I feel that teens are going to do things regardless. Blaming rappers or rap period is just plain booty. I mean think... If you want to do something but your parents say no... But you do it anyway... You wasn't thinking about rap lyrics, you thought about doing what you wanna do. And you thought about how not to get caught.Rappers today are using their freedom of speech. They rap about "what they would do in a situation". Or "What they wouldn't do in a situation." I mean...people are so focused on the negative part of rap music. They need to talk about the postive rap music. Like "I Know I Can" by Nas. Teens are a old enough to determine what's good and what's bad & what's right and what's wrong. Yeah.. there is negative rap. But rap and rappers are a form of entertainment. They say things that sell.Some things teens should tune out. And people say a teen did this or that bad behavior because of the rap... then who do they blame for the postive things that are done by teens. They don't ever give rap it's postive credit. They always blame. And that still doesn't change things. It adds to the problem.

i would say it depends on which rappers a person would listen to. if someone listened to say, eminem or 50 cent or someone like them, i would say yeah, those rappers DO have a negative influence on teens but there are certain 'good' rappers out there... so it all depends

i think that rap is not bad in general. but the rap that talks about raping ppl, doing drugs, and having sex is bad. ppl that listen to that i think definitely have a way greater chance of doing drugs and just basically ruining their lives becuz the music they are listening to encourages them to. what you listen to and watch influences what you do! dont tell me that it doesnt. like for example my friend j.g. listens to death metal and the 'bad' rap, and she is suicidal and depressed, and has hurt herself multiple times. and the things shes putting in her are NOT helping her to stop.

as for the opinion that ALL rap is bad, i believe it is not. for example, the song 'where is the loves?' by black eyed peas is what i would classify as 'good' rap becuz its talking about an important issue: what has this world come to? and whats up with all the killing and fighting? i am not a big fan of rap, i prefer rock, but i do believe that its just the lyrics that make it bad, not the beat or voice of the rapper.

!.suzy.!

I wonder why people constantly attack everything just because they fail to understand. There are worse things going on in the world. Rappers ONLY get paid because the majority of us buy their CDs. If you ever get the chance, volunteer in the communities they rap about and get the exposure for yourself....then, come back to this forum and tell us if they are speaking from experience. The media plays all their videos, MTV, BET, VH1. So, their progression comes from all of us. One love.

rap is not a bad infulence its jus music ppl make their own decisions about to do drugs or be a bad person rappers jus say things that they think are entertaining to an audience to give them self an image and in the music world its the sexy and bad boy images that sell so they are jus making there music to express themselves and to sell it they arent telling anyone to be bad or do drugs thats purely a decision of the person that does it!

oh and i've been rapping for about 6 years...and producing for about 2.

Hey Cmyers.....well, If i was givin the oppurtunity to make it big or to make a career of it...I would...but if not then im goin to school, and even tho it would be sorta secondary to my main job, i really want to be a known artist in the underground of hip-hop, like blackalicious, or dead prez, or planet asia.....so im not banking on it...but i'd love to.

Hey Illusciato,

how long have you been rapping? Do you think you want take it to the next level or is it just a hobby?

rap is just bad. it has nothing to do with the lyrics... it's just bad. anything that is a simple drum beat with 2 notes on a bass being played over and over is not good.

rap is not a bad influence. it doesn't tell people that they have todo drugs. its their discision

First of all rap is not a bad influence on teens. Its up to you if u listen and do what they do. For me I love rap but it doesn't mean I'm going to go out and do what they say in there lyrics. So who ever said rap is a bad influence doesn't know what they are talking about.If u have a comment on my opinion just write to me

I think rap IS a bad influence on kids cause the stars themselves admit to doing crap like drugs, murder, rape and they encourage these things in their songs, so how can you say that the music doesn't affect you adversely? the one rap song I like is "Where is the love" by Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake because I can UNDERSTAND the words and it isn't about sex or someting bordering on sex - in fact, it has a POSITIVE message. Even my brother, who is the strictest critic of the music I like (never mind his own stupid music), says it is a good song. So basically I dont like most rap, but it totally depends on the song. If I can understand it and it has a good mesage and not totally littered with swear words I'll listen to it.

Lots of love,
Lynne

Bottom line is a Love Hip-Hop i make it myself....however the "rap" we are probably discussing today is the mainstream pop-rap. Now i don't think it is soo detramental to teenagers health however, i must say that it is a fad...a HUGE fad...the entire generation has been infected. Much like Hippies or Disco...when this generation has grown they will be looking back and saying "haha yeah i was a THUG...wanna see my old timbs??" to their kids, just liek parents do now for their old disco suits.....hip-hop will always be around...its a great music. however this era of extreme popularity and meaningless stuff will end sometime. when i first started writing lyrics..i was the pretty much one of the only white suburban type ppl who did it ppl accually found it interesting..i was young...however now u can go up to virtually any kid newhere and ask hey u freestyle? and chances are they have an "album" of their own already ...it defaces hip-hop ...and to be honest...all these kids running around thinking they are "thugs" without seeing the true harsh reality of the inner-city "thug life" is dangerous...you have kids being jumped in school and stabbed etc. in places that would not normally have those issues...im not blaming the music and i love it b/c i do it myself....but the stuff on the surface is doing us no good.

I have a passion for music, and I listen to pretty much everything including: rap, rock, bollywood, r&b,country,etc. I'll have to agree that the magazine in totally wrong. How can they single out rap? True, some of it suggestive and negatively influential, but so is rock. People single out the fact that rap intermittently promotes sex and drugs, the things that they view as negative, but they fail to realize that rock promotes violence (i.e. mosh pits) and "evil", according to Christians. I don't condemn either type of music; I view the negative stuff as mere entertainment. At the end of the day, it comes down to whether or not teens are mature enough to handle what they're listening to.

I believe that some rappers give themselves a bad
name. Yes, i do think that some rap music is bad influence,and it's a bad thing to know that females are being called out thier names for no
reason at all,and i'm a 13 yr. old female, so all
teenages don't feel that it's a good thing.

rap has a really cool beat. and if it were no for the words and message i would listen to eminem. i also think that not listening to the message in the music does more than you think. listening to depressing music when you are in a happy mode will bring down your happy go-lucky to a frustrated mode. not a place i would want to be when i could be happy. i have yet to find a good Christian rapper but i'll keep looking. God wants everyone to be happy so i'm happy in the Lord!

It could if you really beleive your a thug.For the most part it's no worse then Ozzy Osborne or AC/DC,they said that people that listend to them are devil worsipers and dope heads.People are gonna use dope no matter what music they listen to if they are looking for something in life.God is the answer,the world is in a defiant mode and killing themselves.

ummm i dont think u can sing rap....but any ways rap is the bomb. i dont think i can live without it

i like rap, because it's funny how they sing it. i sing it just to laugh at myself. i can't sing rap very well. i think ppl that believe what the rappers are saying is true it's a bad influence.
Lauren

i think it all depends on how the teens act.
it is only a bad influence if the teens believe what they hear, and then go out and do it. i listen to rap sometimes, and i dont do anything that they say...i dont go out with my friends and do stupid sh!t....it just isnt like that.