Showdown on Contemporary Music Boulevard: Sacred Hip Hop vs. Secular Hip Hop
This research studies how institutions and topics are represented in sacred and secular hip hop lyrics and videos. This research determined the connections and distinctions between how lyrics of each sacred hip hop and secular hip hop embrace societal institutions and different topics. A qualitative content analysis was conducted for twenty five sacred songs, and twenty five secular songs that were all randomly chosen. The societal institution included government, education, family, religion, and work. The different topics included violence, misogyny, partying, drinking/alcohol use, drugs/substance use. Other topics included materialism, unity among different races, boasting, dissing, and the use of profanity. This study found that a number of secular hip hop songs addressed and embraced not only misogyny, violence, partying, substance use, and drinking; but also, government, education, family, work, and religion. This study also found that a number of sacred hip hop songs addressed and embraced not only religion, government, education, work and family, but also allusions to violence, substance use, drinking, and partying.
School:
Fayetteville State University
Department:
Mass Communications
Research Advisor:
William Berry
Department of Research Advisor:
Advertising
Year of Publication:
2008