Rap artists are still faced with numerous lawsuits despite taking care to avoid infringement. Jay-Z’s ‘Big Pimpin’ was “accused of using the flute melody from Baligh Hamdi’s 1957 Egyptian love ballad, ‘Khosara Khosara’” (Smith, 2015, para. 2). However, Jay-Z claimed to have successfully gone through all the proper procedures and licensing to be able to use the sample (Campbell, 2015, para. 6). Hamdi’s nephew, Osama Ahmed Fahmy, argued that Jay-Z should have “asked the family’s permission too, and that they purposefully avoided doing so because they knew it would [not] be granted due to Big Pimpin’s ‘vulgar’ and ‘risqué’ lyrics” (Smith, 2015, para. 5). The judge had ruled that the lyrics are irrelevant to the case and that by specifically using
Every hip-hop/rap generation a lot new fresh upcoming aspiring rappers who wishes to go down in hip-hop culture as one of the greatest. Some of them are merely one hit wonders; others go on to silicify their mark in the Hip-Hop culture becoming great artists. In the year 2006 the hip-hop world was introduced to a future superstar by the named of Lupe Fiasco. Lupe Fiasco has become one of hip-hop fastest rising superstar ever since releasing his first album. Although many listeners find some of his music very controversial, yet Fiasco is one of the few artists whose music teaches people about current events that the world has turned the blind eye to, and Lupe lyrical trickster, story teller.
Have you heard the phrase “Momma said knock you out”? If so, you've probably heard your parent sing this song. Signing with Def Jams in the 1980’s, LL Cool J showed the world a unique style of Hip-hop and Rap. A kid just 18 years old when his first song came out, LL showed the world he would he would be different. LL Cool J created an influential long-term career with his starting a new hard-hitting romantic style of rapping, influences with popular clothing lines, and paved the way leading rappers to transform into actors and continue to have a successful career.
In Adam Bradley’s “Rap poetry 101” he shows us how rap is more than just songs being sung, it is poetry; it is something that has an empowering ability to make the familiar unfamiliar.In this chapter Bradley creates a new viewpoint too rap. Bradley shows us how rap and poetry has become a very similar piece of art that should be further appreciated. In the chapter poetry 101 Bradley describes how rap is a form of public art, and how rappers have become our greatest public poets. The importance of rap as poetry is shown throughout Bradley's book as well as the evidence behind the reasons rap is poetry.
When I was little I remember driving across country, going to Florida, and past neighborhoods that were anything but mine. They had old houses that looked like they were going to fall down any minute, real trashy looking. In Colorado, my house was nice and always kept up. I sat in the car wondering what kind of people lived in those run down places and what they were like. The answers came to me years later when I read the book, Famous All Over Town, by Danny Santiago. The main character, Chato, is a young Hispanic boy living in a neighborhood like the ones I saw when I was little. After reading the book, although I never thought I would have anything in common with people who lived like that, I learned that Chato and I have do have similarities, but we have more differences.
The article “Rap Lyrics on Trial” written by Erik Nielson and Charis E. Kubrin was about Vonte Skinner, a man who was convicted for attempted murder for 30 years based on the evidence of rap lyrics written before the crime. The court case didn’t have sufficient evidence to convict Skinner because the witness changed their stories many times to be considered consistent, but the jury felt convinced Skinner was guilty when they heard Skinner’s lyrics: “In the hood, I am a threat / It’s written on my arm and signed in blood on my Tech” and “I’m in love with you, death”. Neilson and Kubrin argued whether rap lyrics should be presented as a piece of evidence after Skinner’s conviction is overturned. They claimed that when rap lyrics are
In the article “ From Fly to Bitches and Hoes” by Joan Morgan, she often speaks about the positive and negative ideas associated with hip-hop music. Black men display their manhood with full on violence, crime, hidden guilt, and secret escapes through drugs and alcohol. Joan Morgan’s article views the root causes of the advantage of misogyny in rap music lyrics. In the beginning of the incitement her desires shift to focus on from rap culture condemnation to a deeper analysis of the root causes. She shows the hidden causes of unpleasant sexism in rap music and argues that we need to look deeper into understanding misogyny. I agree with Joan Morgan with the stance that black men show their emotions in a different way that is seen a different perspective.
The film Straight Outta Compton, a box office hit, was a well-depicted film that focused on the hard struggles of a California rap group called N.W.A. during the late-1980s to mid-1990s. However, audiences have questioned the reality of the film Straight Out of Compton, for omitting the incident in which former N.W.A. member Dr. Dre assaulted reporter Dee Barnes. Although, this altercation is factual, this was not the intended message the film was meant to portray.
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...
What we have here are three vastly different points of view. There is Phillips’ who insists that we must act now to protect our society from the damaging effects of explicit music. Then there is Tatum who argues that the effects of rap music are basically unknown and that more research needs to be done before we can say for sure that there is a problem. Last but not least we have Bayles who uses the ideal of perverse modernism to show her readers that perhaps this is a problem that does not have an acceptable answer. It may be that by trying to solve the problem we create a bigger problem.
Light, Alan. "About a Salary or Reality? – Rap’s Recurrent Conflict." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 137-146. Print.
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.
The influence of Hip-Hop has never been as great as it is in this day and age. Often dismissed by a majority of America as simply a fad, hip hop has become a global phenomenon and has arguably been the most popular form of music for the past three decades. Hip-Hop has influenced art, language, fashion, culture, and sports. This music has been used to teach elementary level children, it has been taught in undergraduate universities and serves as a bridge for hundreds of philanthropies. The influence of Hip-Hop has also been felt in films. These films range from fictional works, documentaries, and autobiographies. A film known as, Something from Nothing by famous rapper Ice T sheds light on elements within Hip-Hop that have enabled the genre to reach millions of people.
These are the kinds of music that often use violent lyrics and violent beats, depicting urban street gangs. Typical themes and ideas deal with street life including pimping, and hustling as well as killing and shooting (Malek 108). “I’m bout to bust some some shots off. I’m ‘bout to dust some cops off” (Ice-T). The lyrics of Ice-T’s Cop Killer evoked a loud outcry about whether ideas about killing police officers should be expressed publicly. It is not only the violent ideas expressed within the lyrics, but the context of which they are expressed. Rap is criticized because rappers are known to “sing of guns with almost lascivious glee”. They talk about their “pieces” or “glocks”, “ninas” or pistols as the “object of their affections”
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 teen-agers. It became very popular with the urban public that it 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. Many believe and have charged that these lyrics promote racism and violence and show contempt for women.
Dixon, Travis L., TaKeshia Brooks. “Rap Music and Rap Audiences: Controversial Themes, Psychological Effects and Political Resistance.” Perspectives. 7 April 2009. .