Hip Hop Wars Chapter 4 "Hip Hop is Destroying America's Value"

Hip Hop is said to be accused of destroying American values, especially decency and morality.  It is also accused of causing a decline in Western civilization, and said to fuel anti-Americanism. These threats to American values are made through the expression of violence, lawlessness and sex outside of heterosexual marriage, Rose says. She states that it is hard to believe that this youth music could cause a decline of Western civilization, when it is promoted by corporate America. There has been an increased belief that rap, especially, is a "killer culture". There are five main  reasons why popular culture thinks this. One, the long association of black people with violence; Two, youth cultural challenges empowered by the development of modern society; Three, fears associated with the vast economic, political, and social movements of the 1960s and 1970s; and Five the profound shift from an industrial to a postindustrial service-and cultural-products-driven economy, as said by Rose. The association of black people with violence, lawlessness and deviant sexuality is long entrenched in society. Rose states it is embedding in our collective unconscious. Another point that is made by Rose is that since the availability of mass entertainment and access to it, youth began to spend more time watching and listening to this than socializing with families, which is important in youth development of values and morals. Many conservative people in America believed that society would be degraded if black music was allowed to "spread". They feared that decency and sexual morals would be destroyed by blues and jazz music. The change from an agrarian society to industrial and then to a service economy has caused major social and economical change. In the post-industrial economy which focuses on high-tech information and service sectors has caused major unemployment. These economic changes have brought fear, and this fear, as said by Rose, has been channeled away from structural conditions and toward a corruption of morals.The social movements to get equal rights for blacks and women, were interpreted as negative forces as opposed to actions that would advance democracy. The gap in wealth in America is a imbalanced system, says Rose. The wealthy people who avoid paying taxes and use loopholes, take money away from the less wealthy and less fortunate. Rose states that by blaming rappers for the demise of values in America rather than the reflection of the unfulfilled promise of America, temporarily relieves anxiety felt by the more fortunate people in society. The switch to a cultural based economy, made cultural products key to Americas economy. This gave cultural expressions greater visibility; black music and style has seen disproportional audience expansion as a result. In the 1990s black culture became the center of the cultural market.  Larger social conditions, economic forces and entrenched racial stereotypes helped grow hip hop but also helped in the decline in the depth and range of its expression. There is much debate between liberals and conservatives about morals. They both have a different ideas about morals, it was hard for the liberals to back up hip hop and their morals, so the conservative lens was easier to follow and critique hip hop with. Even though there is a difference in the thoughts on hip hop between these groups , hip hop seems to reflect and reject both. Rap is aggressive and has a strong masculine presence and also boasts about individual and personal success, which are conservative ideas. Liberal ideas such as community building and opposition of racial oppression are also prevalent in hip hop. Hip hop artists could progressively respond by emphasizing American values for which hip hop is known, such as justice, and redefine what people consider immoral, says Rose.