Death Becomes You: A Summer of Violent Music Videos

After watching Action Bronson’s “Brunch,” a music video where Bronson murders his ex and dumps her in the lake, it dawned on me how common the theme of violence has been within pop culture lately.

We’ve seen Kanye play with dead models, Odd Future’s Tyler the Creator hang himself and Eminem shoot himself — all before July. Even teen pop star-turned-sexpot Rihanna shoots a man in broad daylight in the visuals for her song “Man Down”.

Violence in music videos isn’t new. But when it comes in a bunch like this, it raises debates about freedom of speech, the effect of violent images on kids, and its overall cultural significance.

I think freedom of expression is one of the most valuable constitutional rights to any artist and that’s how we get great art. Whether or not kids can discern fiction from reality totally falls on the parents.