Changing Images o Violence in Rap Lyrics, 1970s-1990s

7/24/2019 Changing Images o Violence in Rap Lyrics, 1970s-1990s

1/13

Changing Images of Violence in Rap Music Lyrics: 1979-1997Author(s): Denise HerdSource: Journal of Public Health Policy, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Dec., 2009), pp. 395-406Published by: Palgrave Macmillan JournalsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40542235.

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2/13

Original

Article

Changing

mages

f

violence

n

Rap

music

lyrics:

979-1

997

Denise

Herd

School

f Public

Health,

0

University

all,

University

f

California,

erkeley

94707,

CA,

USA.

Abstract

Rap

music

has been

t the

enter f concern

bout

the

potential

harmful

ffects

f violent

mediaon

youth

ocial

behavior.

his article

xplores

the

roleof

changingmages

f

violence

n

rap

music

yrics

rom

he

1970s

to

the

1990s.

The results

ndicate

hat there

has been

a dramatic

nd sustained

increase

n

the

level of

violence

n

rap

music.

The

percentage

f

songs

mentioning

iolence

ncreased

rom

7

per

cent

during

979-1984

to 60

per

cent

during

994-199 .

In

addition,

ortrayals

f violence

n later

ongs

re

viewed

n a more

positive

ight

s shown

by

their

ncreased

ssociation

with

glamor,

wealth,

masculinity,

nd

personal

prowess.

Additional

analyses

revealed hatgenre, pecificallyangster ap,is themostpowerful redictor

of

the ncreased

umber

f violent

eferences

n

songs.

The discussion

uggests

that iolence

n

rap

music

has ncreased

n

response

o the

omplex

nterplay

f

changing

ocial conditions

uch

as the

elevated

evels f

youth

iolence

n

the

1980s

and

changing

ommercial

ractices

within

hemusic

ndustry.

Journal

f

PublicHealth

Policy

2009) 30,

395-406.

doi:io.iO57/jphp.2oo9.36

Keywords:

iolence;

media;

youth;

lcohol;

drugs;

ap

music

Violence,

articularly

mongyouth,

as

long

been

recognized

s

a serious ealth roblem. outh iolences a leading auseof death

and

injuries;

ostly

nd

damaging

o the

healthof

families

nd

communities.1

xposure

o violence

n

the

media

s associated

with

aggressive

ehavior

n

readers,

iewers,

nd

isteners.

n US

society,

t

may lay

critical

ole

n

promoting

iolent

nd antisocial

ehavior.

According

o

Anderson

t

al?

'Research

n

violent

elevision

nd

films,

ideo

games,

nd

musicreveals

unequivocal

vidence

hat

media

violence

ncreases

he

likelihood

f

aggressive

nd

violent

behavior

n both

mmediatend

ong-term

ontexts'

p.i).2

Rapmusic asrecentlyeen t the enterfthe oncernbout he

potential

armful

ffects

f

violent

r

misogynie

yrics

n

social

behavior.3'4

espite

these

oncerns,

he

relationship

etween

ap

2009

Macmillan

Publishers

td.

0197-5897

Journal

f Public

Health

Policy

Vol.

30,

4,

395-406

www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/13

#

Herd

music and violence s poorlyunderstood.Onlya handful f studies

have

explored

the

issue,

and results

have been

conflicting

nd

inconclusive.While

some studies

suggest

that a

relatively

mall

portion

of

rape songs

contain references o

violence,

others have

argued

that

violence is an almost

essential elementof

the

genre,

occuring

n

most

ongs.

Toop's5 analysis uggests

hat

he

emergence

of

rap

music and

hip-hop

ulture erved n

antiviolence

unction

n

the

South Bronx

(New

York

City)

neighborhoods

romwhich it

emerged

in

the late

1970s.

Armstrong6

oted that

despite

the

stereotypes,iolence s notthecentral ocusofraporcountrymusic.

A

later

article

by

Armstrong7

xamined

490

rap

songs produced

from

987

to

1993,

finding

hat

only

minority

f the

songs,

22

per

cent,

expressed

violent and

misogynist yrics.

Brutality

and

'graphicness'

n

'gangsta'

rap lyrics,

however,

celebrates a

'rape

culture'.

n

contrast,

ubrin'swork8

xamined

130 platinum

lbums

with

430 songs

released

from

1992

to

2002

using

Anderson's

conceptualization

f the

street ode' and

found hat

violencewas a

central

theme of the

lyrics long

with

wealth,

violent

retaliation,

nihilism,nd objectificationfwomen.

