Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh surveyed a group of 711 ninth grade students at three large urban high schools, reports EurekAlert. The teens were broken into groups by how often they listen to music. Those who listen more than 17.6 hours per week were classified as "regular"listeners, and those who listed less than 2.7 hours per week were classified as "not listening often". Students reported their favorite artists, then researchers calculated the percentage of each artist's popular songs containing lyrics describing "degrading sex." Researchers wouldn't name specific artists but gave the phrase "I'm gonna beat that pussy up" as an example of a lyric being studied. (Though researchers won't name the songs, we assume they are referring to the charming song "Wait" by the Ying Yang twins; lyrics here.)

Two thirds of the students were virgins when the study started, and, of those students, the group exposed to the highest number of sexual lyrics were more than twice as likely to have started having sex by the end of the study, compared to the group that listened the least. (The numbers were equal for girls and boys.) Lead researcher Dr. Brian A. Primack concludes that, "among this sample of young adolescents, high exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex in popular music was independently associated with higher levels of sexual behavior."

The BBC quotes Primack as saying:

"It is tempting to say music is just 'teenage stuff' ... I am not saying parents should try to ban such music, that is unlikely to help. But they should be talking to their children about sex and putting these sorts of lyrics in context."

Of course parents should be talking to their kids more, but some experts are calling the study's conclusions into question. A spokeswoman for Brook, a UK charity for teen sexual health, tells the BBC:

Obviously the cultural environment plays a part, but that is not to say there is a causal link. It is far too simplistic to say just because someone listens to this music they have sex. There are a variety of factors that influence decisions.

We have to agree. Every few years a study comes out blaming rap music or video games for everything that's wrong with kids today, but often the research gets boiled down to headlines like the Daily Mail's "Degrading Rap Songs Drive Teens To Sex." Even the EurekAlert article starts out by saying:

With sexual activity among adolescents in the United States resulting in over 750,000 teenage pregnancies each year and reports of up to 25 percent of all female adolescents in the US having sexually transmitted infections, researchers and public health officials are looking for those factors that might increase sexual activity in teens.

Songs with degrading lyrics about women are disgusting, but are they really one of the top factors leading to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases? Degrading images of women and depictions of sex are present throughout the culture, not just in pop music. It's questionable whether preventing kids from listening to Britney's "If You Seek Amy" is going to change the behavior of children and teens but, of course, it's easier to get alarmed about children listening to explicit rap music than to sit down and talk to them seriously about safe sex.

Sexual Lyrics In Popular Songs Linked To Early Sexual Experiences [EurekAlert]
"Wait" By The Ying Yang Twins [Song Meanings]
Music Linked To Teen Sex Habits [BBC]

Fake rap, according to Gabe, "is like children's music designed specifically to raise an army of sociopathic misanthropes." Though fake country songs and fake pop songs are all over the place, trying to sell us baubles and bangles or teach our kids how to read on Sesame Street, as Gabe notes, "somehow the fake raps are the most insufferable." He points out Ed McMahon's Free Credit Report ads as a primary example.

Let's take a look at Gabe's most recent fake rap selection, shall we? It is absolutely terrible, as far as a rap song goes, but you can tell that the cops were trying their best to reach out to kids, trying to get them to avoid gangs, and you can't really fault them for that, unless you consider that the majority of the kids watching this in 1992 (when I was in 5th/6th grade, so I was probably the target audience at the time) were probably sitting there with their hands over their eyes, horrified:

Sometimes, "fake rap" comes to us in commercial form. Take, for instance, this guy, whose song haunted my brain for about 3 weeks a few years ago, when all I could do was sing, "Flea Market! Montgomery! It's just like, it's just like a Mini Mall! Hey hey!"

Yet most Jezebel readers know that the absolute worst (and also, in a way, best) fake rap of all time comes to us from the 1989 film Teen Witch, wherein a young woman seemingly gains her confidence by telling some jackass that no, thank you, she doesn't really give a- about tryin' to Top That:

If you're as concerned about putting an end to fake rap as Gabe is, please feel free to sign his End Fake Rap Petition, to help stop the madness once and for all. Unless, of course, you're into fake rap, and if that's the case, let us know why. Also: feel free to post any cringeworthy fake raps you know in the comments below.

