One of the most obvious signs of a changing language is the rapid development of its lexicons. As society changes, so does its language. American dictionaries have been expanding vastly over the past thirty years, with words created for many different purposes. Words are created for many different reasons including scientific use, technological advances, and lastly, words that are created in contemporary culture. Expressions that have been created by the youth have become such a part of American culture, that they often times end up being added to the dictionary. A large portion of these words coined by the youth are making their way into mainstream media through Hip Hop music. The creation of these words stems from the youth feeling the need to label their realities with new expressions and phrases that represent ideas, activities and new ponderings. Hip hop was at one point, was limited to urban American music and dance, but is now a prominent culture around the globe. Hip Hop was not the first genre of music that influenced the youth and culture, Rock ‘n’ Roll had the same effect on language, and held its own set of ideas, concepts, style and values, just like hip hop. These types of music are creative means of self-expression and heavily influences culture as well as the way we speak. Through the influence of Hip Hop culture, many words and phrases have become integrated and commonly used by communities who understand the context and definitions of these lexicons. Hip
Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes is a documentary created and produced by Bryon Hurt. The documentary challenges the dominant discourses of hyper masculinity and the misogynist treatment of women in commercialized rap. Of the many mainstream phenomenons that are discussed by Bryon in the documentary, the issue of hyper masculinity in Hip Hop is questioned greatly. Throughout the film, the producer was able to show the wide acceptance of hyper masculinity not only in Hip Hop but also American culture as well. He defined America as a hyper masculine and hyper violent nation for the reason that using a gun to defend one’s family became a metaphor for masculinity and a tool for widespread violence. The issue of issue of hyper masculinity can be
According to Wikipedia, Hip-hop music, also called rap music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, breaking/dancing, and graffiti writing. Hip hop is also characterized by these other elements: sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing.
The misunderstood subculture of music that many have come to know as “hip-hop” is given a critical examination by James McBride in his essay Hip-Hop Planet. McBride provides the reader with direct insight into the influence that hip-hop music has played in his life, as well as the lives of the American society. From the capitalist freedom that hip-hop music embodies to the disjointed families that plague this country, McBride explains that hip-hop music has a place for everyone. The implications that he presents in this essay about hip-hop music suggest that this movement symbolizes and encapsulates the struggle of various individual on
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.
“Language is a product of society. As society changes, so does language.” Because of this, over time, English speakers all over the world have reinvented language and in some cases come up with their own very different ways of speaking. African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also referred to as Ebonics, is one of these variations of American English, most commonly spoken today by urban working-class and middle-class African Americans. Not only does Ebonics make up an immense part of African American social life and communication, but also it is heavily used in the music industry. Its use in the music industry today, particularly in the hip-hop industry, has definitely had an effect on society’s use of language, especially today’s youth. Although widely used by African Americans, many other ethnicities also use Ebonics as a way of communication. The use of Ebonics has steered many away from learning and/or using Standard English and unfortunately, this has lead to communication barriers between speakers of Ebonics and speakers of Standard English especially within academic environments. Due to this, it is extremely important for school systems to incorporate Ebonics as well as elements from the hip-hop culture into their curriculum to ensure the success of their students.
Hip Hop was birthed in the neighborhood, where young people gathered in parks, on playgrounds, and neighborhood street corners, to verbalize poetry over spontaneous sounds and adopted melodies. Hip Hop was not just the music; it was also a way for the young to show their skills in break dancing, gymnastic dance style that was valued, and athleticism over choreographed fluidity. Hip hop was also fashion such as: hats, jackets, gold chains, and name-brand sneakers. Hip Hop was a form of graffiti, to a new way of expression that engaged spray paint on the subway walls as the canvas. In addition, today’s hip hop have changed as where the DJ was once is now the producer as the key music maker, and the park is now a studio.
