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 …show more content…
In the global popularity scene, hip hop now rules, and is a dominant cultural form in many parts of the world. Rap gives voice to every culture that produces and circulates it, not just African-Americans. As a new force, rap levels the playing field, opening doors to new cultural players, and ripens for new corporate snakes to pounce on. Circulating ideas, images, sound, and style, it is becoming central to the new multimedia global culture and is an expression of a multicultural world with no borders and limits. A raw expression of urban hip hop culture, rap quickly became the sound of African-American anger, rebellion, cultural style, and experience. Anticipated by the ground-breaking work of the West Coast-based Watts Prophets and New York area Gil Scott Heron (whom I worked for at my senior experience internship at TVT Records) and the Last Poets in the early 1970s, the current configuration of rap emerged out of Sugar Hill Gang's 1979 "Rapper's Delight" and Grandmaster Flash's 1982 hit "The Message." Hip hop culture began developing its style and sound in New York party scenes in the Bronx, Brooklyn and other ghetto areas in the late 1970s. By the 1980s, a whole cycle of New York-based hip hop and rap artists emerged to public attention, including Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Run DMC, Eric B and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-ONE, Tone Loc, Salt 'n'
Even though, hip-hop is viewed as primarily of promoting negative message, however, it has reveled the pain behind the lyrics. “Hip hop music, had for over three and half decades, delivered a resounding message of freedom of expression, unity, peace, and protest against social injustices”. (Anderson & Jackson) As hip-hop continues to grow it has continued to remain a strong influential social impact. Hip-hop created a way for many individuals to express themselves on controversial issues seen throughout society.
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.
Thesis:Rap music does not promote violent actions by teens because rap music is a very diverse genre, it is mainly for entertainment purposes only, and part of the music is involved in anti-violence efforts.
Hip hop and rap as a musical genre is a very controversial subject for nearly everyone. Its influences are powerful, both positive and negative. There are many positive influences of hip hop, and a few examples are the breaking down of cultural barriers, the economic impact, and political awareness of pressing and urgent issues. Though there are many positive influences, there are many negative influences as well. Some of the more heated debates of the negative influences of hip hop are that it glorifies violence, and the fact that the music sexualizes women and degrades them as well. Attached to the negative outlook on hip hop, there are also many stereotypes assumed by society towards this type of culture
Since the birth of rap, the genre has been constantly ridiculed for its violent messages, drug references, and the degradation of women. Rap music has been accused of infecting our youth. Rap music has been blamed for increased violence in America. Rap music is constantly attacked by individuals who don’t truly comprehend what is happening in American society. Rap music is not to blame for society’s problems; furthermore, it should not be used as a scapegoat for those who don’t understand the current problems in urban America.
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.
Did you know that in the 15th and 16th century rap was meant to “Strike or Hit”? Fast forward to the 1960’s in America, rap became very popular to the African American community and was used as slang or to talk and have a conversation. Rap started to become more popular to many more countries and communities in the 70’s.
Throughout the past years hip hop and rap artists use their music to express their views, opinions, and how they feel in their songs. From the artist lyrics someone will have an understanding of what the artist is talking about; because either they have done the same things or they are having the same problem. The first amendment of the constitution is freedom of speech and that’s what a hip hop artist is doing. Hip hop music has influenced our culture in several ways. Hip hop perpetuates violence towards young people, because violent videos and movies are the number one cause of violent behavior in teens.
Young people would perform, listen to, play hip hop music videos in the hallway TV at Malvern-Work, Poetic Justice, Started From the Bottom. When I would pass by the computer lab I would see many young people often on ‘World Star Hip Hop’ (an American content aggregate site with a hip hop focus often referred to as the ‘ghetto’s CNN’). This is just one of the many ways hip hop culture was pervasive in these young people’s lives. One of the most pervasive forms of artistic expression I found among young people was through rap. Rap is a mixed medium; it includes poetry, prose, song, music, theatre. It can come in the forms of narrative, autobiography, science fiction, or debate. Hip hop encompasses five core elements: emceeing/rapping, deejaying, graffiti art, break dancing, and ‘knowledge of self’ or the critical
Hip-Hop is a cultural movement that emerged from the dilapidated South Bronx, New York in the early 1970’s. The area’s mostly African American and Puerto Rican residents originated this uniquely American musical genre and culture that over the past four decades has developed into a global sensation impacting the formation of youth culture around the world. The South Bronx was a whirlpool of political, social, and economic upheaval in the years leading up to the inception of Hip-Hop. The early part of the 1970’s found many African American and Hispanic communities desperately seeking relief from the poverty, drug, and crime epidemics engulfing the gang dominated neighborhoods. Hip-Hop proved to be successful as both a creative outlet for
To most people when they hear the term Hip-hop they think of ghetto music that only thugs like. I’m hear to show you that is not the case. Ever since the 1970’s it has been molded in a unique way each decade by various artist. Hip-Hop is new compared to most genres of music and that’s also one of the reasons I think it is still resented by the older generation. In this essay I will be dividing Hip-hop or “Rap” into three categories, past, present, and the future. Hip-hop has a rich history, but what it still has to offer is the reason it will be around for decades to come.
In the world today rap and hip hop is beneficial to society (Robinson, 2008). Throughout the past few years’ artist use their music to express their views on life, opinions, and feelings. Some artist has lyrics that a lot of people can relate to, some may or may not know what they are talking about because either they have done the same things or is having the same issue (Akil, 2010). The world has freedom of speech according to the first amendment, and that is all the artist are doing.
Rap music has never been seen as a positive artistry by the media, but maybe the media is just doing what it always does and portrays everything with a poor opinion and rap music really doesn’t influence someone’s behavior as much as the media would like you to think. Socially everyone thinks that kids that listen to rap music are more prone to violence and abuse towards women and that is how it has been looked at in our culture, when really it’s not the actually listening of the music than it is the rap videos themselves that portray the misogynistic views and create misogynistic attitudes within the audience that lead to a more accepting view of violence against women. Rap is stereotyped into a category that the only people that
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. 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 continuous growing number of rap artists within this period, hip-hop is being used as a platform to call for social progress and impart
For centuries, rap has been used as a tool of expression of art. Capitalism and its oppressive qualities have forced the oppressed class to use it as a way to vent their anger and seek justice or liberation. Rap is a form of hip-hop and can be used to express real life experiences or issue like violence, poverty and the social and institutional discrimination experienced in America. When referring to “rap” in this study, its specifically, discussing “political rap or gangster rap lyrics”. Notably, rap has been used throughout history to present day; we’ve seen it during social movement like the Civil rights movement and now for the Black lives matter movements. Artist like, Tupac Shakur, N.W.A. and Kendrick Lamar are among those