Celebrities are becoming more and more concerned with their own personal success and running away from being positive role models within society. In modern day society, celebrities, whether they are rappers, actors, or influential athletes, have become factors in other people’s lives having an impact sometimes positive and sometimes negative. Maybe or maybe not, it’s just a thought.

Usually the youth are influenced the most by what they watch on TV, but don’t count out young adults because they also choose to be replicas of superstars simply because it is cool. Maybe or maybe not, it’s just a thought.

Often rappers depict themselves to be super thugs claiming they have overcome the most horrendous struggles ever. In some cases, rappers may be telling the truth, but most of the time they are rappers who are in fact actors. This is fine if that’s how they want to be perceived, but the problem arises when people look up to them because they have fancy cars, exclusive clothes, pretty girls and icy jewelry.

Nevertheless, all of that good stuff is acceptable in the rap world, but not in everyday society. People who do not understand the hip-hop generation answer their questions by developing negative stereotypes. For instance, one time I walked into jewelry store and because of the clothes my friends and I were wearing the jeweler immediately thought that we were rappers. She wanted to know who we were,

what’s the name of our group, where we were from, how much was this and that, etc.

I personally took her comments as compliments, but at the same time I felt offended because she was basically calling me something I am not and to me that is negative. Maybe or maybe not, it’s just a thought.

Furthermore, obviously little kids want to be like Lebron James, Allen Iverson, Young Jeezy, 50 Cent and Jay- Z because these are guys they look up to, but if they are trying to imitate those guys, then they are not being the unique individuals that they can be. Maybe or maybe not, it’s just a thought.

A perfect example is when I go to my little brother’s basketball game; he tries to play like Tracy McGrady, who is his favorite basketball player. When he watches McGrady split double teams and spark up threes, he sometimes thinks he could do the same. But reality is that McGrady is in the NBA and my brother is still in junior high.

It is good that my brother has confidence in his game, but it is not good when he does not play within the system and play with his teammates.

In addition, when kids are under the impression that what they see on TV is what they should do in order to be cool or accepted, then they may do or say things that are actually bad and not acceptable if they do it. It is no secret that most rappers use profanity in their lyrics, therefore if youngsters are listening to rapper Too Short and throughout his entire CD he refers to women as Bi!%$’s then they might think that it is ok to call women out of their names. Maybe or maybe not, it’s just a thought.

Moreover, the hype on being America’s Next Top Model is not all that good and

exclusive as society is making it out to be. Females of all ages around the nation glue their eyes to their TV wishing to be model material whenever famous model/superstar Tyra Banks hosts America’s Next Top Model. Maybe or maybe not, it’s just a thought.

The problem with this is the rise of females becoming self-conscious and having low self-esteem. Sometimes pretty girls who may not be extremely skinny, but at the same time are not over weight, perceive themselves as fat and ugly or maybe just extremely overweight thanks to the prototype of famous models. Maybe or maybe not, it’s just a thought.

Often when females are insecure about themselves they do things to bring their confidence up, such as starving themselves or taking supplements to lose weight. The sad part about it is when it is all said and done, females still are not happy with the way they look after they look like anorexics. Maybe or maybe not, it’s just a thought.

At the end of the day people should be themselves and not try to be rappers, actors, athletes and models who sometimes are not being themselves and are actually putting on a front. Especially if replicating these people does not always turn out to be good. Maybe or maybe not, it’s just a thought.