Everybody wants to be hard

Out of all the chapters in Hip Hop beyond beats and rhymes the one titled everybody wants to be hard caught my attention the most. The reasoning behind this is because this subject is one of the most important topics in rap music. Many of the themes in hip hop revolve around violence and men proving themselves to be better than others. This concept not only has a deep rooting in hip hop but in male nature as well. Ever since the beggining of time early males have been trying to prove themselves better than other males. Its in our nature to try and be the alpha male and act all macho. So its not unexpected that this shows up in rap music and many rappers spend a lot of time talking about how they are harder than the next guy. The rappers achieve this in many ways by talking about where they came from and what gangs they may have pertained to. They talk about their guns and how many people their willing to kill. Everybody wants to be hard is not just a them in rap but it has been in an important theme in the neighborhoods which have produced these rappers so it comes as no surprise that this theme is now one of the most leading themes in rap.