Introduction:

In today’s society, children and teenagers are like sponges absorbing everything around them and applying it to their life. One of the most controversial sources of influences on today’s youth is the media and popular culture. In the Bay Area, we are living through, a sort of cultural renaissance for youth culture in this area. The music that we listen to has developed into a pop culture phenomenon, and has developed its own lifestyle, from vocabulary and words like “hyphy” and “yarrimean”, to the actions and in some cases, the loyalties of youth. I want to investigate this, to see why they have chosen to follow and imitate this kind of “lifestyle” that is presented to them through the media, and why they let this be so influential in their lives.