Colorblindness is the racial ideology that suggests the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity. Many celebrities like Kim Kardashian combat accusations of racism by claiming to be colorblind. Here are some examples of why this is not necessarily a good thing. When saying you see no difference between races, and only see "one color" you are by default saying you see everyone as white. Also, by claiming colorblindness you are stripping non-white people of their uniqueness and culture. Colorblindness is affecting the racial dynamics of hip-hop culture negatively because it is discrediting the heritage of where it came from. Thus, leading to taking away from the true creators of hip-hop along with many other African American based media and ideologies. In the book Soul Thieves by Tamara Brown and Baruti Kopano they discuss how "Black cultural creations helped the white American need for identity and expression. Much of what America has presented as uniquely American- "music, fashion, humor, spirituality, …show more content…
One interviewee Ryan, explains that he often feels like a hypocrite because he loves hip-hop so much, but it feels like it does not really belong to him. Ryan continues to explain that whites have already taken so much from the African American culture like Rock and Soul music (Rodriguez 11). This relates a lot to 8-mile when Rabbit is on stage battling against Papa Doc. Almost no one wants him there. They call him trailer trash and a hillbilly because he is white. There is such a harsh environment around Rabbit because in everyone's eyes he is just another white guy being something he is not. There is annoyance that he is going to come and try to take rap away from them, it's their thing not
The Color-Blind Principle is written by Bernard Boxill discusses how color-blind and color-conscious are two very different things. This work also discusses the problems of discrimination based on something you are not responsible for such as being born black or white. Boxill uses the example of a university denying the rights of students’ admissions because their hair is parted to the right, then later states, “Suppose again for example, that a person is denied admission to law school because he parts his hair on the right side. Though he, far more easily than the black person can avoid being unfairly discriminated against, he does not thereby more easily avoid being the object, indeed, in a deeper sense, the victim, of unfair discrimination.” (463) I disagree with Boxill’s affirmative action idea because the idea of affirmative action is passing the discrimination from one race to the other.
According to the book the series of creative responses to the suffering of black American are not so complex. Perry’s polemic is open for discussion because it is inevitably connected with selection and interpretation. For example the constant discussion of rascally, when doing break dance, outlaw gangstas misses during the earlier days of hip-hop, graffiti and also electric boogaloo developed a space for Afro-American recognition. It was perhaps more concerning about pure hedonism than knowingly discussing on the deadlock of race relations. Creating imagery for the genre was essential hence the need for the use of metaphor in hip-hop plays on the black slaves looking for freedom as well as the hip hop
The article discusses the fact that hip hop “provides a lens [through which white students and faculty at institutions] interpret Black culture” and that because of this not only is the Black female’s view of herself being manipulated, but black males expect what is being promoted by hip hop culture from them, and so does every other person (Henry, West, & Jackson 238). A professor at North Carolina Central University spoke about how he dislikes how hip-hop has influenced the way his students dress, he said “ They look like hoochie mamas, not like they’re coming to class” (as cited in Evelyn
The torn down neighborhood, graffiti on the walls, gun shops and abandoned houses are what people living on the wrong side of 8 miles in Detroit saw in their everyday lives. Social disorganization theory according to Freda, Mueller, and Laufer (2013) is “A theory of criminality in which the breakdown of effective social bonds, primary associations, and social controls in neighborhoods and communities is held to result in the development of high crime areas” (p. 124). In the movie 8 Mile (Curtis Hanson, 2002) B-Rabbit lives in 8 mile where he is surrounded by delinquents that commit crimes, bums around the neighborhood and the alcoholic drunk of a mother he lives within a trailer park in the duration of the movie. He is a blue collar worker who does a lot of physical labor in a steel cutting factory where he tries to make a means to help support his mom and sister. But what he really hopes is to be a rapper, make a demo and sign to a label. So he goes where all other rappers go to get noticed, the “Shelter.” Rappers go and have battled to become a highly valued individual in the residential district. With such a large population that attend and participate in those battles there are less chances of any of them being sought out for a record deal. Others that lived outside of the 8 mile district thought less of the people that did live in that location. Even though they stayed together as people from the 313 there was always a better neighborhood or somebody who had it better. So who better to pick on than the white boy who survives with his alcoholic mother in a trailer, taking care of his sister, playing in a distasteful factory, and failing against the “Leaders of the Free World?” He was the perfect target just like many others th...
Inside the album jacket, Serch sums up hip-hop in ‘89: “There was a time when nothing was more important than the New York Rap Scene.” It’s dilluted, but not divided.” To hip-hop afficionados, Serch’s quote sounds like the equivalent to a Vietnam soldier’s letter home. Obviously, the group saw the possibility of the hip-hop culture being tainted.
