). For much of its 50 years as an underground form of music, gospel still remains among the least known or understood of many black cultural expressions today.

Presently, there are over 360 "black/urban" commercial radio stations in the U.S. (Broadcast Yearbook). Gospel became popular in the1940s and was extensively covered on WDIA-AM and KWEM-AM radio in Memphis (Lornell). By the 1950s, the black radio stations were also promoting church activities and community service events, African-American concerns and supportive associations. Today, black gospel programming is fragmented and incorporated into other black music, such as jazz, dance and even rap. Although only 2% of the nation's total radio audience listens to gospel music, its impact has provided inspiration and guidance in areas other than spiritual matters, such as education, family unification, voter registration and minority-owned businesses (Johnson 220). For instance, WDAS-AM, a gospel station in the Philadelphia area for nearly a half century, airs music as well as sponsors a number of black community events. Notes the radio station: "Because what 'DAS does as an African-American owned and operated radio station brings pride to the rest of the African-American community" (Johnson 228).

The impact that such gospel stations have on their communities overall is mixed. The audience is "very responsive," and the stations "get a lot of letters about things that we do," says the station's owner. A vice president at WDIA/WHRK states that successful radio is a combination of cultural awareness and practical business skills -- part heritage and legacy as well as also a way to reach consumers. He adds that if the station is responsive to community, then the rest will follow: "As for as our community, I don't look at it as something we consciously do to get ratings, we do it because it is the right thing to do" (Johnson 237).

Major record companies such as Columbia have also entered into the gospel market, as well as smaller labels. This has led to interest in a wide audience across the country. Yet, given the relatively small audience as a whole and special nature of the music, the impact overall is not what is seen in other forms of music, such as rap.

Interest in rap has been growing steadily. A study in 1995 led by Teenage Research Limited found that 58% of individuals younger than 18, 59% of those 18 to 20, and 40% of people 21 to 24 stated that they liked or strongly liked rap music (Spiegler 1996; Sullivan 2003). In fact, a reported 74% of rap record sales at this time were to non-blacks (Lusane 1993). Then, in 1998, for the first time ever, rap outranked country music as the largest selling genre (Farley 1999). Since then, rap's popularity has continually increased, with 21 rap albums listed on Billboard's Top 100 Albums of 2001 (Sullivan 2003).

This continual rise in popularity of rap music, especially among those outside of the African-American community, has interested many scholars and researchers as well as those within the hip hop community to more closely look at the success of rap music's appeal and its overall impact on society.

For a better understanding of the phenomena, Sullivan (2003) conducted a study of 51 adolescents, that included both rap and non-rap fans, as well as African-American and whites, to determine the impact of rap music on the lives of its listeners. Results showed that those respondents who were rap music fans were more apt to believe that rap was a true reflection of society than those who were not fans. Such results lead to further questions about whether such individuals who feel rap is a truthful reflection of society also value rappers' opinions about issues such as racism, poverty, gender, sexuality, and police brutality.

The study also showed that white rap fans were more likely than blacks to report that listening to rap music had affected their opinions regarding racism. Finally, when asked to explain why they listened to rap music, whites were more apt to report that they listened to rap because they liked the beat, and blacks were more likely to say it was because the music served as an affirmation of their experiences. This was the study's most important findings, because it revealed that the message is not as important as the sound to white listeners and thus, whites and blacks may be receiving divergent messages from the same musical text.

This study, then, raised the question of the true impact of rap music. Has rap's increasing popularity helped the disparity between blacks and whites in the United States? Not according to authors such as Chideya. In her book Don't Believe the Hype, Chideya points out that as many stereotypes exist about rap as about blacks in general. Thus, the interest in rap has not actually helped the African-American cause, but enhanced the negative myths that the white media spread about blacks.

Chideya says, for example, that critics paint "black entertainment as debased and immoral" (140), with rap music in this case being the most understood and besieged black art form, "demonized by countless articles as the symbol of urban 'pahology.'"

