Barack Obama, former president of the United States, said: “They look around like 'I guess being respected means I have to shoot you.' I can get you back. I can disrespect you and you can't do anything about it.' This is a self-destructive model of being a man." Obama spoke about toxic masculinity in hip hop culture at the My Brother's Keeper town hall meeting in February 2019. One of the things in hip hop that he refers to is violence and how it's the wrong kind of approach to how a man should get respect . Hip hop music has displayed toxic masculinity through artists' lyrics and their toxic behaviors. Society needs to speak out against this and change the mindset of hip-hop artists and their actions so that society can detoxify that kind of masculinity and promote the way a man should really act. Examples of toxic masculinity and a way to end it will help understand the problem in hip hop. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist at the Wright Institute, a graduate school of psychology in Berkeley, California, wrote an article titled “Toxic Masculinity as a Barrier to Mental Health Treatment in Prison.” This article addresses the issues gender issues that emerge in prison environments and their relationship to resistance to mental health treatment. wanton violence.” Toxic masculinity has been a problem in hip hop and has damaged men's view of what it means to be a man. Specifically, hip hop music has displayed toxic masculinity through artists' lyrics and their toxic behaviors. This problem must be taken seriously. Hip hop music began in 1973 as a way for men to express themselves through rhythmic speech. Hip hop has become more popular since that time period. According to Nielsen Soundscan, an information system that tracks music sales in the United States, in 2017 hip hop surpassed rock as the most popular genre in the United States. The only problem with contemporary hip hop is that it features toxic masculinity. In the introduction, Barack Obama told the world that hip hop artists use violence in their songs to make them feel intimidating and more manly. Hip-hop artists put out toxic lyrics and songs and use their power to carry out toxic actions towards women. In Gretchen Cundiff's article, "The Influence of Rap and Hip-Hop Music: An Analysis of Public Perceptions of Misogynistic Lyrics," she discusses the influence of hip hop music and how college students respond to the lyrics specifics that portray women negatively. Cundiff discusses Billboard's year-end "Hot 100" singles list, featuring the best songs from 2000-2010. He discusses twenty songs on the list that have lyrics that display toxic masculinity. He mentions a song called “Every Girl” by Young Money, a rap group with five members and Lil Wayne is the most popular rapper in the group. "Every Girl" is a song about how the members of Young Money want to have sex with every girl in the world and how great it would be to experience that kind of pleasure. The specific lyric that Cundiff quotes from Lil Wayne's side in the song is "Open her legs and then filet mignon that pussy, I'll come in and on that pussy, if she let me in I'll be that pussy." This means that he wants to have sex with a girl and that he wants to claim her eventually. In the first part of the lyrics, Lil Waynetreats a certain girl as if she were a piece of meat, and continues to refer to the girl only by her genitals in a slang way. He also states that he wants to possess her, which demonstrates the male dominance he has over her. These lyrics show toxic masculinity because they show men that they can dominate over women and that they are nothing more than just pleasure. This view encourages men to have dominance over women and makes it seem like this is something that will make men feel masculine. Toxic masculinity in hip hop represents true power in society and makes artists feel like they can do whatever they want and have enough power to do it. get away with it. Along with that are bystanders, bystanders who do nothing about an incident, who know the toxic masculinity going on but have chosen not to make changes to it making it easier for the artist to do what they want. There have been recent reports of criminal sexual abuse involving popular hip hop/R&B artist Robert Kelly. Over the past 20 years, Kelly has overcome sexual charges involving child pornography and sex with underage girls. He was not charged sooner because he was able to give monetary compensation to his accusers. Kelly used the power he had as a famous artist to take advantage of girls. Recently a documentary called "Surviving R Kelly" features young women speaking out about the sexual abuse they suffered from Kelly. In the documentary, Kelly's female victims discuss how he was able to get away with his illegal actions for so long. In the article "TV Review: 'Surviving R Kelly'" reviewing the documentary, Caroline Framke, a television critic for Variety magazine, quoted one of Kelly's victims, writing: "As one survivor says, 'the reason so he could do it because he had people to help him.'” According to this quote, Kelly was able to get away with his toxic actions and pedophilia thanks to bystanders who allowed him to do whatever he wanted to do. Kelly is a popular artist that had people around him who probably wanted to confront and expose him, but since he is a popular man, the bystanders decided not to try to ruin Kelly's reputation Robert Kelly is a great example of how hip hop artists are capable of carrying out toxic acts and getting away with it for a long period of time. Hip hop has had its history of using toxic lyrics to support an incorrect image of masculinity, society must influence everyone through the approach of viewer. The bystander approach refers to people who are present in a situation and respond in a way that creates a positive outcome. Hip hop's weak audiences help artists continue to do toxic things and create toxic lyrics because no one speaks out against them. Jackson Katz, an educator who implemented a gender violence prevention program, gave a Ted Talk entitled "Violence against women: It's a man's issue" in which he described how violence against women is a problem that affects men men and not women and how men link violent behavior to masculinity. Katz said that “we need more men who have the courage and the strength to start taking a stand and saying some of these things, and to stand with women and not against them.” What he means by this is that to make a change in toxic masculinity, men need to stop being bystanders by coming forward and speaking out against the negative things men do towards women. Although contemporary rappers are known to be toxic, Lecrae Moore is one of them. of a few rappers hoping to make a change in hip culture.