The White Hip Hop Fan

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The White Hip Hop Fan

Methodology

In case you are not accustomed with the group Public Enemy, the subtitles names is a play of their album "It'll Take a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back." Being not only a white hip hop fan, but a white kid trying to become a rapper, I have obviously been faced with the problem of society's non-acceptance of my type. I interviewed a friend of mine who I rap with quite often about his feelings on the subject of the white hip hop fan, and have long pondered it on my own. I read books and web sites recommended by friends and continue to search out more information on the subject. In this paper I look at the state of the white hip hop fan and of the white rapper, focusing mainly on the social and cultural impact, the way the white fan feels and is looked at by society.

Description

ON HIP HOP IN GENERAL:

The term hip hop relates to four areas of urban culture: mcing, djing, break dancing, and graffiti art. Hip hop basically started in New York city. Who knows which of the four areas really came first, but the important thing is that they evolved together. Many of the graffiti artists were rappers who would tag their name or crew to get publicity. However, if one had to pick who really came first, I would say it was the DJs. The most important early DJs were Grandmaster Flash and Africa Bambaataa, who were hip hop kings of their respective parts of New York City. MCs began to show up in this context as people began to talk over the DJs scratching and they mostly talked about the DJ's skills and pumped up the crowd. Finally, break dancing was obviously started when people began dancing to the music. All four areas have grown up together and taken their own outside influences as well. Now that hip hop has been around for a few decades (it started back in the early 80s), it has gone through many phases, and is constantly evolving. Some of the earliest hip hoppers say that hip hop died in the 90s, but there are those purists in every musical genres who dislike its evolution for whatever reason, and they are not the majority. Today, hip hop comes in a wide variety from gangsta rap, to underground rap, to jazzrap fusion, to what I like to call pophop, and much more.

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