I've decided to change the purpose of this page. I don't think enough is discussed on the state of today's music, specifically music in the Black community. I want to have an open-forum for all to express their opinions on this matter. I encourage positive feedback, and no bashing of anyone's opinions. With that said, let's get started, shall we? Today's Topic: How much does music influence personal behavior? It is my opinion that music that people in my and surrounding communities has had a great impact - not necessarily for the better, mind you. I guess it's not necessarily the music, but images and lifestyles presented and portrayed by these artists. I regret to say that I believe (and I want to stress that this is only my opinion) that urban music (rap, hip hop, and more recently R&B) has had a heavy impact on behavior and lifestyle in our communities, and not totallay positive. My argument is this: I was there, young, when rap began, and became a strong force in our culture. When Run DMC started talking about Adidas, what did we do? Ran to Foot Locker and copped the three-stripes. Then came the likes of Ice-T and NWA. People want to say that these artists gave voice to what young Black men were feeling at the time, and it may have been true for the men that they knew. No black man that I knew at that time was a "gangsta"...no, not until it became popular to carry that persona did my brothers stopped calling me by my name and start calling me 'Bitch'. I was there, growing up with it...that music made these us what we are today, not the other way around, necessarily. I don't want to say that everyone became 'hard' simply because of the music, but the majority of people you meet that are my age and younger that present that persona molded themselves into that...I came up the same way as some of my peers that claim they'd kill you for small matters. Our circumstance were the same, so why are they that way? Because these lifestyles have been presented as sexy and glamourous. It spread like wildfire, and either you assimilated or got out of the way. The majority of people that fit into this mold probably would've preferred to stay the way they were personality-wise, but if the majority of the people around you are behaving this way, you have to build up your defenses - it's a matter of survival, as well as a show of insecurity. I say insecurity because those that opted to imitate the images they saw on videos or lyrics they heard on cds may have done so to be "down", seen as equals to their peers. Nobody wants to be seen as unpopular, right?
