Poison Lyrics

Vulgar Lyric's Influence on Kids

Art by Tamara Patrick | VOX Stafff

By Tamara Patrick | VOX Staff

I am a pretty care-free person. I don’t pay close attention to certain things, and music was one of those things. There used to be days when I was taking care of my 8-year-old cousin, and I would casually walk around the house, loudly singing the latest hip hop or R&B song, unaware that my little cousin was listening. Many of the songs I would sing had vulgar language in them as well as mature, content such as sex and drugs. Even though my younger family members were around, I figured they didn’t understand what I was saying. Well, I was wrong.

Even worse, I know a lot of other teens who are doing the same thing. I learned this lesson when I was riding back from a family vacation with a group of my cousins. A really vulgar song called “My Neck, my Back” by the artist Khia came on the car radio, and everyone in the car was surprised to hear my 8-year-old cousin start singing along, “All you ladies pop your p**** like this, shake your body, don’t stop, don’t miss.” With her swinging ponytails and carefree attitude, my cousin seemed as if she should have been singing Barney instead. “What you know about that song?” said my older cousin.

“Who taught you that song?” demanded my aunt.

My younger cousin hunched her shoulders as she replied, “I don’t know. I just know it.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was pretty sure she had heard the song from me. Afterwards we all sat in silence for the rest of the ride back to Atlanta. After thinking about it I realized it was offensive and demeaning. In the song the artist was telling a young woman to show her private parts but not her pride and confidence.

For children to hear lyrics like these is bad because of the language and the message that is sent. The lyrics encourage children to be violent, promiscuous and bad-mannered. They also encourage disrespect for women and others, as well as glorify drug use and crime.

The kids who are being exposed to these lyrics today are America’s future. Vulgar lyrics could affect kids in the sense that they will imitate what they hear and cause trouble for themselves and others. When I heard my cousin singing the lyrics to the song I was mostly disturbed by the way she sang them. She did so with enthusiasm, seeming convinced that it was OK to do what the artist was saying in the song. Which was not what I wanted her to think she should be doing.

The fact of the matter is, young kids hear these songs and think the songs reflect the things they should be saying or doing. The desire to be like their older brother, sister or cousin and their inquiring natures make them want to listen. I know when I was younger I followed behind my older cousin and did everything she did. The music she listened to, I listened to whether I liked it or not. I figured if she listened to it there couldn’t be anything wrong with it. Children don’t know any better because they’re learning from us, their older role models. Now my cousin trusts me the same way, and I have to look out for her.

Though it may be impossible to change a young kid’s habits, there are things a teen—for instance an older brother, sister, cousin or friend—can do to help. One of the things I try to do when listening to music with vulgar language or content is to play it at a low volume or listen to it with head phones on if I have younger children around me. I still hear the music, but I am being respectful of others around me. Another thing I do is try to listen to the radio, because they play the edited versions of songs and cut out a lot of the vulgar content and language.

Many teens don’t consider going out of their way to ensure that their younger siblings or younger children around them don’t hear bad content and language. They believe that kids will eventually hear bad words whether they hear it from them or not. The kids of today are the kids of the future, so if they grow up listening to the wrong thing, where will society be in 10 years? Children can be easily influenced, and it is our job as older role models to set examples to influence them in the right way —which is not to be offensive and degrading.

Tamara is a senior at Mays High who prefers listening to R&B as her music choice.