Hip-Hop: Ethos, Pathos, Logos

At BYU I've noticed that hip-hop music is generally looked upon as an inferior, immoral, and unintelligent art form that has nothing positive to impart to its listeners. This mindset concerns me. Hip-hop music has a lot to offer in the way of new and intelligent ideas and shouldn't be looked down upon in the way that it is at BYU.

Ethos: President Barack Obama has stated that he feels that hip-hop has the potential to bring people of different generations and mindsets closer together. He admits that hip-hop has deserved its bad reputation in some cases, but he also recognizes its ability to bridge gaps between people and make a positive influence in society. Speaking of the gap between the young hip-hop fans and the older critics feel that hip-hop is an inferior art form, Obama said, "I've met with Jay-Z; I've met with Kanye. And I've talked to other artists about how potentially to bridge that gap. I think the potential for them to deliver a message of extraordinary power that gets people thinking (is massive)."

Pathos: Isn't it one of our religious duties as Latter-day Saints to seek out the truth? Hip-hop has a bad reputation, but that doesn't mean that we should be so quick to dismiss the whole art form as a negative influence. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also has a bad reputation among many people. Obviously, we wish that people wouldn't judge us so quickly, but instead, learn more about our beliefs before they make their judgement call. We should give the same respect to all other organizations, genres, and individuals.

Logos: The truth is that there are many hip-hop artists out there who have amazing minds and great values. Check out artists like: Common, Lupe Fiasco, Nosson Zand, Talib Kweli, Matisyahu, and Mos Def. There are many more artists out there that have great morals and ideas that are just misunderstood because people only hear the few curse words when they listen to their songs. One rapper, Lupe Fiasco, even raps in one of his songs about how he used to hate hip-hop because he felt that it degraded women and used too much profane language. He then realized that not all hip-hop was that way and that he could help hip-hop lose its bad rep by writing lyrics with good morals and intelligent ideas. This sounds like the kind of music that people in search of becoming cultured and intelligent should listen to.