what is rap

801 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effects of rap music on society

Many schools of history begin the story of rap music as a mutation of southern soap-box blues. Using the basics of the blues style of music, rap is all about emotions and the personal interpretation of reality by the author of the song. Rap, then, should be considered as a definition essay of sort. What is rap? Rap music is an American minority artist creation. Unfortunately, rap music is not perceived by many Americans as an art form, but as a fad which they hope will soon fade away, one can trace the history of rap back to the West African professional singers/storytellers known as Griots. Rap is spoken word, rap is slang from the street corners of your brain. Rap is smoking herb, rappers recite truthful social bombs, preachers even rap it just comes out in a religious form. Rap is the heart and soul of citizens in the tall cold walls of property. Rap is the story of the time when people lost all control. Rap is regional, descriptive, and ethnic.
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.
Genuine rap informs its listeners about the current social climate. For example, if the mayor of a city has recently been convicted for misusing public funds, it would surely be in a rap song. If a guy went into a courtroom and shot the judge, bailiff, and the court reporter it would most likely be in a rap song. Unlike most of the lyrics out on the market today, genuine rap contains meaning and it sends a message to the listeners. Although those messages might have bad words, and show images of things that are socially wrong, that’s actually what is going on where they are from. Their music represents their area and their people, and it is no different from a farmer singing about his cows and chickens out in farmland.

Show More
Related

  • Compare And Contrast Old School Rap

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    The lyrics in today’s hip hop music are completely pointless. An example of this is 2Chainz “Birthday Song,” in which the rapper says, “She got a big booty so I call her Big Booty,” the song continues with “I’m in the kitchen, yams everywhere.” The majority of hip hop songs on the radio involve three main themes: money, drugs, and women. Rappers brag about the massive amount of money they have, along with their intake of drugs. Hip hop also sexually degrades women by labeling them with offensive words, and overall all being very misogynistic towards women. The message that the new hip hop today is sending is incredibly negative for the audience as well. The negative message that the music is sending poses a large effect on the young listeners. Young listeners are influenced by the antagonistic lyrics in these hip hop songs that they are listening to. Unlike today’s hip hop, old school rap music had meaningful lyrics and when hip hop went to the mainstream media the message was destroyed. Old school rap music has lyrical significance. Rappers wrote lyrics about important subjects such as racial inequality, politics, life struggles, and police brutality. An example of a lyric with actual meaning is N.W.A.’s “Express Yourself,” “I’m expressing with my full capabilities. And now I’m living in correctional facilities.” This lyric explains how the very act communicating their beliefs will cause trouble and could possibly lead to

    Read More

  • Summary Of Rap Poetry 101 By Adam Bradley

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    When listening to rap music we get to experience the environments that the MC lived through. Most MC’s use music as a way of coping with reality, their violent and hard life. In this way they find a kind of shelter in their songs even though these songs describe their life and how hard it is.

    Read More

  • Keep Ya Head Up Tupac Analysis Essay

    1861 Words  | 4 Pages

    When people hear the word rap, they think money and drugs. Unfortunately, every rapper falls in to that category however some rap can be more meaningful than any song could every be. Today, I’m going to show you one rapper who falls into this stereotype.

    Read More

  • Rap Music: A Comparison Of Country And Rap

    472 Words  | 1 Pages

    Many rappers write songs about gang violence and struggling in areas of poverty. In some cases this is a way for the artist to vent or use music as a way to express their own emotions and experiences. Rap has also been known to be a method of preaching and educating youth. Music is a powerful tool and those who use it in a positive way can affect people in a positive way.

    Read More

  • Hip-Hop: A Voice for the Chican@-Latin@ Community

    2213 Words  | 5 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Racial Stereotypes Associated With Rap and Hip Hop Music

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...atching MTV music shows or any music channel on television. As we continue to watch these programs, we will then notice that almost all the rap and hip-hop artists being shown are African-Americans. It is the particular lifestyle, and behaviour that is connected to what particular artists chose to vocalize about. This usually can harm the image of African-Americans due to the fact that many artists aid in the misconceptions of their particular race such as the example provided with 50 Cent’s song entitled P.I.M.P. These lyrics and song titles simply reinforce the negative image some individuals may have of both Caucasian’s and people of colour. Rap and hip-hop is one of the most intimate, personal, legitimate and important art form. Instead of perpetuating injustice, and prejudice artists should be addressing these different issues in a different matter.

    Read More

  • Hip Hop: History And Elements

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rapping is simply a single element of hip hop music. Flava Flav of the group Public Enemy, speculates that rap and hip hop are sometimes differentiated by tempo.

    Read More

  • Hip Hop as an Industry

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    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)

    Read More

  • Raps Controversy

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • History Of Rap

    1307 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rap started in the mid-1970s in the South Bronx area of New York City. The birth of rap is, in many ways, like the birth of rock and roll. Both originated in the African American community and both were first recorded by small, independent record labels and marketed towards, mostly to a black audience. And in both cases, the new style soon attracted white musicians that began performing it. For rock and roll it was a white American from Mississippi, Elvis Presley. For rap it was a young white group from New York, the Beastie Boys. Their release “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” (1986) was one of the first two rap records to reach the Billboard top-ten. Another early rap song to reach the top ten, “Walk This Way” (1986), was a collaboration of Run-DMC and Aerosmith. Soon after 1986, the use of samples was influenced in the music of both black and white performers, changing past thoughts of what make up a “valid” song.

    Read More

  • Why Is Rap Considered The Golden Age Of Rap

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Hip-Hop/Rap: Music Appreciation

    2120 Words  | 5 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Drug Use In Rap Music

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay About Rap Music

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    Whether for the better or for the worse. Rap music has just as many as negative effects as positive effects within the lyrics of rap music. The lyrics that have built an entire revolution and culture among the human race. There has been speculation and there will always be those who doubt rap music, although the gap between who enjoys it and who dislikes is increases. Rap is making its way to becoming more and more relatable for all. So no matter the lyrics, all is relatable to those who listen to the songs as much as those who have created

    Read More

  • Rap Music's Influence Upon Teenagers

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dixon, Travis L., TaKeshia Brooks. “Rap Music and Rap Audiences: Controversial Themes, Psychological Effects and Political Resistance.” Perspectives. 7 April 2009. .

    Read More

More about what is rap

Open Document