With the recent win by Kendrick Lamar at the 2016 Grammy Awards, people who did not always listen to rap music have started to take notice that maybe it is getting somewhere and it is not just about naked girls and doing all the drugs all the time. As a 20-year-old Hispanic female, my parents weren’t all too thrilled that I listened to rap music because of the stereotypes and the fact that the majority of the lyrics are vulgar. It takes a certain type of person to get past the curse words and listen to what these artists are really saying.

Only in rap music can you go from lyrics about how great a party is to lyrics about oppression. For whatever mood you are in, there is a rap song perfect for it. Tired of fake people? Listen to Tyler, The Creator. Upset about an ex? Listen to Drake. Angry? Kendrick Lamar has got your back. Need a pick me up? J. Cole is your guy. In a good mood and want to keep that going? The turn up does not stop with rap music.

Rap music is the most honest and unforgiving form of music out there right now. It is OK to not listen to it because the vulgarity makes you uncomfortable, or maybe you don’t really like the style of beats that come along with it, but it is not OK to stereotype all rap music and think all of it is strictly about promoting doing drugs and drinking and being violent. One of my favorite rappers, Tyler, The Creator, is one of the most vulgar rappers I’ve listened to and he is straight-edge. Rappers have given back to the community many times, just like any other artists would.

Just because rappers may have a violent background in their personal lives does not mean that they are bad people and could never turn their lives around. Several other artists in other music genres have had bad backgrounds, as well, it’s just that rappers are more open about it.

If someone listens to rap music, a bad stereotype should not be placed on them. Now I’m not saying that rap music is a genre for all ages to listen to, but if you are going to listen to it, a person has to know what is really being said and that things shouldn’t be taken literally. Listen to the music; learn about the artists. Paul McCartney himself recognized during his collaboration with Kanye West that it is more than just loud music; it is urban poetry.