Hip-Hop Culture Influence On Youth Culture

Hip-hop has become a mainstream culture in youth today. It is a classic of music that contains both rap and break dancing. Hip-hop culture, originally from African Americans in the United States, has influenced many young generations. For example, there are many famous hip-hop artists who are supported by new generations, such as Jay-z, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem. However, there are some controversy arguments about hip-hop culture has been influenced youth culture with reinforcing bad behaviors, such as academic performance in school and behavioral problem with drug use. Since hip-hop culture adopted the idea of subversion, an idea in popular culture, which defines as a counter-culture attempt to change the status quo. The attempt of subversion

makes many people seem hip-hop culture as a negative impact to teenagers that could lead to poor cognitive of intelligence which would influence poorly their education. Therefore, It is important for people to examine the true value of African American’s hip-hop culture that could psychologically and physically influences on youth’s behaviors and cognitive.
In the history of African Americans in the United States, the Black arts contains the desire of black power from African Americans to be self-determination and nationhood. Larry Neal, the author of The Black Arts Movement in 1968, described the black arts movement as an aesthetic and spiritual sister of the black power concept. In the other words, he described that the black art movement should be a radical re-ordering of western cultural aesthetic which propose with separate symbolism, mythology, critique, and iconology. However, hip-hop was not the cultural counterpart to a larger of both political and economic movement of black people yet. Hip-hop as part of the African American history, it began in the early of 1970s. Errol A. Henderson, the writer of Black Nationalism and Rap Music, has defined that hip-hop in the beginning as a synthesis of self-conscious poetry and music which direct to the Black Nationalist Last Poets, the albums called The Last Poets, Chastisement, This is Madness as a part of classics in the African American community. Hip-hop was known as underground movement which develop in the South Bronx in New York. It was also known as a subculture, or street culture, before it become a mainstream today. Later on, with the contribution from DL, J. Saddler who later known as Grand Master Flash, originated the “clock method” which refined and developed the breakbeats. With the continually development of street culture until today, hip-hop has become the mainstream culture today with well define musical core.
As hip-hop becomes the mainstream culture in the modern society, many parents have the cognitive of listening hip-hop music can contribute to low school performance. Based from the stereotype to African Americans and the humble lyrics of hip-hop music, many family in the United States usually has the great concern on their children’s cognitive would be shape by hip-hop culture. In the book, Balancing Acts: Youth Culture in the Global City, written by Natasha Kumar Warikii, a Harvard Professor, she reports that hip-hop culture has become “a global currency for status among urban youth.” She determined that she found no probable cause of hip-hop music with low academic performance. In other words, listening to hip-hop music would not degrade student’s performance in school. Also, in the article, Is Hip Hop Education Another Hustle? The (Ir)Responsible Use of Hip Hop as Pedagogy, it describes how hip-hop based education can be engage with youth and increase their academic achievement. Author claims that hip-hop program of education is not a new phenomenon. During 1980s to 1990s, hip-hop has been used as a platform for instruction in history and black power politics. Recently, hip-hop based education appear to be more formalized and structured. It used the rap songs and lyrics as curricular resources. One of the success component from hip-hop based education is “Hip-Hop Saves Lives”, which let student write and record a song about any humanitarian or “hero”. Then, they will film a music video and send to that “hero”. Howard University, University of Arizona, Cornell University, and University of Wisconsin-Madison have adopted hip-hop based education in their course study. Therefore, hip-hop culture has been widely used and improved the education in the United States.
However, the image of hip-hop culture has become a stereotype from modern generations on African American women. Many youths have adopted the idea of hip-hop music have to do with beautiful physical body posturing. Many of the female hip-hop artists like Trina and Beyoncé have postured several sexual images. In the article, The Effects of Images of African American women in Hip Hop on Early Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Physical Attractiveness and Interpersonal Relationships, it examines on eight sexual images that both inform and reflect beliefs about African American women’s physical attractiveness. These sexual images include Diva, Gold Digger, Freak, Dyke, Gangster Bitch, Earth Mother, Sister Savior, and Baby Mama. All of these traits have demonstrated a sexuality image in different ways. For example, Gangster Bitch shows an image of “ street tough” women. However, those images would develop a race identity confusion for adolescents. For African American adolescents, especially female, they would self-portray themselves to be like those sexuality images. This becomes a belief and norms for them to be physical attractiveness. However, the sexuality image of hip-hop culture would lead to a stereotypical culture in America. People would generalize African American women with the image of sexuality. Therefore, it would influence the youth culture with racism and sexism on African American women with the sexuality image on hip-hop culture.
Although hip-hop music have no cause and effect problem on teenager’s school performance, hip-hop culture can still influence their behaviors.