Tracing The History Of Fake Rap: The El Paso Police Department[Videogum]

When we hear the word rappers, we think of black males; they're what feminists would call hip-hop's unmarked category. This makes tough going for pretenders outside of this category, and it's meant that many of the identities that female comers have carved for themselves—Boss' gangsta bitch, Kim's badass nympho, or, recently, Lil' Mama's lunchroom alpha girl—have registered as one-offs or fads. (We see the same thing with white rappers, whether it's the Beastie Boys' nerdy boogie or Eminem's white-trash horror-core.)

A couple of weeks ago, NPR's Farai Chideya spoke to Spinderella and YoYo about the dearth of female rappers in hip hop. Yo Yo said, "I think that hip-hop has not been allowed to grow up… It's not getting better." As for Spinderella, she mused: "I think women need to really take advantage of the moment — the lack of females that are mainstream right now allows for someone else to come and snatch it up."

Unlike pop or rock, hip-hop has always been the voice of the streets, raw words with an un-Photoshopped, un-censored swagger. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Why should the boys have all the fun? In a spirit of celebration and reminiscence, here are some of my favorite hip-hop tracks with women at the helm:

Salt n Pepa, "Push It"

Yo, yo, yo, yo, baby-pop/Yeah, you come here, gimme a kiss/Better make it fast or else I'm gonna get pissed/Can't you hear the music's pumpin' hard like I wish you would?/Now push it/Push it good/P-push it real good

Monie Love, "Monie In The Middle"

Brother what is with you, you can't take a hint?/I need to shove a splint between your eyes for you to see/You and me were never meant to be/Your homeboy likes me, I like him, too, get out the picture/I get your point but I'm not rolling with the punch/I scrunched up the letter you wrote me in lunch

Missy Elliot, "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)

I got my umbrella/My finger waves these days/They fall like Humpty/Chunky/I break up with him before he dump me/To have me? Oh yes you lucky

Lauryn Hill, "Everything Is Everything" (Also "Ready Or Not")

I philosophy/Possibly speak tongues/Beat drum, Abyssinian, street baptist/Rap this in fine linen/From the beginning/My practice extending across the atlas/I begat this/Flippin in the ghetto on a dirty mattress/You cant match this rapper slash actress/More powerful than two Cleopatras/Bomb graffiti on the tomb of Nefertiti

Queen Latifah & Monie Love, "Ladies First"

I break into a lyrical freestyle/Grab the mic, look into the crowd and see smiles/Cause they see a woman standing up on her own two/Sloppy slouching is something I won't do/Some think that we can't flow/Stereotypes, they got to go

MC Lyte, "Ruff Neck"

I need a ruffneck/I need a man that's quick and swift/To put out the spliff and get stiff

Missy Elliott: "Lose Control"

I've got a cute face/Chubby waist/Thick legs in shape/Rump shakin both wayz/Make u do a double take

Lil Kim, "No Matter What They Say"

If I was you I'd hate me too/Louis Vuitton shoes and a whole lot of booze/Every other week a different a dude and other crews/I make offers nobody can refuse/You might even see me on the channel nine news/I get paid just for laying in the shade/To take pictures with a glass of lemonade/My rocks shine like it was dipped in Cascade

Additional tracks: Eve, "Who's That Girl"; M.I.A., "Galang", Bahamadia/Roni Size, "New Forms". Oh, and Trina's couplets in Trick Daddy's "Shut Up".

Feel free to let me know if I've missed anyone.

Ladies! I Can't Hear You! No, Really, I Can't Hear You! [Slate]
Ladies Of Hip Hop Tell Their Side Of The Story [NPR]

Proving yet again, that the Devil has all the best tunes, Christians have no sense of humor, and white men really shouldn't rap no matter how much they think they can, we give you godtube. Bonus points if you find the video explaining that bananas are proof that God exists.

[godtube]