Bang, Bang Essay, Research Paper

?Bang, Bang?

?My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge, and I?ll stab you in the head whether you?re a fag, or les? (Eminem ?Criminal?). Rap music today is becoming more offensive and more violent than ever before. Musicians are not only rapping about violent acts, but they are now committing them. They are on radio and television promoting violence, and people are indulging in their music. Musicians are considered role models to many people. They have fancy cars, big houses, and enormous amounts of money. There is no reason why a person would not want to be like them, or follow what they say. Rap artist Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and DMX glorify, and encourage, violence through their songs and their lives.

Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, is a young rapper out of Detroit, Michigan. On May 23rd of 2000 he released his second album ?The Marshall Mathers LP.? ?The Marshall Mathers LP? made one-point seven million dollars in the first week (?Rap Sheet?). Although this album has had much success, it has been one of the most explicit and violent albums ever released. In the single ?Kim?, Eminem raps about violently murdering his real-life wife Kim Mathers. ?Bleed, b@#$%, bleed? (Eminem ?Kim?); these are the lyrics said, in the song ?Kim?, after you hear a knife slice and then a choking/gurgling sound. Another song on the ?Marshall Mathers LP? that encourages violence is ?Kill You.? In this song Eminem raps about rapping his own mother, and using drugs. This is the kind of music that is selling among our teens today.

In addition to rapping about violence Eminem also has committed violent crimes. Another musical group ?The Insane Clown Posse? has very strong enmity towards Eminem. While attending a musical event in a bar in Chicago, Eminem and a member of ?The Insane Clown Posse? got into a verbal argument. The argument escalated and Eminem pulled out an unloaded nine-millimeter pistol, and whipped it across the person?s head. The gun was unregistered and Eminem did not have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. On another occasion, Eminem followed his wife to a local bar in Detroit, and witnessed her kiss another man. This led to another fight with Eminem pistol whipping another person with the same unloaded nine-millimeter pistol.

Another artist whose music and life displays violence is Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, raps about the amoralistic side of gang life. ?Yeah and you don?t stop, its 1-8-7 on an undercover cop? (Dr. Dre ?187?). Dr. Dre raps about murdering cops, doing drugs, and getting revenge. ?You f!@#$d wit me, now it?s a must that I f!@# wit you? (Dr Dre ?F*%@ Wit Dre Day?). This is the message that Dr. Dre brings through his music. Influencing kids to take revenge, and giving them a bad outlook on police.

Like Eminem, Dr. Dre also has a police record. In the early 90?s a woman accused Dr. Dre of assaulting her in a nightclub. She brought a lawsuit, but like most crimes involving a musician it was settled out of court. On another occasion Dr. Dre hit a record producer. He went to court, and was convicted. In addition, Dr. Dre was pulled over while doing ninety miles per hour in his car, while being intoxicated. In total Dr. Dre has served five months in prison, proving that musicians received less of a punishment than a regular person.

Snoop Doggy Dogg, who is one of Dr. Dre?s counterparts, is also known for his violent life and lyrics and glorifying the life of a drug dealer. ?My homeboy Dogg is chilling in a Benz, in front of his building with the rest of his friends, I give him a pound no I mean I shake his hand, he?s the local drug dealer, my man? (Snoop Doggy Dogg ?Doggz Gonna Get Ya?). This projects to people that the drug dealing life must be good because he has enough money to afford a Mercedes Benz. In another song Snoop sings ?Follow me, follow me, listen to the words of a n*&$%, come with the wickedness?(?Pump, Pump? Snoop Doggy Dogg). He?s promoting his listeners to do what he does, which is not the right thing.

Like the rest of the artist in my paper, Snoop too, has a criminal record. In 1995 Snoop Doggy Dogg was accused of being an accomplice in a murder. He went to court and was cleared of all charges but there were many suspicions about the aquittal (Seidenberg 40). Throughout life his life he has been arrested for drugs on different occasions. The earliest of these was not long after his graduation of high school (Seidenberg p40). He was arrested for possession of cocaine. Snoop has spent a total of three years in jail for his drug charges. The only occasion he was sent to jail was for the cocaine charge. Which was before he became a popular rapper. He has had two drug charges since and has not been given any jail time (?Snoop Doggy Dogg?).

?I could put a bomb in your car and watch it explode, make a call, tell em all they found was a piece of your clothes,? (?The Professional? DMX). Earl Simmons, also known as DMX, is a rapper out of Baltimore Maryland. In his song ?The Professional? he raps about the many different ways that he could kill a man. Most of DMX?s songs consist of lyrics about murder or drug dealing. ?So now we pump from the alley, and the last house we use as a cash house,? (?Make a Move? DMX). In ?Make a Move? DMX raps about drug dealing. He depicts the ways to make money and the ways to lose money, or get hurt. ?Local police ain?t a problem cause they don?t even stress us? (?Make a Move? DMX). This line comes at the end of the song when he explains how he is not going to get caught.

Like Snoop Doggy Dogg, DMX also started his police record at a young age. In his teen years he was arrested for petty things such as robbery. It was until he started to gain fame, when he moved on to the more viscous crimes. In May of 1999 DMX was arrested for two outstanding warrants for two stabbings (?DMX?). Both charges were settled out of court. One month later in June of 1999, he was arrested for possession of illegal assault weapons and drug paraphernalia. He was not sentence any jail time for this offense, but he was given a small fine (?DMX?). Later in the month of June DMX was performing at a concert in Trinidad. He was arrested there for swearing. Amazingly, out of his three arrests he served the most time in jail for the arrest in Trinidad, which was three days.

Today in society people that get fame also get special privileges. Rappers are ones who get these special privileges. They live and sing about their violent ways with no consequences, but do not think about the message that they are sending. They make people believe that everybody can do what they do, and will serve no consequences, but this is not the case. Real people get real consequences and that is how life is. Most of the rappers lives they got into some trouble before they gained fame. When they got in trouble then, they received harder sentences. That is what Enimen, Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and DMX should rap about.

?187? Dr. Dre. 1994. 16 Oct 2000. .

?Criminal? Eminem. 1999. 10 Oct 2000. .

?DMX? John Bush. 2000. 16 Nov 2000. .

?Doggz Gonna Get Ya? Snoop Doggy Dogg. 1996. 6 Nov 2000..

?F#$% Wit Dre Day? Dr. Dre. 1994. 16 Oct 2000. .

?Kim? Eminem. 1999. 10 Oct 2000. .

?Make a Move? DMX. 1999. 2 Nov 2000. .

?The Professional? DMX. 1999. 2 Nov 2000. .

?Pump, Pump? Snoop Doggy Dogg. 1996. 10 Nov 2000. .

?Rap Sheet: Eminem takes on just about everybody.? Entertainment Weekly. 16 June,

2000. p8+.

Seidenberg, Robert. ?Number One with a Bullet; accused murder Snoop Doggy Dogg is

about to make a killing on the pop charts.? Entertainment Weekly. 26 Nov, 1998

p40(4).

?Snoop Doggy Dogg? Stephen Thomas Erlewine. 2000. 6 Nov, 2000.

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