To

begin

to address

some of

the

conflicting

indings

n

the

literature,

his

study

xplores

changes

n

the

prevalence

nd social

contextof

violence

references

n

rap

music

yrics

rom his

music's

earliest

tages

through

o

becoming

full-blown

merican

musical

genre.

The

study

addresses the

following

research

questions:

(1)

Have levels

of violence

n

rap

music

yrics

hanged

significantly

in

the

history

f

the

genre?

2)

Have attitudes

owards

violence

n

rap

music

yrics,

nd the social

contexts nd

functions f

violence

n

rap

music yrics, hangedover time? 3) Have increases nreferenceso

alcohol and

drugs

in

rap

music

lyrics

ed to

more

mentions of

violence?

4)

Are

changes

in

the

level of

violence

associated with

changes

n

the

distribution

f

particular enres

f

rap

music?

Method

Sampling

We described the process used to select the 340 songs used in

the

present

analysis

in

a

previous

publication

from

this

study.9

In

summary,

we chose

the

most

popular

rap songs

from

1979

396

2009

Macmillan

Publishers td.

0197-5897 Journal

f Public

Health

Policy

Vol.

30, 4, 395-406



4/13

Changingmages

fviolencen

Rap

music

yrics

7jv

through997as rated yBillboard nd Gavin harts,eviewingll

relevant

harts

for

example

Dance/Disco,

Hot Black/Hot oul

Singles,

nd

Rap).

We dentified

ap songs,

nd selected s

many

s

1

5

of themost

opular

ongs eryear

rom ach source.

When he

most

popular

ongs

from

he two

rating

erviceswere

combined,

there

were

367

songs

n thefinal

ample.

hreehundred

nd

forty

songs

wereused

n

the

nalyses. ongs

ncluded

n

the

nalyses

ere

performed

y

African

American rtists

or artist

groups

with

significant

epresentation

f

African mericans.

ongsperformed

bynon- frican mericanrtists uch as theBeastieboys = 13

songs)

were

excluded because

of concern hat

they

were

not

representative

fAfrican

merican

ap

music

uring

he

ime

eriod

of

the

tudy. nalyses

ere

erformed

ith nd

withoutnclusion

f

these

ongs

nd

thebasic

trends

eported

n

this

paper

re

similar.

(Tables

ncluding

hese

ongs

re available

rom he

uthor).

Coding

The

principal

nvestigator

nd

a research ssistant

ranscribed

he

lyrics

or ach

song

nd coded

for eferences

o violence.

o assure

that

there

would be

no errors

r differences

n

coding

between

different

aters,

he

principal

nvestigator

nd

researchssistant

ach

reviewed

ll

lyrics

nd reached

consensus

n

all codes

ssigned

or

every ong.

We

codedreferences

o

violence t

theword

evel,

sing

ategories

derived

rom wo

basic ources.

We

adapted

he irst

et f

ategories

from he Juvene ictimizationuestionnaire', hich ncludes

behaviors

eferring

o the

following

omains:

onventional

rime,

Child

Maltreatment,

exual

Victimization,

nd

Witnessing

nd

Indirect

ictimization.10

e based

the secondon

categories

sed

inthe

Revised onflict

actic

cale',

which ontains

tems elated

o

Psychological

ggression,

hysical

ssault,

nd

Sexual

Coercion.11

In thefirst

tages

f

coding,

we

recognized

hat t was

important

to

distinguish

eferences

o realviolence

rom he

use of

violence s

metaphor

for

example,

mock

battles,

erbal

ueling

ontests,

nd

words ssociatedwithmusic lang, uch s hits r cuts.We didnot

analyze

eferences

o

metaphoric

iolence

s

part

of

the violence

trends

resented

n

this

rticle.

2009

Macmillan

Publishers td.

0197-5897

Journal

f PublicHealth

Policy

Vol.

30,

4,

395-406

397



5/13

fr

Herd

We countedhementionsfviolenceneach ong nd transcribed

verbatim

ach

type

of violence

s mentioned.

y examining

he

overall

ontextnd

consequences

urrounding

iolence

n

each

ong,

we rated ttitudesowards

iolence

s

positive,

eutral,mbivalent,

or

negative.

