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Reasons why African-American Children want to be Rappers and Athletes

Jarod Hamilton, Elijah McClure, Chris Samuel

North Carolina A&T State University

Table of contents
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Introduction Page 3

Literature review Page 4

Research Hypothesis Page 7

Questionnaire Page 8

Sampling Paragraph Page 10

Survey Link Page 12

Data sheet Page 14

Results Page 15

Discussion Page 18

Introduction
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The phenomenon that will be examined is the African American Community and Entertainment

particularly why African-American males generally want to become football or basketball players

or musicians (mainly rappers). For many African-Americans, they grow up in poor housing, a

one parent household, a household filled with domestic violence or drug abuse amongst other

reasons. Now not every African American is subject to that, but a lot of kids are.

With that being said one of the many questions that arises is “how can someone fix their

circumstances for a better life and what is the quickest route to do it? In circumstances like this

it is unlikely that African-American kids, particularly males, aspire to be doctor, firefighters,

lawyers or seek professions of sorts. A lot of young African-American males see an athlete or a

rapper’s lifestyle glorified on TV, and a figure that they can emulate when they get older.

Most of this has to do with the fact that people live in lower employment areas or cities such as

Detroit (Wilson, 2009). That means people living in the inner city are having a harder time

getting jobs especially since corporate America is moving to suburban areas to set up shop.

This leaves people scrambling for money and trying to get it by any means necessary, whether

that is by selling drugs or some other illegal activity. For those who do not want to go that route,

go the route of sports (particularly football and or basketball) or that of music (rap more often

than not).

Literature review

Athletes are known for being afforded exponential amounts of opportunities in school and make

hundreds and thousands of dollars if not millions in some professions. Scholarships and a better
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education is what most parents want for their kids and getting athletic scholarships is the

quickest and most natural way of obtaining higher education in hopes of a better life. The reason

black kids are more likely to be footballers and basketball players is because approximately 70

percent of the National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) is

made up of black players (Sonnad, 2018). For kids wanting to be musicians the route may be a

bit harder as trying to be distinct from the pack may be harder to do especially when the people

who have the better equipment are more likely to become successful in the profession. These

athletes and rappers are also known for their immense popularity and for their relatable stories of

getting out of the same predicaments. These goals seem to appear more attainable than the

aforementioned occupations.

If a young African-American man wants to be in either football or basketball, most tend to aim

for a Division I scholarship, with only one thing in mind. The majors that the athlete chooses

may not be an interest, but the aim is the pros, which a great majority of young athletes don't

make out of college.

The mindset of swinging for the fence is in these young men’s heads, due to how big the

outcome could be. Many have plans for the pros or big leagues and nothing else. One claim that

could be made is that a lot of these young African-American men feel as if sports or rap is the

only way out for them.

In the General Social Survey that took place from 1972-2002 (Dubrow,2010), only males were

tested in a data set that defined lower social class as the category of respondents reporting below-

average family income level at age 16. The study found that 28% of African-American NBA

players came from a compound disadvantaged background, compared to none by white NBA
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players. The study also said that race, social status and family structural background all play a

factor in the journey to the NBA as well. A common perception is that all black players come

from the “ghetto” within a single parent household, but this study proves that it's simply not the

case.

The phenomenon we are focusing on is important because we as a black culture need to find out

why don’t our young African-American kids aspire to find real life careers. We have enough

sports players and rappers in the world. We should encourage them to want to teach or become a

lawyer or a doctor. Our kids should not grow up only looking to classify themselves as just one

thing, another black athlete from the hood. Most kids today do not grow up wanting to play

sports to win cheap trophies and medals but to be like their favorite athlete(Cashmore,2012). In

their dreams, they aspire to become a sports player because it seems like the easiest way out of

poverty. Although it is not as easy as it seems due to the fact there are so many other talented and

aspiring athletes in the world. They grow up seeing their favorite athlete who has a relatable

inspiring story hoping that they too can be just like them.

