Does Hip Hop have an affect on students!

Yes, so-called Hip-Hop music, like any component within a society, does have a emotional and cognitive effect on those who listen to it with any great frequency.

"Hip-hop" music often gets a bad "rap." Music, any music, has an effect on it's listeners, good, bad or otherwise, just as television programming, rock music, video games, school curriculum and environments have an effect. It (Hip-hop music) is a component in an overall culture, it is a part one's experience and to the same degree that the other various parts of one's experience support whatever is being listened to, the subject matter of the music will be reflected in the listener's actions. If violence is in the music AND the listener plays violent games, the possibilities go up; if the listener watches violent TV/movies, the possibilities go up; if the day to day 'real' life experiences (violence at home, at school, at the park, etc), the likelihood that the listener will exhibit violent behaviour increases. A child, in suburbia, with a minimum of exposure to violent acts, real or virtual, who has a relatively healthy, stable family and social life, logically, is far less likely to act what they may hear in any violent rap song. In fact this same child is much more likely to reject the violent nature of it and may even understand this

No, hip hop music does not affect student behavior – culture at large does.

It is reasonable to argue that culture, including pop culture, affects the behavior of students of any age. While hip hop is a popular component of current pop culture, it is only a piece of a larger picture – it is not the only musical genre students listen to. Culture encompasses not just music, but other forms of media (movies, television, art, social media); there are many elements that can potentially affect students. Even assuming that hip hop is a predominant cultural element, a chicken-and-egg argument is created: does hip hop create societal attitudes and customs that affect students, or are the affected students attracted to hip hop because it reflects the societal attitudes and customs that culture and society at large has created? The argument that a particular type of music affects widespread behavior is too simplistic to be legitimate.