Beyond bitches, niggers, and ho’s: some suggestions for including rap music as a qualitative data source

Abstract

The major objective of this paper is to qualitatively demonstrate that rap music is not simply (what some may perceive to be) a disgusting display of violent and misogynistic music. While the authors are aware of the fact that there is a large section of rap music that is lewd and obscene, they argue, instead, that rap music is, at its basic level, an extension and analyses of the greater frustrations of the lived experiences of African Americans, specifically men, in today’s society. They suggest that this expression of the frustrations of a certain segment of the United States population is a beneficial qualitative data source that, if triangulated with other methodologies, could have major social policy ramifications.