We created

odes to describe he

social context f

violence

n

yrics,

or

xample,

lcohol

r

drug

se,

crime,

lamour,

and

wealth,

nd

assigned

ach

song lyric

o a

particular

music

genre brag,

angster,arty, olitical/culture,

ove/sex

aps

based

on overall

yric

ontent

nd themusic.

We created variablesfrom the descriptionsnd counts of

referenceso violence.

he variables ncluded

resence

r absence

of

violence

n

lyrics;

umber

f violence

eferences;

nd attitudes

towardsviolence.

Data on

violence,

ttitudes owards

violence,

social

ontext,

onsequences

f

violence,

nd music

enre

or ll

340

song yrics

ere ntered

nto PSS

Macintosh

ersion)

or tatistical

analyses: requencies,

ross

tabulations,

nalysis

f

variance,

nd

multipleegression.

Results

Our results how that over the

period

1979-1989,

the

level

of

violencementions

n

top rap

songs

was moderate nd

relatively

stable.

During

he nitial

ears

n

which hese

ongs

were

released,

27

per

centof them ontained iolence. rom

1985

to

1989,

the

average percentage

f

songs

containing

eferenceso violence

increasedo

32 per

ent.

eginning

n

1990,

however,

he

proportion

of

songs

with violent

yrics

scalated

dramatically.

hese

songs

increasedy23 per entnthefirst years fthe1990s.As a result,

more hanhalf r

55 per

ent f

the

most

opular ap ongs

eleased

Table i:

Changes

n

presence

f violence

n

rap

music,

1979-1997

Years All

songs n-^^o)

Total number

f songs Percentage f songs

withviolence

n-i6$)

withviolence

1979-1984

37

10

27

1985-1989

81

26

32

1990-1993 98 54 55

1994-1997 124

75

60

Likelihood

10=24.949,

df=3,

P=o.ooo.

398

Z009

Macmillan

ublisherstd.

197-5897

ournal

fPublic ealth

olicy

ol.

30,

4,

395-406



6/13

Changing mages

of violence

n

Rap

music

yrics

8

il /'

/

Mean

of

Number f

I ViolenceMentions

0-1 . . i .

1979-

1985- 1990- 1994-

1984 1989

1993 1997

Figure

:

Changes

n

mean number

f violence

references,

979-1997.

from

990

to

1993

mentionedomeform fviolence.

he

high

evel

of

violencewas sustained

n

rap song

yrics

or

ongs

eleased rom

1994 to 1997. Sixty ercentof songsfrom hisperiod ncluded

violence eferences.

n

addition,

he

average

number f violence

references

er ong

ncreased

ramatically

n

the

ater ecades from

1.43

to

5.27,

F=

8.194,

=

0.000

(Table ;

Figure

).

Attitudes

owardsviolence

n

rap

music

yrics

lso

changed

tremendously

rom

979

to

1997.

n

the arliest

ap

songs,

iolence

was

viewed

primarily

n

negative

r ambivalenterms.No

song

appeared

between

1979

and

1984

was coded

as

representing

violence

n

a

positive

manner.

ongs

eleased

uring

ach

ubsequent

periodweremore ikelyoportrayiolencena positiveight nd

less

ikely

o

depict

t

n

negative

erms.

uringi979-i997, ositive

violence

ortrayals

n

rap

music

yrics

ncreased rom to

45 per

cent

nd

negative

nesdecreased

rom

0

to

13 per

cent

Table2).

The social

ontext fviolence

n

rap

music

yrics

hiftedrom he

late

1970s

to the

1990s.

First,

iolence

was

increasingly

ssociated

with

hoodlums nd

gang ifestyles

from

per

entbefore

990

to

39 per

centfrom

990

to

1997.

The

relationship

etween iolence

and

drugs

n

rap

music

trengthened

ver

ime,

s

songsdepicting

these hemesncreased ivefold from to 30 percent over he

study eriod.

heassociation fviolence

ith lcohol lso

ncreased,

but the

relationship

as not as

pronounced

s that

with

drugs.

2009

Macmillan

Publishers td.

0197-5897 Journal

f Public

Health

Policy

Vol.

30,

4,

395-406 399



7/13

fr

Herd

Table 2: Changes n attitudes owardsviolence nrapmusic,1979-1997

Years

Total number

Percentage

Percentage

Percentage

f Percentage

of songs

with

of songs

with

of songs

with

songs

with

of

songs

with

violence

positive

neutral

ambivalent/

negative

(n=i6j)

attitude

attitude

negative

attitude

attitude

1979-1984

10

4

10

50

1985-1989

26

19

35

19 27

1990-1993 54

32

22

15

32

1994-1997

75

45

28

13

13

Pearson's

=-0.276,

P=o.ooo,

(two-sided).

