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Is there a link between music and violence in Baton Rouge? Artists, advocates to explore the issue

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Is there a link between music and violence in Baton Rouge? Artists, advocates to explore the issue

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Main Question/Puzzle/Idea:

Examining the potential link between rap music and violence

Investigating the impact of music on behavior, particularly among youth

Data/Information Analyzed:

Anecdotal evidence and perspectives from local hip-hop artists and community members

Mention of rising crime rates in Baton Rouge

Correlation suggested between poverty, lack of opportunities, and exposure to rap music

Method of Inquiry:

Hosting a panel discussion titled 'Guns Down, Power Up' with artists and advocacy groups

Proposal for a 'Trauma Center' to provide a positive outlet for youth through music expression

How This Work Informs Inquiry:

Offers insights into the ongoing debate on music's influence on violence

Suggests potential solutions like community dialogue and alternative outlets for expression

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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Music can shape the way we think or feel, but just how much of an impact does it have on people?

It's an ongoing debate between different groups that believe there's a direct connection between music and violence.

"The things that we hear are sometimes the things we want to imitate," said Darius Crockett, a Baton Rouge hip-hop artist.

There's been a steady rise in crime in Baton Rouge over the past few years, and there are a few reasons to explain why.

Experts tell us poverty, lack of opportunities and poor resources all play a part, but a few local artists believe certain music has a played a role.

"You can do what you want, and you can rap what you want, but be accountable for what it is you're putting out. Whatever you're putting out, it might come back on you, and at the same time you don't know who you're misleading," said Crockett.

Crockett, also known by his stage name Knowledge Tyson, is leading a conversation about that possible connection between music and violence.

A panel discussion titled 'Guns Down, Power Up' will explore that possibility and feature different artists and advocacy groups from across Baton Rouge.

The event will take place Saturday, Aug. 12 at the River Center Branch Library. It will start at 3 p.m. and end at 5 p.m.

Crockett believes bringing the community together will hopefully spark some change and save lives.

One of the solutions Crockett is proposing is called a 'Trauma Center', which will be a safe haven for different kids in the community and a place where they come and get paid to express their feelings through music in a positive way.

"We need a place where you can live on 42nd and you can walk and if you've been dealing with some things, and you know you don't have anywhere to be creative and express yourself, but right here in the community you have somewhere to come and do that," said Crockett.

The vision began at Legendary Studios, and it's where they plan to have more healthy conversations.

"We won't be able to save the world. We're not superheroes, but if one person can hear this message and do something for themselves, then I'm satisfied," said Marcus Bennett, also known as Lil Trill.

They believe they have the power to make it happen.

"Rappers are something like the new preachers. Wherever we go, if they're hot, they're going to go there as if we flock to the church. So, how do we take these brothers that can harness a crowd and deliver this message? We need healing in our community. We can talk and we can have fun, but how can we help little Tyrone up the street," said Crockett.

For more information about the panel discussion, click here.

Click here to report a typo.

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music can shape the way we think or feel

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but just how much of an impact does it have on people?

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is there a link between music and violence in baton rouge? artists

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Is there a link between music and violence in Baton Rouge? Artists, advocates to explore the issue

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Music can shape the way we think or feel, but just how much of an impact does it have on people?

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A Close Look at the FBI's File on Wu-Tang Clan

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A Close Look at the FBI's File on Wu-Tang Clan

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Main Question/Puzzle/Idea:

Investigation into the FBI's inquiry into the Wu-Tang Clan's alleged criminal activities

Data/Information Analyzed:

FBI documents obtained through FOIA

Correspondence between FBI officials

Allegations from NYPD and FBI regarding Wu-Tang Clan's involvement in crime

Legal proceedings and court statements

Method of Inquiry:

Investigative journalism

FOIA requests to access FBI files

Research into origins and scope of FBI investigation

How This Work Informs Inquiry:

Illustrates law enforcement's perception of connections between music culture and crime

Highlights potential impact of investigations on artists and communities

Provides context for understanding societal attitudes towards rap music and violence

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A Close Look at the FBI’s File on Wu-Tang Clan

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​The FBI has always had a hard-on for gangsta rap music, specifically the creative forces behind the genre’s most iconic and provocative hits. We used the Freedom of Information Act to find out more about the bureau’s file on the Wu-Tang Clan.

