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The Correlation Between Rap and Violence

Tristan Cortesi
Music & Culture IRL
Published in
8 min readDec 14, 2020

Did you know in 2015 there was a study that stated that murder was the cause of 51.5% of all American hip-hop artist deaths? Many of these artists who have been murdered have not seen life past age 30, because they were taken from us at such a young age. Violent crimes in the rap game have always been around. It was at its worse around the 1970s, when rap was at its prime. Since a lot of rappers back in the day were into gangs, there was a whole lot of violence in the rap game. Rappers would have beef with each other because they would be in rival gangs, and this would ultimately end in a shoot out with these rival gang members. Many rappers have been killed because of rival gangs like Tupac and The Notorious BIG. Both of these artists were shot in cold blood and their talent was taken from them, which is tragic. Violence in the rap game is a problem that cannot be solved, because to this day rappers are still getting killed in cold blood. Nowadays rappers have to be very discrete with everything they do so they do not get caught lacking. For example, Pop Smoke accidentally shared his address, and next thing you know he was murdered at his own house. Another example would be XXXTentacion, who was shot and killed in his own car. Also, rap culture encourages violence because people look up to rappers, and when they see them creating violence, then the people follow.

This is a pic of a man singing into a microphone
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Many rappers grew up in the hood and as little kids they were surrounded by risky business whether that be drug dealing, gangs, or anything that can get them in trouble. The most common risky business these rappers would get into would be gangs. These gangs taught them at a young age about violence and many other terrible things. Also, these rappers in gangs have beef with other gang members and they express their beef through music. Sometimes that does not work out well. “Chicago police were bracing for retaliation shootings on the South Side after a rapper was killed in a brazen Gold Coast attack, possibly because he had recently made a video featuring ‘derogatory statements’ about rival gang members who have died” (Sobol). This rapper in Chicago got shot and killed by his rival gang members because of a music video. If this rapper was not involved in any gang activity, he would probably still be alive today.

These rappers do not just affect each other; they affect every one in the community. For example, if two people are having a gunfight in a crowd, their bullets can go anywhere and hit anyone near them. In an article by The New York Times it states “On April 17, a stray bullet killed a taxi driver during a fight between two groups who had left Eden Nite Club” (Frosch). This evidence shows how having a gunfight in a public place is dangerous to everyone. That taxi driver was just minding his own business when he got struck by a stray bullet. He was just doing his job and he got killed for it. Also in the same article by The New York Times it says, “Two days after Mr. Jackson-Forrest’s death, the police issued a news release blaming the violence on gangsta rap” (Frosch par 12). After all of these incidents that happened in Colorado, the police decided to blame it on gangsta rap, because the people involved in the shooting were also involved in making rap music. This shows how rap music can cause a problem with peoples safety.

This violence does not just occur in the US; it happens all over the world. In the UK a rapper was stabbed to death. “Gang violence claimed another life in London on Wednesday when a drill music rapper was stabbed to death, apparently the victim of an attack by so-called postcode rivals” (The Guardian par 4). In this evidence it explains how rappers and crime are all over the world. Also, his death was caused because of another rival gang member. In the same article it explains how rap and crime are affiliated “He subsequently spoke about the relationship between drill music and youth violence, saying: “The crime that’s happening right music does influence it” (The Guardian par 4). This shows how rap music can influence people to live like the rappers. Also, it explains youth look up to these rappers and will do anything even if it risks their life to be like them.

The most brutal time for rappers was back when gangsta rap first got popular. Every rapper was affiliated with a gang, and it was at its most dangerous time. Rappers were getting killed left and right by other rappers. For example Notorious B.I.G was killed in cold blood by a fellow rapper. “The Notorious B.I.G. is shot to death at a stoplight in Los Angeles” (History par 1). Biggie Smalls was just driving his car minding his business when a rapper came and gunned him down. Many people say that this happened because of an ongoing feud between the west and east coasts rappers. Notorious B.I.G was not the only one killed, Tupac was also killed in cold blood. “Tupac Shakur was killed when he was shot while in his car in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas” (History par 1). Both of these artists should not have died due to beef with others. I think it is sad to see this happen to these rappers because they both had extreme talent and it was wasted because some one decided to kill them.

A man pointing a gun to signify violence
Photo by Max Kleinen on Unsplash

Rappers’ killing each other is a problem but that is not the only problem killing these young rappers. Drugs are another way why these rappers die so young. Rappers like Mac Miller, Juice WRLD, and Lil Peep died from overdosing on drugs. These rappers had demons that they faced, and you could tell that they were going through it by the lyrics of their songs. Also, since a lot of rappers do drugs, it influences their audiences to do drugs too.

Throughout my research I found that no matter what there is always going to be violence in the rap game. No matter how hard people try to stop the violence there is always going to be that one guy who starts something. I do not think that violence is going to stop in the rap game, but I do think that there are more people trying to prevent it from happening. Also, I think if people would use their words rather then a 9 mm there would be more rappers alive today. A good quote by Martin Luther states “nothing good ever comes from violence”.

I believe that violence should never be the answer to bad situations. People can solve problems with their words. Solving problems with violence will just cause more problems. If someone killed another person over a dispute, now that person has to worry about prison and other people trying to kill him or her. While on the other hand, if you solve a problem verbally, then you and that person do not have to worry about anything. They can both go on with their day. There have been too many young talented lives lost due to violence, and it is not worth it. I think this conversation matters to the audience because one of your favorite artists could be killed over something small. This could make a lot of people upset if one of their favorite artists was killed. Also, maybe one of the artists you liked to listen to have already been killed due to violence, and you would like to see a change as well. Just this year we lost a few artists due to violence, like Pop Smoke and King Von. Both of these artists were super young, being in their twenties, and they had their whole careers in front of them until they got murdered. These two artists are not the only ones. Plenty more rappers have been murdered over beef that could have been resolved with other actions. I think people need to stop worrying about their street reputation and should start worrying about stopping the violence in the rap game.

Comic Strip:

My comic strip is about two rappers who hear another rapping talking bad about them in one of his songs. The two rappers get mad and want to do something about it. One rapper suggests killing and the other suggests a rap battle. The both agree on rap battle so they go to that mc who was talking bad. Then they had a rap battle and they solved their problems. My comic strip expresses how there are many other ways than killing some one to solve their problems. Many people believe that killing some one is going to solve the problem when in reality it makes the problem bigger. I intended to communicate that there are plenty of ways to resolve a problem with some one you have beef with. For example you could use your words and go to that person face to face instead of doing a drive by. I chose rappers to symbolize my topic because some of them think guns and killing people is the only way to solve problems. I want my audience to realize that there is too many rappers who have been killed over something that could have been solved a different way. Now a day’s people are scarred to leave the house with out a weapon because people in this world are crazy. Just this year we lost a couple rappers like king von pop smoke and probably more. I think people need to start putting the guns down when they have problems and use their words.

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Tristan Cortesi
Music & Culture IRL

Written by Tristan Cortesi

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