Hip-hop, Reggae, and Politics
Introduction
Music is an art form and source of power. Many forms of music reflect culture and society, as well as, containing political content and social message. Music as social change has been highlighted throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s the United States saw political and socially oriented folk music discussing the Vietnam War and other social issues. In Jamaica during the 1970s and 1980s reggae developed out of the Ghetto’s of Trench town and expressed the social unrest of the poor and the need to over-through the oppressors. The 1980’s brought the newest development in social and political music, the emergence of hip-hop and rap. This urban musical art form that was developed in New York City has now taken over the mainstream, but originated as an empowering art form for urban youth and emerging working class.
Musically hip-hop spawned the age of DJ’s. With strong influences from Reggae, hip-hop has developed into an empowering form for the expression of ideas, power, revolution and change. Power and empowerment have emerged from these musical styles that now have many commonalities. Hip-hop and Reggae are both forms of protest music. “Protest music is characterized by objections to injustices and oppressions inflicted on certain individual groups…. typically, the intent of protest musicians is to oppose the exploitation and oppression exercised by dominant elites and member of dominant groups”(Stapleton, 221). Hip-hop has developed as a new form of protest music void of the common acoustic guitar. The goal of protest music is to promote freedom through music.
Bob Marley expresses his belief that music is a message and route to freedom in the song “Trench town.”
...
... middle of paper ...
...ap” Miami New Times, February 10, 2000, Thursday.
Salmon, Barrington “ Bob Marley’s legacy lives forever” Miami Times, V. 73; N. 22 p. 5A, 2/18/1996
Shivers, Kaia “This is Reggae Music” Los Angeles Sentinel” V. 66; N. 32 p. B5 11/8/2000
Wilson, Basil “The politics & culture of Reggae music” The Caribbean-American Magazine v. 24 N. 1 p. 25, 2/28/2000
Discography:
Honorary Citizen: Peter Tosh, Sony Music Entertainment:1997
Steffens, Roger. “In the Tracks of the Stepping Razor: The Peter Tosh Biography” pgs. 42-51
Reflection Eternal: Talib Kweli, Rawkus Records 2000
“This means you”
Run DMC: Run DMC, Arista Records 1983
“Its Like That”
Bob Marley: Confrontation, Polygram Records 1983
“Chant down Babylon,” and “Trenchtown”
Bob Marley: Suvival, Ploygram Records 1979
“Babylon System”
In order for someone to understand what lesson Joseph Ellis was trying to teach, one must first come to an understanding of these five short stories. The first story to review and understand is called the duel. The duel is one of the most historical conflicts in history. The duel actually came to be from years of personal and political resentment, between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. These two men really hit high tensions during the New York gubernatorial race. Due to Burr Being a candidate for this race, and due to the duel taking place during the time dueling was becoming outlawed, the duel had a vast political ramification. With the duel going badly and Alexander Hamilton Dying, Burr under New York and New Jersey stature was charged, but all charges were later dismissed, bringing Burrs career to an end. One can conclude that the significance regarding the duel is how violence during the beginning of American statehood, was highly politically based. What really makes the duel uniquely important is the fact or trend after a revolution for revolutionaries to turn on one another in an unavoidable bloodbath. Ellis seems to side more with Hamilton and make him look like a saint.
Perry, Imani. 2004. Prophets of the hood: politics and poetics in hip hop. Durham: Duke University Press.
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.
There was a period of time, before the appearance of Europeans on the continent, that the Nephilim did not have this “rule” or “compulsion” to keep their existence hidden from humans. The Bigfoot were known to the Native Americans by many names. Legends and lore sprang up from the Native American’s interaction with the Bigfoot. The Native Americans always considered them to be a “society” or “tribe.” The relationship the Bigfoot tribes had with the Native Americans was precarious at best. Many Native American tribes described the Bigfoot as cannibals, mountain devils, kidnappers, rapist, and thieves.
