Rapped up in Stereotypes

Stereotypes are a key piece of society, you are taught them from a young age and most of them stick with you for the rest of your life. Rap music is a key source of where you can find these. I mean where else could you hear, “Well since my adolescence, cause of his pimp lessons
smack my woman in the dental just for askin’ silly questions”, and not think anything about it. Men are stereotyped all the time, but especially throughout rap music. In hiphop men are considered to be pimps, thugs, gangstas, and willing to shoot you at the drop of a hat. Are men really like that? Most are probably not and you are not going to meet many who meet that exact stereotype. Most rap songs give you the same picture, smoker who wants better but lives on the street because thuggin’ is the only life he knows.

“ You’re not any less of a man, if you don’t pull the trigger,you’re not necessarily a man, if you do”

While most rap songs are painting you this picture of a thug that you do not want to see walking towards you, others are pointing out different things. In “Sucka Nigga” the quote above is saying while just having a gun doesn’t make you a man, but it is controlling it. A man does not grow up and just shoot people for the hell of it, but rather he provides for his family. “Mr. Nigga” goes into this as it is explaining that, “…I’m puttin up the big swing for my kids yo,Got my mom the fat water-front crib yo I’m a get her them pretty bay windows I’m a cop a nice home to provide in A safe environment for seeds to reside in”, now Mos Def tries to paint a different picture in this song. He tries to explain that he thinks the word nigger is offensive and that it means that you act a certain way. He doesn’t believe in the connotations associated with this name, so this was his response.

Whether or not you agree with the stereotypes placed on men or you don’t just understand that “ Reality’s a bitch ” (The Corner, by Common).