Lail 1

Morgan Lail English 1102 Professor Voltz August 15th, 2013 Proposal As I began my research I wasnt sure which topic I wanted to choose. I knew I wanted it to be on the influence of rap music, but I didnt want it to be too vague. I didnt want to focus only on the influence of drugs, or violence. I also didnt want to only focus on the influence of the youth or teenagers. Many topics went through my head such as the impact of rap on society, or does rap promote destructive behavior, or does rap music endorse violence. Ultimately I decided to write about the influence rap music has on violence. I strongly agree that rap music does not influence violence on teenagers. I think this topic allows me to take the argument even further. I want to know what the medias standpoint on the influence of rap music is. Do rappers intentionally influence their audience? What groups in society are ultimately affected? Do we need to limit the amount of music we hear? Are younger children affected more than teenagers? Does rap music statistically influence violence on its viewers? Has this concern been taken further, as far as limiting rap producers, and artists from making music? Does it promote violence more than drugs and partying? I plan to answer all of my questions through my research. This topic was very compelling to me, because the majority of music I listen to is rap. I feel that I know a great extent about rap music today. I spend a mass amount of my time listening to music. Other debate topics were appealing but, didnt seem to catch my attention as much as the influence of rap mus ic. I thought about some political issues such as the united states influence on going to war with

Lail 2

Syria, but ultimately decided against it. Researching rap music and discovering its influence on society interests me so it isnt hard to dig deeper. I found useful information I plan to use through my research on Debate.org. This website contains reviews from individuals who chose to vote against or for the topics and voice their opinions. I found two useful debates to back up my argument on this website. In the debate websites source one; I was given some resources such as definitions to support my topic. The rebottles of the debate are very strong, and support my thesis. I could argue strongly for both sides of this argument. Though my project I want to persuade my audience that listening to rap music does not influence society. We have strong will power, and music should not influence the things we accept or ways we chose to act. If you are a weak individual, you can be easily influenced by anything; such as social media, movies, YouTube videos, peers, or music, not just rap. I plan to use the argument that rap music is an opportunity rappers seek to succeed and deport from poverty. This dream originated in the 1970s when rap became popular and is stil l the dream today. Many artists such as Eminem, Tupac, Biggie, and more all escaped from poverty by making a career in the rap business. It is statistically proven that most successful artists come from backgrounds of poverty. I would like to copare this to a reference used by Drake, Started from the Bottom. Rapping started in the streets as a hobby. Many children would use rap battles as a healthy, non-violent way to communicate, and entertain. The dream to become a rapper and to pursue a career in rapping has kept many kids off of the street. We see this in the movie called Notorious where the producing manager gave the rapper Biggie the option to start a record deal, or continue selling drugs in the streets of East Coast Brooklyn. He

Lail 3

inspired Biggie to rap about being in the streets of East Coast Brooklyn rather than work in the streets. Although a large group of people will argue against the good in rap music and the negative influence it could have on society, I would like to go beyond that and prove to my audience that rap music isnt influencing us negatively. Rap music is an art that is used to entertain and to open our minds. Thoughtout my project, I plan to focus on the positive aspects. I also want to disprove, or debate against the negative aspects many cons use against the genre. I strongly believe the music is an art. My audience is my peers, and I feel that they would agree with this statement. I feel that many teenagers of my generation listen to rap music. Is this just a trend, or is the media really influencing us? I think we all have something in common, we like to hear good music with a good rhythm. Regardless of the genre that we listen to between Country, Rock, R and B, Hip Hop, Heavy Metal, or other music you like to hear we all have something in common. We like to hear good music with a smooth lyrical value and a good rhythm. The media doesnt influence me to listen to rap music. I enjoy it. We all make our own decisions based off of common sense and acquired knowledge. I hope that my argument persuades my audience that rap isnt influencing crime, or any violence. I want them to see the positive aspects of rap and the reasons for its origination.