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Rap and drill music is part of America's racial problem

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Rap and drill music is part of America's racial problem

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Main Question/Puzzle/Idea:

Critique of rap and drill music for its portrayal of violence, misogyny, and criminal behavior

Examination of the impact of this music on young Black listeners and communities

Data/Information Analyzed:

Personal experiences and interactions with rap music fans

Criticism of rap artists' use of racially profane and violent language

Examples of controversial lyrics and behavior by rap artists

Analysis of societal reactions and responses to rap music, including legal and cultural criticisms

Method of Inquiry:

Personal reflection and anecdotal evidence regarding attitudes towards rap music

Examination of media coverage and public discourse surrounding rap music and its effects on society

Critique of rap music's portrayal of violence, misogyny, and criminal behavior

Exploration of societal responses, including legal and cultural criticisms, to rap music's impact

How This Work Informs Inquiry:

Provides insights into the ongoing debate surrounding rap music's influence on attitudes and behaviors

Highlights concerns about the glorification of violence and criminality in rap and drill music

Raises questions about the effects of this music on individuals and communities, particularly young Black listeners

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Years ago, a rap music fan described me as a "hip hop scold of the highest order."

My sin against the music was calling out rap artists for their constant use of the "N-word," casually insulting women as "bitches," and denigrated gays by using the word "f------."
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I said the language was damaging to Black culture, especially young people.

I even went on Oprah Winfrey's show to call out rappers for their racially profane, violent songs. Also appearing on the show was the rapper Ice-T, who rose to hip hop fame with explicit lyrics. He dismissed my criticism of rap lyrics, even when it depicted outright sex abuse, such as shoving a flashlight into a woman, by saying it was not rape and "the girl might have liked it."

Ice-T must have won the argument because rap music has continued to grow. It is now the number one music genre in America.

It sells to young people globally, Black, White, Latino and Asian. But the bulk of the audience is mostly young, White males attracted by adrenaline pumping fantasy domination of women and fearless embrace of 'gangsta' rap,' with violent young men boasting about gunning down rivals.

Now 'gangsta rap," has grown even more deadly, evolving into "drill music."

Yes, that is "drill," as in "drilling" people with gunfire.

And make no mistake, the person doing the "drilling," is a young Black man firing at another young Black man.

There are real world consequences coming from these celebrations of Black-on-Black violence.
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Look at the current spike in murder nationally. That trend is often discussed as a threat to everyone. But that is shameful avoidance of the reality that most of the bloodshed is among young Black men and in Black communities.

After a spate of shootings in New York, Mayor Eric Adams made the connection between 'drill' music and young Black men murdering each other. He said it is "alarming," to see the popularity of the genre.

"We pulled Trump off Twitter," he said, "Yet we are allowing music, displaying of guns, violence. We're allowing it to stay on these sites." Adams said he plans to convene social media firms and "tell them that you have a civic and corporate responsibility." The mayor met with some drill rappers on Tuesday.

But for now, the staccato gunfire beat that defines drill music as a subset of Hip Hop grows louder and more influential.

It is not just the music. These days there are music videos to go with it.

On the Internet, for example, there is a steady stream of websites, even YouTube updates about violence in Chicago's Black neighborhoods, equating violence there with war zones in Iraq.

There is "Chiraq News," "Chiraq Central," and 'War in Chiraq,' which is run by a guy in New Jersey and, according to a recent book, had a quarter million subscribers and 94 million views in its first two years.
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Obviously, the market for this music goes way beyond the desperate, poor Black people doing the shooting.

