Samantha Mihalovich

Professor Lawson

English 113 B

10 May 2017

Word Count : 2112

Hip hop and Narco Corridos in pop culture

Music is something that is so huge in our everyday lives. It is something we as a society

grow on to love, but is music all that good to say? As we grow older we start to listen to the

lyrics of music more and more and come to an understanding that every song has a meaning

behind it, and those certain meanings overall aren't that great. Currently narco corridos and

trap rap are the most listened to music in this generation; these types of music genres promote

drugs and violence throughout their songs influencing people to want to do be like those certain

artists. From personal experience and seeing with my own eyes how much music has an impact

in our society it goes to show that music can be feeding our youth and society nothing but

negativity, resulting in an ultimate reason why violence and drugs are such a problem today.

Narco corridos are a type of spanish music, that is talking about real events that happen in

the present and past about drugs and trafficking through drugs. Not only are drugs a huge part of

this music culture but so are killings and women. This music culture seems to overpower women

and characterize women as something less than what they are. For example in a corrido named

Corrido de las Mujeres (Corrido about Women) by Armando Palomas, he talks very poorly

about women and how we are so influenced by men's money not only are women gold diggers
but also very easy obviously talking in a very sexist way. One of the lyrics in this corrido is

Las muchachas de hace tiempo a los 30 eran novatas las muchachas de estos tiempos a los 15

abren las patas translating to The women from a while ago were virgins until their 30s and now

a days at 15 girls already open their legs This is something so horrible because they characterize

women so low and make us look bad. This influences the younger generation to think it is okay

to judge a someone for how they are or what they do, when in reality men do the same exact

thing just difference is the gender.

With all the violence going on in the word there are many debates on why it is that

violence is so huge in our society today. In the articleMusic helps shape Latino Identity in the

US this UCLA student is examining Narco Corridos and said something very interesting; he

stated that in the last five years, there has been a rise in narco corridos coming out of Mexico

and that can be attributed to the record levels of violence we so often hear about on television

With Herrera stating that a reason for violence being so high because of narco corridos it is quite

obvious narco corridos do promote a certain negative factor in society. Narco Corridos are very

violent and make it seem like it is a lifestyle one would love to have. I say this because I, myself

have even thought about wanting to marry a Narco. The way they are portrayed as powerful

and rich makes one want to be just like them or even get with one because life would be so

much easier, but little do they know it's not even close to being a lifestyle.

Trap rap on the other hand is an english based genre about gangs, drugs, and women of

course .Obviously interpreting the women in the same manner as narco corridos. One prime
example is the artist Yg with his greatest hit Bitches aint shit but hoes and tricks there is not

one thing about this statement that isn't sexist and cruel. These being my two favorite music

genres I know from my own personal experience how much these lyrics get to me. Seeing how

much money and fame are something so important in these songs makes me want to be like

them. They make it seem like there's an easy way out, but I know it's not as easy as it seems.

Trap Rap is something this generation hears on the daily but if you think about it, all its feeding

our youth is pure negativity. Trap rap has a big affect on how people view the world and makes

people make very bad decisions. This is a culture full of violence, drugs and women. In the

article New Trends in social media, gang violence, masculinity and hip hop, I come across

something that Bakari Kitwana says, We characterize the hip hop identity as the rebellious,

assertive voice of predominantly urban youth, males in particular. I felt like this was something

so important. Nowadays we see how so many of our youth are so out of control, could a reason

be because of the hip hop industry? I certainly do believe music industries have a big part in this

because of the type of role models they are being to our youth. We think being big and bad is

something to look up too, smoking weed everyday and stacking your money is something

cool. With parents not putting much attention to their surroundings and this generation having

more accesses to certain things because of cellphones, laptops etc it is so much easier for one

to get struck into this culture of drugs and violence. It is sad to see how much media can impact

our society. As we grow older and we start to hear more and more about killings and gangs

around our cities. YG is a young rapper that many youth do look up to, but if youve heard any
of his songs he is mainly repping his Gang; Bloods. With YG being someone so famous this

could be someone many look up too and would want to start getting into what he's into. Little

does this generation know that once youre in a gang it's not easy to get out of it. Once youre

in there's no backing out anymore. It is very easy for one to be fooled by media and want to be

someone they're not. For example in the article "Internet Banging: New Trends in Social Media,

Gang Violence, Masculinity and Hip Hop." it explains how gangs and mafiosos can bring

someone to think they have it all, cars, money, girls, jewelry but little does one know they

dangerous life they are living on the daily. Growing up where having a lot of money is something

to be praised for makes our youth feed into their games and be fooled into thinking that the life

they have is all fun and games when in reality it's all deaths and misery. Also in another article

