In the case of Brenda, there are many sociocultural and psychosocial issues that are heard in the lyrics to Tupac’s, “Brenda’s Got a Baby”. The song capitulates the shame of Brenda having a baby at a young age, here we see the breakdown of what is considered “abnormal” in society today. Tupac refers to her “not having a brain”, this implication would mean that most likely Brenda has had no education or very little at best. Here we see a major sociocultural problem that doesn’t just exist in Brenda’s case but in many young girls whom are brought up in poverty and have been thrown in the armpit that are the ghetto. The ghetto, or urban housing, is the worst place to grow up and we see the effects of constant forms of oppression. We also find …show more content…
The lyrics Tupac used when describing how Brenda had her baby in the bathroom by herself, not knowing what “to throw away and what to keep” (Clarku, 2018) and then throwing the baby in the trash could be seen as an example of critical practice theory. Although it may be more common for young girls to have babies in her community, society in general looks down on it. She may have believed that by having her baby in secret and throwing it away, she would escape the negative societal perspective. A few lines that show functionalist theory is Tupac describing how she has no money, so she tries to sell drugs and when that doesn’t work out, she starts prostituting herself which then Tupac says, “…it’s paying the rent, so she really can’t complain” (Clarku, 2018). Brenda is trying to contribute to the norms of the culture as well as trying to remain stable and to continue to function well in society. Another important theory to look at is cultural perspectives. Tupac mentions this street culture by saying, “just cause your in the ghetto doesn’t mean ya can’t grow” (Clarku, 2018). If culture is defined as “including all things human such as norms, values, customs, symbols, thoughts, traditions, politics, religions, languages, philosophies, and material objects” (Barker, 2003 & Turner, 1998 as cited in Rogers, 2017 p. 130), then recognizing how the ghetto culture has affected a young girl is extremely relevant and
Tupac Shakur, TLC, and even the young sensation Zendaya Coleman are a few celebrities that are seen as nonconformist in the media. Just like every teenager, I can’t live in a world without music,and I definitely can’t live without these three inspirations on my playlist. Their lyrics have such a great meaning deep down in them, especially the older generation of artist including Tupac and TLC. Just like any other non-conformist, Tupac went against society’s ways and when he wrote he talked about dreams,world peace, and racism. “I’m 23 years old. I might just be my mother’s child, but in all reality. I’m everybody’s child. Nobody raised me; I was raised in this society.” Basically what Tupac is saying is that even though you were raised by
Her clothes accentuate her cleavage or have a sexual shock factor, such as wearing “sequined pasties…[that] coordinate with the rest of her attire”. The vulgar, sexual nature of her raps makes it impossible for her to not receive attention from the media. Another artist, Eve, dresses sexually to accentuate her body and appears in videos with music video models but raps about social issues like domestic violence. By comparing the nature of these artists and their music, Perry tries to show that young girls have very few role models in hip hop that promote positive feminists values and body images. But, she neglects to discuss other feminist artists she mentions in the essay such as Destiny’s Child and Mary J. Blige and how their lyrics and actions in the media allow young black girls to have positive role models that show a woman can be independent, strong, and beautiful in their own way. Perry’s focus on the more sexualized female artists in hip hop and how their shocking appearance and lyrics allow them to be as successful as their male counterparts took away from the development of her argument about conservative artists and their success. By leading the reader to believe that artists are either overly-sexual or conservative, Perry limits how the reader forms an opinion on why or why not young girls’ body image may be threatened by the media and the hip hop
In “Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women”, McLune addresses the influence of hip hop’s choice of words towards African American women and females. McLune’s article is written in response to Powell’s opinions in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head”, along with various other hip hop artists, that black females are the leading cause of poverty and racism why black men undertake racism and poverty, as if women do not face these struggles from day to day. McLune disagrees with this remark and states that this is just one of many excuses that men use. McLune addresses an audience that is well educated along with informed with the
Throughout the song, Tupac gives an inside look on the social problems affecting African-Americans and suggests possible solutions. In the first stanza of the song, Tupac first talks about how certain social issues are linked together; he makes a correlation between his skin color and being poor. Tupac says “I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.” Then he explains how poverty causes crime by saying “My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.” And finally, he demonstrates the relationship between police brutality and race by saying “Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.”
Nelson George states that “Gangsta rap is direct by- product of crack explosion. Unless you grasp that connection nothing else that happened in the hip hop’s journey to national scapegoat will make sense. This is not a chicken-or-the-egg riddle —first came rocks, then gangsta rap” (136). To prove his point he examines the connection between drug culture of the inner city areas and the hip hop music. The money collected from illegal drug deals spent on recordings of gangsta rap music. George says “Suspicion of women, loyalty to the crew, adoption of a stone face in confronting the world, hatred of authority—all major themes of gangsta rap-owe their presence of lyrics and impact on audiences to the large number of African-American men incarcerated in the ‘90s” (138). I agree with his statement that gangsta rap is a directed by- product of crack explosion, because social and racial issues for instance drug dealing influencing the lyrics of music and this explosion of heroin and crack in communities gave birth to gangsta rap.
