Gangsta Stereotypes

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

Why is it that when you ask anyone the first race that comes to mind when you say the word gang, they say african american or black people? These are what I call stereotypes most people are always assuming black people are in gangs and that they are causing all the violence that is going on. Most of the time people associate gangs with violence but in facts not all gangs are deadly and violent. “Blood in, blood out” is an old phrase many street gangs would say. Usually joining a gang is suppose to require an intense initiation. The world’s biggest threat is mankind. People join gangs for a feeling of being secure.

Music and society have always been closely related. For years now music has been apart of people’s everyday lives all around the world. Having so many different genres out there, it makes it easy to be appealing to so many different ethnic backgrounds. However, one type of genre in particular has seemed to grab the attention of a younger generation. Rap music has undoubtedly had its utmost impact on African American youth, since many of the performers themselves are African American. An overtly masculine culture dominates rap music and creates gender stereotypes that become abundantly popular to the youthful audience. Three constant themes that are found within the rap culture are encouragement of violence, the misogynistic representation of women, an extreme hatred of homophobia. Each theme plays a detrimental role in the process of defining black masculinity as well as shaping the values, morals, and beliefs that its younger audience adopts after tuning into this “gangster lifestyle”.

These negative connotations isn’t just representative of a small sample of rap. The concept of gangster rap is so prevalent that it has created a culture that openly embraces the violent messages that it portrays in its lyrics. Furthermore, these statistics show the problem of acceptance whereas such a large amount of the population have already accepted the messages in these lyrics to be socially acceptable. As opposed to being appalled, these songs are being promoted as economic successes. In response, artists are following this trend to make their lyrics more controversial and with more negative ideas in order to fully grasp the market. Especially in the current society, the recent conflicts between minority groups and authorities have caused a return to gangsta rap as people look to identify with their current feelings. Given the fact that Billboard 100 have recently released an article stating how “listeners have become increasingly obsessed with gangsta rap”, it signifies a drastic change within our society as gangsta rap has once again become a rallying cry towards violence against the authorities. In this case, the negative effects of gangsta rap is shown where it represents the fact that it will and has a significant impact that turns the youth towards violent

Rap music has become one of the most distinctive and controversial music genres of the past few decades. A major part of hip hop culture, rap, discusses the experiences and standards of living of people in different situations ranging from racial stereotyping to struggle for survival in poor, violent conditions. Rap music is a vocal protest for the people oppressed by these things. Most people know that rap is not only music to dance and party to, but a significant form of expression. It is a source of information that describes the rage of people facing growing oppression, declining opportunities for advancement, changing moods on the streets, and everyday survival. Its distinct sound, images, and attitude are notorious to people of all

The course topics this session were all very interesting. The one that seemed to resonate with me the most was the section about Rap Music. The way that the material was presented and how Rap Music as a whole was dissected was really intriguing. One point that really stuck with me was the “Our Buddy” discussion. It really opened my eyes to how the rap/hip-hop industry markets the music to us. This paper will show that the stereotype of “Our Buddy”in rap music is very real and how the material has turned from an art form into and marketing ploy. I intend to support my argument with examples and analysis by explaining how the stereotype can become accepted as a social norm.

Jay Z, Tupac, Kendrick lamar. All these people have the same thing in common. They call grew up in a ghetto. Jay Z donates to charity, Tupac was a shakespeare nut, and kendrick lamar donated almost $50,000 to his school he went to. Not for the publicity, he didn't want anyone to know about it. Where you're from doesn't define who you are.

