By Deborah Walker

In 2023, hip hop’s 50th birthday was celebrated around the world. Once ubiquitously known as rap music, hip hop has amplified the voices of marginalized communities across the country while making humans of all persuasions nod their heads to the beat.

“The purpose of hip hop music was to spread awareness about poverty, racism and other social issues among African Americans and Latinos.” says rising junior Livingstone College political science major Te’J Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, a college presidential scholar, says that while rap music has evolved into a global cultural phenomenon, arguments have been made that the music’s impact isn’t always benign. He recently presented a research paper about the negative influence of hip hop music on the Black community at the National African American Honors Conference (NAAHC) at Prairie View A&M University. He placed second.

Rodriguez’s research, “Straight Outta Concrete”, examines how hip hop devolved into a medium that frequently perpetuates not only racial and ethnic stereotypes, but also violence, misogynoir, drug abuse and other toxic behaviors. While acknowledging hip hop’s historical roots, Rodriguez argues that some of today’s popular rap music has strayed from this objective, harming the Black community.

“Straight Outta Concrete” begins with an exploration of the origins of hip hop, focusing on legends like Grandmaster Flash and The Sugar Hill Gang who used their music to speak out against poverty and racism. He cited President Reagan’s War on Drugs, when songs such as “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” and “Crack Monster” cautioned audiences about the dangers of drug use as mass incarceration destroyed Black communities.

Rodriguez was inspired to explore this topic after seeing how rap lyrics influenced his high school and college friends. He believed that many of his classmates were imitating rappers based on the lifestyles they displayed and lyrics that they wrote, which influenced violent and harmful behaviors. He discovered a pattern of students glamorizing dangerous actions while ignoring the consequences depicted in the song. This prompted him to investigate how media consumption, particularly in hip hop, influences young Black students’ identity, values, and conduct.

The research then follows hip hop’s timeline to what Rodriguez argues is a darker place. He criticizes artists like Dr. Dre for promoting illegal drug use, Eminem for rapping about mass murders and violence, and Chicago rappers like King Von and Chief Keef for glorifying gang culture, which Rodriguez believes inspired real-life crime in the city. He even mentioned Juice WRLD, who admitted that rapper Future’s drug-heavy lyrics pushed him to begin using narcotics. Juice WRLD died in 2019 following an overdose.

While Rodriguez’s findings raise difficult questions, others within the Livingstone community believe hip hop’s complexity cannot be defined solely by its flaws. But not everyone agrees with Rodriguez’s argument. For another rising junior at Livingstone, hip hop is more complex.

Detroit native Morgan Granger is a budding hip hop artist who performs under the stage name “BiigMorg” and credits rappers such as Lil Wayne with inspiring her to start composing lyrics because of his clever wordplay.

“Hip hop music holds a powerful, complex role within the Black community, not just as a genre, but as a culture that reflects struggle, resilience, pride, and unity,” she shared. And for her, it’s personal. Music has always been a part of her life. “My grandfather would often say, ‘Besides food and funerals, music is what brings family together; it’s what family find common and brings peace to everyone.’”

Granger doesn’t disagree with the findings in Rodriguez’s presentation. “He made a great point: many of the artists who are finding success today were heavily influenced by the ones that they listened to growing up,” she says. “For a lot of us in hip hop, we bring our truth and our background into music. When ‘violent rap’ started gaining attention, it wasn’t about glorifying violence, it was about telling real stories. A lot of artists come from poverty, and rap became a way to turn that pain into something powerful, something that could help get their families out of difficult circumstances.”

Daud “King” Carter offers a more nuanced perspective.

A music executive and entrepreneur, Carter is the CEO of Social Currency Enterprises, a Charlotte-based entertainment company dedicated to grassroots artist development. He played a pivotal role in launching DaBaby’s career through South Coast Music Group and has since mentored rising talents like Blacc Zacc, Toosii, and ZayTheGOAT. Through a strategic partnership with EMPIRE, Carter continues to elevate Carolina artists on the national stage.

Reflecting on hip hop’s influence, Carter shares: “I think hip hop is a double-edged sword. It can negatively impact young minds and influence harmful behaviors, but it’s also a powerful outlet to speak on real-life struggles. On the positive side, hip hop has created millionaires and changed lives, including mine. For many, it’s like the ‘Black man’s lottery.’ It builds confidence, but it can also desensitize us to issues that shouldn’t be normalized. Still, I believe the good outweighs the bad. The negativity in the music reflects what’s already happening in our communities. Ultimately, music is a report on reality—and that reality existed before the music. Hip hop saved my life.”

Hip hop, for many, is more than just entertainment; it’s a method of healing, a history lesson, and a cultural celebration wrapped up in rhythm and rhyme, Granger says. “It’s where we find ourselves and where we pass down who we are.”

As Nas once said, “Hip hop is the streets. Hip hop has a couple of elements that it comes from back in the days… that feel of music with urgency that speaks to you.” Hip hop plays an indisputable part at Livingstone College, a school dedicated to developing the next generation of

Black brilliance. It’s not just music. It functions as a megaphone, a mirror, and sometimes, even a battleground.