music and violence
...il they finally pull me over and I laugh. Remember Rodney King and I blast his punk ass.” Howard placed responsibility on Tupac Shakur for shooting the state trooper, but he was later convicted. The jury was not convinced that Howard's listening to the song caused him to commit an act of violence (Davey “Hip-Hop”). Lyrics to songs like Tupac Shakur's “Sister Soulja” are not the cause of violence, but they are listened to by troubled teenagers who commit violent acts. Hip-Hop music has been a convenient scapegoat; parents blame their children's violent acts on the Hip-Hop music they listen to when the parents are just as at fault as their children. The teenagers who commit these violent acts already have troubled lives; Hip-Hop music is a reinforcement of those negative feelings the teenagers harbor inside. Hip-Hop music brings out emotions in the listeners, because they can relate to what is being said in the music. Parents are not involved enough in their children's lives to know how their children really feel. Davey D. describes the Columbine High School incident, which occurred on April 20, 1999. The two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, executed a planned shooting rampage killing 12 other students and a teacher before committing suicide. It is considered to be the worst school shooting in U.S. history. 47% of mothers with children in public schools believe that violent messages in rap music contribute "a great deal" to school violence, and 66% of 13 to 17-year-olds believe violence in music is partly responsible for violent crimes like the Columbine High School shootings (Davey “Hip-Hop”). Because of this statistic, parents should go into their children's room and look for anything that seems suspicious, make sure they are not making any bombs, hiding any guns, or exuding any delinquent behavior. Most importantly parents should find out about their children's lives, they should talk to their children, and build a good relationship. Parents claim that their children's violent behavior comes as a surprise, and if this is true than this shows how parents are hardly, or even not at all, involved in their children's lives. Why does it seem to be only Hip-Hop music to blame? What about television, movies, or other types of music, why don't they carry as much blame as Hip-Hop does? Davey gives an example of this happening with the big controversy of the Pepsi Company and the type of spokesperson they hire. Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly went on a tirade about how Pepsi was rewarding bad behavior and how hiring the rapper named Ludacris would influence nine-year-old kids in heading towards the wrong direction. Never mind the fact that Ludacris had never been arrested or convicted of any wrong doing as apposed to the real life antics of Papa Roach, which is a rock band hired by Pepsi. Papa Roach was accused of peeing in a soda bottle on stage during a concert and filming a porno movie. Even on Superbowl Sunday in 2003, millions of people around the world got to watch the Osbourne family pitch Pepsi. The Osbourne family became very famous recently because of their hit reality show on MTV. Ozzie Osbourne did do drugs and lived the fast and hard life of a rock-and-roller. Ozzie's children, Jack and Kelly, have also have had their own personal problems with drugs and alcohol. On the show, the family would curse all the time to one another, the kids talk back to their parents, and yet they still were hired to pitch Pepsi (Davey “Pepsi”). But O'Reilly encouraged people to call Pepsi and fight only against hiring Ludacris, the “thug” rapper, and it worked. It doesn't seem fair that O'Reilly pulls out all the stops to go after the rapper Ludacris but not Papa Roach, or the Osbourne family. Ludacris, like many rappers, does not have a criminal background. Some Hip-Hop artists reflect real life and some do not. As listeners, people are ...