Comparative Essay

It is clear that the hip hop culture plays a huge role in the lives of many people. It has influenced the way people dress, the way they talk, and the way they act. Unfortunately, many big corporations have taken advantage of this and commercialized rap music in order to gain a profit (Blair, 497). Commercialization is a very complex topic; however, it is important to understand. This is because of the fact that when something becomes widely known, such a hip hop and rap have, it is vulnerable to change (Phillips, paragraph 9). An example of this is when author Nicole Phillips states, “Hip-hop became more about edge and less about the content of the message. It became about sales….” (Phillips, paragraph 9). Therefore, in order to prevent any further change, one needs to understand commercialization and how it works. This paper is going to explore the complexities and nuances of commercialization of the hip hop culture. In order to do this, this paper will consider what commercialization of hip hop culture entails. This paper will also discuss how Elizabeth Blair, author of “Commercialization of the Rap Music Subculture,” conceptualized commercialization, as well as how she discusses the situation in general. After discussing these topics, the paper will move on to discussing cultural appropriation. This discussion will include how authors describe cultural appropriation, and a debate regarding this topic.

American Writer James McBride, who wrote the essay "Hip Hop Planet", spent most of his life disliking the culture of hip hop, but after some research and personal experience, he had a change of heart. The purpose of his essay is to shine a positive light on hip hop culture and move his audience-- people who think it is all bad-- to have a change of heart like him, and to achieve his purpose, he uses rhetorical strategies including appeals, specific diction, and meticulous sentence structure.

Thesis: the paper’s focus on hip-hop as a music genre that has changed the lives of the black Americans

This is a way for African Americans to use hip hop as a full-time job instead of as leisure for themselves. The benefits, according to Chung, is that now there is an “achievement of black national acceptance … to become professional, productive, labors” (Chung, 129). Given the platform, blacks want to reshape the urban poverty and improve economic situations through hip hop and widespread of black culture. Another reason for improving black’s conditions, not only comes from hip-hop, but also white behavior, meaning that blacks who grew up in rough times have been looked at in stereotypical views of pathological behaviors, and drug users. But ABDC allows these young men black men to given a new identity and inclusion through the use of hip-hop rather than the premature neoliberalism view of African Americans in which they are looked at as

Mcbride begins the essay with stating his nightmare, his daughter marrying a man, “and he’s a rapper, with a mouth full of gold teeth,” he continues to describe a modern day rapper to which the newer generation is familiar with. The reason to begin with this, is that the newer generation as symbolized as his daughter has picked up newer styles of rhythm and

Mass media, through its selective portrayal of hip-hop has played a crucial role in the way that it has been understood and interpreted over time. The media’s focus on negative aspects of the genre has led to the establishment of a two-class system. This brings forward the theories of Karl Marx in relation to the ‘two-class system’. The media also portrays the dominance of capitalism, and has a sensationalist view where the high powers have hyperbolized selective aspects of the hip-hop culture with the intention of increasing viewership and readership numbers. This sheds light on artists such as Biggie Smalls and his

This discourse revolves around discussions of what is pure and polluted culture or, respectively, authentic and inauthentic hip-hop culture (p. 144). The first level, old school is defined as pure hip-hop that is reminiscent of the early days of hip-hop music before the culture became widespread, and open to mainstream influences. Older individuals who in their youth participated as break-dancers, DJs, MCs, and graffiti artists shape the old school dimension; those individuals who helped grow hip-hop as a culture, without the goal of making a profit from their participation. The second level of this C dimension, mainstream, is characterized as hip-hop music that is made for the intent of radio and/or television, making it inauthentic hip-hop. Members of the hip-hop community who treat hip-hop like a product, rather than the culture that it is, would be seen as “sell-outs” or members of the mainstream popular