When a black woman lowers her life standard, she invites outsiders to pose judgement on the entire group. These unethical behaviors of black women is capitalized off of by mainstream media. Shows such as VH1’s Love and Hip Hop keeps the negative stereotypes of a black woman alive. The black woman who rises above all adversity gains value and respect amongst the
The connection that is drawn between the formerly economically challenged rapper and the child whose parent works two jobs, and can’t pay his child’s college tuition is paramount in making this point. The illusion of the American dream is set through many hip-hop songs. The picture of the evolution of the rags to riches story is set by many rappers in current hip-hop culture, this picture is the basic premise
Black single mothers have overall negative stereotypes linked to them, their children, and their financial situation. Single black mothers are getting labeled as Gold diggers, lazy, con-artist, non-supportive, emotionally unstable, and uneducated. To make their reputation even worse most of the songs in the Hip Hop community make hypocritical songs that generalize all single black mothers based on their particular experience. Hip Hop narratives such as “Faith” by Kendrick lamar and “Baby Mama” by Fantaisa, challenges the race stereotypes about co-parenting. Not all Hip Hop songs reinforce the negative stereotypes about single black mothers. Songs like “Faith” by Kendrick Lamar is a great song that represents the struggle single mothers go through.
The documentary Babies by Thomas Balmès is a film that takes place in four very different locations around the world. The documentary follows four babies and their families from when they are first born as they grow up and are able to walk. We watch Ponijao grow up in Namibia, Bayar grow up in Mongolia, Hattie grow up in San Francisco, and Mari grow up in Tokyo. Because the babies are from such different places, the documentary allows us to see what it is like growing up in cultures that we are currently unfamiliar with. The film opens up your eyes to the various forms of living in other areas around the world. In this paper, I will discuss the universal themes I noticed, my personal reflection of the film, the various
This essay will focus on the short story by Kate Chopin and its use of symbols, setting and characters. Desiree’s baby was perhaps one of the best stories I’ve ever read. Analyzing it was not easy at all. Its use of symbols was very hard to comprehend. At first, it doesn’t make sense. But as you think critically, all the symbols, and setting and the characters in this literature plunge together in one amazing story.
There’s a powerful source brainwashing young minority women today, specifically the language expressed in Rap lyrics which is often embraced by the Hip Hop Culture recently. These young gems are being conditioned to value their worth centered around hollow, vain, and degrading measures. The lead directors of these measures are strong, empowered, talented men who come across as if they detest woman. They disclose and describe detail stories of lifestyles involving “model chicks” who degrade themselves for acceptance, money, and opportunity. Consequently, this behavior leaves impressions for young ladies to follow after; because most young ladies of minority tap into the hip hop culture as a guide for social behavior. Although, the Hip Hop culture allows a window into the challenges faced by the black community it has also been the lead contributor to the desensitization of exploitation towards women due to the negative messages and images portrayed in music lyrics and music videos today.
To help understand Tupac’s poem, you must grasp yourself around the image of a very young boy, who has no father, grew up in the rougher parts of New York, and was barely supported by his mother.
In the movie Parenthood (1989), many developmental stages can be observed. With that being said, one character that can be observed is Gil who is middle-aged adult. Gil has a beautiful wife and 3 children. In Santrock (2016, pp. 362-363) security, love, loyalty, and emotional interests are important during middle adulthood. Both Gil and his wife (Karen) believe that they have raised their children the correct way, but it can be seen that some people in his family think otherwise. He also has 2 sisters and 1 brother. In addition, he has a mother, father, nieces/nephews, and a brother-in-law. According to Santrock (2016, p. 342), during middle-aged adulthood adults normally reach peak position at their jobs, but in this case the promotion that Gil wanted was given to someone else, so Gil struggled with this concept of not moving up. Also, his household seems to be hectic and not perfect, but somehow he pushes through (Parenthood, 1989). According to Santrock (2016, p. 354), Erickson’s developmental stage that pertains to Gil is generativity vs. stagnation. In this stage, adults feel a sense of wanting to leave their legacy when they are gone (generativity), but at the same time feel as though they have not done anything for the next generation (stagnation). In the movie Parenthood (1989), Gil can be seen exhibiting this developmental stage in various scenes, but there is one seen in particular that stands out. Him and his wife are called to school for a meeting with the
The article “The Ghetto Made Me Do It” comprises of context and analysis of the criminal case of Lisa Morgan. Lisa Morgan, a progenitor of the harsh ghetto is being convicted with six armed robberies and a murder, but this article questions if this happened because of her personal responsibility, or society’s responsibility, or lack thereof, to effectively handle young, black, and poor children. One particular attorney, Robin Shellow, goes into detail about exactly what Lisa had to go through. Her Mom shot her dad, her uncle was murdered, her sister’s boyfriend was shot and paralyzed from the neck down, she was raped at aged 12 (1). These are all things that Morgan had to face growing up. The author then introduces the idea of the “ghetto defense” The “ghetto defense” basically states that (in regards to Morgan’s case) “… violence is a norm, an occurrence so routine that Morgan’s 17 years of exposure to it have rendered her not responsible for her actions” (1).
One negative global implication that commercial Hip Hop in the U.S. produces is the characterization of young black women in four different personas: Diva, Hoe, Gold Digger, and Bad Bitch. When young black women hear music and see music videos that promote sexual conduct, they take on one of the different personas that is illustrated in the music and treat themselves as sexual objects. This characterizations affects the black community worldwide because this causes young black girls to be more sexually active at a much younger age, this results in teen pregnancies and