chicken or egg? (the deeper version)

I have reached the conclusion that rap music is an excellent embodiment of all things dysfunctional. I shouldn’t have to explain myself here (I am strongly opposed to the genre as a whole) but I will anyway for the sake of…open-mindedness? Sure.

In my relatively scattered attempts to make sense of life, the universe and everything, I have reached many conclusions about love, marriage, and, well, the things that accompany them. Frankly, I like to think I have a pretty good grasp of what makes love work and how that, in turn, makes marriage work. I probably don’t, but humoring myself keeps me in a good mood and willing to learn more. (Hey, I’m being honest here!)

And in these studies I have discovered – to some small degree – just how skewed our society is when it comes to conjugal love. Because rap music is constantly emphasizing mindless hooking up without any kind of relational development, I’m forced to conclude that perhaps the single greatest problem in our society can be traced back to our music. Or can it?

Would music glorify something a culture didn’t already condone? or has it become such a cultural status symbol because of the music? I’m more likely to blame the culture for tainting the music than visa versa because I think that music works with what it has. If a group of people in the culture decide that this is cool, their music is likely to reflect it.

There are countless examples of culture impacting music. The Beatles, for crying out loud. And, of course, there are cases where music reflects a desire for change in the culture – for instance, the entire genre known today as punk. Some music laments the fall of our culture (country) and some ignores deeper issues of life (pop). Other genres just shamelessly synchrotize their faith with their culture in order to appeal (CCM). But whatever the music does with the culture, it’s quite clear that the two are irrevocably attached.

So when we look at rap “music,” we have to wonder what, exactly, is being said here. Frankly, I find the music boring. It’s no longer shocking, it’s no longer exciting (if it was to some modicum of the populace to begin with). We all know exactly how it’s going to start (in a club), how things will become “exciting” (lots of alcohol), and how things will culminate (finding an attractive individual to go home with, or, given enough alcohol, just a willing person). Doesn’t this look like a symptom of a culture gone very, very wrong?

I suppose the question I have for my readers would run something like this.

A) To what extent do you believe music accurately reflects any culture?

B) To what extent do you believe music choice reflects any individual?

C) To what extent to you believe your music choice effects you? (Sometimes we are tempted to assign judgments to others that we wouldn’t assume for ourselves…   I know because I’m guilty of doing that. )