Hip-Hop Planet And Dream Machines: A Comparative Analysis

In the articles, “Hip-Hop Planet” by James McBride and “Dream Machines” by Will Wright, both authors write about how each of their topics were something that was not given much thought of but has now evolved into a whole new learning technique for the world. McBride’s topic is of hip-hop and rap and goes onto say how it came to be, how it has affected the world, and how the world has accepted and taken from it. And then we have Wright who discusses video games and how the newer generation learns by playing outright.

And so, what both authors are trying to say is that the youth have created a place that they can create new worlds and find release in them. Both hip-hop and video games have created an outlet for the youth to find new ways of

thinking. As Wright says, “the world as a place for creation, not consumption” (Wright, 3), saying how video games is helping the newer generation to be more open-minded and imaginative. The same goes for hip-hop and rap, simply have a beat, a rhyme, a way for people to hear, creation and you can make your opinion and views go out and be heard through your rap. And with that, people can make them feel as they may have a chance with becoming something more. Both hip-hop and video games can help you find release because video games you can pour your energy and creation into them and the outcome could be positive, such as relives stress or the mind getting exercise in thinking; hip-hop and rap can allow relief as well by just spitting out some rhymes of frustration or of excitement. It’s whatever the youth wants it to be.
As McBride said in his article, while he did his best in “high-stepping” past the music of hip-hop, he couldn’t truly be left alone “because it held everything I wanted to leave behind” (McBride, 3) meaning that what rap spoke of during McBride’s “high-stepping”, it reminded him off his own struggles for when he was young and was continuing his studies at Columbia University for journalism. It reminded him of a past that he wanted to leave behind through education. And even thought McBride, missed out on an important cultural event, he bring his own personal knowledge and experience when discussing the creation of hip-hop, explaining hip-hop, and how it affected him. So in a way, McBride is very open to rap and hip-hop, yet has a dislikement for it because of the topics rap spoke of and still does through their music.
With the beginnings of rap starting out as fun and upbeat, especially when the most notable rap for kick starting the hip-hop movement is “Rapper’s Delight”; a very fun and party favorite rap about having a good time, Though McBride wasn’t a fan of it for “it sounded like a broken record” (McBride, 2). Rap and hip-hop later evolve into the gangster rap; rap that spoke of violence and degradation of women that we know of in the 1990s. And as time goes one, rap has evolved into something else, raps that speak of social issues, of politics, of our society. As McBride says, “whatever music it eat becomes a part of it” (McBride, 3), so no matter what genre it is, rap has a way of affecting it for “it metamorphosis into the next big thing,” (McBride, 3), which right now is political raps, for the world is starting be more aware and open-minded to the issues it has created for itself. For rap has gone and reached all over the world. And so each place, each region, each city have their own ways of getting their raps out and to be listened to. So that the world can hear their thoughts, views, and opinions. With rap being widely popular, it has created its own cultures, subcultures, and following with different messages. Or the same messages, if all they rappers talk of the same subject, that it could be delivered differently. But the message is the same, and with certain rappers being more influential than others, this is how the youth of today is being taught and learning.
And so we move onto Wright, who is the creator of many games, including the Sims.

Wright’s topic is video games, an area he knows well in, and in his article, “dream Machines”, he explains how video games has helped today’s youth b creative and imaginative. He says games help the youth develop more, for as children we would have our own games and set rules and goals. But technology such as “computers have been understood as an extension of the human brain” (Wright, 4). And so imagine what video games, a more complex device then computers, can do when people are given the chance to decide their own. For video games were once simple when they first started out but as time and technology advances, so did the video games. Thy have become more elaborate, more graphic causing the player to think outside of the box to try to achieve new ways to let out their imagination roam free and help them in the process of playing. While many adults have a negative view of video games, and is they have, they have played it and gotten angry at it for they did not understand the concept of the controls of the game. Which what makes the youth of today much more open in playing for they don’t need to understand or read the manual to play, its trial and error to them. They learn and understand as the play along. They know that can try again. They understand that it may be difficult but they still try and they keep their mind open for new outcomes. Thiers minds are open and accepting to new information and ways of thinking. Which is what makes the youth of today different from past generations who were taught one way of thinking and being

judgmental.
While both authors discuss on how each of their topics have culturally impacted today’s youth, they still have their differences being on how who they affect. Both video games and hip-hop are in the mainstream yet the group of people who are targeted towards for hip-hop are mainly the urban people that are struggling, possibly finically and face a negative lifestyle. In another direction, video games are mainly targeted for suburban people; those can afford all the necessary equipment for the games, such as tc screens, controls, consoles, the games itself. The games brans new may cost up to sixty dollars or more. Yet for hip-hop, simply buying a cd, physical from the store, could be up to fifteen dollars; maybe even less. Or could buy the album electronically for half the price even though a huge amount of work, energy and money is spent on creating the music.