False Glorification Of Violence And Crime In Gangster Rap

Words: 1258
Pages: 6

We live in a world where media influences our everyday lives. It affects the way we think and the way we act. It has a profound influence on the behavior of its audience. They fill society’s hunger for insignificant information and rumors. They create buzz by hyping the issues with fancy words and generating descriptions. Negative controversies are made left and right to get the attention of the people in society. One thing the media does very well is glorification. False glorification of the rich and famous, and glorification of the world’s crimes and criminals. How does the media represent crime? One way is how the media reinforces the public’s perception about crime by presenting African American and Latino’s differently from White’s. Television …show more content…
When I personally think of what types of media influence people the most, I think first of music, even before television. I believe that people of all ages have more access to music than they do TV shows. The glorification of violence and crime in Gangster Rap. In the mid 1980's, the music industry was rattled with the birth of gangster rap. Artists such as Dr. Dre, Easy E and Snoop Dog. This new music genre represented images of gangs, guns, violence. Although gangster rap music was well received and became very popular during this time. Many of their music videos represented gangs, and hostile feelings towards the law. Some popular songs such as “Fuck the Police” by N.W.A rapped to lyrics like “Fuck the police coming straight from the …show more content…
Moral panic is “a feeling of fear spread among a large number of people that some evil threatens the well-being of society. Sociology defines a moral panic as "the process of arousing social concern over an issue - usually the work of moral entrepreneurs and the mass media” (Google). The news is known for showing an interest in crime, they give distorted images of crime, criminals and law enforcement. The media exaggerates the amount of violent crimes and the risk of certain groups becoming victims, such as young women and the elderly. The media is the reason many people have fear of crime. The types of criminals they fear and the types of crimes they fear.
The fact that crime has the potential for being newsworthy or a topic for a TV series, is due to the fact that it contains negative features and values which are key in the construction of news. Whether it be in our daily news reports, movies, soap operas, books, video games or music, crime and deviance have become an essential theme for use. There is an increasing tendency to show police as corrupt, brutal and less successful. Victims have become central, with police portrayed as avengers and audiences invited to identify with their