Pimp? Murder? Sell Drugs? The "Happy Meal" Aspect of Hip-hop

A recent conversation I had with the students that I work with reminded me of this must-see, 54-second commercial.

 

Before I share my conversation, let me first explain the video. 

A man in a black sweatshirt fashioning himself as a rapper walks up on a couple. He begins chanting "Pimpin, Pimpin, Pimpin, Murder, Murder, Sell Drugs" several times. 

The couple, as you would expect, looks disgusted. 

Then things get interesting. 

The man in the black hooded sweatshirt gets his friend to drop a beat. The rapper then recites the exact same "Pimpin, Murder, Sell Drugs" chant to the couple, only this time to a beat. 

Now, instead of disgust, the couple actually joins in on the chant, and even starts dancing. 

The commercial, a promo spot for Reach Records' 2009 Don't Waste Your Life Tour, is equal parts hilarious and saddening. 

 

Fast forward to my conversation. I was in a mini-van on a road trip with a group of hip-hop loving teenagers. When I work with students, I invite them to play their own music in my van. And they are always quick to oblige. Heads get to nodding. Faces scrunch up tightly when the beat drops. And they sing along word for word. 

Over the weekend, it sounded like this: 

"Whipping a Brick. Whipping-Whipping a Brick. Whipping a Brick." 

(note: This is not a song about brick masonry or what the Israelites chanted in Egyptian captivity.)

The only catch is we don't just listen to the music. They have to help me critique it. I prefer the critiquing approach to the "baby-out-with-the-bath water" approach, because critiquing helps students to become thinkers.

We look for things such as: 

• What does this artist tell you is worth reproducing artistically?
• What values does the artist want to instill in you? 
• If we fast-forwarded to the logical conclusion of the way this artist tells you to live, would society benefit or crumble? 

Fairly consistently (although, thankfully, there are exclusions), we find several themes that tend to run through hip-hop. 

1. Money, and lots of it, is what it means to be happy.
2. Being worshiped sexually by multiple members of the opposite sex is what it means to be happy.
3. Being a man that everyone fears (not masculinity but hyper-masculinity) is absolutely essential. 

But here's the catch. Those hip-hop messages have a Happy Meal quality to them. Not a ton of nutritional substance, but very cleverly packaged.  In both cases, something undesirable (unhealthy food or unhealthy values) is being communicated in something otherwise desirable.  In the case of the Happy Meal, it's usually a toy. And what kid could resist a new toy? In the case of hip-hop, the message is usually hidden within an appreciation of a certain style of music. And what person doesn't like a catchy song?

Now one Happy Meal is more than likely not going to destroy someone's health, but a diet in which fast food is a main staple is going to have negative effects on your long-term health.

I'm trying to teach my students that similar to the way fast food impacts the body, music that promotes destructive values can have a similar impact on the soul. Ask anyone who really knows me. They will tell you that no one loves hip-hop more than me. However, I can not just consume any hip-hop anymore. The only hip-hop that resonates with my heart now is hip-hop that: 

• creates art in a responsible way
• communicates values consistent with the truth
• affirms that life that follows God's design for humans is the best and most freeing way to live. 

In a 45-minute conversation with guys, I don't think I could completely transform the way they think about hip-hop. I'm just hoping that the students - much like a person who is considering the health risks of fast food - can be a little more critical of what they consume sonically.  

I write these blogs as conversation starters. I would love to hear how you think through the content in hip-hop lyrics. 







Chris Lassiter is a husband to Emily (read her powerful blog about forgiveness here), father of five kids, and a Young Life leader in his hometown of Staunton, Va. He has written for VIBE, Rapzilla.com, JamTheHYpe.com, Young Life Relationships and other publications. Recently, Moody Publishers put out his first book, You're Grounded, which you can purchase here.  Please consider following this blog, which gets updated twice a week.