Youth And The Hip Hop Youth Culture

Hip hop, the creation of electronic sound and enticing language is a style born from the African American and Hispanic cultures. It formed in New York City from block parties and the participation of the youth culture. This style of music began as a minimal change in rhythm to a globally popular culture consisting of graffiti art, dancing, and music. Hip hop was not only a type of tasteful music, but it also became a benchmark in history. When this style of music was created, it served as an outlet for those who did not have a voice, particularly the minority groups. These groups were given rights that they deserved just like everyone else. In the 1970’s is when hip hop began to spread, creating not just

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”.

When reflecting on my experiences and knowledge of popular culture, I arrived with a number of remarkable questions and concerns:

Culture is the complex whole including customs, law, morals, belief, knowledge, arts and other abilities and habits that man acquires as a member of society. Culture occurs naturally in an individual's interactions in the society building his/her identity right from time of birth. Culture is acquired by people through interactions in the society ADDIN EN.CITE Lopes2006458(Lopes P., 2006)45845817Lopes P.,Culture and Stigma: Popular Culture and the Case of Comic BooksSociological ForumSociological Forum387-4142132006Springer08848971http://www.jstor.org/stable/4540949( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_1" o "Lopes P., 2006 #458" Lopes P., 2006). Popular culture includes social life aspects engaged in the public sphere. The determination of a popular culture is possible through interactions between people's everyday activities. Popular culture is influenced in the modern day by mass media that portray different aspect of the society including dressing style, greetings, eating habits and slang among others ADDIN EN.CITE Williams J.M.2010460(Williams J.M. & Rodgers J.S.,

Molefi Asante is the author of It’s Bigger than Hip-Hop: The Rise of the Post Hip-Hop Generation. In this article, Asante predicts that the post-hip-hop generation will embrace social justice issues including women’s rights, gay’s rights, and the anti-war movement. To challenge these stereotypes, Asante speaks to the personification of the African-American ghetto and the need to stop glorifying black suffering. For Asante, the post-hip-hop generation no longer expects hip-hop to mobilize disenfranchised youth. Asante states, “The post-hip-hop generation shouldn’t wait for mainstream musicians to say what needs to be said…No movement is about beats and rhythms…. it must be bigger than hip-hop.” Because hip-hop is controlled by corporations, Asante says hip-hop will never be the focus of political change. Asante argues that “old white men” have dictated hip-hop, and by extension the actions of black youth, since 1991. “Allowing white executives, not from the hip-hop culture, to control and dictate the culture is tragic because the music, and ultimately the culture, as we can see today, has not only lost its edge, but its sense of rebellion and black movement- the very principles upon which it was founded.” Asante calls for the rise of “artivism,” a new social movement that uses art to improve community police relations, failing schools and the criminal justice system. Asante encourages the post-hip-hop generation to unite with Latino/Immigration Rights and Black Civil Rights

Hip Hop changes lives, but not the way you are told to believe. The media false advertises that music is the main stimulus for bad decision making and ultimately for violence. Teens are influenced by many different factors with each factor dictating a percentage of their decision making. Majority of the time these factors are unavoidable. Factors such as environment, family, and music are key to the teens decision making. Hip-hop is believed to have a huge negative impact on teens decision-making and we are to blame for this false allegation.

You’re standing in a crowd amongst thousands of fans at an Eminem concert, people from all over, shoulder to shoulder in a massive stadium, singing along every word of their favorite song for hours. People from all over are connected to each other through the power of music. When it comes to music, the life experiences, inspiration, and current events play a tremendously significant role. Hip hop is a form of art which can be expressed through rap songs, break-dancing, and graffiti art. The culture has become so popular that it has entered today’s fashion and modern language. Hip hop music is an extremely large part of today’s generation and a global genre, which influences the generation all over the world.

