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DOES RAP MUSIC NEGATIVELY INFLUENCE YOUNG LISTENER’S BEHAVIOR? MICHELLE MACK The infamous rap artist, Tupac Shakur has a song entitled, “Bury Me a G,” off his album, “Thugs Life, Volume 1”. One collection of lyrics in this song states: “I got nothen to lose sos I choose to be a killer/ Went from bangin’ to slangin’/ Now I’m a dope dealer/ All my a payed the price to be the loss/Back in school/ Wrote the rules on gettin’ tossed/ Popping rocks on the block was a past time/ Pack a 9 all the time” (qtd. in Pelley 3). What are these rap lyrics encouraging young people to do? They cause them to do negative things resulting in aggressive behavior. It encourages young people to be gangsters, curse, fight, and kill people. It promotes sex, violence, and drug and alcohol use and abuse. It even degrades women, and speaks of violent crimes towards them. Rap music promotes violent and hostile behavior in young listeners. Some people argue that rap music provides valuable information to young listeners. They feel that it tells the story of the black man’s struggle. Some also feel that it describes life in the eyes of a black person. Venise Berry says that, “as a product of the black urba