"To Rap Things Up"
Adventist in the Arts is an essay summarizing the origins of, "The Lesser Light Collective" (TLLC) in a third person perspective of Lee Givhan through the art of rap; a musical genre of poetic lyrics with heavy rhythmic instrumentals with some street vernacular. Started during Lee's high school years, Kovacs details his journey from an upcoming rapper to one of the founders of the organization while being a missionary. She also wrote about Lee's spiritual journey with Jesus throughout the recollection. Kovac has described these events in simple terms with dialogue to support her points, along with business throughout their "rap career". Kovacs has presented that rap can be a form of worship and how she made it feel familiar
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It only dates their tour and what they have produced as a result from some of their ways of fundraising failed. It continues to show God's involvement in their sharing of His gospel, which is one of their goals. However, Lee has noted, “We’re not trying to change musical views; but it’s happening—people see that styles they thought were of the devil can be used by God.” It seems that they knew well that many see rap as a work of the devil, which isn't entirely true. Although, kudos to Lee for being able to turn this "not-actually-a-work-of-the-devil" art, to a form of spreading his word. Kovacs is implying that a rapping career is hard and also not an easy task to catch the eyes of their audience.
Kovacs' essay on the origins of TLLC and Lee's conversion reveals her support of rap music being another form of worship to God. While Lee's journey is quite an eye-opener for the genre performed like other Christian musicians, the evidence to support her stance and argument (or pseudo-argument) aren't exactly expanded on and lost some potential to persuade some to try rap music. Even so, she was able to peek interest in rap music for young Adventists to experiment with and surely does succeed in doing
The story I chose for this analysis is “Why, you reckon?” by Langston Hughes. IN this analysis I will be focusing on how the great depression in Harlem had effect on the story, how racism played a part, and how or if the characters were justifyied in their actions. During this time period the intense racial divide combined with the economic harships that plagued the U.S. during the 1923’s makes for an interesting story that makes you think if the charaters were really justified.
Social psychology is a branch of the spectrum of psychology that primarily focuses on social interactions, environmental influences and the social experiences that weigh heavily on individuals cognitive schemas. The film “Boyz ‘N The Hood” is comprised of many contemporary influential African American actors, heavily influenced by the environment they are in and the violence surrounding them in their community. There are various aspects of the movie that portray social psychological concepts, such as social perception, attitude change, aggression and violence, and group dynamics. Social psychological issues such as proactive aggression, reactive aggression, desensitization, differential association theory, and deviance
People from many generations may think that today’s music shows virtually nothing. This generations rap music mainly circles around how much money you receive from rapping, how much women you receive from rapping, and how much drugs you receive from rapping. There is rare few times where rap artist come out of this circle, to talk about real life experiences, issues within the world, and how this affects certain diversities. Baruti N. Kopano, an assistant professor of Mass Communications at Delaware State University, does a study on the rhetorical legacy of rap music. He starts off in this article how rap music to him is a legacy with rich history, “For rappers, ‘keepin it real’ means being
Hip Hop was, at its inception, a means for African Americans to tell their unaltered story. Towards the mid-’90s however, the genre began to be way more salse conscious than it ever was before. Artists, such as Nas for example, began to stray from their genuine and authentic selves to start making music about drugs, violence, and sex because that was what pushed their sales to the corporate level. This album was Lauryn Hill coming to re-educate the people in an attempt to bring them back to the root of Hip Hop. This poem focuses on many different themes, however this focuses on religion. In the poem Mystery of Iniquity the writer Lauryn Hill examines religion to illustrate racial discrimination, corrupting and crooked
The origins of African American religious music are directly linked to the Negro spirituals of enslaved Africans. One cannot research religious music of blacks in this country without first exploring these spirituals. The spirituals were part of a religious expression that enslaved people used to transcend the narrow limits and dehumanizing effects of slavery. It was through the performance of the spirituals that the individual and the community experienced their God, a God who affirmed their humanity in ways whites did not and a God who could set them free both spiritually and physically. These “sacred songs” were also used as secret communication. That is not to say that all spirituals functioned as coded protest songs or as some sort of secret language. The structure of the spirituals and the way in which they were created and performed allowed for flexibility in their function and meaning.
As I initially began reading Hendricks’ critique of contemporary gospel music, I found myself in agreement. I thought, yes, gospel music has transitioned and no longer is as strongly rooted in liberation, freedom, and justice. My thoughts immediately took me to the works of Kirk Franklin and Yolanda Adams whose gospel songs could be heard during primetime on hip hop radio stations. But then I asked myself, is this so bad and I continued to read further. Gospel “music today…is unmindful and uninvolved with the ongoing freedom struggle of Black people in America.” (page 556)
Rap is about giving voice to a black community otherwise underrepresented, if not silent, in the mass media. It has always been and remains … directly connected to the streets from which it came. (144)
to get a message across and most importantly it sales records, just like NWA, Ice-T, Public Enemy, and the 2 live crew soon discovered early on in their time.
