Rap Music was Founded on A Revolt Philosophy (Essay Sample)

Rap Music was Founded on A Revolt Philosophy
The rap music genre has become a worldwide phenomenon with great rappers such as Lil Wayne, P Diddy, Jay-Z, and Dr. Dre hitting the world's top 10 richest music artists. The industry has become a major advertising platform for most brands that target the youth including beverage and alcoholic drinks companies, tech firms, fashion, sports, video games, and TV entertainment (Dixon, 2015). However, critics maintain a skeptical view of the explicit content and violent message that rap music presents to its audience. The use of anger and explicit content in rap music is significantly a marketing stunt that is grounded on the oppositional philosophy that rap music was founded on.
Rap music was founded on a revolt philosophy. During the 1970s, Black Americans used their words, which contained angry undertones to speak out against racism and oppression by White Americans. It started in New York, Bronx, and quickly spread to the rest of America before becoming a global sensation. The Blacks were economically challenged and this toughened them to survive while having an affinity to revolt against the white system and authority (Dixon, 2015). This revolt has made their listeners love their rap music, relating to it as tough-sounding and making it cool to rebel against bullies, bosses, the government, and parents. The rappers portray brevity and courage to their listeners through their personalities by going against the system, being who they are, and not minding what other people think of them. This has appealed to and attracted many to rap music and culture.
Rap music is a major marketing channel for most youth-oriented products. Explicit content and vulgar language sell. Rap music and culture have a greater reach within the Black and extended Latino community who still feel oppressed and want to rebel. The angry words used appeal to them and advertisers have milked this rap music channel to market their products to the two communities. The explicit content is attractive to the youth even those from the White community (Marketing Week, 2014). The US government is also tapping into rap music to push its agenda and messages to this demographic as the mainstream media can not reach them as rap music and culture has become their preferred channel.