Rap Music Research Paper

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10:30am Rap Music, Hip-Hop Culture, and “The Future Religion of the World” Music is a subject that has united people for generations. Its stylized flow of language provides for a potent form of communication that can build communities around self-expression. It can inspire, generate emotion, relax, and provide the perfect backdrop for a good time. Moreover, certain types of music have had much deeper meanings, as well as much greater impacts. Firstly, the text expands upon the impact of rap on the African American culture and the unity it created through shared pain converged into song. The text implies that the rap music touches on topics of spirituality and can often contradict what mainstream media and popular culture believe (Mazur, McCarthy …show more content…

For example, “The title of a very popular slave song, Wade in the water, specifically explains to runaways how to escape from bloodhounds. Furthermore, the song contains a reference to Jordan and a promise land. This refers to Canada which at this time was a non-slave state.” Another example is, “Follow the drinking gourd this is probably the most popular slave song ever created. It was a popular song because of the wealth of information that was provided in its lyrics. Most of all, what made it special was that it not only gave hidden advice, but also contained a complete coded map with full details of how to escape to Canada.” (The History Engine 2017). These are just a few examples of the encoded messages that allowed the slaves to communicate and demonstrate comradery under the nose of their captors. Music, and all it provided, was most definitely essential to creating a tight knit community. It became a ritualized event in order to make it through the day no matter the brutal tasks they were forced to complete. In a sense, it provided a sacred space by allowing them to have a form of communication and community, that was unknown by the slave masters. To slaves, music was more than just song and dance, it took on the role of traditional religion providing sacred space and

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