Alexander Crooke's The Healing Power Of Hip-Hop

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Music is an art form and cultural activity that has been around since the dawn of time. Everyone has a personal favorite type of music and that has partially been the reason music has endured for so long. When an art form has been around for as long as music has been, there is bound to be controversy, especially with such diverse tastes among listeners. The most controversial form of music may in fact be rap, also known as hip hop. Originating in the South Bronx in 1970’s hip hop is no stranger to controversy. At first hip hop was just when the Microphone Controller or MC would deliver a few lines to a crowd over a DJ’s beat. But over time MCs begin to deliver a few bars on the experiences of poverty and racism. Ever since then rap has become …show more content…

It allowed young people to create an art form that spoke of the reality of their lives and the social circumstances that they found themselves in. Emerging as a reaction to gang culture and violence in the South Bronx, rap necessarily embodies and values resilience, understanding, and social justice. In the article “The Healing Power of Hip-Hop,” Alexander Crooke expands on this point by saying “Hip-Hop culture and rap have for more than four decades been bundled with a range of negative connotations, leading many… to them only with profanity, misogyny, violence, and crime. Prosecutors in the US have labelled rap lyrics a criminal threat” (Crooke, pg 1). This quote states that hip hop has always had negative connotations, which has fueled the dislike of many prosecutors. Yet, later Crooke talks about how looking past the profanity and materialism, rap culture is built on values such as justice, peace, respect, self-worth, having fun, and community. This is why, in a way, rap music has been such a therapeutic tool for younger audiences, causing it to grow in

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