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Oh no, it's not just "rap." It could be heavy metal, gothic, rock, it could be anything that causes a child to react and behave in a certain way. Their perspective on music is quite different than that of an adult - thinking about your question, I had no real idea how angry rap was but I listened to it anyway, sometimes, just because it sounded good sometimes. When I noticed the lyrics and the sorts of behavior the artists were encouraging, that was my teenage phase, when I dropped that sort of music altogether and stayed away from it. And then now, I just picked up listening to it (rap, more specifically) again. Oh, I know what they're singing about, and half of it doesn't apply to me or phase me at all so I just let it go through me without any influence. That's what children CAN'T do - they see music as such a powerful and potential medium for their frustration or enjoyment of life, and simply go at it without any sort of precaution at all. I mean Eminem sings about some good points, honestly, like in "The Way I Am": "When a dude's gettin bullied and shoots up his school, and they blame it on Marilyn [Manson], And the heroin, Where were the parents at? And look where it's at - Middle america, Now it's a tragedy, Now it's so sad to see." Now the little kid is gonna have a different response to this than the adult, I think at least. He's just gonna use it in excitement to defend Eminem's music in general - "It's not the music that causes killings! Guns cause killings!" Which is not true, obviously music misinterpreted is going to cause a kid to do a lot of stupid stuff. I see those lyrics and think, "Well, he's got a point, not one really gives a shit if someone open fires on a neighborhood in the ghettos, but when it happens in bourgeosie America out near Columbine, everyone HAS to know and cry because the rich people are worth more than the poor." They blame him, they could if they wanted to and same with Marilyn, if kids are stupid and can't understand something beyond on what they wish to see, of course they'll use music to justify their actions. Same with books, movies, TV. Media makes for a good excuse to do just about anything. Interesting question though, I just think it goes beyond rap.
"Milk, almonds and pistachios."
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