Analysis Of Rap Music

Vulgar, obscene, violent, honest, or genius, are only a few of the opposing terms associated with rap music in today’s American society. Whether it is the lyrics, the videos or the storytelling behind it, rap music seems to always have controversy surrounding it.

Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America by Tricia Rose analyzes the lyrics, themes, storytelling, and cultures in rap music and delves into the cultural issues and debates that frame it. Tricia Rose is a hip-hop theorist who teaches African American Studies and History at New York University. Born and raised in New York City, she spent most of her childhood in Harlem and the Bronx. It was here where she was introduced to and fascinated by rap music. She went

The first chapter deals with rap’s position in a marginalized society and rap as a cultural production. She argues, “Rap music is a black cultural expression that prioritizes black voices form the margins of urban America” (3). Rap music allows the marginalized black voices to speak and for others to hear. It is a form of storytelling. They can bring up social and cultural issues and shout-out their homes and areas that need attention, creating a space where rap music is a cultural forum where issues can be highlighted and discussed. She claims, “Rappers’ emphasis on posses and neighborhoods has brought the ghetto back into the public consciousness” (11). She also argues that the power and visualization of music videos opens up a dialogue across the nation whereas some black rap music is limited to local

She analyzes the use and meaning of sampling. Rap music uses sampling not to steal and mask a previously used beat or sound or lyric but instead to pay homage to its origins and the traditions that came before the artist using the sample. She states, “Rap music has dramatically changed the intended use of sampling technology, it has remained critically linked to black poetic traditions and the oral forms that underwrite them” (93). This kind of relationship between rap and technology is another way to acknowledge black history and attempts to educate the popular public of the origins of the samples and the traditions of black rap