Larson is a great read that discusses a more personal view of the election of 1800. Most other books that discuss the election of 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams mostly talk about the major facts of the presidential election and do not discuss much about Jefferson and Adams close relationship as friends before they decided to run for president. The reader gets an inside look at the candidates as people and not only how they acted while in the election, and also how the election changed their lives and their friendship. The only reason this book would not be a good choice to read is if the reader wants to know more about the other major candidates in the election like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, because Larson does not really go into detail about their character or past as much as he does for Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The book in its entirety covers the election of 1800 historically and contemporarily in great detail when talking about the two main candidates in the
This provides powerful insight into the role Bigfoot like creatures played in Native American cultures. Some tribes were not afraid of the creatures, considering them kind and helpful, while peacefully coexisting with them. Other tribes found them to be more violent and dangerous creatures. The fact that these tribes called the animals Stick Indians or Brush Indians seems to suggest that the creatures were simply other tribes they did not get along with opposed to a village of mythical creatures. Some examples of Bigfoot like creatures in Native American tribes include the Chiye – Tanka, the Lofa, the Maxemista, and the popular Sasquatch. The Chiye – Tanka was the Bigfoot like creature of the Sioux Indians (“Native American,” n.d.). This animal
The history and culture of the Blackfoot people has beaten the test of time making it an intriguing tribe. In the early years they were mighty and powerful, but as time went on the power they had established went away. The Blackfoot people chased buffalo many years depending in them to survive the terrain they lived in. In the spiritual world, the Blackfoot people were deep into their religion. The Blackfoot people were extremely good craftsman with making clothes, tools, weapons, and riding equipment. The Blackfoot people are still around today and are striving to keep the history of their nation alive. The Blackfoot people have the honor of being called Native Americans and not a disgraceful
The first chapter of the novel pertains to the battle between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton and is the only chapter that is not in chronological order. Joseph J. Ellis does this to catch the reader’s attention. In detail Ellis describes the setting and mood between these two key players in American History. Although the true events of the duel can never be recovered, Joseph J. Ellis depicts both sides of the conflict. The result is the death of Hamilton and the political and social exile of Burr. Although Burrs version was most likely correct, Hamilton’s story was popularly chosen as the truth “The overwhelming popular consensus was that Burr had murdered Hamilton in cold blood”(26).
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.
Throughout the 150 year history of Bigfoot many concerns have raised, the most in number have been from Native Americans. The Karok Indians tell of an “upslope person” who lurks far up in the mountains (Gaffron, 22-24). Some medicine men have told stories of “snow-walkers” that haunt the Forrest depths (Short). The creatures North American habitat covers over 125,000 square miles of forest, contained in the states of Oregon, Washington, and California, constituting a large number of Native American tribes to encounter and frighten (Gaffron, 22). This phenomenon is not just a Native American one told by medicine men, and tribe leaders, Bigfoot plays an enormous role in the ancient folklore of such civilizations as, the Russians, Greeks, and Anglo-Saxons (Brunvand). These civilizations have been around for hundreds of years, and have been telling stories of Bigfoot long before any one; they hold the true key to Bigfoot’s history.
“The Wildman in many manifestations, forms part of the culture and mythology of almost every society since records begin.” (Shakley, 1983). The first documented record of Bigfoot was in the Epic of Gilgam...
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.
“Music is uniquely wonderful. It is incapable of being touched yet it touches everyone who is capable of hear sounds. It can seemingly evoke any emotion; we instinctively respond to happy tunes, mournful songs, beautiful melodies, inspiring anthems, stirring hymns, and majestic orchestrations.” (Doolan, Robert. 1985) There is no question that music is great part of society; it has been at civilization’s side whether it be the lyres and flutes of the ancient Greeks or how it calms or excites emotions and keeps armies in order during battle. Within society, there has also been social unrest and the desire for change. Protesting is the expression of a society’s concerns on current events of which they feel affected by whether it be through public rallies, picketing, riots or even bombings. Protest through music is one powerful medium for engaging people. Amidst what life throws at individuals, music has comforted the soul, provoked individualistic thought and opinion, and music draws people together through groups alike who have the same attachment or concerns with their surroundings. Whether it be rock, jazz, blues, rap, hip hop, dance, spiritual, or world, music has inspired artists to spill out their expression and views of society. Music is a universally effective tool of protest in generating social change and unrest as it continues to unite those with like ideas.
Ray Allen, Lois Wilcken. "Island Sounds in the Global City: Caribbean Popular Music and Identity in New York." 1-6. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1988.