It’s pretty hard to be a college student and avoid something trying raise awareness of the high rate of sexual assault and the existence of rape culture. In the recent Women’s March, I saw many signs protesting the existence of such atrocities. In my cynical mind, my first thought is that rape and sexual assault are already illegal, so why protest them as if our government can do anything more than it has as far as legislature? But even though the laws might against be in place against this cultural ailment, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more work to be done. But since this isn’t a legal problem, it is a cultural problem, and must be dealt with culturally.

I had a class in middle school where we were evaluating civilization and there were five attributes with definitions that has stuck with me since. Here they are:

Mindset- ultimate concerns

Law- Mindset codified

Education- Mindset transferred

Art- Mindset symbolized

Culture- Mindset externalized

I want to focus on the last two for the rest of this piece — Art and Culture — and the form of art I want to focus on is music. Music is a powerful form of art. It affects on a level that leaves us at loss for words. We hear a song that resonates with us vaguely and we can attach our experience to the words of an artist we don’t know personally and have our perceptions of what happened in our lives shaped by their distantly parallel and catchy narratives. It’s why Socrates was wary of poets in the Republic. It’s why the Church has always had music. It’s why Captain Nemo uses an organ for catharsis in his submarine fortress. It’s why "We Are The World" is used to boost humanitarian efforts. It’s why we learn things in catchy jingles in grade school. It’s why Will Ferrell thinks he can spread Christmas Spirit with singing.

All this to say, Music has an immense impact on how we think and perceive and act accordingly. The most significant and recent manifestation being the girl saying, “Cash me ousside, howbow da?” My guess is she listened to too much 21 Savage. But I think it would be negligent to see how the music of our age has affected our culture, especially in regards to the atrocity of rape culture.

I think that the popular attitude towards rape culture today (which is one of disgust) is very inconsistent with the popular attitude to songs that have themes or even lyrics that promote rape culture. Going back to 2004, the hit single "Yeah!" was released. This song talks about going out clubbing with women, and talks about women as sexual objects that each artist can (as claimed in the last refrains) “make their booty go *clap*” Or even Ludarcris vowing that he “won’t stop till I get ‘em in their birthday suits.” This song not only topped the charts for 12 weeks straight, but also won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and was also nominated for Song of the Year. At the end of the decade, it was ranked second on Billboard Hot 100 2000-2009 and, to this day, is still a popular “throwback” that basically everyone I know wouldn’t have a problem bumping to. Needless to say, people like this song.

But this theme of rapey music continues today. I’ll make an example of Drake’s song, "Child’s Play" off the album Views released in 2016. This song speaks of women in a way that paints them like pets that need to be sated with the occasional shopping spree and lavish gift, so that in exchange they can “bounce that s*** like woah.” The misogyny of this song can’t be compatible with the mindset that is concerned about rape culture.

I should mention that I’ve never been deeply into rap culture. I have given it a chance more recently because I think it can be a beautiful way of working words eloquently. But while I know that there is good “non-rapey” rap, I also know that I probably haven’t listened to the worst of it. But the examples of Usher and Drake are what I feel to be appropriate representations of less than wholesome themes that are widely accepted amongst popular culture.

It’s not to say that people are all of a sudden going to become rapists by listening to these songs or songs like them. Example A is yours truly, but I would attribute that to the fact that I was raised with and have a chosen a mindset that doesn’t hold my own gratification as prime. However, I do fear the influence of these songs for those who don’t have a compass other than their own pleasure, and I fear even more for those who might be put in the line of fire of the former’s subsequent actions.

All this to say, rape culture is an issue and it is an issue that can only be solved by culture change — or an overreaching, big-brotheresque, surveillance system if we wanted to go full 1984. And it seems inconsistent that we can tolerate the music that promotes themes contrary this concern, especially when it is so popular. And if we don’t adopt a mindset that confronts these themes, this music will be the muse for rapists.