The Influence Of Grime And Trap Music On The Media And Carrying Out An Analysis On A Newspaper Article

During the 1970s, the urban underground musical culture ‘Hip Hop’, began to arise through African American youth in East-Coast, New York City (The Bronx). With “noisy, disorganised park jams” (Lazerine and Lazerine, 2008, P.1), a musical revolution was about to begin.

Punk rock music has been used for decades to express dissatisfaction with society, government, or any idea common in mainstream media. Yet punk rock is not simply a tangent of the mainstream, it is a dynamic and fluid genre with many distinct songs. Don Letts, a mainstay in the London punk scene during the 70’s and 80’s, went as far to say that hip-hop was essentially “black” punk. While punk and hip-hop music are stylistically different, the fundamental tone of the two genres is the same. Even throughout the decades, hip-hop has sang the same issues as punk, including the plight of the lower class, police brutality, and gang violence.

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

Nelson George states that “Gangsta rap is direct by- product of crack explosion. Unless you grasp that connection nothing else that happened in the hip hop’s journey to national scapegoat will make sense. This is not a chicken-or-the-egg riddle —first came rocks, then gangsta rap” (136). To prove his point he examines the connection between drug culture of the inner city areas and the hip hop music. The money collected from illegal drug deals spent on recordings of gangsta rap music. George says “Suspicion of women, loyalty to the crew, adoption of a stone face in confronting the world, hatred of authority—all major themes of gangsta rap-owe their presence of lyrics and impact on audiences to the large number of African-American men incarcerated in the ‘90s” (138). I agree with his statement that gangsta rap is a directed by- product of crack explosion, because social and racial issues for instance drug dealing influencing the lyrics of music and this explosion of heroin and crack in communities gave birth to gangsta rap.

Reggae music had a direct impact on the development of hip-hop music. Both styles of music emerged from the dancehall, with lyrics containing social and political message. “Reggae started as ‘sufferah’s’ music in poor Jamaican villages. Inside gritty dancehalls, selectors spun scratchy sides, called ‘specials,’ and MC’s boasted, talked nonsense and criticized political, cultural and economic oppression” (Havlock). Reggae emerged out of the island culture of Jamaica and the “poor man’s party,” while hip-hop music emerged in New York City, specifically the Bronx, in the early 1970s.

Since gangsta rap was first introduced by the group N.W.A., this type of rap music has sold more albums than any other form of rap. Gangsta rap in some ways glorifies violence, drugs, and easy money. N.W.A. wrote a song about killing cops that created a firestorm of controversy. As a result of several such controversies, the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics labeling system was enacted in 1985 (Lommel 68). This system required the music industry to label songs that have explicit language and limit the sale of these albums to adults.

Rap evolved and gained in popularity in the 1960's when a few revolutionary "DJ's," including Kool DJ Herc, DJ Lovebug Starski, and DJ Hollywood, began to work block parties in the Bronx. They would bring in large speakers, hook them up to a turntable and play two of the same record at the same time, repeating the same section of the vinyl over and over by scratching it. Other performers would chant and yell

The argument that hip hop needed to be created is insufficient in explaining its existence, yet, the era’s socioeconomic and political realities are still worth noting. The deejaying technique may never have caught on, or been perfected in a world without block and street parties. In turn, such events may never have existed without the gang rivalry in the Bronx, the graffiti culture, the cultural pervasiveness of disco, and other trends which were hallmarks of the neighborhood in which hip-hop started. This relates directly back to the socioeconomic conditions of the neighborhood that the individual contributors came from. Also, his argument that individual choices take precedence over social circumstances blurs when he speaks about sampling and producing.

Hip-Hop emerged in the 1970’s upon the arrival of a one Kool DJ Herc. Kool DJ Herc migrated to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica and settled in the West Bronx of New York. Kool DJ Herc was a disc jockey that attempted to incorporate his Jamaica style of disc jockeying, which involved reciting improvised rhymes over reggae records. Unfortunately for Kool DJ Herc New York seemed

The corruptness of music today seems to be linked to the crude language and aggression found particularly in hip-hop and rap music. Some rap artists use vulgar language in their lyrics that are easily adoptable by teens (Holden). Not only have certain lyrics influenced the way teens speak but also their actions. An article on Headliners.org stated that “lyrics in the music are too violent and are to blame for many problems.” The problems range anywhere from suicide and aggression towards women to underage drinking and drug use. Lyrics are not only to blame, but also what people see in artists’ music videos can affect what they do (Doaks). The urge to emulate these rap musicians has escalated quickly causing a spike in rebellious tendencies among teens.

The group began in Los Angeles, California, releasing their first album, Straight Outta Compton, in 1988. During their time recording, the group experienced scourges of racial profiling and police brutality. For example, while taking a break from recording, NWA was harassed by the LA Police Department, promoting Ice Cube to write the song, “Fuck the Police.” Additionally, the group experienced an abundance of street violence due to growing up in harsh neighborhoods. In fact, Dr. Dre’s brother, Tyree, was killed in a street fight, promoting NWA’s musical reflection on street brutality.

We were shown in the film that a man was facing years in jail for a rough encounter with police forces, all over a low power FM broadcast. The Pirate Radio DJs often compare themselves to those who illegally used the printing press in the 1700’s, and that despite the legal implications they faced, most argued it was worth it and that they would keep

It is from this thought process in which Dizzee Rascal aptly named his first album, Boy In Da Corner; eloquently incubating the feeling of claustrophobia simply within the title. Literature has already been published laying the foundations on the fact that Grime is a purely ethnographical form, this has always been the case since its emergence in the early 00’s and the aforementioned Boy In Da Corner release “depict[ing] a bleak world, devoid of aspiration: no one in their right minds would want to live there.” (reference page 7 my quotes) It is this fact that no-one wanted to live there which Grime artists used to their advantage, constantly writing lyrics about events which happened only within this dystopian- architectural landscape, dystopian being the keyword within that previous sentence as this is the terminology in which the architecture creates for itself, coming indefinitely before the people within

Hip- hop has become a phenomenon throughout youth culture. Many believed hip-hop was only a phase of music like disco, but as the genre continued to expand and evolve, it became clear that hip-hop was here to stay. (History of hip- hop: past, present, future) Hip- hop is made up of 2 main elements, DJing and rapping. DJ is short for disc jockey, which is a person who usually uses turntables to make music, and rapping is talking and chanting in an easy and familiar manner. (Hip-Hop: A Short History) In writing this research paper, I will explain the most impactful years of hip-hop, and the events surrounding them, starting from 1979, when Sugarhill Gang released “Rappers Delight”.

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.