My take on rap music is a bit grey. First off, I would never blame music or any entertainment product for anything individually. Movies and music do not cause the bad issues in society. And that includes rap music. The thing about rap music which is unsettling is how it is reflective of culture, as all entertainment is.
Lets take a step back and talk about rock and roll for a moment. Rock and roll had some wild sides to it. Sex, drugs, ect... But that was the more extreme edges... Underneath nearly all of it was a general cultural message of free expression. A yearning to drop the repressive rules society had built up and to not simply give into authority without questioning it. Generally I think those are good ideals. Music wasn't responsible for this cultural shift. It was a reflection of the cultural shift that was bubbling up. But just as art imitates life, life imitates art. One fuels the other, bu6 the fuel art gives to culture is small compared to the fuel culture gives to art. By there is some connection both ways.
My problem with rap has less do with the music and more to do with the culture that spawns it. A culture that, while it has some real gripes, is on the whole unhelpful to the cohesion of society. While rock and roll was more about stopping the repression society placed on us and questioning authority, when you delve into rap beyond the more outlandist aspects, you have a fairly blatant disregard for authority and a sense of entitlement to sex and money without earning it honestly or with sincerity. To me this isn't just an old man on his lawn yelling about how music is ruining the next generation. This is about an honest examination of the ideas music culturally reflects, and the impact music has reinforcing these ideas into that culture. This to me is where the problem is.
If one were to talk about the 'rock and roll spawned culture' (which again, it is much much much more accurate to say the cultural shift that spawned rock and roll, but that doesn't sound as good). We can see what it brought. Overall it is hard to debate that it was bad for society. From the 50s-70s There was a shift to more openness, more freedom, more oversight, more equality. Was it perfect? No. Were there potentially bad things about it? Sure. But overall I think it led to a healthier and better society.
If one were to talk about the 'rap spawned culture (ditto) we can see what it brought. It's hard to say it has done more good than bad for the segments of society it represents. That all being said. this has nothing to do with the real issues Cam Newton has.
As a side note, if one were to talk about culture reflected in music; country music would be a very interesting discussion to have. While it isn't as flashy and rock or rap, it could be argued it has downsides as well. Mostly to due with stagnation. It is a much more complex conversation no one seems to ever have.
