California Counter Culture

The rest of the chapter talks about the similarity of minstrel images in 1990s hip-hop, as evidenced by the defining characteristics of greed, violence, hyper sexuality and pathos in “gangsta rap” (a sub-genre of hip-hop further defined in chapter two). Ogbar balances this landscape with challenges to what he calls “neo-minstrelsy” from both inside and outside the hip-hop community, including discussions of the Spike Lee movie, Bamboozled, underground conscious hip-hop groups such as The Roots and Little Brother, and the activist “Stop Coonin’ Movement”, to name a few. Throughout the book, Ogbar explains how rappers strive for authenticity by “keepin’ it real”. And that is defined by how they rap, walk, talk, and make their

The later half of the Homelander Generation, also known as “Generation Y,” is known for having little to no identity. Popular culture says that history repeats itself and that I belong to a generation where an overall style does not exist. From music to clothing everyone is desperately trying to reach into the past. The 60s, 70s, and 80s all have defining styles prevalent to that specific decade, for example disco. As a result to addressing the uniqueness of California and its culture in the 1990s Bay Area patrons began a move toward rap, hard-hitting beats, baggy clothing and defined dance styles. California was home to the newest cohesive generational movement. It was home to the development of the Hyphy Movement and the defining aspects of a craze that in itself was crazy. In areas that include San Francisco, Oakland, Fairfield and Hayward transformed. The Hyphy Movement demanded acknowledgment of the Bay Area’s diverse and particularly its interesting take on the California Dream.

Regardless of age, race, or religion, the film’s powerful imagery captivated audiences nationwide. It not only set the tone for how people were already feeling, but it was also a call to those unaware of how bad conditions of poverty, gang violence and the feeling of oppression had become for the lower class. Though the movie was purely fictional, the issues it portrayed helped exploit a huge problem in our country.  In some areas, the films message hit so hard that riots broke out at theaters. The worst of these occurred at the Halsted Twin Outdoor Theater in the south Chicago suburb of Riverdale, where a man was fatally shot in his car by another man as both were leaving the drive-in. (???) Similarly, in the movie, Dough boy feels resentful about America because they don’t care about the ghetto which leads him to an endless cycle of violence.

John Steinbeck, author of many classic American novels, greatly influenced modern American literature. Steinbeck often referred to the Salinas Valley of California in his writing. He often referred to the settlers and the adversities they had faced during the migration to the Salinas Valley area. With novels such as Of Mice And Men and The Grapes Of Wrath, Steinbeck explained the harsh reality of the severe hardships the settlers faced to accomplish the American Dream. These novels share many similarities in regard to their themes. To understand Steinbeck's work, we must first understand Steinbeck.

The 1930’s were a decade of great change politically, economically, and socially. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl wore raw the nerves of the people, and our true strength was shown. From it arose John Steinbeck, a storyteller of the Okies and their hardships. His books, especially The Grapes of Wrath, are reflections of what really went on in the 1930’s. John Steinbeck did not write about what he had previously read, he instead wrote what he experienced through his travels with the migrant workers. “His method was not to present himself notebook in hand and interview people. Instead he worked and traveled with the migrants as one of them, living as they did and arousing no suspicion from employers militantly alert against

This media addresses socialization, specifically racial socialism. Racial socialism is the belief in race, and racial stratification as a personal and group identity. Straight Outta Compton has various times where individuals and groups are profiled for belief of wrongdoing or criminal activity due to racial identity (Dosan 2015). At one point during the movie the rap group goes outside to take a break, and the police comes out assuming that they are “bangers” and demands they get on the ground (Myres 2015). The manager comes out and says” you can't just arrest people just cause what they look like”, “thats police harassment”. This is indicative of a bigger issue in where they were assumed to be gangsters be cause they are “black”. Racial persecution and socialization is truly shown when Ice-cube

In less than forty years, the city of Compton went from a shielded suburb near the confines of Los Angeles, to a terrorizing image of American culture. The results of this transformation and creation of “gangsta rap” is still well renowned today. Through de jure segregation, Reagan economics, undermining of black prosperity, N.W.A., and “Boyz n the Hood”, the city of Compton told its story and became a global image. This paper will analyze the shift of culture in Compton and the transcendent cultural effect it formed in America.

     John Steinbeck wrote about what surrounded him. At the time he was writing, the nineteen-thirties, a great depression was plaguing the United States. Many people were out of work. Many farmers were losing their farms and homes. An extreme drought had also wrecked the farms of the Midwest and made them into what is now referred to as the "dust bowl". It was a terrible time to be poor, and most were. People died of malnutrition every day. In California, where Steinbeck resided, migrant workers dominated the workforce. Thousands traveled from all around to pick fruit in the farms of the Salinas Valley for minuscule wages. Thousands more could not find suitable

Other cultural changes she experienced during her lifetime were deemed as ‘counterculture’. The counterculture was a significant factor in the fall of the American consensus as new ethos of rebellion and individuality caused youth to embrace the flawed Volkswagen and for Rock-and-Roll rebels to become more mainstream (American Yawp Ch. 27, 2017). While Ms. Hampton did not participate in the change due to her new marriage and raising children, she stated that she tolerated the new cultural wave because moving forward was the only option. However, not everyone shared her tolerance as the 1970’s witnessed the struggle to once again compartmentalize society by evoking simpler times with songs like “Okie from Muskogee” (American Yawp Ch. 28, 2017).

