Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
negative impacts from rap music on youths
negative impacts from rap music on youths
impact of rap music on youth
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: negative impacts from rap music on youths
Art is the product of human creativity, and it takes place in various forms such as paintings, literature, music and dance. Art serves many roles as it can be interpreted in various ways depending on the individual. Art must be understood within in the context which is was created. Both culture and politics are factors that determines the way art is interpreted. Since art is visual or auditory rather than physical oppressed groups are able to expressed themselves and protest without getting into an altercation with law enforcement or individuals in power. During the 1970s through the 1980s, rap music served as the voice of the African-American community and brought undermined issues to the public. However, over years the theme of rap music has changed and has been regarded as solely promoting violence and misogynic values. Rapper Talib Kweli’s music embodies the intended goal of rap during the 1970s. Despite heavy criticism over the years rap music painted a picture of the harsh realities and oppression of individuals in inner city areas in the United States and served as effective means of resistance. In “Criteria of Negro Art”, W.E.B Du bois claims that all art is propaganda and is created to convey a message. In addition, Du Bois believed art can be used for the purpose of racial uplift, especially in the African-American community. He also ponders how art produced by African-Americans will be perceived by society. African-Americans or oppressed groups in general have been dehumanized in society, therefore, it would appear difficult for the groups that are higher in power to take their work in consideration. Du Bois states, “…the white public today demands from its artist literary and pictorial, racial prejudgment which deli... ... middle of paper ... ...nd to drugs, violence and economic disparity, disadvantaged areas must be provided with good quality education, job opportunities and many more resources in order to seek hope in the future. Works Cited Sullivan, Rachel E. "Rap and Race: It's Got a Nice Beat, but What about the Message?" Journal of Black Studies 33.5 (2003): 605-622. Print. Du Bois, W.E.B. "From Criteria of Negro Art." Cultural conversations: The presence of the past. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. 159-62. Print. Morgan, Joan. “From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos.” Cultural conversations: The presence of the past. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. 201-205. Print. Crossley, Scott. "Metaphorical Conceptions in Hip-Hop Music." African American Review 39.4 (2005): 501-512. Print Blanchard, Becky. “The Social Significance of Rap & Hip-Hop Culture.” Poverty and Prejudice (1999)
Think of the last time you saw a painting that featured African Americans in it. Were they the main focus? Did the painting have only African Americans or did it include white Americans too? Now think about the artist, were they an African American? The average person who knows little to nothing about art most likely does not know any African American artists or does not know many artworks that involve only black people in a non-historical context. Kerry James Marshall’s exhibition Mastry is exactly that. It is made up of multiple artworks which only show black people in both historical and non-historical contexts. This exhibition helps to counter this issue of the lack of artworks where only black people are portrayed how white people would
You will choose and closely evaluate three pieces of art (paintings, poems, music, etc.) from black artists, using the information in Hughes’s essay as the basis of your evaluation and analysis. First, you must provide an in-depth analysis of the selected art pieces. Then, you should determine whether or not the artists are living up to the roles and responsibilities put forth by Hughes, using textual evidence from his essay to support your evaluation of the
picture of W.E.B Du Bois"The Negro Race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education then, among Negroes, must first of all deal with the "Talented Tenth." It is the problem of developing the best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the worst."
7.Locke, Alain L. "P. 69." Negro Art. Past and Present. New York: Albany, 1936. 69. Print.
One of Williams main topics of concerns is the wrong messages that “public airwaves” are sending to their listeners and followers. Williams claims rap and other medias are representing and sending the wrong message about African American communities. She mentions that rap music once held a positive message but now rap music is bombarding the public with the use of profanity, violence, and obscenity throughout their lyrics and music
“The Hip Hop Wars What We Talk About - And Why It Matters” by Tricia Rose explores what hip hop has done to society in recent years and what people think it has caused. Though it has become one of the most commercially successful genres in mainstream music Tricia Rose explains that the topics in hip hop music have narrowed. Commercial hip hop mainly consist of black gangstas, thugs, pimps, and hoes. In the book she looks into the different points of views of people who think whether hip hop invokes violence or if it reflects life in a black ghetto and if it slows down advancement for African Americans in US. The author goes back and forth with the opinion of the mass on hip hop, she says people view hip hop as a music like heavy metal which people associate with violence but she refutes most of these points by showing the positives of hip hop.
