"Combs was subsequently charged with illegal weapons possession and bribery"(620). Nordlinger states that "A lot of people were interested in the Sean Combs trial: fans of rap music; celebrity-watchers; connoisseurs of popular culture"(619). These are only a couple examples of how the media often hype the violence in a rappers life. .
The question we need to figure out is why the media only portrays the violent side of rap stars. I think the cold hard truth is that violence is a big money maker. If you have ever heard the saying "sex sells,"" well the same is true about violence. I can think of several examples of rappers whose careers flourished after being involved in violent situations. After Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. were murdered their albums sold better than when they were alive. All the news about their deaths stirred up interest in the public. People went out and bought the records because they were curious to hear what the rappers' songs were about. The newest hip hop superstar is a rapper by the name 50 Cent. He is most famous for being shot nine times and living to tell about it. His gangster persona helped plunge him into the main stream. Snoop Dogg is a rapper that was made famous for beating a murder charge that was brought against him. Soon after his first album Snoop was charged with first degree murder in the state of California. He was later acquitted but his music has been selling like hot cakes ever since. Some people claim that the media and the artists are just giving the people what they want. In "Violence Never Solved Anything but It's Entertaining- by Holman W. Jenkins Jr. he claims that it is not the media that is shaping what people are exposing themselves to, but it is the people that are shaping what is in the media (624).He says that it is the audience want to hear the violence and that the artists are just giving them what they want (Jenkins 625).