Rap and Hip-Hop Should Not be Considered "Music"

I will be arguing that rap and hip-hop should not be considered music. Contention 1: Rap cannot be understood as music cana. Rap cannot express the emotion that music canRap is to music as sign language is to giving speeches. Although it seems to convey the same message, the true emotion cannot always be interpreted because rap is spoken. For example, in the song F***in Problems, you understand that the speaker has problems. However, a screamo would be more appropriate because only then can you comprehend the true anger for the topic. Lyrics can be chanted to a pattern, however, it cannot rival the representation of emotion from rap music. Often American Idol, The Voice, and The X-Factor criticizes singers, saying that they did not give the song the emotion it deserves. Rap cannot express the emotion of a song because the listener is too busy trying to decipher the lyrics as opposed to understanding the connotation of the song. b. Anyone can appreciate music; not rapAdditionally, music focuses on the ideal that anyone can appreciate it. Anyone can take away the message of the song, even if you can't understand it. For example, Psy's Gangnam Style was the number one song on the American Top 100 song list. However, the majority of the song is in Korean. Despite that, Americans understood the meaning of it through the playful connotation of the lyrics and the perhaps crazy music video. I do understand that rap songs can have music videos, however, in the case of the song "Mercy" by Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Big Sean, the music video does very little to express the feeling of the song. Contention 2: Rap sends negative messagesa. Rap Music leads to violenceRap music is densensitizing the citizens of the world to drug abuse, violence, and sexual assualt. Some songs, such as Clique by Big Sean, Kanye West, and Jay-Z call for violence against women. In the first verse of the song, Big Sean says, "I tell a bad [expletive]: do what ever I say. " According to the New York Times from September 3, 2007, there are a number of incidents where violence can be directly linked to the listening of rap music. . http://www.nytimes.com...; b. Mainstream rap calls for abuse"So what we get drunk, so what we smoke weed, we're just having fun, we don't care who sees, so what we go out, that's how it's supposed to be, living yound and wild and free. " These lyrics are the chorus to the song "Young, Wild and Free. " Do we really want the youth of America smoking, especially at such a young age? Children are the future of the country. 6.5% of High schoolers smoke marijuana daily, according to: . http://www.drugabuse.gov...; Drug abuse is not the only thing increasing. According to . http://www.articleclick.com... popularity is also increasing. The link here is impossible to disprove, and we cannot take any chances with our country's future. Contention 3: Rap is a grey areaa. If we allow rap, we allow anythingRap is about speaking to convey your thoughts. Debate is about speaking to convey your thoughts. If debate was music, we would all listen to policy debate rounds on the radio. Please, do not make me listen to any more policy debate. It makes me want to die a little. Imagine policy debate on the radio. For those of you who are unaware of what policy debate is, please take a minute and watch this video:. http://www.youtube.com...If you don't have a headache and can legitimately take this, then maybe rap should be music for you. However, the public cannot take policy debate. We cannot take listening to this. This is not theory -- this is why public forum was created. Public forum is like policy, however, judges on speaking quality too. Policy is an extreme example, but an example nonetheless. Summary:-Rap cannot be understood by the populus, making it contradictory to music's purpose of bridging cultures-Rap is sending negative messages because it is played so often, and therefore, it should not be considered music in hope of saving the future generations-If rap is considered music, policy debate should be considered music too. Please, for the sake of my sanity, do not allow policy debate to be considered music.