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)
Hip-Hop became characterized by an aggressive tone marked by graphic descriptions of the harshness and diversity of inner-city life. Primarily a medium of popular entertainment, hip-hop also conveys the more serious voices of youth in the black community. Though the approaches of rappers became more varied in the latter half of the 1980s, message hip-hop remained a viable form for addressing the problems faced by the black community and means to solve those problems. The voices of "message" hip...
Hip hop has multiple branches of style and is a culture of these. This essay will examine Hip Hop from the point of view of the following three popular music scholars, Johnson, Jeffries and Smitherman. It will delve deeper into their understanding of what hip hop is and its relation to the different people that identify with its message and contents. It will also identify the history of Hip hop and its transition into popular music. In particular this essay will focus on what hip hop represents in the black community and how it can be used as a social movement against inequalities faced by them. This will then open up the discussion for the how this has influenced society, and the impact it has had in terms of race issues which hip hop itself often represents through music.
Shortly after Rachel was written in 1916, the New Negro Movement began to gain traction in the African American community. This broad cultural movement focused on promoting a public image of African Americans as industrious, urban, independent, and distinct from the subservient and illiterate “Old Negro” of the rural South. Unlike his predecessor, the New Negro was self-sufficient, intellectually sophisticated, creative, knowledgeable and proud of his racial heritage (Krasner, Beautiful Pageant 140). While these concepts had been promoted since the turn of the century, it was not until 1917-1918 that they began to crystalize as a concerted effort among African American intellectuals. These men actively supported the creation of black drama because they recognized that “At a time when African Americans had virtually no political recourse, their voice could best be heard through…a creative and humanistic effort to achieve the goal of civil rights by producing positive images of African Americans and promoting activism through art” (“New Negro Movement” 926). The New Negros therefore shared the same overall goal as black intellectuals such as DuBois, but believed that black artists should focus on presenting the reality and beauty of the “black human experience” instead of an idealized vision of what life should be. Ultimately, the transition from “political” art to that which held creativity in high esteem was complex and divisive. Fortunately, just as Dubois emerged as the primary advocate of the former Political Theatre, so too would Alain Locke help guide the New Negros to support the idea of Art Theatre.
Rap is becoming more popular than ever, soon most of the world will have some type of knowledge of rap music. Rachel Sullivan from the University of Connecticut stated “White respondents in this survey had difficulty naming three rap artists, which indicated that they did not have a high level of commitment to the music.” This statement was produced in 2003, also seemed to be very one dimensional. Recently, rap music has been surging through the masses no matter the race. Furthermore, rap is becoming very prevalent especially in the youth of this era. Many trends, commercials, social media, etc. are revolving around rap music.
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...
It goes without saying that hip-hop has changed. It began as a social practice of African-centered liberation to transform the black community or bring the youth together in unity, but towards the 90’s and onto the hip-hop scene in todays day and age, it is anything but that. The youth of today will know Tupac Shakur and beautify or streamline his self-destructive “thug life” but remain in the dark of figures like Mutulu and Afeni Shakur. Although this is a sad reality to live in, it is not hip-hops responsibility to change this. It is the responsibility of artists alike representing an oppressed populace to speak meaningfully in their art, in someway or another, for the liberation of their people.
Neal, Larry. “The Black Arts Movement.” The Black Aesthetic. Ed. Addison Gayle, Jr.New York: Doubleday &Company, Inc., 1971. 272 - 290.
Dixon, Travis L., TaKeshia Brooks. “Rap Music and Rap Audiences: Controversial Themes, Psychological Effects and Political Resistance.” Perspectives. 7 April 2009. .