As hip hop culture became prevalent in pop culture, so did black culture. Hip hop stems from black struggle. Their vernacular, songs, and spiritual ways were different from what whites were used to. Their different lifestyle of “living on the edge” was intriguing yet inaccessible for the whites living among them. Thus, this initiated America’s fascination with the culture. It became about what people assume and perceive about black people rather than what they actually are. In essence, an essential to cool is being on the outside, looking in. In the media and celebrities today,
In this paper I’m going to show how African Americans have used hip hop and black hair are two ways in which African Americans embrace their culture and fight oppression. However, as we have reviewed in many classes, oppression is not easily escaped. So in this paper, I’m going to show how cultural appropriation is used as a way of oppressing black culture. So this paper is an expansion of what we have learned in the class.
In the words of rapper Busta Rhymes, “hip-hop reflects the truth, and the problem is that hip-hop exposes a lot of the negative truth that society tries to conceal. It’s a platform where we could offer information, but it’s also an escape” Hip-hop is a culture that emerged from the Bronx, New York, during the early 1970s. Hip-Hop was a result of African American and Latino youth redirecting their hardships brought by marginalization from society to creativity in the forms of MCing, DJing, aerosol art, and breakdancing. Hip-hop serves as a vehicle for empowerment while transcending borders, skin color, and age. However, the paper will focus on hip-hop from the Chican@-Latin@ population in the United States. In the face of oppression, the Chican@-Latin@ population utilized hip hop music as a means to voice the community’s various issues, desires, and in the process empower its people.
Music is one of the most powerful and influential language which to many people in
...atching MTV music shows or any music channel on television. As we continue to watch these programs, we will then notice that almost all the rap and hip-hop artists being shown are African-Americans. It is the particular lifestyle, and behaviour that is connected to what particular artists chose to vocalize about. This usually can harm the image of African-Americans due to the fact that many artists aid in the misconceptions of their particular race such as the example provided with 50 Cent’s song entitled P.I.M.P. These lyrics and song titles simply reinforce the negative image some individuals may have of both Caucasian’s and people of colour. Rap and hip-hop is one of the most intimate, personal, legitimate and important art form. Instead of perpetuating injustice, and prejudice artists should be addressing these different issues in a different matter.
All of the articles dealt with hip hop as an industry and how that industry is portrayed to African Americans through the commercialization of hip hop and stereotypes in society. The articles also discuss how that portrayal influences the opinions of African Americans to others and themselves.
Although we have taken monumental strides in the past fifty years towards racial equality and diversity, it is still commonly argued that popular culture lacks some sort of racial representation. In the United States, the people who live here are vastly diverse when it comes to race and culture, yet in the media people of color get marginalized and stereotyped everyday in film, music, and etc.
African-American music is a vibrant art form that describes the difficult lives of African American people. This can be proven by examining slave music, which shows its listeners how the slaves felt when they were working, and gives us insight into the problems of slavery; the blues, which expresses the significant connection with American history, discusses what the American spirit looks like and teaches a great deal from the stories it tells; and hip-hop, which started on the streets and includes topics such as misogyny, sex, and black-on-black violence to reveal the reactions to the circumstances faced by modern African Americans.
Hip hop has permeated popular culture in an unprecedented fashion. Because of its crossover appeal, it is a great unifier of diverse populations. Although created by black youth on the streets, hip hop's influence has become well received by a number of different races in this country. A large number of the rap and hip hop audience is non-black. It has gone from the fringes, to the suburbs, and into the corporate boardrooms. Because it has become the fastest growing music genre in the U.S., companies and corporate giants have used its appeal to capitalize on it. Although critics of rap music and hip hop seem to be fixated on the messages of sex, violence, and harsh language, this genre offers a new paradigm of what can be (Lewis, 1998.) The potential of this art form to mend ethnic relations is substantial. Hip hop has challenged the system in ways that have unified individuals across a rich ethnic spectrum. This art form was once considered a fad has kept going strong for more than three decades. Generations consisting of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and Asians have grown up immersed in hip-hop. Hip hop represents a realignment of America?s cultural aesthetics. Rap songs deliver a message, again and again, to keep it real. It has influenced young people of all races to search for excitement, artistic fulfillment, and a sense of identity by exploring the black underclass (Foreman, 2002). Though it is music, many people do not realize that it is much more than that. Hip hop is a form of art and culture, style, and language, and extension of commerce, and for many, a natural means of living. The purpose of this paper is to examine hip hop and its effect on American culture. Different aspects of hip hop will also be examined to shed some light that helps readers to what hip hop actually is. In order to see hip hop as a cultural influence we need to take a look at its history.
Black culture in our society has come to the point where it is allied with pop culture. The most popular music genres, slang terms, to dance forms it all comes from black culture. Hip hop emerged from black culture, becoming the soul of it that is seen in the media. Hip hop helped the black community by creating new ways of expressing themselves, from breakdance, graffiti, rap and other music, to slang. This culture was rooted in their tradition and created from something new. Hip hop created a new form of music that required the use of turn tables, ‘cuts’, loops, rhythm, rhyme, stories, and deep-rooted emotions, but also incorporated black oral forms of storytelling using communal authors.