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The subculture spawned by rap and hip-hop music has had, in the last few decades, a

highly influential effect on its youthful and easily swayed fans. There are instances in which this

can have a positive result; some rap and hip-hop songs contain lyrics concerned with social

issues such as poverty, racism, war, and other hot-button but enlightening topics. However, much

more prevalent is the adverse topics hip-hop culture is seemingly obsessed with, that triad of

excessive indulgence that is status, wealth, and sex. From a structural-functionalist perspective,

one can argue that the intent of including such controversial themes in music is firstly to lure in

listeners and fans by graphically singing about content often seen as taboo, and secondly to

increase album sales and record label profits generated by these fans. However, if one

approaches this topic using a symbolic-interaction approach, a sound theory is that bragging

about many sexual partners or excessive amounts of money and fame is a rapper’s way of

proudly asserting their rise from middle-class, or, in many cases, poverty, to a life of luxury.

Structural functionalists aim to consider the various reasons for society’s interactions

with a social structure. When the rap music industry is considered a social structure, it is quite

obvious that it is divided into manifest and latent functions. The most important objective of the

rap music industry is to attract more fans to the music and to the lifestyle. However, this is not

simply to spread the love of the music genre. It is also crucial that the business aspect of rap and

hip hop comes into play. Essentially, more fans mean more money, and thus the desire for profit

is an additional function. Nevertheless, both functions operate using the same strategy: the

inclusion of controversial subjects in both lyrics and appearances. It is impossible to deny that

hip-hop music, more than any other genre, contains gratuitous references to themes others may

find distasteful.
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In a study that analyzed the most popular songs from 2005, it was found that of the 279

songs included in the study, 103 of them contained references to sexual activity. 67% of these

songs were of the rap genre, and were more likely to also reference drug abuse and violence.

(Primack, Gold, Schwarz, Dalton, 2008, 593) Artists that emphasize the appeal of rebellious,

taboo activities such as sex and crime are more liable to attain success. Listeners are fascinated

by seedy doings, especially ones that are kept under wraps by polite society, and thus are more

likely to seek out music that discusses these matters in graphic detail. Likewise, they are also

fascinated by extreme wealth and status, another popular topic in the rap and hip-hop music

genre. The term “bling” has come to represent the oversized, diamond-encrusted jewellery many

mainstream rappers wear. According to Alf Rehn and David Sköld’s I Love The Dough’: Rap

Lyrics as a Minor Economic Literature, bling is not simply as a fashion statement, but as a way

to assert their success and display it to the public. (Rehn and Sköld, 2005, 18) Essentially, this is

also a marketing tactic; the expensive items that successful artists rap about and flaunt are used

to entice the listener, to draw them into a world unlike their own. Reading, observing, and

hearing about the lavish lifestyles of those who are more fortunate is compelling. We are both

envious and in awe of the vast amounts of material goods they possess, and this is no different in

the case of rappers. The gratuitous references to sex, drugs, alcohol, money, and status are

intended to promote the artist by using shock appeal. If audiences are more startled by what they

hear, they are usually more inclined to investigate, and in the case of the music industry,

investigation equals profit: from albums to concert tickets to tour merchandise.

From a different perspective, one can approach the topic of excessive references to sex,

wealth, and status from a symbolic interaction viewpoint. According to John J. Macionis and

Linda M. Gerber’s Sociology, “human beings live in a world of symbols, attaching meaning to
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virtually everything, from the words on this page to the wink of an eye.” (Macionis and Gerber,

18-19, 2007) By this definition, then, sex, wealth and status are not simply themes, but icons that

represent a rise to fame. When analyzing this issue through structural-functionalist theories,

gratuitous references to the benefits of fame is rap music is a marketing tactic. With symbolic

interaction, not only are they spoils of the present, but they are also reminders of the past.

As previously stated, a rapper’s “bling” is a symbol of their successes, their promotion

from, as the maxim goes, rags to riches. The lyrics of many hip-hop songs contain allusions to

the rapper’s former life, an idea theorized in Mickey Hess’ From Bricks to Billboards: Hip-hop

Autobiography. He expresses this by using a Jay-Z album to demonstrate: “The Black Album,

for example, chronicles Jay-Z's progression from selling drugs to selling more albums than

almost any other hip-hop star, a journey that takes him from New York's Marcy Housing

Projects to Madison Square Garden.” (Hess, 2006, 61) Part of this sort of story includes distinct

allusions to the material goods their fortunes have allowed them to amass, the aforementioned

“bling”; cars, money, even beautiful women are included in this category. Hip-hop music is so

fascinated with celebrity and material wealth, and the benefits that come with such affluence –

that ever-popular variety of fan called the “groupie” – because they are gifts most people live

without, and the artists themselves usually grow up in stark contrast to this lifestyle. Rap music

itself is described as a typical hero story in ‘I Love The Dough’: Rap Lyrics as a Minor

Economic Literature, with the rapper as protagonist, one who goes on a quest to overcome

poverty. At the end of this quest, if the rapper is victorious in rising from the ashes of poverty,

they flaunt this victory by involving the spoils of the conquest in every facet of their image. In

another rap song quoted in From Bricks to Billboards, Notorious B.I.G. states that the only way

to escape becoming trapped in the ghetto is through crime, sports, or music. For those who are
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not athletically inclined, rap music is presented as an alternative to the life of crime that so many

urban youth eventually fall into. This is precisely where elements of culture and class struggle

arise. Artists such as the aforementioned Jay-Z were born and raised in harsh urban territories in

primarily African-American neighbourhoods, and were constantly coping with the stress of racial

and economic prejudice. When an artist raps about having to “choose between ‘cracked crab or

lobster’, drink[ing] ‘Cris(tal)’ (a brand of champagne) and driv[ing] a customized Mercedes-

Benz” instead of "food stamps, government cheese, dealing drugs and going hungry" (Rehn and

Sköld, 2005, 21), they are not simply bragging about the spoils of fame, but are asserting the fact

that they have risen to fame against all odds. It is a declaration that those who are discriminated

against can overcome such humble beginnings and escape a life of poverty.

While it would be assuming too much to say that one line of reasoning is more “right” in

comparison to the other, it can be said that a symbolic interaction perspective on the subject of

excess in rap music is more appropriate. Symbolic interaction is a “micro-level orientation”

(Macionis and Gerber, 18, 2007), a theory that zooms in on the specific experiences of these

rappers, as opposed to the industry as a whole. It is much more of a personal analysis. Song

lyrics that reference expensive cars or beautiful women or luxurious clothes are only for the sake

of bragging on the surface. When one considers the extremely low beginnings many artists began

their lives from we slowly understand their reasoning for including such topics in their lyrics.

They are a point of pride for an artist who has risen from extreme poverty to extreme wealth. It

all ties into the allegory of rap being a hero fable, a warrior who is able to defeat the trappings of

poverty and crime to rise above his peers, still stuck in this rut, and display the awards he or she

receives for becoming this hero.

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Using both structural functionalism and symbolic interaction to determine the reasoning

behind the importance wealth, status, and sex plays in hip-hop culture allows for a greater

understanding of the culture itself. It is clear that it is a structure, one that places equal

importance on making money and asserting one’s place in the culture. As with all structures,

there are different facets to it, and thus its motives are not cut and dry. It is only when teaming

structural functionalism and symbolic interaction together do we receive a more thorough

understanding of how it operates, and what it means to both fans and artists alike.