As the hip-hop battle rages on in the background somewhere between the black literati, consumers and observers, I stand objectively nodding religiously to Lupe Fiasco as he creates a narrative surrounding personified life of a housing complex each component, the legs, the chest, a different facet of living in the hood. Some would pose Lupe as a Hip-Hop alternative, glorifying his intellectualism and political consciousness, at the expense of demonizing other less academically articulate rap artists. Maybe they deserve it. Maybe they are ill educated and uncultured. But does that delegitimize their message? Understanding the messages of many gangsta rap artists is a complex task for those whose lived experiences don’t relate. We need to find an alternative way to comprehend and critique the music that we dismiss as garbage. What are rappers really saying? Michal P. Jefferies’ work Thug Life, provides us with alternative tools to answer this question. I seek to further explore Jefferies “complex cool” and how it allows for a thug masculinity to include love and other emotional sentiments. On the onset of work, Jefferies seeks to identify what hip-hop is. The most poignant finding is not that black and whites think differently about its meaning, but what emerged was the acknowledgement that Hip-Hop was created as a tool to voice the sentiments of the disenfranchised. This locates the birth of Hip-Hop in cradles of disenfranchisements, the hood. Hip-hop worked as a megaphone, a magnifying glass that candidly told whoever would listen about the hardships, injustice and racism faced by those living in American ghettos. It worked as a tool to tell the stories of the people living there in order to build empathetic conversatio... ... middle of paper ... ...ity not only suffer emotionally but candidly express this pain. These artists are able to both present this hyper-masculine image and at the same time reflect on his moral shortcoming. It is this apologetic regretful nature of drug narratives that allow the artists to become folk heroes. By telling the story of his drug dealing past and conveying a sense of regret he reaches out to those in a similar position to himself and in a way is delivering a confession to apologize to the ones that he has hurt. With Jefferies’ complex cool we can understand gangsta rappers as something more than nihilistic villains. It may not be the preferred way of representing the story of life in the ghetto but it does just that. Even with commercial Hip-Hop, real sentiment slip through the corporate cracks to reveal a gangsta masculinity that is emotionally responsive and cognizant.
In one of the chapters, ‘Where Did Our Love Go?’ the author reveals how blacks in America use the music to express their anger and commitment to emerge as great people in an unfair community. Most songs are written to educate the society on the negative effects of racism. They encourage the society to love one another and embrace unity. The human nature is founded through a social platform where philosophers claim that people were created to love one another and live with peace and unity. Through this book, it is clear that the blacks in the hip-hop generation are money minded. However, this is expected in a world where the economy is tough. The author claims that the youth are the people who are majorly affected by racism. Many of them have been arrested for pity mistakes which are magnified in the courts due to the impression that the society has on the black people. They engage in dirty activities like drug dealings that that put them on the wrong side of the
When looking at the landscape of Hip-Hop among African Americans, from the spawn of gangsta rap in the mid 1980s to current day, masculinity and an idea of hardness is central to their image and performance. Stereotypical to Black masculinity, the idea of a strong Black male - one who keeps it real, and is defiant to the point of violence - is prevalent in the genre. This resistant, or even compensatory masculinity, encompasses: the hyper masculinity rife in the Western world, misogyny, and homophobia, all noticeable in their lyrics, which is in part a result of their containment within the Black community. The link of masculinity and rap music was established due to this containment, early innovators remaking public spaces in their segregated neighbourhoods. A notion of authentic masculinity arose from the resistant nature of the genre, but the move to the mainstream in the 90s created a contradiction to their very image - resistance. Ultimately, this in part led to the construction of the masculinity defined earlier, one that prides itself on its authenticity. I’ll be exploring how gender is constructed and performed in Hip Hop, beginning with a historical framework, with the caveat of showing that differing masculine identities in the genre, including artists
Hip-hop through out the years has been involving and become universal in everyday life. You will here presidents, senators, republicans, and democrats talk about their favorite rappers and songs they hear. The president was asked if he liked hip-hop music, he replied, “I’ve got to admit, lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Jay-Z. This new ‘American Gangster’ alb...
One way in which Hip-Hop addresses these social issues is through lyrics of Hip-Hop songs. There are many artists who have songs that contain lyrics that both outwardly and subliminally state the issues that minority communities face. One such artist is J.Cole. In many of Cole’s songs, you can...
