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Essay on rap music and society
Essay on rap culture
Culture impact on rap
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Why is 90s rap considered the “Golden Age” of rap? Is it because of the actual artists, or the violence, trends, and content of the actual music? Considering the 90s, there was a plethora of new sounds and styles of music. Rap was becoming more mainstream. There was copious amounts of controversy, praise, and recognition surrounding rap. Rap has had a Huge impact on our culture and influence, especially in our youth. There was nevermore a prevalent time then in the 90s. Before a “Golden Age” of rap, there must be a history of rap and explain what rap is. Rap is a saying of words to a rhythm of a beat or words that normally rhyme. Rap was considered to gain popularity around the early 70s with artist like Grand Master Flash and Kool Herc. The …show more content…
Biggie poll was polled in the summer of 2017 which makes it current. As of today, no rapper has ever come close to how influential the rappers of the 90’s was. If you asked most rappers today, who they listened to growing up or who they found inspiration from, they would more than likely name a rapper that was substantial in the 90s. Due to the 90’s music that was produced, many artists have found the motivation to create different styles of rap. The rap genre has had many crossed over with many genres including, pop, rock and even country. Rap today is more mainstream than ever, due to 90’s music. 90’s rap “changed the game” for hip-hop, starting a new wave that is still continuing today. The 90’s rap paved the way for a lot of artist and still resonates with fans young and old. 90’s rap appeals to all, ad has a lasting impact on many generations to come. Considerable this could be why 90’s music is sought to be the “Golden age of rap”. With all these factors in consideration, people tend to think 90’s rap added a new flavor never see before, allowing people to enjoy this new sound. 90’s rap had some of the biggest stars, the new sounds, the flashy lifestyles, and the women and money and much more of what people wanted. 90’s rap was more than music, it was a way people could get a message across and still contain a meaningful effect. The 90’s had everything any rap fan could ever want at the time. Most of the fans that listened to the 90’s music then still are avid listeners today, yet their opinion of the music
The biggest difference between old school rap and today’s popular hip hop is the message.
Bennett describes the transformation of rap music describing the way it was in the 1980s. Bennett mentioned how in the early stages rap didn’t have as much support as it needed in order to gain popularity. Bennett also describes how in the beginning, rap music had mainly an only black audience but as rap music grew more popular, 70 percent of sales were made to white youth.
From the socio-economic struggles of 1970's New York, a new kind of subculture emerged, and from this, a new style of music known as Hip-hop. The rap group Run DMC pioneered to some extent the transformation of hip hop from an underground phenomenon to a genre recognised as mainstream and a significant aspect of pop-culture. Run DMC produced the first rap album to go tripple platinum and produced the first rap song to be featured on the 24 hour music channel, MTV. The groups became increasingly popular throughout the ninteen eighties and through their popularity , the style of the subculture they were representing was sold to the mainstream not only through Music, but other form of Media too.
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...
It started within the black community and spread along. Rap took longer than rock and roll to actually link different cultures and social classes together because it originated in a minority social class. To some people listening to rap was downgrading and vulgar, due to the slang and offensive language. However it was a huge movement for the black community as they expressed their feelings towards the way they were being treated. Later on there was a merge when Eminem came along, as he was a white man that also wanted to become a rapper.
Notably, hip-hop is the culture from which rap music emerged. According to Keyes, rap music is a musical form that makes use of rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular, which is recited or sung over a musical soundtrack (Rap Music and Street Consciousness, 1). Rap is a combination of MCing and DJing, which are two of hip-hop’s four
Hip hop in the 1990's is better than the rap produced today due to the mastery of lyrics, surround sound, and the impact produced the greatest artist of that time, the Notorious B.I.G. being compared to the best artist of the 2000’s which is Eminem.
Hip-hop began in the undergrounds in Bronx New York in the early 1970s and has gradually grown to become mainstream music. According to Lori Selke a professional writer for Global post, “hip-hop is the term that refers to more than just a musical genre; it includes culture, dance, art, and even fashion” (Selke). Since it originated in the 1970’s, hip-hop has had profound influence on society, and has grown into the lives of listeners worldwide; hip-hop’s influential power is astonishing. Within the last decade, hip-hop artist like Jay-Z, Nas, and Young Jeezy helped to increase voting in the 2008 presidential campaign by informing a hip hop audience consisting of a majority of African Americans on soon to be 44th President of the United States, by using their voice and lyrics as their tool to encouraging people to stand up for a change by voting. According to Emmett Price in his book Hip Hop Culture (2006), “in the early years prior to the rise of recorded rap music via Sugar Hill Gang’s controversial “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) hip-hop was a growing culture driven by self-determination, a love for life, and a desire to have fun [through entertaining fans and expressing themself].” (Price) Although artists today accomplish the same things, the focus of the lyrics has changed consisting of “extolling violence, drug and alcohol use, and detailing sexual exploits” (Selke). If one were to observe the most popular music from artist in the 80’s until now, they would notice a definitive change in its overall message. If hip-hop continues on its current route it will become a musical genre known solely for its references to sex, drugs, and violence.