Most subcultures like hip hop, started out in the low ranks of culture. They often used what they had, in order to achieve their satisfaction in their distinctive characteristics. But with Hip Hop music, fashion, and entertainment consumed across the world, it became the mainstream of American society. Rose writes, “Hip hop produced internal and external dialogs which affirmed the experiences and identities of the participants, and at the same time offered critiques of larger society which were directed to both hip hop community and society in general” (412), with few economic assets and evaluation, the youth of hip hop has designated a form of culture that competes with a style that has created counter dominant

Codrington examines the cultural significance of hip-hop and how it affects race, class and globalization. Hip-hop is a popular culture globally; its importance relates to cultural and political ideologies. The social significance of hip-hop also impacts how dialogue for instance achieves a cultural sense of ownership in society. The examination of hip-hop in various geographical and political realities challenges hegemonic readings of hip-hop as primarily style and lifestyle (Codrington 2007).

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

In this essay, the influence of hip-hop politics, class unity and the internet will be explored to discover how the consumer became an active producer of culture. In the early days of hip-hop, particularly from its mainstream origins in the 70’s (Dimitriadis 2009) up until the 90’s, the underground scene rarely floated into the mainstream. Despite a good portion of the underground consisting of consumers, to achieve mainstream success one would need the right connections and musical equipment. Before these tools became affordable and accessible, the consumer wasn’t integrated as an active producer of culture. Thus the average consumer wasn’t capable of making major waves in the industry. In some respect, the mainstream producer carried a sense of prestige because there were only a few who garnered attention in the mainstream such as DJ Premier and Eric B and Rakim (Tom Terrell, 1998). During the early origins of hip-hop, as Josh Kun describes, hip hop was mainly a facet of African-American culture. As a result, many consumers from other backgrounds weren’t majorly included in developing the hip-hop culture. This, however, changed when icons such as Run DMC and Aerosmith broadened the scope of hip-hop and allowed more consumers to play an active role in producing the culture. The popularity of the internet rose in the early 2000’s and it allowed the consumer to actively shape the culture. The internet allowed the consumer to create their own sounds and message and deliver it

The documentary film “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” addresses some of the biggest issues of hip-hop to date. It explores why rappers feel the need to portray a thug persona on camera, why rappers choose to treat woman like sex objects, and how is this affecting our society as a whole. This results in the discussion of who is the one pulling the strings of hip-hop, who is the one giving out those big money deals? In order to understand these issues one must know the history of hip-hop and how it started and evolved.

The notion of the authenticity in hip-hop is that it has to do with being associated to “the street” or the urban ghetto. “The core of Hip Hop cultural activity”, a “site of originality, culture, perception, and cognizance” (Alim 2004a: 390– 91). Furthermore, The expression “keepin’ it real” is almost a repetition in Hip Hop insisting individuals to be true to their roots, and not to “front” or make-believe something they are not (Rickford and Rickford 2000: 23). Hip Hop is apparently a multiracial and multicultural movement, yet its roots and artistic strength and most of its well-known rap artists, come primarily from urban African American communities (Blake 1993). In 1999, it was dubbed “the most important musical genre in America” by the New York Times (Strauss 1999: 28), and has debatably been one of the foremost youth cultures in the United States since the early 1990s. Despite the multi-ethnic nature of the founding community of hip hop, young African American working-class, urban males emerged as the art’s central representatives. However, the centrality of African Americans in articulations of authentic, hip hop has roots that are more diasporic than popularity professed. Hip hop

Since its beginnings, “Hip Hop has encompassed not just a musical genre, but also a style of dress, dialect and language…” (Alridge and Stewart 190). Hip Hop did not just bring music to the ears of listeners, but with it, a new culture emerged. It became a way of life for its listeners. Hip Hop influenced, the lives of urban youth, and

Over the last four decades, hip hop culture has influenced the lives and identities of many youth throughout the world. Depending on their geographical location and socioeconomic backgrounds, youth have experienced this worldwide culture differently. One similarity amongst these selective groups of adolescents is the political freedom that has come with engaging in the hip hop scene. Hip hop allows Black youth in the United States, immigrant youth in France, and Afro-Cuban youth in Cuba to express criticism toward the racial marginalization that they face in order to gain the equality that society prohibits them from acquiring.