Influential Black Nationalist spokesmen Malcolm X, and others alike, preached racial solidarity, economic self-sufficiency, and black self-help during the tumultuous times of the 1960’s in America. Organizations like the SNCC, CORE, Black Panther Party, and Black Muslims attracted hundreds of thousands of followers for the sole purpose of bringing the black community, during these tremendously hard times, together. Musicians like Otis Redding, Ray Charles, and Sam Cooke touched on the struggles of the black man during this time period. It wasn’t until 10 years later that self-conscious poetry spoke of Black Nationalism over a beat, but from that point on the genre coined “hip-hop” has transformed.
Watts, Eric K. "An Exploration of Spectacular Consumption: Gangsta Rap as Cultural Commodity." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 593-609. Print.
Jeffries, M. P. (2011). Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-hop. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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.
The Under Construction is an expressive article by Whitney A. Peoples and is centered on dissecting the political and social objectives of feminism within the hip-hop musical context. The essay identifies and tackles the generational disruptions that emerge as a result of the revealed objectives. Further, the article addresses the theoretical and practical elements shared by black feminists from both the second and third generation waves. The hip-hop culture holds considerable potential considered both sexually liberating and radical at the same time. The contemporary feminist movement seeks to overlook the incontestable misogyny in rap music and instead it uses the platform to critique racism and express race and ethnic associations. Hip-hop feminists argue that the music provides young black women with an avenue to conceive and develop personal gender critique and feminist identities that will eventually end the misogyny of rap music.
How has hip-hop culture re-appropriated the N-word? How has ‘Black Stylized English’ revolutionized popular culture? How has hip-hop culture transcended ethnic margins? In what ways does hip-hop been identified as influential sites in African students’ processes of becoming black? What are the pedagogical ideas that hip-hop has linked to its culture? Was hip-hop part responsible for the youth’s involvement in Barack Obama’s presidential election? Did hip-hop make politics more interesting for the youth? How has hip-hop culture influenced the youth’s perspective on race and
This paper will reflect hip-hop and the music industry. It will give a glimpse in the history of hip-hop. It will show how hip-hop originated and how music has a huge influence in mainstream media. Urban America took fast to the new wave of music and how a person’s personal struggle in life and the street. This will show how the media glamorizes rappers and their celebrity to give a false view of the lifestyle.
For a major part of history hip-hop has been seen as a rugged, materialistic or degrading type of music. The impact that hip-hop possesses over young African American students has been a debate greatly augmented through time. Whether or not an individual’s opinion can really persuade a young audience is something that has been heavily toted. Through the article “Should Hip-Hop Artist Produce Music That Is Socially Uplifting” Marc Lamont Hill Introduces a commonsensical thought about the way we perceive a lot of the material we hear in hip-hop music. Hill thoroughly explains how hip-hop music has realistically impacted young students. Hill’s argument smoothly defends against his counterpart Heru Ofori Atta in an attempt to persuade readers towards
Many people don’t consider it hip-hop for the reason that it preaches violence. The “gangsta” rappers think they need to portray that hardcore look to succeed. There is proof that hip-hop stars can succeed without speaking about sexuality, violence, crime and drugs. These lyrics present ideas of committing crimes in the minds of any easily influenced person (particularly the younger groups). The “Gangsta” rapper could be held partially accountable for at least a number of the crimes committed by their listeners.
Gail Hilson Woldu, author of “The Kaleidoscope of Writing on Hip Hop Studies,” emphasizes the importance of cultural theory, urban history, and black feminism in the study of Hip Hop and its influence over the last several decades. The cultural theory aspect throughout the studies of hip hop, specifically in Houston Baker’s Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy, focuses on the importance of the “classic black sound” and the ability for the rap industry to be a profitable resource for an alternative American authority (Woldu 16). The cultural theory helps expand the knowledge of “hip hop” as an idea and influence on society. Mark Anthony Neal discusses the development of the understanding of hip hop by dissecting the layers and complexities of
Furthermore, I will be examining the shift that rap has made from being a subculture to mainstream, the effect of hip hop business on the ‘Hip- hop Nation’, as well as a popular hip - hop artist Jay - Z and how he has been able to create an identity for black male youth and if this identity fits with the intended purposes of the hip-hop subculture.