Rap music's violent and misogynistic effects: Fact or fiction?

Purpose – We review the literature on the general effects of rap music and discuss in detail those studies that purport to examine how it affects attitudes and behavior related to violence and misogyny.Methodology – Critical review of the popular and scholarly rap music literature.Findings – We describe four critical weaknesses in this literature that limit our ability to draw firm conclusions on rap music's effects: (1) the nonempirical nature of most writings on rap; (2) vagueness regarding the precise relationship between rap music and attitudes and behavior, and the associated lack of theoretical perspectives in rap literature; (3) the exclusion of the perspectives of rap music listeners in most studies; and (4) the drawbacks of both experimental research and existing ethnographic studies in this area.Value of chapter – Based on the deficiencies in the literature, we provide recommendations for future work and discuss why it is imperative, despite the many challenges that exist, to conduct research on rap music and its effects.