Mihalovich 1

Samantha Mihalovich

Professor Lawson

English 113 B

26 April 2016

Word Count : 1856

Hip hop and Narco Corridos in pop culture

Music is something that is so huge in our everyday lives. It is something we as a society

grow on to love, but is music all that good to say? As we grow older and mature in some ways

we start to listen to the lyrics of music more and more and come to an understanding that every

song has a meaning behind it, and those certain meanings aren't all that great. Currently narco

corridos and trap rap are the most listened to music in this generation; do these types of music

have a bad influence on the younger generation and promote drugs and gangs through their

lyrics? From personal experience and seeing with my own eyes how much music has an impact

in our society it goes to show that music can be feeding our youth and society nothing but

negativity and definitely is a way to promote drugs and gang violence.

Narco corridos is a type of spanish music that is basically talking about real events that

happen in the present and past about drugs and trafficking through drugs. Not only are drugs a

huge part of this music culture but so are killings and women. Women are a huge thing in this

pop cultural because since those who promote this music obviously have a lot of money from the

drugs and other things they do they feel as if they can get any and every girl they want. This is

also something that is influencing the youth negatively because it is basically saying if you have
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all the money in the world you can get any girl you want. This is something so horrible because a

women should never depend on a man, especially for money. In the article Music helps shape

Latino Identity in the US the UCLA student is examining Narco Corridos and said something

very interesting he stated that in the last five years, there has been a rise in narco corridos

coming out of Mexico and that can be attributed to the record levels of violence we so often hear

about on television With Herrera stating that a reason for violence being so high because of

narco corridos is is quite obvious narco corridos do promote a certain negative factor in society.

Trap rap on the other hand is an english based genre about gangs, drugs, and women of course.

These being my two favorite music genres I know from my own personal experience how much

these lyrics get to me. Seeing how much money and fame are something so important in these

songs makes me want to be like them. They make it seem like there's an easy way out, but I

know it's not as easy as it seems. Trap Rap is something this generation hears on the daily but if

you think about it, all its feeding our youth is pure negativity. Trap rap has a big affect on how

people view the world and makes people make very bad decisions. This is a culture full of

violence, drugs and women. In the article New Trends in social media, gang violence,

masculinity and hip hop, I come across something that Bakari Kitwana says, We characterize

the hip hop identity as the rebellious, assertive voice of predominantly urban youth, males in

particular. I felt like this was something so important. Nowadays we see how so many of our

youth are so out of control, could a reason be because of the hip hop industry? I certainly do

believe music industries have a big part in this because of the type of role models they are being
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to our youth. We think being big and bad is something to look up too, smoking weed everyday

and stacking your money is something cool. With parents not putting much attention to their

surroundings and this generation having more accesses to certain things because of cellphones,

laptops etc it is so much easier for one to get struck into this culture of drugs and violence. It is

sad to see how much media can impact our society. As we grow older and we start to hear more

and more about killings and gangs around our cities. If we go around Los Angeles for example

and pass through any block we will certainly hear a rapper named YG. YG is a young rapper

that many youth do look up to, but if youve heard any of his songs he is mainly repping his

Gang, Bloods. With YG being someone so famous this could be someone many look up too and

would want to start getting into what he's into. Little does this generation know that once youre

in a gang it's not easy to get out of it. Once youre in there's no backing out anymore. It is very

easy for one to be fooled by media and want to be someone they're not. For example in the article

"Internet Banging: New Trends in Social Media, Gang Violence, Masculinity and Hip Hop." it

explains how gangs and mafiosos can bring someone to think they have it all, cars, money,

girls, jewelry but little does one know they dangerous life they are living on the daily. Growing

up where having a lot of money is something to be praised for makes our youth feed into their

games and be fooled into thinking that the life they have is all fun and games when in reality it's

all deaths and misery. Also in another article Did gov't gangsters beget music gangstas? it

basically explains why it is that trap rap and hip hop promote violence and other things. It states

how it is a way to get their point across when there are many different ways for one to get their
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point across not having to use and promote violence in music as one of the ways, because music

is something that is listened to by so many that is why they try to get certain points across

through music. For example YG with his latest hit F*** Donald Trump, it is showing kids it

is okay to fight and not think about all the consequences behind it. In this song not even halfway

through he says All the niggas in the hood wanna fight you. With that simple lyric it promotes

