It was a Tuesday morning in State College's Information Technology class. An older student was doing his best to ignore the loud and obscene disturbance occurring next to him, the result of two younger students ignoring the lesson at hand. Eventually, he gave in and spoke out against their sanctimonious display, and was promptly intimidated and threatened with violence in front of the entire class. The two attackers represented and embodied every aspect of hip-hop culture: Ebonics spouting from their mouths, expensive, baggy clothes draped and sagging from their bodies, with headphones around their necks blaring curse-filled song lyrics. The dynamic duo mentioned here are certainly not the only members of this ilk, nor are they unique specimens of any particular breed. In fact, they could even be considered poster children of hip-hop culture. Indeed, many people experienced similar activities of "thugs" and "thugs", belittling others and degrading society, seemingly as they wished. This has caused a general fear in most of these types of people, as well as staining the spirit of the American consciousness with the idea that it is somehow "cute" or a passing trend. To this end, hip-hop culture is the most damaging to the American conscience, due to its poor moral code and mental attitude that produces underachieving citizens. You might be wondering what exactly an iconic hip-hop figure looks like. Well, in turn, I might ask: what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word thug or gangsta? What about the country's best-selling rap artist? As for me, I think of a black man, around 22 years old, who wears $200 Nike shoes, pants which are held up by a belt just below......in the middle of paper. .....keep in mind that it all comes down to whether you or anyone else will allow a particular movement to have a positive or negative influence on who you are as a person. After all, it's just music, right? Works Cited Associated Press. MSNBC Online Retrieved March 18, 2009 from Grand Master Flash. “The Message” The Message Sugar Hill, 1982 “Grand Theft Auto 4”. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 24, 2009 McWhorter, John H. (2003) Hoe Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back. City Journal Retrieved March 18, 2009 from Sugar Hill Gang. "Rapper's Delight" (Single) Sugar Hill Records 1979 Too $ short. “Shake That Monkey” Married to Game Jive Records 2003Tupac Shakur. “Changes” greatest hits Interscope/Amaru/Deathrow 1998