War of Words

   In a remote side of town, a young boy turns on a radio and hears the inviting drum beats, compelling horns and pianos, and drawing violins. The artist of the music begins reciting his lyrics across these wonderful sounds, and the child is hooked. Like an additive drug, he begins a daily consumption of this music. The words, they are just words, talk to him and he memorizes every one. No, he can’t really read, but he knows every word of his songs. The songs are his friends, they know the harsh reality of his life. They know what it’s like for mom to have just got paid and still there is no food in the fridge. The songs correctly detail the hardships of his life and just like the drugs his family cannot live with out, this music has become his drug of choice. This is his escape because they, the artists understand him. Without realizing it, this “drug” has crushed his vision and dreams and forced him to fall prey to the reality that he will never escape this life that he so hates. He is trapped because he bought the lies of the life sold in those songs, his drugs. Modern day hip hop is entrapping youth in a never ending cycle of hopelessness we must start giving the beats a positive message of hope.

  We like to pretend that the lyrics of these songs are not corrupting the young minds of the youth and even the older people. In believing this, not only are we perpetuating the lie, but propagating it as well. These songs may be pleasing to the ears but carry very dangerous ideas. The icons of the music then become leaders to our children. Fundamentally, we are our children’s role models. But the harsh reality is that society does play a role in raising our children no matter how sheltered they are. In SNS magazine Eminem was quoted as saying ,” I’d be lying if I didn’t think I was a a role model to kids. Kids looks at me like I’m a god.” After a serious of incidences which ended in the incarceration of Eminem, a gang called the South Warren St. Kids threatened to bomb the city if Eminem was not released. The South Warren St Kids had this to say, “Eminem is our christ, we party in his name.” One might say that this are only a sampling of the youth and predominately the ones that are from single parent neglectful homes. The fact is that this is even an epidemic in middle America where both mom and dad are home. Using lyrics like the ones found in his song Role Model, “ follow me do exactly what the song says. Smoke weed, take drugs, kill people, and drink.”, Eminem further drives home the issue that the words do matter.

 

  Plato recognized the importance of music and it’s affect on people, “ When the mode of the music changes, the walls of the city shake,” he continued, “ When the modes of the music change, the fundamental laws of the state change with them.” , Plato states, “ Through foolishness, the people, deceived themselves into thinking there was no right or wrong in music, that it was to be judged good or bad by the pleasure it gave this excuse was a spirit of law breaking,” Aristotle states, “Music directly represents the passions or states of the soul-gentleness, anger, courage, temperance, …. If one listens to the wrong kind of music, he will become the wrong kind of person.” This illustrates that this is not a new issue. People have been dealing with the affect of music on a culture for centuries. Hip Hop does have it’s origins in traditional African tribal music. Does that make it bad or wrong? No of course not. What makes the music problematic is the words the modern day artists attach to those beats. Legends will say that the ancient tribes used those beats to invoke spirits. If you take what was once used for a not so desirable outcome and use it positively could it have a positive outcome? Absolutely!

  To heal the hole in the soul of a culture, take a look at an alternative to everyday hip hop. There is a wave of music that started over a decade ago. This music still may illustrate some of the struggle, some of the pain, some of the very real issues that Hip Hop has always dealt with, however now instead of a dead end, it offers hope. You can find this music in several different arenas, there is Positive Rap,  Holy Hip Hop, Reality Ryhme, or Spoken Word . All of these genres refrain from stereotypes, racism, sexism, and bring a message of a brighter day. Kids today are looking harder and harder for mom and dad on the big screen and/or entertainment period. The kids turn to the music to ease the pain.

   We have to take a stand for our children, our future. We have to demand that radio stations play these forms of positive music and refrain from listening to them if they don’t. We need to stop purchasing the other music that pollutes our children’s minds. We can even begin a letter writing campaign to the artists that are still using these harsh negativities and ask them to change. Several artists from Crossmovement Records and Reach Records help bring the message that these children can make it another day. Quite contrary to the lyrics of Eminem, the artist known as Da TRUTH,  states in one of his songs, “Now, I know that it’s not possible./But if the book was re-written man I wonder how my life would read./From two years old to my funeral, would I fail or would I succeed?/‘Cause when they write my biography what they record about the life and times of Manny means a lot to me./Cause in the story that I leave them—I am either God’s leader or a picture of what not to be.”

  If we took the time to consider how the words of the songs would really impact the people that are listening, wouldn’t we want to change them? In an ideal society, where mom and dad are home taking care of Johnny in a “Leave it to Beaver” environment, we might not have to worry about the words. We are not living in that society. The old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” is obsolete because words are killing the hope and dreams of our youth in the music they are consuming.  The time is now to take the music back for the Kingdom!