Gangsta rap is a form of music that is enjoyed by everyone and there should be no stereotypes attached to it. It has been debated if Gangsta Rap harms Black Americans; it is a heavily criticized art form since its inception. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines “Gangsta rap: a form of hip-hop music that became the genre’s dominant style in the 1990s, a reflection and product of the often violent lifestyle of American inner cities afflicted with poverty and the dangers of drug use and drug dealing. The romanticization of the outlaw at the center of much of gangsta rap appealed to rebellious suburbanites as well as to those who had firsthand experience of the harsh realities of the ghetto. “

Whether you love it or hate it Rap music has come to be one of the most popular, yet arguable, music genres of the past decades. Today’s rap music has changed enormously since the 1970’s. Rap music was about having fun, being able to express what youth were feeling and a way to keep youth out of trouble. Rap songs usually use explicit and demeaning lyrics, which has huge influence on the youth of today. While rappers say that they’re plainly rapping about reality. They often use violence, the use of drugs and Guns as the main tool to tell the story of their lives and show how hard it is growing up in their neighbourhood. This surely does not set any good examples for the young men and women, listening to this trash and singing along with the

Hip-hop culture has been rapidly growing as a popular trend amongst youths in Western culture. Social media platforms like Instagram are flooded with photos of white teens posing in black rap artist t-shirts, wearing their hair in corn-rows, and captioning their pictures with famous black rap artist quotes. When quoting these lyrics, or listening to these hip-hop songs, they most likely are not thinking of the meaning behind the artists’ words. When reciting Tupac or N.W.A., do they relate to or even understand the political poetry about the oppression of blacks in America? This paradoxical idea of color-blindness proves to be confusing as people of white privilege claim that all races are equal while simultaneously ignoring the oppression

With things, such as explicit lyrics and depiction of women, drugs, and violence an assumption can be made that gangster rap represents a masculinity that rappers portray themselves as in their songs. Dating back to its origins, African Americans had always been the face of gangster rap, with such names like Tupac, Biggie, Jay-Z, DMX, and much more, as covers of rap magazines. Gangster rap had always been seen as what people interpret it to be and that is a raw rhythmic and explicit version of poetry in motion, but gangster rap depicts more than what people interpret it to be. Gangster rap depicts the image of how a strong African American male should look like, a bold, angry, rebellious, and fierce man. Strong African American males are subjective to gangster rap, mainly because of how gangster rap portrays masculinity. In “Brotherly Love: Homosociality and Black Masculinity in Gangsta Rap Muscic” Oware argues that although gangster rap music portrays the masculinity of African American males through the use of hyper masculinity, misogyny, and violence in lyrics, gangster rap music also provides a way for rappers to express themselves to commemorate their fellow friends through lyrics that depict family/friend relationships, success by association, and have a tribute for lost friends.

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

“In Queensland the penalty for a first hooning offence is 48 hours, while the vehicle can be impounded for up to 3 months for a second offence, or permanently for a third or subsequent offence within three years” (Leal) . That’s if you're lucky because in the article “NBCNEWS Street racers’ souped-up cars crushed” they show cops cracking down on street racers and crushing there cars, they have uploaded videos to youtube showing them crushing those cars to try and minimize the amount of street racers that are out there. The reason I think they race on the street and not on the track is because they don't want to spend the money on safety equipment, a lot of these cars don't meet the requirements to race on a track they don't have all the required safety equipment like roll cages in case the car flips over or a four point harness that keeps you in your seat in case the car did flip over, or a fire suit and fire extinguisher in case the car caught on fire while your in it. Im sure there more requirements but just to prove my point with all those requirements theres a higher chance that you'll leave an accident alive or uninjured it could be a matter of life and

everyday life. As I have said earlier, Gangsta-Rap lyrics revolve around guns, violence, crime, and

In your essay in the beginning of it you basically stereotype rapper and what they look like “a rapper, with a mouthful of gold teeth, a do-rag on his head,muscles pooping out his arms, and a thug attitude,” but that's not how rappers are anymore. Yes that's how they were back then but as our generation has went on they have changed the way they dress only the music has gotten worse. The reason for me saying that music has gotten worse is because back then hip hop and pop would express their feeling for woman and show how much they love them through their music. Now music is all about f*** b****, get money and men calling girls out of their name I don't understand why women would go after those guys after hearing what they say in their music.