Rap’s Controversy The most popular new music to emerge from the ‘80’s was rap music. It first developed in the mid ‘70’s in New York City, and soon in other urban areas, primarily amongst African-American teenagers. It became very popular with the urban public and soon began to spread throughout the United States and much of the world. It replaced rock music as the creative force in music of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. However, as popular as it was then and it is now, the lyrics of many rap songs have caused controversy.
Without the emergence of Outkast, music today simply would not be what it is. Outkast defined music and rap culture in the 2000s. Their willingness to entirely abandon conventional wisdom both in and outside of their music has inspired a generation of musicians. Outkast single handedly reshaped rap culture’s view of rap music from the South. Outkast’s greatness is nearly immeasurable, but in terms of visible impact on rap and music as a whole today, they are among the most influential rap groups we have ever seen.
Rap Music, a genre of R&B that includes rhythmic poetry put over a musical background. The background consists of beats combined with digitally isolated sound bites from other recordings. The first recording of rap was made in 1979 and the genre began to take notice in the U.S. in the mid-1980s. Though the name rap is often used back and forth with hip hop. The name hip-hop comes from one of the earliest phrases used in rap on the song “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugarhill Gang. “I said a hip hop, hippie to the hippie, the hip, hip a hop, and you don't stop, a rock it to the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie, to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.”. In addition to rap music, the hip-hop subculture also formed other methods of expression like break dancing, graffiti art, a unique slang vocabulary, and fashion sense.
Hip hop culture is known for its negative reputation. It is often thought as an entrance way into gangs, illegal drug activity, and malicious behavior. In today’s culture it is important to lead kids toward a positive direction in life but the hip hop culture of today is not steering youth in that direction. This is because hip-hop has moved away from what it was supposed to be used for. This genre of music was supposed to be used to for personal expression and growth not to create negative images for the youth and encourage them to change their behaviors and beliefs. Hip hop was supposed to give hope to the youth. Give them a reason to pursue their dreams and give them a positive outlook on life. Are there artists who keep it “old school?” Yes there is, but it is never heard on mainstream radio. Hip hop culture has the potential to help the youth follow their dreams and become better people. It just needs to go back to its roots and bring those morals back up again.
Hip-Hop/Rap is one of the biggest growing genres of today. From its early stages in the 1970’s to today’s pop culture, it has grown quite a lot. Unfortunately, it has developed a terrible reputation of drugs, violence, abuse, and gangs. When people associate Hip-Hop with things it is usually a negative image that comes to the person’s mind. Which is sad, Hip-Hop/Rap has a great artistic quality to them that gets so easily overlooked. There is true poetry and emotion behind these lyrics and beats, but not everyone is willing to sit down and listen to it. They quickly judge this music genre and the immediately dislike it without giving it a second thought. Rappers pour their emotions and their souls into their songs and it really speaks to people who would stop and listen to them. Hip-Hop/Rap has evolved over time. From the early stages of Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and others to today’s rap stars like Eminem and Kendrick Lamar. Each decades style is different but each style is still good. What really made Rap huge was the Sugarhill Gang’s own song called “Rapper’s Delight” the entire song is around 15 minutes long with just three emcee’s rapping, Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master G. An emcee is another word for a rapper. Most emcees are the head of whatever event is being taken place, kind of like people that do skits in a talent show to introduce the next act. Hip-Hop/Rap today is filled with emcees and rappers. Today we find a more complex and more diverse style than what we would find back in the 70’s. There are different styles to different rappers. Each one unique in its own way and it makes that rapper stand out compared to everybody else. Also, another thing today that is different from the past is the flow of a rapp...
Rap has been around since 1973, when Kool DJ Herc introduced this new mash of jazz, soul, gospel, and reggae. This culture has been focused around African Americans, and since has served as a voice for the underrepresented, that is spreading violence, alcohol, and drugs. In this genre the most popular and successful boast about who has murdered more foes as breezily as other artists sing about love. Rap music tells stories of drugs, violence, and alcohol. The youth of America is constantly exposed to this kind of music, and our teenagers are being desensitized to the effects of these stories.
In the eyes of the general public, all of Hip-Hop is usually categorized in the same way. Labeled as the poison of the Black community because nowadays, most Hip-Hop lyrics all sound the same generic way always talking about money, women, cars, drugs, or some type of beef that all these rappers sooner or later continuously have with one another. But what this new generation doesn’t know about are the positive and creative flows that were spit not so long ago in the 80’s and 90’s. Rappers back in the day like Tupac and Ice Cube both had times when they had to show off their thug sides but they both had reasons or a call-to-arms for that, and indeed were in tune with that era’s problems as well as the society where they were raised. Moreover, even though some new school songs actually look promising, old school songs are still always great classics that anybody in this day and age will most certainly vibe to.