Culture Centers in Higher Education: Perspectives on Identity, Theory, and Practice is a powerful and enlightening book by Lori D. Patton. Patton is a higher education scholar who focuses on issues of race theories, African American experiences on college campuses, student development theories, campus environments, inclusion, and multicultural resources centers at higher education institutions. She has a variety of publications and was one of the first doctoral students to complete a dissertation that focused exclusively on Black culture centers entitled, “From Protest to Progress: An Examination of the Relevance, Relationships and Roles of Black Culture Centers.” In Campus Culture Centers in Higher Education Patton collaborates with many higher education scholars and faculty members to discuss various types of racial and ethnic culture centers in higher education, their overall effectiveness, relevance, and implications for improvement in relation to student retention and success. Diversity, inclusion and social justice have become prevalent issues on all college campuses, and this piece of literature gives a basic introduction for individuals unfamiliar with cultural resource centers. This book successfully highlights contributions of culture centers and suggestions for how centers can be reevaluated and structured more efficiently. For many faculty, administrators, and student affairs professionals unfamiliar with the missions and goals of culture centers, Patton’s text provides a concrete introduction and outline for the functionality of these resources and also offers recommendations and improvements for administrators managing multicultural centers.
Every major societal change in history has been met with resistance of some kind, and the adoption of rap music into the entertainment industry is no different. There are an innumerable amount of viewpoints on whether rap music is to be admonished for the objectification of and disrespect towards women or simply accepted as another expression of modern society. Even those these two opposing viewpoints are vastly different, there are opportunities for those who listen to this type of music to develop their intelligence on the various topics discussed in modern rap.
When someone mentions rap music, the first thing some people think is violence, sex, and drugs, negative, and worthless music. There are a number of rappers that do and sell drugs, live the crime life, and do jail time. The message that rappers send to their listeners is the realities of their life, the consequences, and the reasons to try and avoid the same situations. In a song called, “This Can’t Be Life”, artist Beanie Sigel recalls the criminal path he chose. In his song, he stated that the only thing that could stop him was, “till them feds pick me up or them boys pop me.” (Sigel) He later says that, “I have to teach my sons the right way before I die.” (Sigel) Sigel was letting his listeners know that he do not want people to do the things he did. He made it clear that he was going to teach his sons the right way to pursue their lives.
Rap is regional, much like dialects. Different parts of the nation live in different manners. Every regional has its own story to tell, so in rap a song should tell the story of its region. Whenever a group of people is locked within the margins of American social discourse, that community may find it necessary to scream or chant or rap to be heard. It should come as no surprise, then, that alienation serves to be the medium for counter-cultural movements. Discontentment is only the beginning. Each region should have its on flare, its on personality.
As with most things, over the years they change or evolve to something broader and it is no different with gospel music. While most African American churches have stayed with the traditional music and hymns, we also have gospel artist such as Kirk Franklin or Hezekiah Walker producing music. Their attempt is to draw more youth from hip-hop or anything negative have tried to combine the way of rapping with Christian lyrics using what is called contemporary gospel to appeal to the younger audience to keep them away from harmful things occurring in the
The hair company Herbal Essences perceives beauty to be sexually striking to the eyes. Their advertisement that was found in InTouch Magazine is selling Moroccan My Shine shampoo and conditioner product that will enhance more shine and silkiness in a women’s hair. The enhancement of the shine will provide women to have this sensual seductiveness about them self. To convince these consumers that this product is true to its claim, they use the beautiful pop singer Nicole Scherzinger as the model to illustrate her hair and how the product achieves to create this sexual shine. The overall advertisement creates this theme that if women were to use their product they will empower on this desirable affect to other people. Herbal Essences definition of beauty as being sexually attractive use design, use of celebrity, word choice, and audience to show that women need to have silky shine hair.
If one chooses to take on a liberal arts college for their post-secondary education, one will be able to get a well-rounded and successful learning experience to achieve great excellence in their future. Liberal arts core allows the student to learn about religion, sciences, math, and most importantly, English. Along with learning different subjects, one can achieve great excellence, respect, identity, and empowerment with a liberal arts education, such as what Marywood offers. Throughout the semester, we have read different works of literature that show these core values, such as Oh! The Places You Will Go! and A Good Man, which have informed the reader the values of excellence, empowerment, and respect, which will help these young adults throughout their lifetime.