Table

3: Changes

n

the social

context f violence

n

rap

music,

1979-1997

Violence

Percentage f

1979-1989

(%

1990-1997

(%

Fisher's xact

context

songs n=i6s)

songs) (n=$6) songs)

(n=i29)

(two-sided)

Alcohol

10

i3 O.O25

Drugs

25

6

30

0.002

Thuggish

ifestyle 31

3 39

0.000

Glamour/wealth

18

6 21

0.045

Increase ocial status 709 0.071

Masculinity

13

3

16

0.049

Bragging/bravado

28

11

33

0.011

Metaphoric

Use

77 64

81

0.044

In

addition,

he association

f violence

with

glamour

nd wealth

increasedmore han

hreefold from to

21

per

cent and there

was a trend

or

iolence

o be associated

ith

ncreasing

ocial tatus.

The use of violence s a wayto assertmasculinitynd personal

prowess

hrough ragging

lso intensified.

inally,

he

metaphoric

use ofviolence

n

the

yrics

f

rap songs

ncreased

ignificantly

ver

the

tudy

eriod

Table

3).

Our

results

how

significantelationships

etween

enre

nd

the

presence

f violence

n

rap

music

yrics. angsterap

s

profoundly

associated ith iolence

93 per

ent

f hese

yrics

ontain eferences

to violence. substantial

ortion

f

political/cultural

r

message aps

also

depicts

iolent hemes. he distribution

f

rap

music

enres

as,

moreover,hanged onsiderablyver imeTable ).

Given hese

atterns,

e examined

he imultaneousnfluence

f

temporal eriod

and

genre

on the

presence

f violent

yrics

n

400

2.009

Macmillan

Publishers td.

0197-5897 Journal

f PublicHealth

Policy

Vol.

30,

4,

395-406



8/13

Changingmages

fviolence

n

Rap

music

yrics

Table 4: Presence f violence n rapmusicby genre

Genre Total number

f

songs Percentage f songs

withviolence

Gangster

30 93

Political/cultural

38

71

Party 73 32

Love/sex

25

6

Other

24 42

Total

339

48

songs

using ogistic egression.

he results howed hatboth

ime

period

and

genre ignificantly

redict

which

ongs

are

likely

o

contain iolence.

Gangster ap

songs, ongs

with

political/cultural

themes,

nd

more ecent

ongs

weremore

ikely

o

mention iolence

while ove/sex

aps

were

tatistically

ess

ikely

o contain eferences

to violence

F=

13.314,

P

=

o.ooo,

R2

=

o.i79).

We

also examined hether

hanges

n

the evel f

lcohol r

drugs

themes

n

rap

songs

ffect

he evel f violence

ortrayals.

revious

articles,singhese atahave hown ramaticncreasesnsubstance

use

portrayals

ver ime.9

logistic egression

nalysis sing

data

from he

present

tudy

howed

hat he

presence

f

drugs

n

rap

songs

was

strongly

ssociated

with violence:

ongs

with

drugs

were

2.4

times

more

ikely

o have

violence eferenceshan

other

songs.

ongyear

was

also

statisticallyignificant,

ith arlier

ongs

less

ikely

o have

violence

resent.

he

presence

falcohol

n

songs

was

not,

however,

significant

redictor

f

violence,

when

the

presence

f

drugs

nd the

year

fthe

ong

were aken nto

ccount.

Modelspredictingiolence eferenceshat ncludedlcohol,drugs,

and

genre

howed

that

genre gangster ap)

alone accounts

for

34 per

cent

of thevariance

n the number f violent

yrics.

ther

variables,

uch s

drug

eferences,

erenot

ignificant,

hereas

ove/

sex

raps,

and the number

of alcohol references

pproached

significance

F

=

24.964,

=

0.000,

Rz

=

0.368).

Discussion

Previous esults ndicate hatreferenceso violencen rapmusic

lyrics

ave

increased

ramatically

nd thatthose

references

ave

become

ncreasingly

ositive

nd

linked o

glamour,

ealth,

nd

2009

MacmillanPublishers

td.

0197-5897

Journal

f PublicHealth

Policy

Vol.

