Hip Hop’s Greatest Controversy: Notorious B.I.G. vs. Tupac

Hip Hop’s Greatest Controversy: Notorious B.I.G. vs. Tupac
Hip Hop started in the South Bronx, New York City in the 1970’s. Hip Hop as a music and culture started when block parties became popular, particular among African-American youths who reside in Bronx. Deejays would play popular songs on turntables at that time and start to break or “scratching” in between playing songs to create their own beats. Hip Hop served as a voice for the inner city youths were from a low-income families. The culture would reflect their way of life. As the years of Hip Hop progressed, a new form of Hip Hop was introduced that was called “gangster rap”, which rapped about the hyper-masculinity and violence. The biggest controversy in the Hip Hop world took place between The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. Both artists took lyrical jabs at each other until their untimely death.
The documentary, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, was produced, written, and directed by Byron Hurt and was released in 2007 by PBS. Mr. Hurt is an American activist, lecturer, and a graduate of Northeastern University where he played American football as a quarterback. The documentary provides details about sexuality; violence, homophobia and hyper-masculinity in Hip Hop culture. Hurt, a long time hip-hop lover, the more he learned, the more the lyrics, violence and sexism became more unexpected to him, and this influenced him to make the documentary Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes.
My interviewee, Chantal Jones, is a longtime admirer and lover of Hip-Hop. We have the same passion and love for music. I have known Chantel for close to three years. She is 18 years old and she is from the St. Vincent and the Grenadians, but has lived in the states for over ...

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...ed the same fate as Tupac. What we can draw from hyper-masculinity and violence in Hip Hop is that its hyper-masculinity is a downfall for black males from across the global the characteristic of hyper-masculinity that “the belief that violence is manly” is immoral to the community to think that this way to carry yourself to be a man in the hears of your listeners we need music the uplift our people.

Works Cited

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. Dir. Byron Hurt. Perf. Chuck D. and Jadakiss
God Bless the Child Productions. 2006. Flim.
Johns, Lindsay. "Hypermasculinity and the Black Male." Hypermasculinity and the Black Male. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
Jones, Chantel. Phone interview. 9 April 2014.
Shakur, Tupac (Ft. Outlawz) – Hit 'Em Up." Rap Genius. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
The Notorious B.I.G. – Who Shot Ya?" Rap Genius. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.