Response to Chris's Blog

The next presentation I looked at was Chris K's about Hip Hop and violence. I liked how he focused on something that many people could connect with. I like a lot of hip hop/rap and it's definitely true that a lot of the time they talk about violence and drugs. I liked how Chris included different examples of rap and how artists can send both good and bad messages through what they rap about. I think that maybe for some people the music they listen to and the messages that are sent through that music can influence their actions. But, I also don't think that every single person who listens to rap does drugs and is violent towards others. It was intersting learning that hip hop orignially reduced violence among gang members and then ended up increasing it. I don't think that changing the language of rap and hip hop songs would have positive results and change the negative influence rap may have on people. Just because a song advocates violence it doesn't necessarily mean that whoever listens to it will be violent towards others as a result. If the language and style of rap music was changed like this, I think that less people would listen to it because it would not be the same music. If music only sent postive messages to the listeners, than our culture would lose a lot of popular music because artists wouldn't want to change what they say. Chris also talked about how video games can result in violent behavior as well. I think that actually these video games might have more of an impact on people than music because in order to succeed in these games you have to be violent. I think that Chris did a really good job showing information and different perspectives about his topic and its influence on Americans today and in the past.