‘From the margins to the mainstream: the political power of hip-hop’ by Katina R. Stapleton
Hip-Hop isn’t just four elements combined within a culture, it is also “ a way of life, a language, a fashion, a set of values, and a unique perspective” (Efrem 2), the hip-hop basic and sub-elements have a strong impact in the American society mainly on its
The music videos that show a disturbing mix of rap and hip hop dance styles and profane language leaves us many people wondering if hip hop is harming our generation. Some things that said through hip hop and rap are a young person’s desire. The hip hop culture is an instant route to take to live the considered “good life” to our young generation. Many of us
For example, in the Oxford Dictionary, slang is defined as spoken by people of “low or disreputable character (“Slang”)” and “considered as below the level of standard educated speech (“Slang”).” While artists like Iggy Azalea gain success by using slang to sound cool and knowledgeable about hip-hop, black people are shunned for their supposed lack of intelligence and linguistic ability. Furthermore, hip-hop becomes victim to cultural appropriation when white audiences actively listen to the genre of music. In Rodriquez’s article, his findings conclude that from sales figures of more 17,000 American music stores, approximately two-thirds of the hip-hop music buyers were white (Rodriquez 650). Audiences feed into cultural appropriation by listening to hip-hop music, buying these albums, and going to concerts without having a clue about the hidden political meanings. This proves to be problematic because hip-hop is supposed to express the social and political struggles of blacks. Therefore, how will messages of racial inequality be acknowledged if most listeners are white people born on the top of the racial ladder? These evidences show that white hip-hop artists and audiences enjoy the privileges of black culture while not being subjected to the negative stereotypes or racism that comes with it (Rodriquez 646). While hip-hop is in danger of becoming westernized, this would not be the first time
Hip-hop culture began to develop in the south Bronx area of New York City during the 1970s. It had a significant influence in the music industry. Hip-hop music generally includes rapping, but other elements such as sampling and beatboxing also play important roles. Rapping, as a key part in the hip-hop music, takes different forms, which including signifying, dozen, toast and jazz poetry. Initially, hip-hop music was a voice of people living in low-income areas, reflecting social, economic and political phenomenon in their life [1]. As time moves on, hip-hop music reached its “golden age”, where it became a mainstream music, featuring diversity, quality, innovation and influence [2]. Gangsta rap, one of the most significant innovations in
The hip-hop culture began in the streets of New York City during the 1970’s and has gone through tremendous changes up until now. Hip-Hop consists of four elements: rap, graffiti, break-dancing, and the disc jockey. In this paper, I intend to fully explain the evolution of rap music, from its infancy to the giant industry it is today.
It has been 30 years since Hip-Hop was first “introduced” to the world. Whether it be fashion or politics, this musical genre/culture plays a huge role in everyday life and has generated billions of dollars across the globe. In this paper I will be discussing when, where, and how Hip-Hop was created, “old school Hip-Hop, “Hip-Hop’s Golden Age”, “Hardcore rap” “Gangsta rap”, “G-Funk”, 21st century Hip-Hop, and how Hip-Hop affects society.
Hip Hop in the most popular genre of music between all African American communities, not just in America, but worldwide. Hip Hop has expanded itself into music, fashion, advertisement, movies, and it’s given many rappers, and those associated with the genre, the chance to influence their communities, societies and their culture in general, but commercial Hip Hop in the U.S. has branded Hip Hop in a negative way. (The Young and The Hip-Hop, Hip Hop Culture Center in Harlem, 2012, Web, Oct. 27, 2014) This is all due to the negative imagery and negative lyrics like the term nigga, negative implications of Hip Hop include exploiting black adolescent girls, promoting unhealthy lifestyles, and implying that the open use of the word nigga is not harmful. Hip Hop has become a global phenomenon where it has evolved from a genre of music to a lifestyle for the African American community.
The communication skills are not as strong today because of the influence of hip-hop. Hip-hop music is known for containing a great deal of slang. A slang word is a word that many people associate with poor grammar and questionable diction. What most of us do not realize is how much slang is used in day-to-day life. It is simply considered a part of normal and accepted language. It has a negative effect on our young black males because they tend to learn slang before starting kindergarten, which contributes to the illiteracy of black people. The same people, who learn slang before learning proper English, begin incorporating slang into communications with other people, essentially deflecting from improving society’s view about black people. Hip-hop music uses a variety of slang terms that change as hip-hop evolves and changes. Much of its lexicon is drawn from African-American vernacular English. Hip-hop slang gives ordinary words new meanings. Harlem rapper Lamont Coleman (stage name Big L) released a song on his posthumous album "The Big Picture" entitled "Ebonics". In this song, Big L goes through various hip-hop slang terms and gives their proper meanings.