We as a culture should push for a change to not have them aspiring to be like Lebron James but

another Dr. Charles Drew. Only then will it break the constant cycle of our black kids wanting to

only be sports players. They then could inspire another child to become a doctor once they are

now older and successful in their career field. Once one black child breaks the chain it could

open up the doors for all other children to aspire to be something else as well. All kids are

influenced by those who they interact with. If one kid in a friend group decides he wants to be a

police officer now a trend has started: they all want to be police officers. Thus a new career

interest has just started to form and it could continue for other careers as well. As mentioned
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previously kids are easily influenced so their friends, family, and what they see on television all

play a role in their aspiring sports career.

The biggest influence, of course, comes from their families who push them to play at such a

young age whether they are ready or not. Parents are the primary influencers for children playing

sports and it could come from many reasons. Particularly fathers are the number one influence of

their child's professional sports dream. They drive to fill their child's head with professional

dreams that they never could achieve so they can live their dream through them (Solomon,1992).

Sports can be beneficial to kids' lives even outside of wanting to pursue a career in it. Some

children who deal with depression, anger issues, or even anxiety use sports as a physical outlet to

express themselves. It also can be beneficial to children who struggle with academics in order to

play sports. You have to maintain a certain grade point average to be a part of the team. Even in

some cases, parents use sports as a reward by allowing their children to participate if they have

good behavior and grades. Primarily allowing kids to play sports is for fitness reasons. Getting

children active at a young age is beneficial for their developing bodies especially for physical

sports such as football which causes them to have more physical and mental toughness to play

the sport.

Research Hypothesis

In this survey, the hypothesis was that those who grew up in a nice neighborhood,

continued to push for a good career and those who grew up in a bad neighborhood wanted to

continue their passion as being either a rapper or an athlete. Due to the lack of resources and

positive sightings, those young black males tend to only pursue a career in rap or sports.
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The correlation test with parental support and emotional support showed that children

tend to follow their career path if they have great motivation from them. With sports, rap,

medical field, teaching, etc. most of the participants agreed that with support, they would

continue to push for their desired career.

Questionnaire

Step 1. Please list your research hypotheses or research questions:

Why do children between the ages of 5-14 aspire to be professional athletes or rappers for their career choices?

Black males ages 5-14 are more likely to aspire to be rappers or athletes in hopes of having a better life.
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Step 2. Identify your variables

What is/are your IV(s)?

Media influence, family, friend, school

What is/are your DV(s)?

Professional aspirations

Media influence, family, school, and environment

Step 3. Think of questions that you can use to measure each variable. Please consider using appropriate measurement scales for

different kinds of variables, including nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Please use 5-point Likert type scale for questions

measuring attitude and perception. You can borrow or adapt existing scales in the literature. If so, please cite your resources.

Please write down both questions and answer options for your participants.

Why do children from less fortunate households choose to become an athlete or rapper for their first career choice?

How are black people portrayed in the media?

How does your family support your aspirations?

How do your friends support?

How does the school and environment you currently live in promote sports and music?

Does a lack of resources influence the career aspiration of young black men?

What is the ratio of black kids aspiring to be athletes and rappers to other races of children?

Do you feel as if back up plans are not as important as intended goals or aspirations?

Step 4. What demographic variables are related in your research? Please write down questions to measure demographic
information of your participants.

