The recent criticism from India Arie and Nikki Gilbert of Yung Miami’s song “Spend Dat” has reignited a conversation that has existed for decades: Is today’s music damaging to young people?
The short answer is yes—some of it can be. But that’s only half of the conversation.
The other half requires every generation to look in the mirror.
India Arie has earned respect throughout her career by creating music centered on self-love, Black womanhood, spirituality, and empowerment. She has never built her career on sexually explicit lyrics, so her concerns about the direction of some of today’s music are consistent with the message she has always represented.
However, the older generation cannot discuss today’s music without also acknowledging its own role in shaping modern music culture.
Music does not exist in a vacuum. Every generation influences the next.
Before Yung Miami, there was 2 Live Crew, a Miami based hip hop group, mostly consisting of late Baby Boomers, whose sexually explicit music challenged cultural norms and even sparked historic First Amendment battles.
While not every hit was overtly explicit, songs like Salt-N-Pepa’s 1986 hit “Push It,” early Generation X group, became cultural anthems with lyrics and performances that sparked conversations about sexuality and female expression. Songs like “Put It in Your Mouth” pushed lyrical boundaries even further, while artists such as Adina Howard broke barriers by openly embracing sexual themes in R&B. Soon afterward, Generation X artists like Lil’ Kim, Trina, Ludacris, and Trick Daddy continued making sexually explicit music that became part of mainstream hip-hop culture.
Even many of today’s artists have acknowledged they were influenced by the music they grew up hearing. During an interview, Megan Thee Stallion (late Millennial) recalled her parents reacting to her lyrics and pointed out that they were also the ones who introduced her to much of the music she listened to as a child. She has mentioned listening to Generation
X artists like Three 6 Mafia, illustrating how musical influences are often passed from one generation to the next.
The same conversation applies to street-oriented rap. The East Coast-West Coast rivalry involving Generation X artists, Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. intensified an era in which lyrical conflict and street authenticity became central themes in hip-hop. Around the same time, West Coast pioneers like N.W.A. helped popularize vivid depictions of gang life and policing through their music. While many factors contributed to the evolution of rap, those eras influenced later generations of artists who embraced harder street narratives. Over time, some of those themes evolved into styles heard in drill music, where lyrics often reference violence, retaliation, and firearms.
The conversation also extends beyond sexually explicit lyrics. Throughout the 1990s, artists like Snoop Dogg became synonymous with music that referenced marijuana use, gang culture, and street life. Many Millennials grew up listening to that music, and as they became artists, parents, producers, and tastemakers, those themes and images continued to be passed down to Generation Z and Gen Alpha. While music alone does not determine a person’s choices, it can influence what is normalized, celebrated, or viewed as acceptable within popular culture. That is why every generation, not just today’s artists, shares some responsibility for the cultural messages handed down to the next.
Yung Miami didn’t create this culture; she inherited it. Born in 1994 and raised in Miami, she came of age in a city where artists like Trina, Trick Daddy, and 2 Live Crew had already established much of the local hip-hop sound. Even the visuals in “Spend Dat” pay tribute to The Players Club, a film released in 1998 when she was a child. Like many artists before her, she is creating from the culture she grew up consuming.
None of this excuses harmful messages in her music.
Music has power. Lyrics influence culture, and culture can influence attitudes and behavior. Social media has amplified that influence, allowing songs to reach millions of children almost instantly. Parents and community leaders are right to ask whether some of today’s music is appropriate for young audiences.
But accountability cannot begin and end with Millennials and Generation Z, who themselves were influenced by the culture they inherited.
If Generation X wants today’s artists to change, it must also acknowledge the music, videos, and entertainment its own generation embraced and passed down to Millennials and Generation Z. Critiquing today’s artists while ignoring yesterday’s influence tells only part of the story.
If we take the conversation even further back, generations before Generation X were also influenced by the music of their time. This discussion stretches across Generation Alpha, Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and even earlier generations.
Long before hip-hop existed, popular music contained suggestive and sexually themed lyrics. Artists like Millie Jackson, a Baby Boomer, built successful careers around candid, sexually charged storytelling that challenged social norms decades before today’s rap artists. Even earlier, blues and novelty records relied heavily on double entendres and sexual innuendo. Songs commonly known as “I’ve Got Three Holes,” Lucille Bogan’s “Shave ’Em Dry,” and Clara Smith’s recordings such as “It’s Tight Like That” demonstrate that provocative music did not begin with hip-hop.
Even songs that sounded like beautiful love ballads sometimes told morally complicated stories. Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love for You,” for example, tells the story of a woman involved with a married man—a theme many listeners overlooked because of the song’s beautiful melody and emotional delivery.
Every era has produced artists who pushed cultural boundaries. At the same time, every generation has also produced musicians who chose to create uplifting, socially conscious, inspirational, and empowering music.
The encouraging news is that cycles can be broken. Just as previous generations helped shape today’s music culture, today’s artists have the opportunity to shape tomorrow’s. More artists can choose to create music that uplifts communities, celebrates healthy relationships, and expands the range of stories told through hip-hop and R&B.
Change has to start somewhere, and India Arie and Nikki Gilbert deserve credit for being willing to start the conversation.
Perhaps this debate isn’t really about Yung Miami alone.
Perhaps it is an invitation for every generation to ask a more difficult question:
What legacy are we leaving for the generation that follows us?
The same children singing Yung Miami’s lyrics today—members of Generation Alpha and eventually Generation Beta—may grow up carrying those messages into adulthood. In many ways, they will inherit the same culture previous generations passed down before them. That is precisely why artists like India Arie and Nikki Gilbert are calling for a change: they hope to stop the cycle before another generation repeats it.
Culture is inherited, but it is also rewritten.
If we want future artists to make different choices, every generation must be willing to acknowledge its influence, learn from its mistakes, and help create a better soundtrack for those who come next.
