Effects of Hip-hop Music on Students of Delta State University, Abraka, and College of Education, Warri

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, Hip-hop music has passed through many stages of development and become an established musical genre of the popular music style in Nigeria. Mainly used for entertainment and satirical purposes against the excesses of the military government at the time, the performance practice, lyrical content, and use of costumes has significantly changed over the years. As a sonic and visual art, music has the ability to influence individuals and exude different emotions in humans. It is in this connection that the paper seeks to investigate and unravel some of these influences and effects that hip hop music has had on undergraduate students in Delta State University, Abraka, and College of Education, Warri. The authors relied on interviews and questionnaires as tools, while observation and analytical methods were applied in data gathering. Findings from the research reveal. The findings of the research work is that the youth are the major consumers of hip-hop music and prevalent contents in the lyrics and video in hip-hop songs have illicit contents with sex, seductive dances and immodest dressings (nudity) being more prevalent most especially the female gender prefers wanting to be famous artist by portraying some immoral attitudes that causes harm to the society which enable the genre gain unprecedented popularity and patronage, some negative impacts are palpable especially on the lifestyle of undergraduates in Delta State. It is true that the reality of modernism has become tangible in various aspects of Nigerian culture. That notwithstanding, unacceptable moral behaviours must not be promoted in the guise of modernism. It is therefore recommended that modernism be embraced but in line with the ethos of decency in language, communication and fashion that are characteristic of Nigerian traditional societies.