The drug use behavior for teenagers has become a main problem today in the relation with hip-hop music. Although hip-hop culture do not directly effect on teenager’s performance in academic, many of them have been reported by creating trouble in the society. In the article, Taste clusters of music and drugs: evidence from three analytic levels, it describes that the hip hop culture has led teenagers to adopt with the relationship of substances use. The author determines that hip-hop culture can share a common affinity for marijuana use. The research discovers that USA has found the evidence by tying hip-hop with particular drug use. From the literature research demonstrate in Kubrin’s content analysis (2005:375-72006), some hip-hop music provides an “interpretive resource” for feelings of injustice. Therefore, the researchers believes that the clustering of hip-hop has high expectancy of drug use more than generally. The research’s result shows that the level of individual-level survey data or self-reported with drug use with hip-hop listeners have 28 percent for marijuana, 65 percent for alcohol, and 46 percent for cigarettes. Therefore, the research finds significantly higher use with marijuana and other substances by the musical preferences on hip-hop music. The researchers conclude that musical preference of hip-hop by youths

has higher correlation of substance use compared to general population. In this article, it demonstrates the high risks of hip-hop listeners can be involved into drug use. Therefore, hip-hop culture can effectively influence youth’s choice on substance use which could corrupt the society.
Most people have only adjusted hip-hop culture as a subversion type of cultural effect in the society.

The subversion culture of hip-hop However, hip-hop culture also have the correlation with developing crime culture. In the study of Clubbing masculinities and crime: A qualitative study of Philadelphia nightclub scenes, it examines the relationship between masculinities and crime within the hip-hop music nightclub scenes in Philadelphia. The study observes 33 club events and interviews with 24 male clubbers. The result shows three common situation from these men, which are men with consistently high masculinities reported the most frequent involvement in nightclub crime, men with consistently low masculinities scores reported the least involvement, and men with variable masculinity scores put on more hyper-masculine identity while clubbing which lead them to engage in nightclub crime. The people with high possibility of engaging with nightclub crime may be associated with other sexuality problem because they contain the behavior of competitiveness, aggressiveness, dominance, and independence. In the other words, these males has established the link of trait with crime. Also, the hip-hop music nightclub scenes provide males alcohol as an activator which led them to be less rational than they normally act in life. As the result comments on the type of male with high masculinities, they should the higher crime rate with raping. Therefore, the culture of hip-hop has been

adopted in a negative way that encourage males to be engage with sexual crime.
In conclusion, hip-hop culture have risen popularly from few decades ago. The United States have adopted hip-hop culture with promoting the society, such as engagement with education. Many schools have used the program, hip-hop based education, which involved using music and lyrics to provide a better education for students. However, negative influences of hip-hop culture also rise undermined. Stereotypical culture on African American women with sexuality has become an image that generalized in the United States. People believe that hip-hop culture must involve with physical attractive women. Therefore, the confusion of race identity would let people assume African American women are all in the hip-hop culture that use sexuality to be attractive in the society. Another problem of hip-hop culture that have developed in our society today is that hip-hop music have become a prompt for youth that lead them with the drug use. Many youth have engaged with marijuana that would provide a downhill culture and disorder in the society of the United States. Also, sexuality of crime has become more often with the use of hip-hop music in the nightclub scenes. Due to the misbehavior from substance use, such as alcohol, male involved with hip-hop music nightclub has higher crime issue such as rape. Therefore, hip-hop culture has the value of music based from its history. However, modern society has misused the culture and has created trouble in different cases. So, the re-define of hip-hop culture is necessary in the United States that hip-hop music should be safer as other musical types such as classic with peaceful and rock n roll with innovation.