30, 4, 395-406

401



9/13

personal prowess.The analysisalso showed thattheemergence f

gangster ap

is

very

strongly

ssociated with increases

n

violent

lyrical

ontent.

Explanations

or heriseof

gangster ap

and

violence

n

rap

music

have tended o focuson two basic themes.

Representatives

rom he

musicand othermedia ndustries ave

argued

thatmedia violence s

a reflection f actual social trends.12'13

choing

this

perspective,

some

scholarshave focused n

the

structuralonditions

oppressive

economic and social

conditions,

he crack

cocaine

drug

trade and

ensuingdrugwar,and high evelsofpolice brutality withinurban

ghettos

hat

promote

violent hemes

n

rap

music.8'14 16 ithin his

framework,

ther writershave focused on

the violent

ifestyles

f

major

rap

artists s an

explanation

forthe

rising

ide of violence

n

the

yrics.17

In

a

contrasting

heme,

ome

commentators tate that the music

industry

has

promoted

violence

in

hip-hop

music to increase

popularity

nd sales of the music.

Salaam18

argues

that

after

989,

rap

music,

which had

initially

been

exclusively

recorded

by

independentecord ompanies,became dominated ymajorrecord-

ing

labels.

In

his

view,

the resultwas a

decline

n

artistic

reativity

and

quality

and an increase

n

a focus on

profiteering,

n

which

violence and

graphic exuality igured

rominently.

rom a similar

perspective, ournalists

note that

promoting

conflicts between

rappers

appears

to

be

a

popular

industry

actic

for

ncreasing

he

commercial uccessof

rap

music.The

New York Times

published

n

articleentitled:

Feuding

for Profit:

Rap's

War of

Words',19

which

asserted hat

many

of the conflicts r 'beefs'

betweenrival

rappers

were often reated as publicity tunts o raise flagging areersand

sales,

or

create nterest

n

new

releases.

Trend data on violence

n

US

society uggest

hat

both societal

changes

nd commercial

orceswithin hemusic

ndustry

ontributed

to the

ncreases

n

violent

yrical

ontent hatwe described

or he ate

1980s

through

990s.

Violent

crimerates

n

the United

States rose

substantially

rom the

1980s

through

he

early

1990s.20

Among

youth,

surge

of violent

crime started

n

the

mid-1980's,

asting

through 993. According

o Cook

and

Laub,21

The

increasewas

concentratedmong black males: between 1984 and 1993, the

homicide-victimizationatemore han

ripled

or hirteen

o seventeen

year

old

adolescents,

nd

the

homicide-commissionate increased

402

2.009

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Publishers td.

0197-5897 Journal

f PublicHealth

Policy

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30, 4,

395-406



10/13

Changingmages

fviolence

n

Rap

music

yrics

/{v

bya factorf4.5,reachingevelswithnoprecedentnthis entury'

(p.

28).

After he

early

1990s,

however,

iolent rime ell

ubstantially.

Perkins22

otes

hatFrom

993

through

001 violent

rime eclined

54 per

cent;

weapon

violence

wentdown

59

per

cent;

nd firearm

violence,

63 per

cent'

(p.i).

During

the same

period,

violent

victimization

ates

declined

or both blacks

and

whites.23 ook

and

Laub24

lso

report

hat

homicide ommission

nd victimization

rates

for dolescents

nd

young

dults

fell

harply

fter

994.

In

contrast,ates f violencenrapmusic emainedery igh hrough

1997

and

probably

eyond.2

Therefore

scalation

f

violence

n

rap

music

yrics

uring

he ate

1980s

and

early

1990s

may

reflect

ncreasing

cts

of

violence,

especially

mongyoung

lacks.

However ustained

iolence

n

rap

music

yrics

n

the ate

1990s,

despite

hedownturn

n

societal

ates,

seems,

t east

n

part,

rchestrated

nd

driven

y

ommercial

orces.

Changes

within

he

music

ndustry,

uch

s

higher

roduction

osts

and

sales

slumps,

may

have ncreased

he

pressure

o sell

by any

meansnecessary'.

