Everybody Wants To Be Hard

From the selected chapters of Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, "Everybody Wants To Be Hard" seemed to catch my attention very quickly. In the rap game, the main purpose, for most songs, is to be seen as intimidating, or "going/being hardcore." This idea is normally found in male rappers and their "hard" lyrics. For some reason, today's rappers think being hard is a cool thing to do. Now almost every song played today is about being hard. In history, the males have a consistency to be the alpha dog and the omega, and now history is currently showing up in our music. Maybe male superiorty is in the mindsets of most men. What hard rappers don't realize is that they are sending a message out to the community and youth is that it is okay to be a gangsta, pimp, thug, because it is the cool thing to be. This poor rolemodeling is now confusing, because it goes against the proper standards. Most children are raised to treat women with respect, keep good qualities and traits, however; the popular music out today totally breaks the rules. These hard lyrics are telling the community that it is okay to degrade woman, steal, and kill because it is the cool thing to do. I believe that the crave for being hard is destroying the communities and sending out the wrong type of message. To be hard is not an accomplishment, but a major setback. We just have to be proud and happy of who and what we are meant to be, and nothing else, no matter how strong of surrounding influences.