The music and its videos give "privileged consumers...intimate, yet safe opportunities to interact with the ghetto and its stereotypical residents," to satisfy "voyeuristic desires," wrote sociologist Forrest Stuart in his 2020 book "Ballad of the Bullet: Gangs, Drill Music, and the Power of Online Infamy."

Stuart's ethnography is an in-depth look at "drill" music's impact on one violent Chicago neighborhood. He finds Black boys with limited job prospects dreaming of a record contract as they play to the white appetite for Drill music by offering the voyeurs a thrilling view into life among 'authentic,' Black people which means Black people as savagely violent.

He cites the late Black scholar bell hooks' essay "Eating the Other," in which she makes the case that the upper classes find delight in voyeurism, coming into contact with "others," poor, violent Black people.

The Black boys in Stuart's book work hard at producing the music and videos to feed their audience. They show acumen in deciphering the algorithms of social media platforms as well as how best to compete for the attention of their audience.

These are bright young people who have been failed by their public school system and have every reason to conclude that in the current economy their hope of striking it big as a recording artist is better than the low-paying, dead-end jobs available to them. So, demonstrating ingenuity and drive, they have found fertile ground in producing violent music for social media.

Stuart sees parallels to early 20th century "slumming," in which well-to-do Whites frequented nightclubs in Black neighborhoods to indulge in "racially charged, stock images of poor Blacks - as hyper-sexed, soulful and naturally rhythmic."

He sees the drillers catering the same White fantasies as older club owners who intentionally hired "entertainers who were skilled at acting out racialized stereotypes."

Of course, there is a cost to these entertainers.

Most of the young men in Stuart's study can't walk the street for fear being attacked, drilled by another young driller or 'gangsta'' rapper as they "diss" each other with threats in their songs and some build on that image as an authentic criminal by killing one their drill rivals.

And there is a cost to young Black people listening, watching, and emulating these artists. Here are other young Black people achieving fame and some even getting rich by playing to the worst stereotypes of Black life. These are poisonous role models.

The biggest star of this disturbing scene today is a rapper named "YoungBoy Never Broke Again [NBA]."

The Wall Street Journal reports he has "posted 11 music videos that have each racked up more than 100 million YouTube views in the past two years."

His rebellious, criminal life story is part of his appeal. Prosecutors have said he is a "danger to the community."

He gained attention with a "rap beef," with another rapper in which they threatened to kill each other. As early as 2016, YoungBoy - whose real name is Kentrell DeSean Gaulden - was arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting in Texas. He later pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a gun.

In 2018 there was a warrant for his arrest for assault and kidnapping. In 2019 he was tied to a shooting in Miami. And in 2020 he was accused of gun and drug distribution which led to a "high-speed chase," by federal agents.

According to TMZ, on March 22, 2021, Gaulden was arrested by federal agents executing a federal warrant. Officers attempted to stop a vehicle with Gaulden in it to serve the warrant when Gaulden took off on foot. After a search that involved using a K9, Gaulden was found and booked on federal criminal charges. As reported by Rolling Stone, on October 26, 2021, he was released from jail on a $1.5 million bail.

The 22-year-old is a high school dropout who has seven children with six women. He is known for songs title "Mind of a Menace," "Bandit," and "Until Death Call My name." On one recent recording, "Colors," he raps, "My momma know I'm a demon seed," and brags that the record industry doesn't like him because "I'm thuggin' and I'm dangerous."

The rapper's life choices have "heightened his outlaw aura," in the words of New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli.

One of the rappers' managers said he is line with other rappers who build their fan following as rebels who "break the rules, they do it their own way and the people pick that. There's nothing anyone can do to stop it."

Well, there are people who can stop it. It happened when police unions and politicians pressured record companies and radio stations against the threat being celebrated by N.W.A.'s late 1980s rap song "F... tha Police."

The song was on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time but there was widespread criticism.

But there is no similar blowback today for drill music.

There are no civil rights groups marching against hip-hop's damaging words. There are no unions, in the mode of police unions, to stand against diminishing Black culture.

