Rap and Moral Character Essay Example

and others.

Rap both indicates and contributes to a corrupt personal character. Rap lyrics (and accompanying videos) are full of images of “hos” and pimps, guns, violence, the killing of cops, dissing and being dissed, dominance, and drug dealing. It is rife with jewelry-wearing thugs promoting crass materialism and hostile sexual stereotyping. Women are subjected to the crudest form of sexual subjugation—as merely the sexual playthings of violent men—to be used, pimped out, and discarded. The imagery is unrelenting. And it glorifies a world of misogyny, where crass materialism by any means, where violence is a primary means of settling disagreements, and where illegal activity—drug dealing, stealing, killing cops—are considered normal and desirable.

People who choose to listen to and watch such material regularly are saying something about their moral character, about what they value, about who they are. They are endorsing the behaviors the genre exemplifies. Seeking out such material is like seeking out and choosing to watch portrayals of atrocities, such as rapes, executions, and real-life violence, all of which are available in our culture and on the Internet. One could argue that people might listen to rap only for the music and not pay attention to the lyrics.

In response, consider the following parallel. Imagine that a genre of music emerged that had interesting music but whose lyrics and accompanying videos were entirely devoted to the denigration of a particular race and the superiority of another. I doubt that we would believe that self-described nonracist people listened only for the artistry of the music and ignored the lyrics. But even if this was the case, we would likely still find a moral failing in that.

Their failure to see and condemn the message of the lyrics would itself be a moral failing. Finally, even if some individuals failed to recognize the message of the lyrics, that cannot be true of everyone who listens to the material.

If it was simply the music and not the important lyrics, other lyrics would develop. This singular vision would not be as pervasive in the genre. Other genres are not as unrelenting and uniform in their vision of the world. The state cannot prevent us from corrupting our character, nor should it. However, that does not prevent me, as an individual, from deploring the corruption of character in rap. We make a decision when we choose to listen to music.

The choice to persistently listen to a form of music that celebrates thugs, violence, drug dealing, Crass materialism, and the denigration of women shows a Corruption of character and deserves moral censure.