“ When words fail, music speaks”-Shakespeare- Music is something we hear every day. It can soothe us or it can make us very emotional. We hear music in our cars, at home, on our phones, at school, even at the gym. Music is a part of our culture, it makes us who we are. Music can either have a positive or negative impact on your life. One of the more popular forms of music that has been made much more recently is Rap/Hip Hop. There are many components of rythmes strung together over musical beats. There are extra loud bass and various drum beats that are commonly incorporated. In the early stages of hip hop, raps were performed by DJs. The beats, drums, and sounds were comprised from turntables and mic checks have been incorporated into many rap songs. “The majority of early raps were live, performed at parties instead of concerts which is why, Hip-hop is a form of popular music that is comprised mainly of emceeing and deejaying,”(Bambaata 2002). DJing has continued to play a large role in interpreting the sounds of rap. As for the lyrical portion of hip hop; songs are extremely varied in content. Although the lyrics displayed in songs have become more displayed as rap advanced, many early artists performed songs that were about both poverty and violence. Drug references have often been made, even in the twenty-first century, adding to hip hop’s explicit implications. Most lyrics reflect the humble beginnings of hip hop, but lyrics have come to border a wide spectrum with
Hip Hop is often written not simply as music but rather as a political statement; a passing of advice from an experience man to novice children. The lyrics of rappers are written often for entertainment; but just as often they serve as guidance to their peoples’ youth.
The genre of hip-hop began in a time of economic uncertainty. According to the article, “Historical Phenomena, Hip- Hop Culture and Rap Music”, this particular genre of music is “heavily influenced by the economically and socially oppressed ghettos.” The art of Hip-Hop is very culturally driven. It is a way for the artists to express themselves freely, in a musical way. It is said that hip-hop is claimed to be, “...The act of speaking poetically and rhythmically over the beat,” (Ide). Based on the article, hip-hop was developed in an area that was run by a “capitalist economic system and racist government officials.”(Ide). This is an explanation of how some artists speak as though they are being attacked because of their ethnic background, and only that. It is something that is truly important and present in their lives. Some rap artists speak about the way they often feel racially discriminated by society.
In the early days, Hip-Hop was primarily related to the rhyming, rhythmic spoken word art form known as rapping. Rapping is, in fact, not a new method of creative expression. The ease with which young people can participate in this form of creativity seems to have helped the phenomenal growth of this genre of music and expression. Review of rap music lyrics and styling from the early to mid-1970's, when Hip-Hop began, reveals several aspects of the musical genre that appear to have had significant appeal to young people, particularly those in urban communities. There has never been one all-inclusive form of rap music.
In contrast to the views held by hip-hop adversaries, some rap artists and hip-hop supporters argue that rap song lyrics are merely a twentieth-century colloquial dialect describing contemporary courtship rituals, economic inequality, and lack of commitment. Hip-hop music is not responsible for the
In order to understand hip-hop dance, it is important to recognize hip-hop music and where it came from. Many scholars of rap music relate the founding of rap to African and African American oral and musical traditions, specifically African griots and storytellers. They link the rhythm of rap to the use of drums in Africa and to African American music in the United States, from slave songs and spirituals to jazz and R&B. Scholars have found very interesting connections between rap music and Black nationalist traditions (traditions historically practiced by black people that serve as part of their racial identity). Rap is similar to the “call and response of the black church, the joy and pain of the blues, the jive talk and slang of the hipsters and jazz musicians, the boasting of street talk, the sidesplitting humor of comedians, and the articulateness of black activists.” All of these African American oral traditions, including rap, can be traced back to West African oral traditions. In traditional African societies, the spoken word and oral culture included poetry, storytelling, and speaking to drumbeats. The links between rap music and African American oral and musical traditions demonstrate that hip-hop music represents more than just sound. It represents history. This aspect of it, in my opinion, makes this type of music very unique and makes it carry more value.
The instant response to this question is often that the commercialization of hip is a negative phenomenon. Many hip hop fans seem to hold this opinion because they believe that the quality of music from today’s rappers has drastically decreased. However, the difficulty arises in determining whether the ‘commercialization’ of hip hop should be considered a positive or negative phenomenon. There are strong advocates for both of these judgements with convincing points to support their beliefs.
Hey you do you listen to R&B and hip-hop? Do you like listening to rapper such as Tupac and Biggie? Well rappers helped society and people grow from the 90’s and still is today, making people from the lower parts of the world come together and agree on how they feel. In the 1990s, hip-hop music and culture helped a lot of famous people. Hip-hop also had a big impact in the clothing you see young adults wearing today. In the 1990s, hip-hop music and culture affected society in many positive ways and continues to do so today.