This is myth number one, she says. Not all rap is the same. Even though newspapers such as the New York Times denounce all rap as "gansta," the reality is that lyrics are often taken out of context. Instead, "rap is a diverse and constantly evolving art form that encompasses musical styles and artists of all descriptions" (147). There are also female rappers of renown, pop/crossover rappers, alternative, experimental and jazz-influenced rappers, as well as Latino, white and even European and Asian rappers.

Nor, argues Chideya, are all the rap lyrics irredeemable, with no political commentary. This is myth number two. Mainstream publications, from Newsweek to New York Times, fail to recognize that black rappers do not only record black rage, but also try to diffuse it. Positive messages in rap songs center on anti-violence, drugs and war. They also stress the importance of improving self-esteem, continuing education and having a positive attitude.

In addition, notes Chideya, blacks are just as diverse as any other group of people, and not all feel the same way about the rap. This is myth number three. Some black radio stations, musicians, clergy, women and students do not favor the more violent rap lyrics any more than the white critics. Lastly, rap is not the only music that has had violent undertones. For instance, musicians such as Guns and Roses and Red Hot Chili Peppers push violence on stage and even Harry Conick, Jr. has been cited for gun violations. Why then, should blacks have to meet higher expectations than white musicians? In fact, even black rappers who push nonviolence have difficulty getting air time, because they are wrongly associated with the more violent rappers. Too often, Chideya concludes, rap singers are blamed for erroneous reasons.

Regardless of these falsehoods cited by Chideya, the media continue to believe what they want to believe. They still see rap as more commonly associated with violence, drug abuse, disregard for women, disrespect for the law, and prejudice towards whites (Rose, 1991). That is, many media distort the public's understanding of what urban culture is. This often acts to reinforce negative stereotypes, since this is what sells papers and attracts a larger readership.

In addition, many of the media see rap as the long-awaited solution to race riots because of the large number of whites and other non-blacks that listen to rap music, attend frequent rap events, and buy clothing indicative of rap culture, the media, (Thompson & Brown). They bill whites who listen to rap as less racist and more liberal than other whites (Newsweek, 2000; "Nightline," 2000).

Thompson and Brown (2001) believe that this may, in part, be true. They reviewed the findings of studies on the association between rap music and racial and political attitudes and behaviors and concluded that there is some credibility to the argument that white rap music listeners tend to be more racially tolerant and politically liberal than nonlisteners. These findings suggest that rap may affect society in several ways. For example, how adolescent whites perceive rap may impact their support for race-based policies such as Affirmative Action as they grow older and become more politically involved. Further, to the extent that rap helps to promote interracial relationships, cross-racial social networks resulting from rap may increase employment opportunities for blacks and other non-whites (97).

However, state Thompson and Brown, another scenario is just as plausible. Since so many of the studies on racial attitudes and rap music have been cross-sectional, it is possible that over time the relationship between whites' opinions on rap music and racial attitudes may change. It is feasible that as the average young adult white rap supporters get older, have a family, and begin a career, the relationship between their opinions of rap music and their perceptions of blacks and support for liberal values may grow weaker. Also, note Thompson and Brown, almost all studies on the relationships between racial attitudes and rap have problems in claiming causality. That is, it is not empirically known if rap leads to more racially tolerant attitudes or, on the other hand, if more racially tolerant whites tend to listen to rap music. If more liberal and racially tolerant persons are more likely to listen to rap music, rap may not lead to the transformation in values that media gurus have claimed, but rather, may only serve as an indicator of the type of persons that listen to and appreciate rap music.

Definitely more research is needed to investigate the correlation between racial attitudes and perceptions of and exposure to rap music. In order to get a more thorough understanding of the connection between rap music and white listeners' attitudes and behaviors, future studies must longitudinally investigate the relationship between rap and whites' social and racial attitudes and determine how these relationships fare over time (99).

How can the myths about blacks be broken? Scoop Jackson, former editor of XXL magazine and author of the NBA.com column "NBA Underground," stresses that black urban journalists have power and can use it to right some of the wrongs and rectify the omissions that have occurred against blacks over the years. "White people, especially whites in the media, are not going to go out of their way to make black people important or make what we do relative to how mainstream America functions." With blacks being only 12 to 13% of the population, "our lives -- to them -- lack impact."