You obviously haven't listened to much rap music, for better or worse, criminal activity and murder are common themes throughout the rap genre, it is impossible to deny this. To argue that one likes to rap about killing and robbing is a testament to their character you would almost be as well to say that an interest in rap in general is a negative testament to their character. This goes especially assuming he had some kind of aspiration of making it in the rap world, as an African American male trying to break into the mainstream market it would be virtually impossible to avoid topics of crime and murder if one had any hope of success.
Why is this? People listen to music that resonates with them, right? If it wasn't them doing the raping murdering and robbing and disrespecting others, they probably had it done to them by their community, right? Or have connection? The FBI stats that I gave earlier in this thread, without getting into the reasons for them, aren't just crazy fabrications. ~49% of murders committed here are by blacks and ~48% whites. Blacks represent ~12% of the population, and whites ~72% (2011). I'm really not trying to implicate them and all who listen to rap about murder robbing and i'm a badassing because i've got more material than you-ing, but you can be sure there is a vibration of that going through that community. Your white friends have no real idea because they never make below what is it, 17 or 18 dollars an hour? Or even your black friends, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find what we have in the U.S. in Australia. But I don't know.
I listen to Tool. In one song, out of many, he talks about "If consequences dictate, my course of action, I should play God and just, shoot you myself", and another where he says it will end no other way, but to claw your fucking throat away. I know, that these emotions are part of music, sometimes. It's art. But the themes of robbery, murder, disrespect, are rampant in rap. I even have gotten into listening to it, until I really take the time to listen to what I'm hearing, then, like many things, I shake my head and turn it to classical, or silence. You say rock has these themes, I would say they have it less so. And heck, maybe it's somewhat proportionate to the rate of certain crime-- I'm not sure. Again, not to say all who listen to it do this, or even most, but the fact that he has music he made clearly talking about killing people and wanting whitey on the bottom doesn't really help him, and it might be more likely to find criminal activity among those who associate with this music.
I have known kids in suburban Melbourne who have never so much as thrown a punch in their life to rap about all sorts of shit, murder, rape, high stakes drug dealing, this does not mean they are aspiring killers, it just means they have been heavily influenced by the mainstream rap, which they obviously listen to, where these topics are common themes.
I've known a lot of people, too. My friend tells me every time I see him that he wants to commit suicide, yet he's still here, years and years later. It doesn't mean he won't commit suicide. But maybe he won't. I also touch on this, about your friends, above. They hardly represent a statistical sample.
There are plenty of references to murder and suicide in heavy metal music too, it doesn't mean people in heavy metal bands are all wannabe psycho killers, it is a form of artistic expression you can't take it as a literal declaration of intent.
I am pressed to find nearly as much in rock, and it is usually done more artfully, or seemingly in a more benign way, than I often seem to see in rap.
I know that this is a hard argument to try, here, because I myself have been brought up on violent videogames. I played Quake around puberty, 12 hours a day sometimes. I continued on that. I've never been outwardly violent. I don't associate it with killing random people, though, I guess, but of actual war/battle. But I've been listening to rock my entire life, and I can say I can probably hear more about murder and robbery listening to a day of rap than I can in a year of mainstream rock. Maybe that's an exaggeration but it's not really that far off base.
With any of the above, which I admit may be a weak argument that I have attempted, I am not saying correlation equals causation, but there is likely a correlation, and the music might be representative of something, at least. Plenty of blacks don't listen to that kind of music, too. And they might be less likely to engage in their own life these things. I'd bet on it.
Maybe I should have avoided this, because it's similar to how people try to blame violent movies and videogames when people murdered others. One difference is that in videogames you often play some hero, and movies often have similar themes. Someone interested in just nasty shit constantly might be more likely to be nasty.