Media

violence

prevention

mplications

The

increasing

ocus on

violence

n

rap

music,

specially

with

messages

hat

enhance

ts

social

desirability,

s

well as

research

indicating

he

potential

harm

that

they

can

evoke2

make

it

imperative

hat

social

scientists

uggest

trategies

o

limit the

prevalencend/ormpact f these hemes. o date,mostviolence

prevention

pproaches

eem o

consist

rimarily

f

political

ttacks

on the

music

nd

rappers15'16'25

lus

criminal

ustice

monitoring

and

surveillance

f

rap

music

venues

nd

performers.26 28

ecord

companies

have,

in

addition,

sed

'Parental

dvisory'

abels

to

identify

lbums

nd

compact

discs

with

explicitly

iolent

yrical

content.29

one

of

these

measures

as been

particularly

ffective.

The

political

nd

criminal

ustice

ttacks

n

rappers

ave

polarized

artists

nd further

lienated

oung eople,

lreadymarginalized

y

ghettoization,acialprofiling,ndcriminalization.hemusic ating

system

ppears

o have

ncreased

he

ttractiveness

f

R'-rated

yrics

for

youth

who

want o be

rebellious

nd

popular

with

eers.29

2009

Macmillan

Publishers

td.

0197-5897

Journal

f Public

Health

Policy

Vol.

30,

4, 395 4o6

403



11/13

%

Herd

These analysessuggest he need for multifacetedtructural

approaches.

At the most basic

level,

preventing

edia violence

requires hanging

ocial conditions

poverty,

oor

access

to

education,

nd discriminationthat

promote

iolence

n

the ives

of

rappers

nd the

ommunitiesromwhich

hey merge. educing

gun availability

nd

revampingunitive rug

nforcement

olicies

might

educe iolenceevels

n

communities.30

New

media

policies

re needed o

reduce he evelof

violence

n

music

yrics

nd

in

sales

promotions. orporate

wareness bout

linkinghemarketingfconsumeroods, uch s sneakersnd soft

drink

beverages,

o

violence

lready

eem

to be

helping

educe

violent

ublic

onfrontations

mong

rappers.31

ncouraging

ore

accountability

t the

corporate

evel

could

help

further

ndo the

notion

hat iolence s

commercially

rofitable.

Finally,

edia

iteracy

rograms

ocusing

n

rap

music

yrics

an

promote

ritical

hinking

nd

awareness hat

may

diminish he

harmful

mpact

hat

yrics

ave on

listeners,

articularlyouthful

audiences.

Theorists ike

Freire32

uggest

hat

nterrogating

nd

decoding lements fpopular ulture an empowerudiences y

increasing

wareness f

how media

messages

re

socially

roduced

and how

they

ffectocial

perceptions

nd

relationships.

esearch

on

existing

edia

iteracyrograms

as

shown

romising

esults or

increasingarticipants'

wareness f

mediadistortionsuch

s 'the

minimizationf

consequences

f

violent ehavior'

p.

29).33

Acknowledgements

Research or his tudywas supported y grants rom heRobert

Wood

Johnson

oundation

030127

and

39950).

Thanksto

the

following

ndividuals ho

made

mportant

ontributionso earlier

phases

f the

research n this

roject

ncludingample

esign,yric

acquisition,

nd

initial

coding

activities:Makani

Themba,

Joel

Grube,

Elizabeth

Waiters,

hiyon

Bradford,

hembisa

Mshaka,

Trevor

Weston,

ric

Porter,

isha

Bilal,

Tamu Du

Ewa,

Ayoka

Medlock,

aul

Dotin,

nd

Unique

Holland.

pecial

hanks o Navid

Havez,

Ruha

Benjamin,

nd

EvanSicuranza

ho ssisted

ith ecent

researchctivitiesncludingualitativeontentnalyses,tatistical

analyses,

atabase

management,

anuscriptreparation,

nd

ibrary

research.

404

2009

MacmillanPublishers

td.

0197-5897 Journal

f

PublicHealth

Policy

Vol.

30, 4,

395-406



12/13

Changing mages

of violence n

Rap

music

yrics

/{

About the Author

DeniseHerd

s Associate rofessorf Health nd Social

Behavior,

Division of Health

&

Human

Development,

chool of Public

Health

at the

University

f

California,

erkeley.

rofessor erd

has a

longstanding

nterest

n

multiculturalealth nd has

taught

n

the fieldfor

years.

Her research ocuses n health

disparities

n

drinking

nd

drug

se

patterns

nd

problems,mages

f alcohol nd

violence

n

rap

music,

ctivism

egarding

ocal alcohol

policy

n

AfricanAmerican ommunities,nd social movements. erd

contributed

o the Institute

f

Medicine

report

on

Reducing

Underage rinking:

Collective

esponsibility.

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