Global Linguistic Flows by H. Samy Alim, Awad Ibrahim, and Alastair Pennycook challenges standards of hip-hop academic discussions to offer a new perspective of the global impact of hip-hop on the world. The authors Alim, Awad, and Alister are Associate Professors at Stanford University and are affiliated with the Anthropology along with the Linguistic department. Their research offers a range of perspectives on hip-hop in different regions and in analyzing using hip-hop genre as an outlet for political, racial, class or identity construction. Through this academic discussion we are revealed with real life regions that are struggling to find their place in the Global hip-hop Nation and the difficulty of bringing their locality and issues to the global front. Global Linguistic Flows is accessible to anyone interested in this topic and open to a wide range of audiences without difficulty. Like wise the author’s societal experiment occurs through identifying hip-hop as an international culture and musical resistance language that ties youths from across the world.
The main arguments that Alim make are the different standpoints indigenous cultures make to define the origin of Hip-Hop and claim hip-hop as rightfully theirs. For example, In West Africa they consider that African-American people continue the spread of black music from griots in Africa to rap in America. Rap music was a way of returning back to Africa as modern-day griots in their form of appropriation. The Australian aboriginal’s explain how hip-hop is already a part of their culture. Australian aboriginal use of appropriation of hip-hop culture is in crossing, talking in rhythm, and style shifting. Instead trying to pin point the site and finding the exact reasons fo...
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... the politics of pedagogy in hip-hop such as ill-literacy practices of hip-hop and spoken word. In order to push the message that diverse students often possess different and not deficient syntactical and literacy practices. The source is valuable in its goal to resist the mainstream negative stereotypical attitude of hip-hop as being violent, misogynist, and gangster music. Into the voice and articulation for local unrepresented youth in providing awareness and resistance within their communities. There is a biased attitude against the Global Linguistic Flows perspective because the authors are pro-hip hop and advocate for the spreading and integration of Hip Hop within societies and new cultures. Even if that has conflicting results in a people’s language or culture and may have to conform to integrate Hip Hop in their society such as Japan and Korea demonstrated.
Hip hop’s rise to popularity has come at a price. It has been put under a magnifying glass as a result of its commercial success. Hip hop’s critics and fans alike have commented on the current state of hip hop through opinion pieces and books. Tricia Rose’s observation that “Hip Hop is in a terrible crisis” in her book The Hip Hop Wars Rose paints a picture of a culture in a dilemma. Rose describes an example that causes hip hop’s current state of crisis: how people discuss hip hop.
Hip hop is a culture, it is a way many people use to connect to one another, it allowed many African Americans to express their own point of view in their story. But in the early 2000’s it became commercialized and went from storytelling from many perspectives like a party, politics, self-celebration, and gangstas to consisting of mainly of the lives of hustler, pimps, and hoes. Though it has become quite profitable and a successful form of music it cause arguments in American of whether it is more detrimental than beneficial to black community. Hip hop is in fact in a crisis and critics of hip hop believe it is just angry stories of black males and females but do not see it as proof that black behavior was created from the condition of living in a ghetto.
The main issue as it relates to black culture and is present in Kitwana’s book on the topic of white youth listening to hip-hop. The problem, in detail, is how the American youth are consuming hip-hop at a rate in which the merging of cultures is becoming more apparent. According to Kitwana, the reason for the interest of hip-hop is “not only hip-hop’s message of resistance to the status quo that young Americans find welcoming” but because of the hip-hop cultural movement that opened, “a new arena of public space…for young people to come together at local and national levels” (Kitwana, xiv). It seemed like it was by coming together that black culture has impacted the white youth as well as influencing them too. Hip-hop is essentially a subculture
There are many arguments surrounding the lyrics in hip-hop and how it may have an impact on today’s society. To begin with, the most debatable opinion is how the language may have an influence on youth. The images betrayed in the media and TV are often misconstrued and fabricated. For example, many rap lyrics are about drug use and in reality, some rappers are not drug users and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Similarly, women lyrics in hip-hop language can be two-fold. Lyrics of feminism and another of exploitation. This illustrates how the language in hip-hop takes away the dignity of women. The word “bitch” is considered profanity but often used frequently and acceptable for women in the hip-hop culture. More importantly, hip-hop is
Hip hop culture and its creation of rap music has been stereotypically deemed as mere violent depictions as portrayed by its black artists, and is prejudicially more criticized than white genres that also perpetuate violent language within its lyrics. They are subsequently blamed for the massive rates of homicides within the black community, as blackness is given a dangerous face and linked to criminality, as if innately part of a violent culture. However, violence must be defined through the physical utilization of certain words and actions, along with social manipulations of power and hierarchy to confirm one’s own identity (Hernandéz, Weinstein & Munoz-Laboy, 2012, pg. 595). Rap music was created in the 1970s and originated in the South