Rap music, also known as hip-hop, is a popular art form. Having risen from humble origins on the streets of New York City during the mid-1970s, hip-hop has since become a multifaceted cultural force. Indeed, observers say, hip-hop is more than just music. The culture that has blossomed around rap music in recent decades has influenced fashion, dance, television, film and—perhaps what has become the most controversially—the attitudes of American youth. For many rappers and rap fans during it’s early time, hip-hop provided an accurate, honest depiction of city life that had been considered conspicuously absent from other media sources, such as television. With a growing number of rap artists within this period, using hip-hop as a platform to call for social progress and impart positive messages to listeners, the genre entered a so-called Golden Age

Literature Shifts Society’s Values Written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath novel takes place in the late 1930’s during The Great Depression. Steinbeck is very much detailed throughout the book because of personal experience. This novel is about the journey of tenant farmer families moving from the “Dust Bowls” of Oklahoma to the promised work land of California. Work was advertised by flyers that were later found to be false. Steinbeck attracts the reader from page 1 by starting the novel with a disastrous situation on a farm, foreshadowing misery throughout.

From it's inception, rap indured a lot of hostility from listeners--many, but not all, White--who found the music too harsh, monotonous, and lacking in traditional melodic values. However, millions of others--often, though not always, young African-Americans from underprivileged inner city backgrounds--found and immediate connection with the style. Here was poetry of the

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, popular music and culture became significant influences on the lives of many individuals within the city of Los Angeles. East Los Angeles (“East L.A.” or “the Eastside”), in particular, was a center of flourishing musical, cultural, and social scenes with strong connections to the changing Chicano/a identity. Under this environment in which the Chicano movement (moviemiento) continued to prevail, a large number of socially aware and politically active, Latin-fusion “Chicano” bands were developed. One of such was the Ozomatli band, who strived to express their activist viewpoints through popular music. The spatial context of the band’s emergence, their links to past musical movements, and their implementation of a wide array of musical styles and genres all define their impact on Chicano identity in Los Angeles. Through their music, the Ozomatli band has showed much about the importance of the changing Chicano culture and served as the framework for cultural and social dynamics of present-day Los Angeles.

The term ‘hip-hop’ refers to a complex culture compromising of four elements: deejaying, rapping, rhyming, graffiti painting, and b-boying. These elements incorporate hip-hop dance, style, and attitude. “Hip-hop originated in the primarily African American economically depressed South Bronx section of New York City in the late 1970s” (Tate, pg.1). Hip-hop is a culture of fashion, language, music, movement, visual art and expression. The genre of hip-hop comes with a very significant history and evolution with its own heroes, legends, triumphs and downfalls. “Real” hip-hop is often stressed in the 21st century due to what is being passed off as hip hop, and it is often made clear that just because one takes a hip hop class, or listens to hip-hop music, does not mean they conform to the true immersion of hip-hop culture. Therefore, “real” hip-hop encapsulates the true essence of hip-hop culture, untarnished by impurities such as rapacious record labels, and vapid, materialistic subject matter. Due to the background of how and where hip-hop first emerged, the African American culture often feel responsible to protect what is for them, and to protect the culture of hip-hop entirely. Boyd states that even though hip-hop as a culture was created as a social movement, the “commercializaiton” of hip-hop demonstrated in film and media construes it to another form of urbanization and popularity”(Boyd, 79). However, in the two movies being examined in this essay (Save the Last Dance

The concept of ambiguity had not been prevalent in society until the inception of the 20th century. Its presence has always been subtle, but its impact can lead students and scholars down to roads of new ideologies and even result in challenging the current standards of society. Ambiguity is the “quality of being open to more than one interpretation,” and thus, it forces us to remain open-minded. Authors and artists such as Steinbeck, Didion, Kingston, Thiebaud, Shepard, and everyone else we have encountered incorporate ambiguity as a way to provoke the reader and open up conversations regarding the current state of California. Despite all the opportunities available in The Golden State, it is indisputable that it is a placed filled with uncertainties. California, as a landmass, is filled with rustic and natural beauty, yet for the past decades, it has not seen anything other than industrialization. The state is a sanctuary for immigrants, yet they are discriminated and deported. Laborers arrived, motivated to find work, but often found themselves exploited and worked to the bone. African Americans established communities where they share their culture and values, but are mocked and in turn, encounter institutionalized racism. So despite the opportunities that this state promises, California is still paradoxical. To truly comprehend this notion, we can look at texts such as In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck and True West by Sam Shepard as examples, and artwork such as