To Pimp A Butterfly “Hip-Hop is not the problem our reality is the problem” Those are the words Kendrick Lamar gave to TMZ during a call interview. Kendrick is a worldwide known rapper. His lyrics and meaning behind them are one of the reasons that make him so popular in today’s generation. His interviews tend to have quite a controversy because of the choices of lyrics he uses. This article is persuasive because it is straight forward and informs the audience a side of reality that the news doesn’t show. Kendrick Lamar recently gave a performance at the BET music awards which left a lot to talk about. Fox news took Kendrick’s performance as him persuading violence among African Americans. The audience may find The Highnobiety’s article persuasive to young people and even older people. Considering the article was written was written by a journalist named Calum Gorden. …show more content…
Not only Is America at a huge disagreement with police injustices against African American’s. America is at a disagreement with the media, news, and articles of not being informed of what really happens in today’s world. Kendrick Lamar bases his music around the simple fact that even though the new won’t portray the real stories about police brutality or the constant mistreatment against African Americans. With his music and performances he spreads his views. Fox news tend to take Hip-Hop to be the center of the topic at their media station. Less than 24 hours later after Kendrick’s BET performance the station was buzzing with ringing phone calls about how his act was encouraging violence. The author’s style he uses is very detailed and modern with today’s generation. The author’s traces back to Kendrick’s Lamar album “To Pimp A Butterfly” was one of his most sold and most talked about album for quite a while. The album focused mainly about how the struggles and injustices Africans American’s go through
Some weaknesses of James McBride’s “Hip Hop Planet” include its cynical tone and his attitude towards the musical side of Hip Hop. McBride opens the essay with a reflection on what his ultimate nightmare is. He showcases the Hip Hop community in a negative light with phrases like, “music that doesn’t seem to be music—rules the world” (McBride, pg. 1). This starts the essay off negatively because it misleads the reader by letting them think he is not a supporter of the Hip Hop movement. As you read the entire essay you realize this is not the case. The article itself isn’t very inviting because tone of the entire essay is very cold and cynical. He also doesn’t agree with the typical Hip Hop sound saying things like, “It sounded like a broken record” (McBride, pg. 1). The sound of Hip Hop music is what helps define it and is a crucial aspect of
Kendrick Lamar is known for his controversial lyrics discussing popular and historic political issues. Recently winning the Grammy for best music video of the year, he typically uses his music videos as a paratext to further elaborate on his thought provoking songs and to point out issues in society. His Grammy winning video, “Humble,” does an exceptional job of highlighting the increasing conformism in society and suggests nonconformity as a way in which an individual can rise above it. The increasing conformism that Kendrick Lamar is critical of is a type of ideology. An ideology is a system of values upheld by a group and the values effect the group’s actions and goals. A conformist ideology can be defined by one following the popular route
Hip-Hop became characterized by an aggressive tone marked by graphic descriptions of the harshness and diversity of inner-city life. Primarily a medium of popular entertainment, hip-hop also conveys the more serious voices of youth in the black community. Though the approaches of rappers became more varied in the latter half of the 1980s, message hip-hop remained a viable form for addressing the problems faced by the black community and means to solve those problems. The voices of "message" hip...
As Kendrick entered the stage shackled to his black comrades with a soulful saxophone playing in the background, it is obvious that the imagery of imprisonment was a commentary on incarceration in America and its similarities with slavery. By amplifying this modern twist on slavery, Kendrick provokes American viewers to reflect on the struggles that black Americans still go through today. At the start of his performance he goes on to rap “I’m African-American — I’m African” as if he was correcting himself. This isn’t surprising as black identity is hard to establish in a country that implicitly detests you, but explicitly fetishizes your culture. Stuart Hall discusses this in his text when he states, “’the primitive is a modern problem, a crisis in cultural identity’…the modernist construction of primitivism, the fetishistic recognition and disavowal of the primitive difference” (Hall 125). There is no wonder why Kendrick, like many African-Americans, finds comfort in placing his identity with the mother land rather than his true country of origin. How can the black multitude stand in solidarity with a country who will continuously praise black culture but refuse to recognize the black struggle? Kendrick Lamar then conjures imagery of Africa, where he danced and rapped in front of a raging bonfire, one of the most powerful imagery included in his entire performance. One can interpret
One of Williams main topics of concerns is the wrong messages that “public airwaves” are sending to their listeners and followers. Williams claims rap and other medias are representing and sending the wrong message about African American communities. She mentions that rap music once held a positive message but now rap music is bombarding the public with the use of profanity, violence, and obscenity throughout their lyrics and music
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.