2 different types of violence. A hood is obviously a gang and fighting is a crime that is something

commonly used in gangs, because of everything that was going on with Donald Trump this song

was played multiple times and was constantly in the heads of children. This is something that

probably influenced them in wanting to fight races that are for Trump; when in reality everyone

is entitled to their own opinion and of course violence is never the answer.

Although there may be many downs to Narco Corridos and Trap rap, there are also some good

things about these types of music many people may say. For example in the article Los Tigres

swap drug for songs of love, pride on fonovisa project Jorge Hernandez says The people have

a lot of faith that there will be an evolution. It's very hard to change a country overnight, but if

we raise awareness in all the Mexicans and Latin Americans, we can change things." from my

understanding some of their songs are to help bring my people feel safe somewhere they dont

not only that but to not fear certain things for example, immigration. Los Tigres Del Norte have

many corridos about immigration and how America is there's as well. I feel like this is a very

positive way to represent the narcocorrido culture because it is something that can be a huge

impact in someone's life, but is it all that true? Can someone feel safe and feel secure just
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because their was a corrido made for them? If you think about it maybe those corridos were

made just for fame, they used immigration in their corridos to get those immigrants to look up to

them and get them fame. All and all the music we listen to will definitely have an impact in our

lives weather it is very significant and changes us drastically or something that doesn't affect us,

everyone is different. With this generation and parents not being as involved in their children's

lives, many look up to their role models which usually are famous people. With that being said

they are obviously going to want to be like them in anyway they can so they will copy them. I

feel that is why there is so many bad things that are always on going. In the article Corridos

and La Pura Verdad: Myths and Realities of the Mexican Ballad." it explains how the

Narcocorrido world has a very negative effect on any generation. It explains briefly how they put

up a front for whoever it is admiring them. I mean, who wouldnt admire someone who has a

lot of money and everything they ever wanted. This not only goes for Narcocorridos but also

Trap rap artists. This is a big culture of violence and it is something that is getting worse and

worse over the years. As we grow older and parents begin to care less and less about what their

children do and listen too it brings more chances for younger generations to be influenced by

things they shouldn't be. Drugs and gang violence are something so serious and are something so

common in music industries these years, it is something we should begin to change because we

as society will see such a big difference in the crime rate and other horrific things that are

ongoing now. Drugs are something that in this pop culture is known as to be cool and makes

kids believe it is something that is okay to do not expecting all the horrible things it can bring
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them in the future. Artists should be role models for the youth, instead of constantly feeding

negativity in their minds. All and all these two music genres are amazing but certainly do have a

big impact on the way someone may want to live their life. With that being said music could be

the life or death of someone.

Works Cited
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Burr, Ramiro. "Los Tigres Swap Drug Tales for Songs of Love, Pride on Fonovisa Project."

Billboard, 113.29 (2001): 92.

Patton, Desmond Upton, Robert Eschmann, and Dirk Butler. "Internet Banging: New Trends in

Social Media, Gang Violence, Masculinity and Hip Hop." Computers in Human

Behavior, 29.5 (2013): A54-A59.

Villalobos, Jose Pablo, and Juan Carlos Ramrez-Pimienta. "Corridos and La Pura Verdad: Myths

and Realities of the Mexican Ballad." South Central Review, 21.3 (2004): 129-149.

Tour, , and TourA[c]. "How Hip-Hop Lost the War on Drugs." The Washington Post, (2012): .

Moreno, Cynthia. "Music Helps Shape Latino Identity in U.S." La Prensa San Diego, 36.46

(2012): 1.

Anonymous, . "Did Gov't Gangsters Beget Music Gangstas?." Billboard, 108.52 (1996): 8.
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