As the hip-hop battle rages on in the background somewhere between the black literati, consumers and observers, I stand objectively nodding religiously to Lupe Fiasco as he creates a narrative surrounding personified life of a housing complex each component, the legs, the chest, a different facet of living in the hood. Some would pose Lupe as a Hip-Hop alternative, glorifying his intellectualism and political consciousness, at the expense of demonizing other less academically articulate rap artists. Maybe they deserve it. Maybe they are ill educated and uncultured. But does that delegitimize their message? Understanding the messages of many gangsta rap artists is a complex task for those whose lived experiences don’t relate. We need to find an alternative way to comprehend and critique the music that we dismiss as garbage. What are rappers really saying? Michal P. Jefferies’ work Thug Life, provides us with alternative tools to answer this question. I seek to further explore Jefferies “complex cool” and how it allows for a thug masculinity to include love and other emotional sentiments. On the onset of work, Jefferies seeks to identify what hip-hop is. The most poignant finding is not that black and whites think differently about its meaning, but what emerged was the acknowledgement that Hip-Hop was created as a tool to voice the sentiments of the disenfranchised. This locates the birth of Hip-Hop in cradles of disenfranchisements, the hood. Hip-hop worked as a megaphone, a magnifying glass that candidly told whoever would listen about the hardships, injustice and racism faced by those living in American ghettos. It worked as a tool to tell the stories of the people living there in order to build empathetic conversatio... ... middle of paper ... ...ity not only suffer emotionally but candidly express this pain. These artists are able to both present this hyper-masculine image and at the same time reflect on his moral shortcoming. It is this apologetic regretful nature of drug narratives that allow the artists to become folk heroes. By telling the story of his drug dealing past and conveying a sense of regret he reaches out to those in a similar position to himself and in a way is delivering a confession to apologize to the ones that he has hurt. With Jefferies’ complex cool we can understand gangsta rappers as something more than nihilistic villains. It may not be the preferred way of representing the story of life in the ghetto but it does just that. Even with commercial Hip-Hop, real sentiment slip through the corporate cracks to reveal a gangsta masculinity that is emotionally responsive and cognizant.
In one of the chapters, ‘Where Did Our Love Go?’ the author reveals how blacks in America use the music to express their anger and commitment to emerge as great people in an unfair community. Most songs are written to educate the society on the negative effects of racism. They encourage the society to love one another and embrace unity. The human nature is founded through a social platform where philosophers claim that people were created to love one another and live with peace and unity. Through this book, it is clear that the blacks in the hip-hop generation are money minded. However, this is expected in a world where the economy is tough. The author claims that the youth are the people who are majorly affected by racism. Many of them have been arrested for pity mistakes which are magnified in the courts due to the impression that the society has on the black people. They engage in dirty activities like drug dealings that that put them on the wrong side of the
When looking at the landscape of Hip-Hop among African Americans, from the spawn of gangsta rap in the mid 1980s to current day, masculinity and an idea of hardness is central to their image and performance. Stereotypical to Black masculinity, the idea of a strong Black male - one who keeps it real, and is defiant to the point of violence - is prevalent in the genre. This resistant, or even compensatory masculinity, encompasses: the hyper masculinity rife in the Western world, misogyny, and homophobia, all noticeable in their lyrics, which is in part a result of their containment within the Black community. The link of masculinity and rap music was established due to this containment, early innovators remaking public spaces in their segregated neighbourhoods. A notion of authentic masculinity arose from the resistant nature of the genre, but the move to the mainstream in the 90s created a contradiction to their very image - resistance. Ultimately, this in part led to the construction of the masculinity defined earlier, one that prides itself on its authenticity. I’ll be exploring how gender is constructed and performed in Hip Hop, beginning with a historical framework, with the caveat of showing that differing masculine identities in the genre, including artists
One way in which Hip-Hop addresses these social issues is through lyrics of Hip-Hop songs. There are many artists who have songs that contain lyrics that both outwardly and subliminally state the issues that minority communities face. One such artist is J.Cole. In many of Cole’s songs, you can...
Hip-hop through out the years has been involving and become universal in everyday life. You will here presidents, senators, republicans, and democrats talk about their favorite rappers and songs they hear. The president was asked if he liked hip-hop music, he replied, “I’ve got to admit, lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Jay-Z. This new ‘American Gangster’ alb...
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.
Swedenburg, Ted. "Homies in The ‘Hood: Rap’s Commodification of Insubordination." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 579-591. Print.
