The Misrepresentation of Hip-Hop

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Jay-Z is known for being one for not only being one of the best rappers in hip-hop but also having a successful career in and outside of hip-hop. Recently he has been protesting some of the newer hip-hop. His songs “D.O.A” (Death Of Auto-Tune) & “Run This Town” he takes a rebel approach to all of the recent fads in hip-hop. Even though, the fads were embraced by pop culture, Jay-Z saw them as stale and unprogressive. In “D.O.A.” he talks about hip-hop becoming ringtone rap and has lost its edge. “This is anti autotune/ death of the ringtone/ this ain’t for I-Tunes/ This ain’t for sing-a-longs/…This is practically assault with a deadly weapon/ I made this just for flexin’/ Basically I want people to feel threatened. (Blueprint 3) ” Jay-Z is not promoting violence, he is merely stating that hip-hop is losing its status. The reason behind the slow transformation from hip-hop to commercial hip-hop can date back to the birth of the genre. The first rappers were often teens that were a part of the lower classes, and were subjected to the thoughts and images of success, wealth, and happiness that were projected through the media and advertising. These teenagers hoping to change their current living arrangement started chasing money and, the easiest way to make money in the late 80’s, due to the crack epidemic was to sell drugs. That is until they saw rappers such as Big Daddy Kane and Run DMC with their heavy gold ropes; they quickly turned their attention to rapping. The only problem was, most rappers had to soften up their lyrics to be accepted into pop culture. So the easiest solution was to talk about clothing and jewelry. In the book, Hip Hop: A Short History, the author describes how they used consumerism to appeal to pop culture...

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...can “become our own DJs” and take control of what we hear and see.

Works Cited

Fiasco, Lupe, Sarah Green, Skylar Grey, MDMA, Trey Songz, Matt Mahaffey, Eric Turner, Sway, and John Legend. Lasers. Atlantic, 2011. CD.

--. Build Minds Faster. Lex Luger, 2010. MP3.

Jay-Z. The Black Album. Rock-a-Fella Records, 2003. CD.

Neal, Mark Anthony. "Up From Hustling: Power, Plantations, and the Hip-Hop Mogul." Socialism & Democracy 18.2 (2004): 157-182. Political Science Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

Smiley, Travis. "Tavis Smiley . Shows . Lupe Fiasco . January 9, 2008 | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Travis Smiley Group Inc., 09 Jan. 2008. Web. 10 Apr. 2011

West, Kanye, and John Legend. "Jesus Walks." By Che Smith. Rec. 24 May 2004. Jesus Walks. Kanye West. Kanye West, 2004. MP3.

Jay-Z, Luke Steele, Rihanna, et. The Blueprint 3. Roc Nation, 2009. CD

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