The Beat Goes On

Not only can you feel the beat of the music but you can also hear it. Im not talking about the deep Bose sub woofer base but the physical human abuse. A lot of the songs out on the Internet contain lyrical content that dipicts physical violence and abuse. Usually it's a man beating on a woman. Could be a wife, girlfriend or even a daughter. The lyrics in the song reflect a culture that is surround by physical abuse. This doesn't promote violence but presents a tough subject in a more approachable way.

In the songs Too Deep For the Intro by J. Cole and Runaway Love by Ludacris ft. Mary J. Blige, represent how rap music looks at violence towards women.

As J. Cole says,

"He beat you and you went back

Who's officially stupid

......

Cause 20 years from now your daughter probably get her ass whooped"

Ludacris continus this by when he talks about a little girl getting beaten and raped when he says "She tries to resist but then all he does is beat her, tries to tell her mom but her momma don't believe her".

Both of these songs are deep yet in an artistic way highlight a tough, sensitive problem. The music drawers the listener in but then the lyrics tell the harsh reality of life for many people in the world.

This topic also came up in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. For Pecola, she is raped by her father and her mother denies it ever happened. The mother and father's relationship is so abusive that she says, "I started to leave him once but something came up. Once after he tried to set the house on fire. I was all set in my mind to go"(Page 129). Both the mother and the daughter are caught up in the cycle of violence. Until theres an answer for why we beat our women, it will continue to be a topic brought up in movies, songs and books.