Did gov't gangsters beget music gangstas? it basically explains why it is that trap rap and hip

hop promote violence and other things. It states how it is a way to get their point across when

there are many different ways for one to get their point across not having to use and promote

violence in music as one of the ways, because music is something that is listened to by so many

that is why they try to get certain points across through music. For example YG with his

latest hit F*** Donald Trump, it is showing kids it is okay to fight and not think about all the

consequences behind it. In this song not even halfway through he says All the niggas in the

hood wanna fight you. With that simple lyric it promotes 2 different types of violence. A hood is

obviously a gang and fighting is a crime that is something commonly used in gangs, because of

everything that was going on with Donald Trump this song was played multiple times and was
constantly in the heads of children. This is something that probably influenced them in wanting

to fight races that are for Trump; when in reality everyone is entitled to their own opinion and of

course violence is never the answer.

Although there may be many downs to Narco Corridos and Trap rap, there are also some good

things about these types of music many people may say. For example in the article Los Tigres

swap drug for songs of love, pride on fonovisa project Jorge Hernandez says The people have

a lot of faith that there will be an evolution. It's very hard to change a country overnight, but if

we raise awareness in all the Mexicans and Latin Americans, we can change things." from my

understanding some of their songs are to help hispanics feel safe somewhere they dont not only

that but to not fear certain things for example, immigration. Los Tigres Del Norte have many

corridos about immigration and how America is there's as well. I feel like this is a very positive

way to represent the narcocorrido culture because it is something that can be a huge impact in

someone's life, but is it all that true? Can someone feel safe and feel secure just because their was

a corrido made for them? If you think about it maybe those corridos were made just for fame,

they used immigration in their corridos to get those immigrants to look up to them and get them

fame.

All and all the music we listen to will definitely have an impact in our lives weather it is very

significant and changes us drastically or something that doesn't affect us, everyone is different.

With this generation and parents not being as involved in their children's lives, many look up to

their role models which usually are famous people. With that being said they are obviously going
to want to be like them in anyway they can so they will copy them. I feel that is why there is so

many bad things that are always on going. In the article Corridos and La Pura Verdad: Myths

and Realities of the Mexican Ballad." it explains how the Narcocorrido world has a very negative

effect on any generation. It explains briefly how they put up a front for whoever it is admiring

them. I mean, who wouldnt admire someone who has a lot of money and everything they ever

wanted. This not only goes for Narcocorridos but also Trap rap artists. This is a big culture of

violence and it is something that is getting worse and worse over the years. As we grow older

and parents begin to care less and less about what their children do and listen too it brings more

chances for younger generations to be influenced by things they shouldn't be. Drugs and gang

violence are something so serious and are something so common in music industries these years,

it is something we should begin to change because we as society will see such a big difference in

the crime rate and other horrific things that are ongoing now. Drugs are something that in this

pop culture is known as to be cool and makes kids believe it is something that is okay to do not

expecting all the horrible things it can bring them in the future. Artists should be role models for

the youth, instead of constantly feeding negativity in their minds. All and all these two music

genres are amazing but certainly do have a big impact on the way someone may want to live

their life. With it being so easy to be influenced these days music can be a huge influence on our

society. Constantly talking about drugs and guns shows exactly what type of mentality most of

these rappers have. Instead of being role models to the youth their constantly feeding the
negativity and showing them the wrong life to live. With that being said music could be the life

or death of someone.

Works Cited

Burr, Ramiro. "Los Tigres Swap Drug Tales for Songs of Love, Pride on Fonovisa Project."

Billboard, 113.29 (2001): 92.

Patton, Desmond Upton, Robert Eschmann, and Dirk Butler. "Internet Banging: New Trends in

Social Media, Gang Violence, Masculinity and Hip Hop." Computers in Human

Behavior, 29.5 (2013): A54-A59.

Villalobos, Jose Pablo, and Juan Carlos Ramrez-Pimienta. "Corridos and La Pura Verdad: Myths

and Realities of the Mexican Ballad." South Central Review, 21.3 (2004): 129-149.

Tour, , and TourA[c]. "How Hip-Hop Lost the War on Drugs." The Washington Post, (2012): .

Moreno, Cynthia. "Music Helps Shape Latino Identity in U.S." La Prensa San Diego, 36.46

(2012): 1.
Anonymous, . "Did Gov't Gangsters Beget Music Gangstas?." Billboard, 108.52 (1996): 8.