In the article “Bad Rap for Rap: Bias in Reactions to Music Lyrics,” from The Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Carrie B Fried seeks to understand how society views different musical genres. To do this, Fried conducted two studies where she asked participants to rate their reactions to different genres of music involving both rap and rock. In the first study, participants read lyrics while listening to the corresponding genre of music. In the second study, participants listened to the corresponding genre of music without reading the lyrics. Results of the study indicated that individuals had a much more negative reaction to rap than other genres, even when they could not read the lyrics. Furthermore, the author found that individuals placed …show more content…
Fried states that the criticism of rap music has been directed primarily at its lyrical content, which is thought to have a negative influence on youth. She argues that, due to biased perspectives, rap music has been unfairly stigmatized, and that the discussion of the genre has been distorted. Fried's research revealed that the negative reactions to rap music lyrics were significantly greater than the negative reactions to pop lyrics with similar content. She concludes that the disproportionate criticism of rap music is due to the fact that the genre is not understood as well as other forms of popular music, and that this lack of understanding has resulted in a strong biased perception. Fried's essay provides an insightful look into the effects of bias and its role in the discussion of rap music lyrics. Fried also presents an analysis of individuals' reactions to rap music lyrics. Fried argues that individuals have a tendency to view rap music lyrics in a more negative light than they do other genres of music. To support this, Fried conducted an experiment in which she provided individuals with lyrics from rap, country, and rock songs. The subjects then rated the lyrics on a number of criteria, including appropriateness and quality. Fried found that when compared to the other genres, rap was rated significantly lower on both criteria. In addition, the students were more likely to assign negative stereotypes to the artist associated with the rap