The Under Construction is an expressive article by Whitney A. Peoples and is centered on dissecting the political and social objectives of feminism within the hip-hop musical context. The essay identifies and tackles the generational disruptions that emerge as a result of the revealed objectives. Further, the article addresses the theoretical and practical elements shared by black feminists from both the second and third generation waves. The hip-hop culture holds considerable potential considered both sexually liberating and radical at the same time. The contemporary feminist movement seeks to overlook the incontestable misogyny in rap music and instead it uses the platform to critique racism and express race and ethnic associations. Hip-hop feminists argue that the music provides young black women with an avenue to conceive and develop personal gender critique and feminist identities that will eventually end the misogyny of rap music.
For a major part of history hip-hop has been seen as a rugged, materialistic or degrading type of music. The impact that hip-hop possesses over young African American students has been a debate greatly augmented through time. Whether or not an individual’s opinion can really persuade a young audience is something that has been heavily toted. Through the article “Should Hip-Hop Artist Produce Music That Is Socially Uplifting” Marc Lamont Hill Introduces a commonsensical thought about the way we perceive a lot of the material we hear in hip-hop music. Hill thoroughly explains how hip-hop music has realistically impacted young students. Hill’s argument smoothly defends against his counterpart Heru Ofori Atta in an attempt to persuade readers towards
Jeffries, M. P. (2011). Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-hop. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
How has hip-hop culture re-appropriated the N-word? How has ‘Black Stylized English’ revolutionized popular culture? How has hip-hop culture transcended ethnic margins? In what ways does hip-hop been identified as influential sites in African students’ processes of becoming black? What are the pedagogical ideas that hip-hop has linked to its culture? Was hip-hop part responsible for the youth’s involvement in Barack Obama’s presidential election? Did hip-hop make politics more interesting for the youth? How has hip-hop culture influenced the youth’s perspective on race and
Many people don’t consider it hip-hop for the reason that it preaches violence. The “gangsta” rappers think they need to portray that hardcore look to succeed. There is proof that hip-hop stars can succeed without speaking about sexuality, violence, crime and drugs. These lyrics present ideas of committing crimes in the minds of any easily influenced person (particularly the younger groups). The “Gangsta” rapper could be held partially accountable for at least a number of the crimes committed by their listeners.
Gail Hilson Woldu, author of “The Kaleidoscope of Writing on Hip Hop Studies,” emphasizes the importance of cultural theory, urban history, and black feminism in the study of Hip Hop and its influence over the last several decades. The cultural theory aspect throughout the studies of hip hop, specifically in Houston Baker’s Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy, focuses on the importance of the “classic black sound” and the ability for the rap industry to be a profitable resource for an alternative American authority (Woldu 16). The cultural theory helps expand the knowledge of “hip hop” as an idea and influence on society. Mark Anthony Neal discusses the development of the understanding of hip hop by dissecting the layers and complexities of
The cultural theory helps expand the knowledge of “hip hop” as an idea and influence on society. Mark Anthony Neal discusses the development of the understanding of hip hop by dissecting the layers and complexities of the culture, “Hip-hop music and culture emerged as a narrative and stylistic distillation of African-American youth sensibilities in the late 1970s,” within What the Music Said (Woldu 18). Urban history is a large, yet vital characteristic throughout the study of hip hop and its progression; Russell Potter shows how critical the representation of black musical expression and the “history of vernacular speech” is for the hip hop community in his book, Spectacular Vernaculars (Woldu 19). As decades pass and the hip hop scene expands, the history of this culture becomes influenced by more historical movements and creations. However, that is not the only historical significance that runs deep within the hip hop culture. The history and influence of the black feminist movement within the hip hop scene became a demanding characteristic in the development of the hip hop culture. As the gender divide became an evident aspect through the hip hop generation, women, especially female rappers,
This paper will reflect hip-hop and the music industry. It will give a glimpse in the history of hip-hop. It will show how hip-hop originated and how music has a huge influence in mainstream media. Urban America took fast to the new wave of music and how a person’s personal struggle in life and the street. This will show how the media glamorizes rappers and their celebrity to give a false view of the lifestyle.
Furthermore, I will be examining the shift that rap has made from being a subculture to mainstream, the effect of hip hop business on the ‘Hip- hop Nation’, as well as a popular hip - hop artist Jay - Z and how he has been able to create an identity for black male youth and if this identity fits with the intended purposes of the hip-hop subculture.