Instead, there is silence.

Black men who brag about killing other Black men, who denigrate Black women, are excused as engaging in a money-making exercise that produces 'Crazy Bank,' profits. Critics are dismissed as stuck-up white people or bourgeois Black people, both out of touch with the beat on the streets.

There have been moments of Black protest and the excesses of hip-hop.

At Spelman in 2004, the historically Black women's college, students forced Nelly to cancel an appearance at the school over his song "Tip Drill." The drill in that song referred to a man "drilling" into a woman.

In 2005 Essence magazine launched a "Take Back the Music" initiative. In an essay published in 2002 in Essence the writer Joan Morgan pointed out that given the high percentage of absent Black fathers there were many young Black women who were not equipped to "handle this onslaught of sexually degrading content ... as women we cannot abdicate the responsibility we have to our children."
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Morgan concluded that Black female hip-hop fans can no longer close their eyes to the damage being done by buying "into the music's most cliched disclaimer - that rap's content is intended for mature audiences."

Essence has also noted that Snoop Dogg, the famed rapper, was selling outright porn tapes. One of his X-rated videos, "Snoop Dogg's Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp," was the best-selling porn tape in 2003.

The clear message from early rap through today's drill music is that young Black people can find riches by rapping about gang violence or by joining a gang. Both involve being trapped in an identity where racial consciousness somehow does not extend to songs of love for family, community, the value of schools or building business.

Instead, it is full of paeans to those who are imitating gang members in jail without belts by wearing their pants low to show their underwear, who wave wads of cash, and drink fancy cognac at strip clubs.

Some leading Black voices have raised these points in the past.

The controversial Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, exercised some influence with rap musicians and held a summit 20 years ago for hip hop entertainers.

Farrakhan spoke of deep regret at seeing rappers "being used by the enemy so that [Black people] will destroy each other."

The late Stanley Crouch, a celebrated music critic, once wrote that rap had turned the image of young Black men into a damaging caricature of a "money-moving, gold chain-wearing, illiteracy-spouting, penis-pulling, sullen, combative buffoons."

Harry Belafonte once described the rappers as "caught in a trick bag because it's a way to make unconscionable sums of money and a way to absent yourself from any sense of moral responsibility."

Today, rap is so successful - dominating a wide spectrum of popular culture from fashion to sports, and music -- that such critics are in hiding. The genre and its excesses are accepted as a fact of contemporary life.

Most people seem to turn a blind eye to its failings and offer a pile of excuses for its negative impact on Black people and the ugly stereotypes it perpetuates in white minds.
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Snoop Dogg just performed at the Super Bowl.

But make no mistake, rap and drill music is part of America's racial problem.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM JUAN WILLIAMS

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Rap and drill music is part of America's racial problem

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Years ago, a rap music fan described me as a "hip hop scold of the highest order."

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Main Question/Idea:

Understanding hybristophilia, the phenomenon of being sexually attracted to individuals who have committed violent crimes like murder and rape.

Data/Information Analyzed:

Examples of hybristophilia throughout history.

Causes of hybristophilia, including psychological and biological factors.

Treatment options for individuals with hybristophilia.

Method of Inquiry:

Examining historical examples, psychological theories, and case studies.

Analyzing literature reviews and interviews with individuals involved in relationships with criminals.

How This Work Informs Your Inquiry:

Provides background information on the psychological factors contributing to attraction to violence.

Offers insights into the potential influence of media and cultural factors on attitudes towards violence.

Helps contextualize the relationship between listening to rap music and attitudes towards violence among African American teenagers at Warren Easton High School in New Orleans.

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What Is Hybristophilia?

Hybristophiliacs are people who are sexually aroused and attracted to people who have committed cruel, gruesome crimes such as murder and rape. It occurs more often in women than in men.

There are two categories of hybristophiliac.

1. Passive Hybristophilia

Every year, notorious criminals receive romantic and sexual "fan mail" from admirers. These letter-writing groupies (known as SKGs, serial killer groupies) have no desire to take part in criminal activity yet are attracted to men behind bars.

