Hip Hop : The Rise Of The Post Hip Rap Generation

One of the more prominent criticisms of hip that Rose points out is that there is a large amount of misplaced blame in the world of hip hop. She writes, “increasingly, too many of hip hop’s supporters point to structural racism to explain the origins of the problem but refuse to link these structural forces to individual action and to the power of media seduction” (p. 73). In this section of the second chapter, Rose is explaining that those who defend commercial hip hop are taking a more-or-less one-dimensional approach to their arguments by solely blaming structural racism and overlooking the

‘From the margins to the mainstream: the political power of hip-hop’ by Katina R. Stapleton

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

Throughout history, Hip Hop has manifest into more than a simple form of life, but as a powerful cultural movement. Hip Hop plays a major part in African American culture, dialogue, fashion, and self expression. Today, Hip Hop has a joined people of many nationalities, races, and ethnicities as a society. The Hip Hop Generation has begun to redefine African American cultural norms and practices in America by the changing of conduct, social interaction, and immoral acts. Hip Hop has had many positive and negative effects on society one of which has been well known to sending out negative messages through misogynistic lyrics and lifestyle. Yet, a debatable question is raised is Hip Hop really one to blame? To answer this question, one must first reevaluate Hip Hop beyond the misrepresented concepts that mainstream media had portrayed for over a twenty year time frame.

According to Erikson (1968, referenced by Jacobson, 2009), “…in the social jungle of human existence there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.” It is well understood that, like all individuals, youths especially have a need to belong to a social group. Many youth participate in subculture resistance, apparent through demonstrating language, expression, and fashion that are often opposing parental and authority figures, and the dominant culture. People who have similar characteristics or similar experiences are, according to Jacobson (2009, p. 11), more likely to “…unite in opposition to the dominant culture”. A music genre that distinctly demonstrates such is the hip-hop movement. The youth-oriented hip-hop movement finds its significance in the lives of African-American youths in urban working class settings and their resistance to authority, as well as allowing them to voice their identity and address common issues concerning race, gang activity, drugs, violence, and sex. While hip-hop has been suggested to have negative impacts on youths in contemporary society, it is known by most to simply be a reflection of the reality. Hip-hop, as an artistic outlet, challenges the dominant culture whereby teens living in urban areas are frequently subjected to violence and harmful activity, and therefore speaks against the structural oppression within society.

Hip Hop Culture As I was growing up in the late 1970’s, it has always been common knowledge that hip hop music and its culture originated in the South Bronx section of New York City in the early 1970’s. Since this time, hip hop has become a multi-cultural fusion of many different contributions made by several ethnic groups like Caucasians, Asians, blacks, and Hispanics, to name just a few. Hip-hop has definitely exploded within many cultures and subcultures throughout the world and within the past decade or so; it has been getting widespread exposure. When hip-hop music and the whole culture of the movement first came onto the scene, it incorporated many different art forms. These art forms include deejaying [cuttin’ and scratchin’], emceeing or rapping, beatboxing, breakdancing, and graffiti art. In today’s society, hip hop still incorporates these different art forms, but it also includes the way you dress; the language or terminology you use; and the way you walk, act, and look. Hip-hop music on a whole has always been a form of self-expression – depicting a person’s lifestyle; their pain; their struggle; and the realities of street life. For some rappers or singers today in the hip-hop game, it’s still a form of self-expression. But for others, it’s all about the money, clothes, jewelry, or the “Bling-bling. Ka-ching. Ka-ching.” (Liu, Pg. 1) Since the early to mid 90’s, hip-hop has undergone so many changes that it has actually lost its culture. Hip-hop has become,

The media have targeted rap music over the years for the reasons of the urban issues and also the global troubles such as religion, and the decline in urban schools. Hip-hop is an urban movement, born during the crisis of an urban city and rooted in the 1970’s of poor and working class African Americans in New York City. Can we understand hip-hop as politics that plays a role in the urban citizenship? Hip Hop has a complex relationship with the urban communities and also has a great impact on the religion in the youth. I use four sources that stretch across discussing how popular rap music affects the urban culture in a positive and a negative way. Each of the texts has similar ideas. The first text Washington Post is going to explore how rap

The Hip Hop Genre can be reasonably argued, that the vast majority of musical production at any one time involves musicians working in relatively stable ‘genre worlds’ within which ongoing creative practice is not so much about sudden bursts but the continual production of familiarity such rules may guide the notes a guitarist may select to play the way a star may conduct themselves in public the way the audiences behave and how journalists may aesthetically evaluate a performance

Since the birth of Hip Hop in the 70s, controversial topics have always been one the forefront of discussion. Media sources, like The Source, founded in 1988, have been a platform to broadcast the triumphs and disasters that face the hip hop community has faced. In addition to displaying media, they have made a platform where they also broadcast some of the letters that their audience wrote back about their content in a section titled “Letters.” With each decade since having its own set of issues, the 90s was a time where the aftermath of black power movement, crack era, and other major movements in the black community took place, fostering a variety of hip hop styles that resonated with many walks of life. Throughout this decade, especially in 1995, there are prominent examples in The Source of commercialization, regional feuds, controversy, consciousness, and how women were viewed and valued at this time as well.

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

Hip hop is a creative, cultural movement and can be anything you make it out to be. There is no specific text such as a Bible or Qur’an that must be followed when creating hip hop. Whatever one may choose to rap, dance, or draw about is his or her option. In this week reading the group, Fun-Da-Mental takes lines such as “Subhanallah, ilhamdulillah” from the Qur’an and makes it part of their song (Islamic Hip-Hop versus Islamophobia 59). And when Natacha Atlas performs she likes to embody the spiritual aspect of God into her productions by combining phrases such as “Allah ana bahibbak” (Islamic Hip-Hop versus Islamophobia 66).

Music Television gave a generation a voice. With the awakening of MTV, 1983 was a golden age for music television. The inception of hip-hop music videos caused wardrobe to be an important part of an artists “armor”. Rappers used outfits for promotional purposes. Certain outfits would be worn in pictures, performance, and

Youth and hip-hop culture plays a significant role in our society and can influence one another. Hip-hop has developed as a pure and original cultural expression of African American youth in 1970’s. Hip-hop and its culture come from a creative self-expression that comes from a struggle of living in declining cities. Since then, hip-hop has expanded and has given a voice to any youths with all diversities and background today. However, mainstream hip-hop promotes a lifestyle of materialism, which has also helped promote the outlook on the discrimination of women and violence through the lyrics and its visual content. My research question was “ How Hip-Hop affects the younger generation and youth culture. With this research, i found how rap music and hip-hop culture influences on the youth are universal. Also that these “influences are not only on Black urban youth but affect many diverse youth groups nationally and globally”(Mahaji 122).

Hip-hop is influential on a family 's relationship, the life, and education of the new generation. When talking about the culture of Hip-hop one should know about lifestyle influence and literary development. “Hip Hop is Now: An Evolving Youth Culture”, is about how hip-hop has been an influence on society, primarily the youth. Also, how the younger generation treats life differently compared to the older generation. The article is written by Carl Taylor and Virgil Taylor. “Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-Hop Culture” is written by, Ernest Morrell and Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade. The article is about how hip-hop can effectively become a part of school literacy. Both articles are centered around the influence on hip-hop. One tells how hip-hop has been an influence of life, the second article explains how hip-hop can be an academic influence.

I never thought that I would do this. I was in dance class rehearsing a group dance with some of the girls in my class. We were doing hip hop. I thought, “I really don’t like how we are doing hip hop.” This sentence played over and over again in my head. I’m sure that you can infer that I am not a big fan of hip hop.