When many people think of hip hop, they tend to draw on the negative aspects of it rather than focusing on the deeper meaning of it. We continuously associate this genre of music with gangs, street life, drugs, and other activities that have harmful effects on our communities. Seldom do we, individuals living in the modern era of hip hop, take the time to truly examine this style and recognize the deeper meaning that comes with it. Micheal Eric Dyson said it best when he said, “hip hop is still fundamentally an art form…” (Dyson xvii) Without a doubt, the definition of hip hop in the modern era has changed drastically from the time it first started becoming popular. Today, people typically define it as street music or symbols of gang activity,
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
Moreover, it deemed important to acknowledge their place in history as poets, artists, writers, Dj’s, etc. The Hip Hop movement began out of protest just as the Black Arts Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. In addition, with firsthand knowledge it makes since to share that information with students and then allow them the opportunity to research about it, and then think critically, and share their own knowledge with their peers and instructor about their discoveries. Meeting 21st century knowledge participants where they are is the only way that we will be able to reach them going forward. This chapter was not written to give voice to a myriad of scholars and their assessment about Hip Hop. I wanted to share my own personal experience as a scholar with this audience in hopes of you understanding that Hip Hop is an educational incubator that has helped teach and train students to become intermediate and skilled researchers and learners. The unconference approach to designing this course was the most helpful model for Hip Hop Information Literacy to come into fruition. I am still analyzing the curriculum, readjusting the course, and believe that it will be sound and succinct in a few more
In Total Chaos, Jeff Chang references Harry Allen, a hip hop critic and self-proclaimed hip hop activist. Harry Allen compares the hip hop movement to the Big Bang and poses this complex question: “whether hip-hop is, in fact a closed universe-bound to recollapse, ultimately, in a fireball akin to its birth-or an open one, destined to expand forever, until it is cold, dark, and dead” (9). An often heard phase, “hip hop is dead,” refers to the high occurrence of gangster rap in mainstream hip hop. Today’s hip hop regularly features black youths posturing as rich thugs and indulging in expensive merchandise. The “hip hop is dead” perspective is based on the belief that hip hop was destined to become the model of youth resistance and social change. However, its political ambitions have yet to emerge, thus giving rise to hip hops’ criticisms. This essay will examine the past and present of hip hop in o...
Generation after generation, music has revolutionized cultures around the globe. Each generational trend in music greatly inspires that specific era on what to wear, how to act, and what to say. We all connect with music, and as it continues to evolve, so will society. One genre has continuously stirred up conversation and sparked debate regarding the direction it is taking its listeners. Only one genre has had the gumption to speak out against the government on a regular basis. Only one genre has found a way to make every other genre cater to its style and inescapable appeal. Since the 1980’s, hip-hop has changed the way people think, but not always in a positive manner. Hip-hop has been a trend setter and guided our culture over the last
In the late 1970’s hip-hop/rap music emerged as one of the most popular musical genres, and it remains as one to this day. However, there is a big difference in the content of a song like Sugar Hill Gang’s 1978 single “Rappers Delight” and a modern day rap song. When hip-hop music first began it served as a type of party music that was made primarily from African American men. The music quickly gained popularity, and before long, members of all races were enjoying it. However, in the early 1980’s hip-hop music became more of a mirror into ghetto culture rather than just upbeat enjoyable music. Rappers began to write edgy lyrics celebrating street warfare, drugs, and promiscuity. Unfortunately this style of hip-hop never died off, and now it
"Rap music brings together a tangle of some of the most complex social, cultural, and political issues in contemporary American society. Rap's contradictory articulations are not signs of absent intellectual clarity; they are a common feature of community and popular cultural dialogues that always offer more than one cultural, social, or political viewpoint. These unusually abundant polyvocal conversations seem irrational when they are severed from the social contexts where everyday struggles over resources, pleasures, and meanings take place.
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.
The music industry and the glorification of drugs in music video's today have changed drastically on a higher level. Since the powerful influence of Hip-Hop and it's emergence into a worldwide culture, it has sweep through inner cites and suburban life styles impacting each and everyone of us. The Hip-Hop culture, not only as a form of free poetic expression (form of spoken word and poetry,) by young black African Americans but a true look into a way of life that many of us will never see or come in contact with.
More than any other type of music, Hip Hop has used its power and notoriety to alert the world about the injustices in the inner city areas of America. This is why Hip Hop has become a vital piece in educating today’s teens about social and political topics in the world today. Hip Hop has also reached to people with all sorts of perspectives and viewpoints on social issues. Rap encourages adolescents to become concerned about issues such as racial injustices, police brutality, individuality, etc. Making youth conscious of the world around them is Important because they will want to make a difference and make society better. Many artists are known for their debatable song lyrics but they are usually are the ones to bring attention to some of the most crucial