A race issue that occurs within the rap and hip-hop musical genre is the racial stereotypes associated with the musical form. According to Brandt, and Viki rap music and hip- hop music are known for fomenting crime violence, and the continuing formation of negative perceptions revolving around the African-American race (p.362). Many individuals believe that rap and hip-hop music and the culture that forms it is the particular reason for the degradation of the African-American community and the stereotypes that surround that specific ethnic group. An example is a two thousand and seven song produced by artist Nas entitled the N-word. The particular title of the song sparked major debates within not only the African-American community thus the Caucasian communities as well. Debates included topics such as the significance and worth of freedom of speech compared with the need to take a stand against messages that denigrate African-Americans. This specific label turned into an outrage and came to the point where conservative white individuals stood in front of the record label expressing their feelings. These individuals made a point that it is because artists like Nas that there is an increase in gang and street violence within communities. Rap and hip-hop music only depicts a simple-minded image of black men as sex crazed, criminals, or “gangsters”. As said above, community concerns have arisen over time over the use of the N-word, or the fact that many rappers vocalize about white superiority and privilege. Of course rap music did not develop these specific stereotypes, however these stereotypes are being used; and quite successfully in rap and hip-hop which spreads them and keeps the idea that people of color are lazy, all crimin...
From its conception in the 1970's and throughout the 1980's, hip hop was a self-contained entity within the community that created it. This means that all the parameters set for the expression came from within the community and that it was meant for consumption by the community. Today, the audience is from outside of the community and doesn’t share the same experiences that drive the music. An artists’ success hinges on pleasing consumers, not the community. In today's world, it isn’t about music that rings true for those who share the artists' experiences, but instead, music that provides a dramatic illusion for those who will never share the experiences conveyed. This has radically changed the creative process of artists and the diversity of available music. Most notably, it has called in to question the future of hip hop.
These articles depict the controversies of the hip hop industry and how that makes it difficult for one to succeed. Many of these complications and disputes may be invisible to the population, but these articles take the time to reveal them.
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.
Since its emergence in the South Bronx in the 1970’s, hip hop has spread to both urban and suburban communities throughout the world. Once an underground genre of music, it is seen in commercials, movies, television shows, etc. It has transformed from music and expanded into a full culture. It has even made its way into fashion and art. Men have always been on the front line of Hip Hop. However, the lyrics and images have changed tremendously. Lyrics and images that once spoke upon the injustices and empowerment for the African American people is now filled with money, cars, jewelry, and of course women.
On April 10, I watched the TED Talk of the Christian and social justice rapper, Lecrae. He claimed that good and bad isn’t always black and white. Specifically, he claimed that heroes and villains are subjective terms. As he said, “heroes are sometimes more villainous than we think and sometimes our villains are more heroic than we give them credit for.” Lecrae relates this to hip-hop music when he introduces its timeline. He stated that beginning in the ‘70s and ‘80s, hip-hop was a narration of a struggle, but the ‘90s began a new type of story within the music that seemed to glorify the stigmas created by the media. He elaborates on his theory using the timeline that shows drug trafficking into American neighborhoods increasing as unemployment
Dixon, Travis L., TaKeshia Brooks. “Rap Music and Rap Audiences: Controversial Themes, Psychological Effects and Political Resistance.” Perspectives. 7 April 2009. .
Popular, digital, and social media are primary sites for engaging with social and cultural norms and racial, gender, sexual, and class ideologies (Lindsey). More recently, we see evidence of young black people having a sense of empowerment and freely displaying it on social media. Influences in the media have also jumped on board, reflecting their views on racially charged topics within their work. Consequently, social media is notorious for either virally uplifting of condemning society without any sense of tact. With the media spotlighting the recent out lash geared towards people of color, society was finally being exposed to the uncensored struggles of this ethnic group. The violent outbreak of police brutality against black people and racial profiling, agitated people of color in every community. A few of the many tragedies such as Michael Brown, Tamar Rice and Travon Martin, gave us the realization that being black is not safe. This epidemic had triggered uncertainty, that had Americans questioning the credibly of our communities in a long time. With situations like this in the face of the media, the choice to turn a blind eye was no longer an
Not only is hip-hop a way of expressing ones feelings or views, but it is a part of the urban culture and can be used as a communication tool. Slang originally came from hip-hop music and has become a very popular use in today’s society, especially the urban parts. Hip-hop is a standout amongst the most compelling musical sorts on the globe. There are rappers everywhere that know what amount of an impact their music can have. Some entertainers attempt to utilize that force of impact to do great (Ruiz INT).