These women are usually delusional and will try to find excuses for what the criminal did. They will develop relationships with a criminal and feel that they are special -- that even though their lover may have killed numerous people, he would never harm her. They usually feel that they can "change" their lover and have rescue fantasies. Passive hybristophiliacs "tend to put themselves in positions to be seduced, manipulated, and lied to by the people they fall for " (Suite 101).

2. Aggressive Hybristophilia

Aggressive hybristophiliacs are complete opposites. They are willing to help out their lovers with their criminal agenda by luring victims, hiding bodies, covering crimes, or even committing crimes. They are attracted to their lovers because of their violent actions and want to receive love, yet are unable to understand that their lovers are psychopaths who are manipulating them.

Both passive and aggressive hybristophiliacs tend to end up in abusive or unhealthy relationships.

Causes of Hybristophilia

There is little known about this paraphilia. Psychologists only have theories about why some people are like this.

Some believe hybristophiliacs are submissive victims, while others believe they are "narcissist enablers who are attracted to power" (Narcissism 101). Indeed, many hybristophiliacs seem to be attracted to men behind bars because of their fame and notoriety in the media. Some believe these women are living vicariously through the men and like the thrill and attention.

Psychologists also see this from a biological perspective. Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson, authors of Demonic Males, describe a study in which male and female orangutan behavior was observed. They noted that females favored the larger and more aggressive males-the ones who showed off their masculinity the most.

According to Narcissism 101, "Women equate forceful and aggressive men, who are also charming, to an ideal masculinity based on power and roughness". In addition, "theorists have said that SKGs may be responding to the overt maleness of the man who has done the most brutal act imaginable. That is, they may be equating this sort of violence with masculine strength and then seeking it as a way to bring such a male into their lives, for protection and for producing offspring with a good chance for survival. Thus, they're responding to a biological drive that they may not even be aware of" (Serial Killer Groupies).

Sheila Isenberg wrote Women Who Love Men Who Kill, in which she interviews numerous hybristophiliacs. She says these women were seemingly normal-teachers, nurses, and wives. She found that many of these women, however, had a history of abusive and violent relationships. Some of these women knew the exact nature of their relationships-that it is morally wrong to be in love with a killer-while other women were extremely delusional and had idealized fantasies of their relationships.

It should be noted that most of these women do not truly know the men they are in love with. These women mostly communicate with these men via letters and only meet them for one or two hours at a time during jail visits. In fact, most of these women spend more time fantasizing about how their relationships would be if the killer was not in jail. Isenberg writes:

" ... this phenomenon involved a complicated series of reasons. The first reason is that if you are in a relationship with a man behind bars for life or a man on death row, then you have a lot of control over the relationship. You can decide when to make the visit, when to accept the phone call, or if you will accept the call, and you are that man's primary link with the outside world. So as you can clearly see it's a very powerful position to be in."

Since most of these women were previously abused, psychologists believe that these women enter these relationships as a way to "re-do" or "re-write" their pasts. This time, the man is behind bars and cannot harm the woman, while the woman has all the power in the relationship.

However, the killers know what they are getting into. Serial killers tend to be very charismatic and intelligent people. These criminals have an unlimited amount of free time in prison and manipulate the women who admire them. They carefully study the women, learn about their personalities and weaknesses and prey on them.

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Hybristophilia is a condition in which people are sexually aroused and attracted to violent criminals or murderers. This article will discuss the psychology, sociology, and history of one of this confusing and controversial concept.

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Main Question/Idea:

Investigate the concept of hybristophilia

Examine its various definitions and characteristics

Data/Information Analyzed:

Definitions and discussions from academic literature

Case studies and anecdotes of individuals with hybristophilia

Theoretical frameworks and perspectives on paraphilias

Method of Inquiry:

Extensive literature review

Analysis of academic sources, including books, articles, and case studies

Informed Inquiry:

Provides foundational understanding of hybristophilia