Let’s Blame Hip-Hop for Sex-Crazed Youth

A recent New York Times article entitled “For Clues on Teenage Sex, Experts Look to Hip-Hop,” explores the findings of a three-year study conducted by Dr. Miguel A. Muñoz-Laboy.

Dr. Muñoz-Laboy, an assistant professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University, jumps on the bandwagon of “safari experts” who lean on hip-hop as the source of the tragic state of youth. According to the article, he interviewed “dozens” of teens and explored the hip-hop scene. In reviewing the way they got down, his research team discovered that “The lesson for public health workers is that hip-hop is not just music but a support system and social structure that dominates youth culture. The language of hip-hop also may in fact be a more effective way to communicate with teenagers.”

His research along with that from the RAND Corporation does highlight the degrading, dwindling condition hip-hop is in; however, sociologists who examine a segment of a culture that’s existed for decades in only a few years should not be so quick to publish findings that point the finger on music for driving a nation of horny teens.

At The Tea Room, A. Ishola calls out such studies:

“They present these “findings” as if they’ve finished observing a beast in his “unhealthy” habitat.  Not to give rappers a pass or anything, but why don’t these “experts” spend the same amount of time in the hood searching for the solution to poverty, high unemployment rates, failing schools, and crime?”

Historically, hip-hop has served as an expression of a people–illustrating their joys, frustrations, dreams, and sorrows.

“Hip-hop is a generational phenomenon that has united young people,” Bakari Kitwana, author of “The Hip-Hop Generation”. “If that’s not understood, you’re going to miss a lot.”

-Dana L. Oliver