Hip hop culture is known for its negative reputation. It is often thought as an entrance way into gangs, illegal drug activity, and malicious behavior. In today’s culture it is important to lead kids toward a positive direction in life but the hip hop culture of today is not steering youth in that direction. This is because hip-hop has moved away from what it was supposed to be used for. This genre of music was supposed to be used to for personal expression and growth not to create negative images for the youth and encourage them to change their behaviors and beliefs. Hip hop was supposed to give hope to the youth. Give them a reason to pursue their dreams and give them a positive outlook on life. Are there artists who keep it “old

taken place in recreational Centre in the inner city of Edmonton, Canada (p.337). The goal of this paper was to explore the different ways the youth adopt hip hop “as a means to contest their subjection

In seventh grade, I stumbled my way upon the Detroit based rapper Eminem. I was at 150 listens on his track The Real Slim Shady before I knew it. I then found my way into Kanye West, which exploded my interest into the genre. I have listened to all of the considered essential hip hop “classic” and modern day albums. I noticed in these “classic” albums very distinct change in subject matter and style that each of the different areas of rappers on where they originate from. Some people believe that the hip-hop culture is at a decline with the lose of this uniqueness and individuality shown in each of these areas. I too even thought that the hip-hop culture was at a decline until I was researching my topic, but instead this individuality and uniqueness in the rapper’s different stories that they tell in their raps. The genre has expanded throughout the world and continued to evolve while sticking to these roots of individuality and uniqueness.

The first claim Carl and Virgil make is that adults don’t understand hip hop music’s appeal and why youth listen to it (Taylor and Taylor 210). That claim, however, doesn’t have any substantial, credible, information to back it up. In fact, in a radio broadcast by Talk of the Nation, “A Look at Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes”, they discuss that one man as an adult listened to hip hop music as well, stating it was part of the urban culture and he loved listening to it, until he started learning about the effects it had on youth (“Look”, par. 4). The second claim that the authors’ make is that hip hop is merely just youth living in the moment and expressing their views. It doesn’t effectively discuss that it involves more than just songs, but actual violence, rape, and misogyny. A study by Squires Catherine, Laura P. Kohn-Wood, Tabbye Chavous, and Prudence L. Carter, called “Evaluating Agency and Responsibility in Gendered Violence: African American Youth Talk About Violence and Hip Hop”, they evaluated how young black children reacted to seeing black women abused in hip hop music videos, and results showed that the children thought the woman deserved it because hip hop artists have to be tough (Squires, Kohn-Wood, Chavous, Carter 731). The authors made very opinionated claims, but didn’t reference any studies or articles to provide evidence to their claims. They also did not use their knowledge and credibility to provide insight or support for the claims they made. This

Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. It includes ideas, values, and artifacts of groups of people (Schaefer, 2006). Understanding culture can be tricky, ever ask “why do people act the way they do?”, “what made me do that”, “what was I thinking?” Physical abilities, educational background, and social background of how I was raised are important aspects of my life. The environment in which I was raised is very important aspect of my life.

Analysis of Hip-Hop and Youth Culture Throughout the last twenty-five years, a new form of expression has continued to evolve. Hip-Hop, once limited to urban music and dance has become a widespread form of communication exhibited and enjoyed by young people throughout the world. Hip-Hop is no longer limited to rap music and break dancing; today it represents a multi-billion dollar industry that influences everything from fashion to prime- time television programming, professional sports, mass media marketing and advertising. Today Hip-Hop is becoming a way of life, a culture that is intricately woven into every aspect of young people's daily lives.

In Halifu Osumare’s reading says: “Global hip-hop youth culture is the most recent manifestation in the story of the exportation of black American cultural production that started with nineteenth-century minstrelsy, thrived during the 19505 crossover rock- and-roll era and continues today.” Today, black music and dance have reached a point that has changed the speed at which they are marketed and a worldwide achievement. Still U.S. black American culture is viewed under the term of “blackness” and with others issues of marginality. Hip hop culture formed part of an international diffusion and it’s a youth international phenomenon. Hip hop culture has

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”.