Gender

Origin (where you are from)

Age

Occupation

Environment
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Sampling paragraph

In my sampling questionnaire, I will visit local schools and afterschool programs to question

children on their future career goals. I believe going to schools and afterschool programs are the

best option to reach children because these will be the most available locations to meet and talk

with them. I plan to recruit at least a maximum number of 60 children in my questionnaire

because we are not looking for all children just a select few who fit the demographic of the

questionnaire which is underprivileged black children. For this questionnaire, the demographics
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will share the same race, age, and gender because typically they are all influencers of each other

and share the same interest like one another so this questionnaire is made specifically for them

and their future career aspirations. To invite them to this questionnaire we would host a sports

event at their school or afterschool program allowing them to participate in different sporting

activities such as Football, Basketball, and baseball. Once the event is finished we will present

the questionnaire to them asking for feedback on the event and the official questionnaire about

future career goals. Step by step I would like the children to enjoy themselves, socialize and play

and eat and drink refreshments then take time to tell us if this was a fun event that we hosted and

finally take the career goals questionnaire and return it to us when finished. The questionnaire

will take no more than 10 minutes to complete and can be completed with or without their

parents. At this day in age, every child or adult pretty much has some sort of mobile device so

the survey will be available via QR code and pulled up on any mobile device such as tablets, Cell

phones, or Ipads. No compensation will be given due to the already hosted event along with food

and drink for the children in between breaks of participating in various sporting activities. Our

sample is non-random because we purposely targeted specific demographics based on

observations we have seen in the black community over time. The specific sampling method

used is racial demographic because most black children only aspire to choose from 2 career

choices growing up which is a professional athlete or a rapper. One advantage of this sampling

survey is getting to know what motivates children to have the aspirations that they have at such a

young age for only playing sports and rapping. One disadvantage is that we will not get both

genders for this questionnaire which could throw off the percentage that we were looking for in

children who only choose two career choices growing up thus possibly giving slightly biased

results in this study.

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Survey Link

My community supports my goals and dreams.

Somewhat Neither agree Somewhat Strongly

Strongly agree Agree agree nor disagree disagree Disagree disagree

My parents supported me emotionally.

Somewhat Neither agree Somewhat Strongly

Strongly agree Agree agree nor disagree disagree Disagree disagree

When I grew up my parents paid attention to my academic career.

Somewhat Neither agree Somewhat Strongly

Strongly agree Agree agree nor disagree disagree Disagree disagree

I grew up in a good neighborhood.

Somewhat Neither agree Somewhat Strongly

Strongly agree Agree agree nor disagree disagree Disagree disagree

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I like sports.

Somewhat Neither agree Somewhat Strongly

Strongly agree Agree agree nor disagree disagree Disagree disagree

I like hip-hop and rap

Somewhat Neither agree Somewhat Strongly

Strongly agree Agree agree nor disagree disagree Disagree disagree

My favorite celebrity is an athlete or rapper.

They are an athlete/rapper I Don't know Other

I felt pressure from my family to make financial contributions to family needs

Somewhat Neither agree Somewhat Strongly

Strongly agree Agree agree nor disagree disagree Disagree disagree

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Data sheet
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Results

AGE DEMOGRAPHIC
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Hypothesis: The survey reached more of an older crowd due to the age group each one of our

members is a part of. So with the older age our results were swayed more because of their

experience meanwhile a younger demographic age group may still be experiencing some of the

things we are surveying and cannot give their full unbiased opinion.
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Results: This chart shows where the majority of the surveyed said they were raised in which it

influenced their decision based on their neighborhood.our survey focused on career decisions

and made a point that depending on where you were raised helped the children decide what

their career choice was. As you can conclude from this chart most kids lived in bad

neighborhoods growing up compared to good neighborhoods.

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Hypothesis question 1 suggested that people who grew up in a good neighborhood were more

likely they are to continuously pursue their dream job. People who grew up in a bad

neighborhood were more likely to only pursue a career in sports or music because it is

perceived as their only way out of their current predicament.

With all 3 of these results we acquired we received a positive correlation for our survey with

age, and neighborhood demographic.

Discussion

A common theory by the general public is that all black NBA players come from single

parent, impoverished households but by that simple question that was not the case. One more

factor is of course how the surrounding community affects a young black male growing up. For

the question of “Did you receive any community support?” 54% of participants said they simply

agreed with that statement. By common nature, most people tend to continue their passion if

their community supports them.