In the following essay, I will offer a reconstruction of the Hip-Hop Subculture and the significant role it had held as an African American art form rooted in the traditions and experiences of black people in the United States. I will be discussing the origins of Hip-hop and the justice that is sought in regard to race, sexual politics and conscious rap. But also, the growth of white suburban youth in a black man's Hip-hop, and their role and significance throughout the awareness of black culture and it's music. Hip-Hop's beginning took a start at the streets of the early South Bronx in the 1970's of New York City. The early pioneers of this art form were DJ's, also known as "disk jockeys," who performed in clubs or big events by hyping up …show more content…
At its growth, MTV took note and aired its first rap show called Yo! MTV Raps in 1989. By this time, in the late 1980's, gangsta rap had emerged as the new rap force, with artists such as NWA, Dr. Dre, Tupac, and Notorious B.I.G, popularizing a new style of the life of a gangster. These artists focused on songs about crime and violence and the struggles of living in the hood, a poor, urban environment, yet also glorified the exploitation of women and glorification of violence. The late 1990's and 2000's brought new styles of sub-genres as rap increasingly grew mainstream as artists tried to set themselves apart from others to display new ideas and flows. This was also the era in which Hop-Hop saw a major shift in style from gangsta style like baggy pants and shirts, athletic shoes, and snapbacks to bling, showcasing one's wealth through the portrayal of jewelry, cars, and women. Hip-hop style had the greatest influence on the youth rather than any other culture as people of all different colors and race and class began to adopt the style, image, and stigma of …show more content…
Rap music and Hip-hop originally started as a movement to bring attention to black communities and people who faced racism, a belief system asserting that one race is inherently inferior to another. Subcultures in reason, point out the larger problems in culture, and the space between society's values and reality. For a society who longs for the "American Dream," believing that those who work hard will be rewarded with security and success, the reality longs that many people do indeed work hard yet remain in poverty with failure to access health care, affordable housing and good education. Hip-hop points out these inconsistencies and acknowledges the different statuses and its set of expected behaviours and expectations known as roles. Members of every subculture hold a designated status and multiple roles in society. The United States has a strong, troubled history of racism and racial scapegoating, the blaming of social problems on a racial or ethnic background. Hip-hop consistently battles the uproar against race, biological traits such as skin tone, facial structure and hair texture, as unneeded discrepancies. It questions racial ideology, a belief system about race that encourages equal opportunity while being unfair, causing tension and being racist. Race signifies importance to our lives and affects our experiences in life. What one may believe about race is
Originating in the urban Bronx area of New York hip-hop culture emerged in the 1970’s as a way for minorities to form identifies and social status. Contemporarily, hip-hop has evolved to contain numerous activities such as, “spoken word poetry, theater, clothing styles, language, and some forms of activism,” (Petchauer). Also, in his Journal of Black Studies, author Tobey S. Jenkins states that the core framework of hip-hop culture consists of five elements, and those elements are, “the B-boy/B-girl (dance or break dance), the emcee (voice), the DJ (music), graffiti (art), and knowledge (the consciousness),”(Jenkins,2011). Jenkins also states that it is common for society to replace these elements when a person is to affiliate themselves with a product of hip-hop by five core stereotypes of the Black male hip-hop artist: “the nihilistic, self-centered, caked-out mogul with a god complex; the uneducated, lazy, absentee father; the imprisoned and angry criminal;
Hip-hop culture has been a global phenomenon for more than twenty years. When introduced into the American culture, the black culture felt that hip-hop had originated from the African American community. The black community was being denied their cultural rights by the supremacy of the white people, but hip-hop gave the community the encouragement to show their black pride and televise the struggles they were facing in the world. The failure and declining of the movements, the influential, rebellious, and powerful music is what reshaped Black Nationalism, unity and to signify the struggle. The African Americans who suffered from social and political problems found that they similar relations to the political movements, which allowed the blacks to be able to voice their opinions and to acknowledge their culture openly.
“Blacking Up” is an inspirational and eye opening film that looks at racial identity through hip hop and its culture. The film explores the tensions that surround white identification with the hip hop culture. Typical white people identify hip hop with responses that are uncharacteristic. They are termed as a “wigger” or “wannabe” who think they can become part of a strong culture. The film clearly identifies these people as those trying to connect with others who usually won’t accept them. I have watched this film before for my Hip Hop class in high class and was happy to watch it and learn more about the hip hop community.
In black media today the hip hop culture is often referred to when defining what it means to be a black person in society. In particular the
In the words of rapper Busta Rhymes, “hip-hop reflects the truth, and the problem is that hip-hop exposes a lot of the negative truth that society tries to conceal. It’s a platform where we could offer information, but it’s also an escape” Hip-hop is a culture that emerged from the Bronx, New York, during the early 1970s. Hip-Hop was a result of African American and Latino youth redirecting their hardships brought by marginalization from society to creativity in the forms of MCing, DJing, aerosol art, and breakdancing. Hip-hop serves as a vehicle for empowerment while transcending borders, skin color, and age. However, the paper will focus on hip-hop from the Chican@-Latin@ population in the United States. In the face of oppression, the Chican@-Latin@ population utilized hip hop music as a means to voice the community’s various issues, desires, and in the process empower its people.
