Stereotypes In Rap Music

As African Americans we have such a rich diverse culture filled with different cuisines, languages and traditions. We definitely should be proud of the many accomplishments that we have made as a people. But in terms of black history it dates back to some of the most inhumane and repulsive actions that African Americans were subjected to. Aside from the racism and segregation that occurred to black people we were also seen as a joke in TV/movie culture back in the day that perpetuated many stereotypes. In the article “Black Stereotypes as Reflected in popular culture” by J. Stanley Lemons he talks about these clichés that were portrayed but most importantly the action of blackface. For me blackface was the most detrimental and had the most

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”.

Unlike many other mainstream artists, Kendrick Lamar attaches great importance to the lyrics of his songs. Lamar’s song “DNA”, released last April, became a real breakthrough in the world of hip-hop music. In this song, Lamar reflects on various social issues faced by the modern African-American community of the USA. The song’s lyrics, as well as the music video, portrays the most common stereotypes and biases labeled to the African-American community. The central aim of the song is to sarcastically demonstrate the image of African-Americans as they are viewed by biased media. By the use of symbolical sarcasm and double meanings, Lamar underlines the acuteness of the race inequality that remains existing in the modern America.

Since the beginning of time song and dance has been used as expression of one’s emotions in relation to the world around them. The song “They don’t really care about us” from the HIStory album by Michael Jackson, released in 1996, is my first choice for my soundtrack of freedom because its protest is in relationship to the current world’s status. The song itself is calling for liberation and fair treatment, however focusing on the prison version of the song; it was banned in the United States due to controversy of stereotyping through songs. I will be addressing the meaning behind the lyrics of the song and the controversy behind the lyrics in which were misunderstood. The biggest controversy is the stereotyping in the song is seen to be Anti-Semitic the controversial fragments of the lyrics will be changed from Jew me to do me. Also the kike me will be changed to strike me. The original words will be masked by the sound effects instead where the new song will be issued on the album. The media seemed to play the side the song was racist, but in fact the

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 story of Oduwole told by Professor of Criminology at UC Irvine Charis Kubrin in TED talk The Threatening nature of … Rap music? is a great example of how rap music and systemic racism are connected when interpreting them in the court and Oduwole’s story is one of many prejudicial trials that occurs to this day. Not only

In the past 2 years alone, more than 3 dozen criminal prosecutions have had rap lyrics be presented by the prosecutor as a vital piece of evidence in the case. [Manly] In many of these cases the prosecutor will use violent lyrics created by the defendant to prove that that person is inherently dangerous and in other cases, will use the lyrics as a direct confession to having committed the crime in question. If you read into these cases you will notice a common theme between them; the defense will claim that the lyrics are freedom of speech and should be considered artistic expression, while the prosecutors will claim that the song is either a criminal threat or has too many similarities to the actual crime that it should be considered a confession. The primary basis for this debate is that hip-hop music is a misunderstood cultural practice because of the racial divide between the defendant and the criminal justice system.

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.

In this article, the speaker must be an expert in politics, ethnicity and the music industry. There is a linkage between the above fields hence the speaker must have had a superlative background on these issues. The audience targeted by this literature were seemingly music enthusiasts to be educated on understanding what Hip-Hop entails and hoped to achieve this as it was established. The subject was Hip-Hop as a music genre that was largely developed by African American men to express their plight on injustice and oppression. The principal issue was how Hip-Hop has been used as a form of resistance and need for deliverance of the African Americans.

The racial stereotyping of minority groups is a prevalent problem within the United State’s criminal justice system. It is a regrettable issue which permeates American society. The young Black male, in particular, is often portrayed as a criminal based on incorrect assumptions regarding who perpetrates crime. There are several components contributing to the criminal stigma of Blacks. The way crime is conveyed by American culture is possibly as important as how crime actually functions. The widespread belief that Black males commit the majority of crime skews the view society’s perception of Blacks. Typifications of Black males include a violent, threatening, thug-like character. The connection between race and crime is so deeply seeded in

It is clear that our country 's criminal justice system is the new Jim Crow; with a huge majority of felons being African American, it is obvious that people of color have it harder when it comes to crime sentences. We must acknowledge that mass incarceration and the Jim Crow era are greatly similar. Minstrel shows, which showed black men to be lazy, dumb, and clownish, once justified the oppression of african americans. Many now believe that gangsta rap does just the same and is the modern day minstrel show, by portraying blacks to be drug dealers, angry, and violent men. Though many people believe that gangsta rap reinforces these stereotypes, it’s important for one to realize that this form of expression is not a modern day version of blackface performances.

Many contradicting views surround rap music’s controversial subjects and use of language. While some consider it highly offensive, there is some validity to the rhetoric applied in political rap. In the 1990’s racial inequality is rampant with uprisings and segregated neighborhoods that condemn minorities and lower socioeconomic classes to inhumane living conditions. Specifically, Tupac Shakur’s posthumous song “I Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto” combines an emancipatory lyric with a hopeful and upbeat instrumental to assess the racial inequality in society and the possibility of a better future.

Hip-Hop is an extensive and a broad conglomerate of various artistic forms that ultimately originated in the South Bronx and then quickly spread throughout the rest of New York City among African-Americans and other African-American youth mainly from the Caribbean and from Jamaica during the 1970’s. Over the course of decades and recent years, controversy surrounding Hip-Hop and rap music has been the vanguard of the media. From the over hype of the East and West Coast rivalry to the deaths of Tupac, Biggie, and even Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, it seems that political and broadcasting groups have been injudicious to place essentially the blame on rap and Hip-Hop music for a superficial trend in youth violence.

I also found it very interesting about the gender stereotypes we saw in the music videos. Usually, I do not pay close attention to the words in the songs, and I hardly ever watch music videos. It was really fascinating for me to take the time to watch these music videos and really get to analyze them. In almost every video I watched the women were in bikinis or in a tight outfit looking beautiful, almost as if they are a trophy. The men in the videos seemed to be more macho with their nice trucks and arrogant personalities. I think that these videos portray how stereotypical our world is. I find these stereotypes to actually be quite amusing for the reason that this is not actually how our world is. I know plenty of strong powerful women who

Since the beginning of its art form rap music has been subject to scrutiny throughout its existence. In a Theresa Martinez reading from the semester, the author describes rap music as a resistance. She builds on a theory of oppositional culture that was composed by Bonnie Mitchell and Joe Feagin (1995). In this article, “POPULAR CULTURE AS OPPOSITIONAL CULTURE: Rap as Resistance”, Martinez explains how African Americans, American Indians, and Mexican Americans draw on their own cultural resources to resist oppression. She states that this very resistance to the dominate culture in