Rap music is defined as popular music advanced by disc jockeys and urban blacks in the late 1970s. This kind of music consists of a repeated beat pattern that provides the background for rapid, urban language, accompanied by a vocalist. Hip-Hop music is a genre that originated in the United States by inner-city African Americans in the 1970s which consists of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. The Difference between rap and hip-hop music defined by EBONY is that hip-hop is a culture while rapping is one of four elements contained therein—the others being breakdancing, DJing and graffiti. The perception of rap music/hip-hop music by academic scholars is often accurate, in the portrayal that types of rap/hip-hop musicians often exhibit violent, misogynistic, antisocial, and materialistic content and behavior. Writer’s Johnetta B. Cole, Tia Tyree, Michelle Jones, Matthew Oware, and have all discussed the topic of rap music, and the ways in which it exhibits violent, misogynistic, antisocial, and materialistic content and behavior.
Hip-hop from the 1970s to present day has played an increasingly crucial role in society in both positive and negative ways. The creation of hip-hop and rap aided in the expression of newer generations. The presentation of rap into culture restored the importance and power of poetry. However sadly many hip-hop artists used their platforms to promote topics and viewpoints that were often times quite demeaning and unpopular with parents.
The impact music has on the life of people is very powerful. It can easily revamp the way people act and take control of people’s emotions. Rap music is a very common and popular type of music within the world today. Rap music has existed since the mid 1970s, nowadays it is practically everywhere. It is easily a central focus of many young people’s lives. Rap music was essentially intended to create a voicing of one’s frustrations and disappointment with society, it has recently taken a turn and is creating a negative impact on the youth. It is the root that influences and encourages degrading women, violence, and is filled with sexual content.
For many years, the youth have been known for singing along to their favorite song and taking that song as whole and using it as their motto for life. It may seem that sometimes these kids do not know what is being said in the music but this shows that they do know what the lyrics are saying. According to Franklin B. Krohn and Frances L. Suazo in their article “Contemporary Urban Music: Controversial Messages in Hip-Hop and Rap Lyrics,” many teenagers and minority groups view rappers as their spokesmen because of their ability to speak in street language and bluntly express their frustration (Krohn, 1995). Unfortunately, hip hop lyrics usually tend to talk about drugs, sex and violence leading kids to think that everything they hear is okay and that is how they have to live their life. Yet, there are artists out there who take their lyricist skills to give positive lyrics and messages in their music, but these songs are not often played in the mainstream.
A song on the radio starts off with a pleasant melody. Suddenly, another form of heavy-beat music enters. Numerous icons of guns, skulls, hoods, lighters, darkness, and graffiti art were demonstrated by typing in three simple letters into the Oxford English Dictionary word search bar: R-a-p. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of rap is accompanied with the synonyms “whack, strike, bash, bang, pound…” (Simpson). All with negative connotations, this reflects how rap affects our society today. Rap can be catchy, but it is harmful to our society for freedom of speech is being taken advantage of and, as a result, other political issues have arisen from them. Freedom of expression can extend a little bit too far.
I think Andre's voice was extremely monotone so it was really hard to listen because he just sounded really uninterested about his topic. When Andre interviewed Josh Scheer and then he filmed the rap concert he switched cameras. I would have liked to see every camera shot consistently the same. I like how Andre used difference types of music to say that it has an effect on culture like how he said bubblegum pop lets young teenagers become more image conscious and how rap is believed to create aggressive and violent behavior among it's consumers. I just wish he used more of that because there are so many genres of music. I really didn't enjoy the quality of a video because it was kind of fuzzy and just turned me off because I couldn't
Throughout history, music has been used to express the feelings of people or groups whom may have no other outlet to express themselves. The best example of this occurrence would be the lower class of America’s use of rap music. Rap music started out as a fun variation of disco with the purpose to make people dance and enjoy themselves, but it later transformed into one of the best outlets to express the struggles of poverty in the United States. The genre gained popularity when the song “Rapper 's Delight” hit the charts in the early eighties; rap evolved into a plethora of different styles from there, Gangster Rap formed with NWA in the late eighties, and rap really hit it’s zenith in the mid nineties. Modern rap began in the early starts of the twentieth century. Because of the storytelling that rappers do in the music, it gained notice in the inner city where the demographic could relate. Many young teen in the inner city environment built dream to be famous rappers just like their own favorite artists . Rap connects to me by its style, its purpose, and its political incorrectness.
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.