Critique #4: We're Not Role Models

This chapter defends hip hop artists with the fact that the youth should be influenced elsewhere, such as by parents. Music shouldn't hold such a large impact in their lives and they should learn to be entertained by the music and maybe even moved, but to shouldn't affect their daily lives or actions. Artists should not be looked at as role models just because they have become famous and grabbed media attention. Some have started as rebels and they use their music to express themselves. This outlet of expression is what gave them fame, so by no means does it make them role models. A role model is a reference for others of the same social group, and although some believe hip hop artists fit this description, the media-saturated and market-driven hip hop that has developed alters the classification of a hip hop artist being a role model. Parents are the main cause of how a child turns out. Artists rap about negative aspects of life, drugs, and violence but they are usually accompanied by the common theme of not having a father, having a careless mother, or other parental related issues. Again, music is their outlet of expression, and for parents to blame the behavior of their kids on the music they are not listening to the actual message of the lyrics. These kids that are growing up to mimic the music they listen to are not getting the proper guidance from their parents and then looking elsewhere for it. The hip hop defenders are not underestimated the time and work it takes to be a parent, but the artists should not get the blame.