Music... The Greatest Influence
Music in todayâs pop culture is one of the most influential things for millennials. Many of the artists use vulgar language, excessive sexuality and violence to create a persona that kids and teens in our generation want to be.
Is this a positive thing for the teens of this generation? Well, yes and no. The message in most (key word most) of the musicians songs is to never stop following your dreams so you can live a lifestyle like they are living. But while they are trying to convey this persona to the rest of the world, they are also showing their listeners that they use drugs excessively and promote how great it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbEoRnaOIbs
The type of music I am talking about is typically hip-hop though it is the same issue in other types of music as well. With the entire Miley Cyrus fiasco that happened in 2013 further showed how musicians can influence an entire culture. She turned from child star sweetheart to a sex and drug symbol in 15 seconds.
The youth of this generation is so easily influenced by what they see in the news and by what their favorite celebrities do and that is leading them down the path of drugs, alcohol, violence and unsafe sex.
7 out of 10 parents say that they donât know what type of music their kids listen to and they are unaware of the substance of the lyrics in the songs the kids listen two. Artist like Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and ScHoolboy Q all have an extremely large presence in pop culture today and all three of them talk about frequent drug use in each of their songs.
âAll my weed from Cali, so you know Iâm smokin flavour; Ain't fuckin with blunts, you know we only smokinâ paperâ ~ Wiz Khalifa - Taylor Gang
âAnd I got Xanax, percocet, promethazine with codeine; Call me Mr. Sandman, I'm sellin' all these hoes dreamsâ ~ Lil Wayne - Rich As F***
Lyrics like these shown above are used in a large quantity in todays music. Myself being a fan of artist who use language like this sometimes hear some of the lyrics and think, Did he really just say that. The true problem is, kids donât even realize that the language they use in completely inappropriate and is not something they should look up to or want to do.
Logan Bell, a junior student at St. Joes high school shared his thoughts, âYeah I think that music has an impact on the way we as teens react to things, but I donât think that if we see them doing drugs or killing people that we are going to turn around and do the same.â He went on to say that teens are more influenced by the people actually around them than a celebrity that they put on a pedestal.
After talking to Logan, I went on to talk to his younger brother to see if he shared similar views on the topic. Well, I was wrong. âI have tons of friends that tried smoking weed because they have seen an interview of Wiz Khalifa talking about weed or a video of Snoop lighting a blunt at a club.â Zach Bell a freshman at St. Joes said. âThey think that they are some how cooler now that they smoke weed and get drunk and I do believe it has a lot to do with the celebrities we all see on TV.â
Overall, music does have a major impact on todays society. 90s children have experienced a new type of role model that the world really hasnât seen before. Sex, drugs, alcohol and violence has always been around but it has never been as influential as it is today.