The longevity of Hip-Hop as a cultural movement can most directly be attributed to its humble roots. For multiple generations of young people, Hip-Hop has directly reflected the political, economic, and social realities of their lives. Widely regarded as the “father” of the Hip-Hop, Afrika Bambaataa named the cultural movement and defined its four fundamental elements, which consisted of disc jockeying, break dancing, graffiti art, and rapping. Dating back to its establishment Hip-Hop has always been a cultural movement. Defined by far more then just a style of music, Hip-Hop influences fashion, vernacular, philosophy, and the aesthetic sensibility of a large portion of the youth population (Homolka 2010).
Most people believe that they know what hip hop is. Yet, these same people are more familiar with rap music than hip hop. Rap music tends to b the music broadcasted on television and radio stations alike. Hip-Hop itself is relates to a culture and history of peoples. Hip-Hop tells the stories of people oppressed in urban ghettos in all cities, and it promotes change and a transition in those oppressed. Dr. Charles Pinckney author of The Influence of Hip Hop Culture on the Perceptions, Attitudes, Values and Lifestyles of African American College Students states that "Hip hop culture is a form of musical art in words and stories that describe critical messages that are spoken over music" (Pinckney). William Boone who has conducted research in hip hop best explains the phenomenon of Hip Hop as, " Art in "the hood". Hip Hop is the antitheses of economic discrimination and social alienation in Americas impoverished African American communities" (Boone).These origins of ...
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.
Hip hop has permeated popular culture in an unprecedented fashion. Because of its crossover appeal, it is a great unifier of diverse populations. Although created by black youth on the streets, hip hop's influence has become well received by a number of different races in this country. A large number of the rap and hip hop audience is non-black. It has gone from the fringes, to the suburbs, and into the corporate boardrooms. Because it has become the fastest growing music genre in the U.S., companies and corporate giants have used its appeal to capitalize on it. Although critics of rap music and hip hop seem to be fixated on the messages of sex, violence, and harsh language, this genre offers a new paradigm of what can be (Lewis, 1998.) The potential of this art form to mend ethnic relations is substantial. Hip hop has challenged the system in ways that have unified individuals across a rich ethnic spectrum. This art form was once considered a fad has kept going strong for more than three decades. Generations consisting of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and Asians have grown up immersed in hip-hop. Hip hop represents a realignment of America?s cultural aesthetics. Rap songs deliver a message, again and again, to keep it real. It has influenced young people of all races to search for excitement, artistic fulfillment, and a sense of identity by exploring the black underclass (Foreman, 2002). Though it is music, many people do not realize that it is much more than that. Hip hop is a form of art and culture, style, and language, and extension of commerce, and for many, a natural means of living. The purpose of this paper is to examine hip hop and its effect on American culture. Different aspects of hip hop will also be examined to shed some light that helps readers to what hip hop actually is. In order to see hip hop as a cultural influence we need to take a look at its history.
Hip Hop’s according to James McBride article “Hip Hop Planet” is a singular and different form of music that brings with it a message that only those who pay close attention to it understand it. Many who dislike this form of music would state that it is one “without melody, sensibility, instruments, verse, or harmony and doesn’t even seem to be music” (McBride, pg. 1). Though Hip Hop has proven why it deserves to be called music. In going into depth on its values and origins one understands why it is so popular among young people and why it has kept on evolving among the years instead of dying. Many of Hip Hop values that make it unique and different from other forms of music would be that it makes “visible the inner culture of Americas greatest social problem, its legacy of slavery, has taken the dream deferred to a global scale” (McBride, pg. 8). Hip Hop also “is a music that defies definition, yet defines our collective societies in immeasurable ways” (McBride, pg. 2). The
Throughout their struggles they have been redeemed with a career that provides happiness and financial stability. Gospel and other genres such as Jazz and Blues helped form Hip Hop with their similar styles. Hip Hop's culture gave visibility to urban youth whose goals, frustrations, and dreams were hidden as they were discounted by the system. When defining Hip Hop it is important to understand that Hip Hop is more than music, it started with five elements which are "deejaying, b-boying also known as breakdancing, graffiti art, fashion, and emceeing (rapping)" (Sanchez 9). As the youth began to navigate their media representations, post-Civil Rights politics, and ghetto stigma they began a new form of music and culture.
Hip-hop is powerful, influential, and deceiving because of the creative, clever lyrics and beats it contains. Many people of the American society believe in a superstitious idea that hip-hop music enhances their society. This misleading theory is very inaccurate. On the contrary, hip-hop degrades the American society by devaluing women, promoting violence, and influencing young adults to acquire bad habits. Although hip-hop music did not begin this way, unfortunately, this is the hard truth people fail to acknowledge.
The genre was created by marginalized minorities. Most historians trace hip hop back to the Bronx, a New York City borough, in 1973 (“Hip Hop”). As the musical genre progressed into what is now known as rap, it gradually became more about the death and destruction occurring in these neighborhoods. In the 1980’s, unemployment in the inner city skyrocketed. By the 1990’s, in the midst of rap music’s sprawling popularity, drugs were seen as a possible route to survival even though the path led to possible incarceration (Moore).
In this day and age, fashion is more about people styling themselves to express their individuality rather than flipping through magazines for the “latest” look. As many other genres of music, hip hop has been highly influential in fashion over the past years especially today. In the beginning stages of hip-hop in the 1970s,
The Effects of Hip-Hop Music on Today’s Youth Does hip-hop music effect today’s youth in a positive or negative way? The effects of hip-hop music have been disputable following the time when its rise into the social standard in the late twentieth century, but hip-hop music is not just one sided but can be both positive and negative in today’s youth. What is hip-hop about? Assuming that you address hip-hop fans, the term alludes to more than simply a musical type - it incorporates an entire society, including dance structures, graffiti symbolization, and fashion (Selke INT).