In the 90’s we associate rappers and politicians to be on completely different sides of the spectrum. No one could ever possibly see these two parties coming together. Until now, who would of thought President Barak Obama friends with American Gangster Shawn Carter or known by his stage name Jay-Z. Two complete different people with different occupations, backgrounds, acquaintances, and power actually hanging out and having laughs together. This was the beginning of “Change and Hope” (Murray Forman) Obama was looking for. But it took us a while though to make this transition. Hip-hop was not the same back in the old days where it was just about freedom of speech, speaking against the man, and the white power. Rap was vulgar, explicit, and violent during the late 80’s and early 90’s. Public Enemy arose during this time, “1989 was indeed another year in a long struggle for equality for African Americans” and Public Enemy wanted to make a statement. They attacked the political powers of the government not through violence and weapons but through music and words. There hit song “Fight the Power” talked about racism and civil rights leaders. Public Enemy was not like the rappers today singing only about women, money, and drugs. Public Enemy focuses on the political aspects and emphasizing their black community. This was the start of the movement for Hip-hop and politics. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...earch of Hip-Hop Authenticity." University of Pennsylvania Year (2007): n. pag. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. Forman, Murray. "American Studies Journal." Conscious Hip-Hop, Change, and the Obama Era. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. O'Neal, Adam. "Hip-Hop Gaining Bipartisan Embrace From Pols | RealClearPolitics." Hip-Hop Gaining Bipartisan Embrace From Pols | RealClearPolitics. N.p., 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Hughes, DANA. "Hip-Hop in Politics: What a Difference a Generation Makes." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Foster, Brian. "Still Furious and Brave: "Everybody Gotta Have a Dream": Respectability Politics and Rap Aspirations." Still Furious and Brave: "Everybody Gotta Have a Dream": Respectability Politics and Rap Aspirations. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. Thoelke, Matt. "The HANDLE." The HANDLE RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Perry, Imani. 2004. Prophets of the hood: politics and poetics in hip hop. Durham: Duke University Press.
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.
If there was one defining characteristic to hip hop in 1997, it was the jiggy factor- an aesthetic of unapologetic flash, fashion and glamour that ruled everything around us and made hip hop life nice and organized. Of course, for each movement there always exists a counter-movement; for each yin there is a yang; and for each designer-label clad champagne sipper, there must be an uncompromised figure lurking in the shadows, ready and willing to reclaim rap from the penthouse to the pavement. Embracing this return to the anarchy, enraged and raw, Def Jam Records presents 1998 as the Year of Pandemonium. The human embodiment of such exhilarating and unadulterated chaos exists in none other than Ruff Ryders/Def Jam's very latest lyrical sensation, DMX. "I love to write rhymes," says the Yonkers-born MC. "I love to express what real niggas feel, what street niggas feel. They need to be heard. They need to know there is a voice that speaks for them, and I am that voice." Within the tumultuous annals of hip hop's dog-eat-dog history, second chance opportunities are few and far between. However, every now and then the experienced and distinguished bark of a particularly cagey canine re-emerges from rap's chaotic kennels, representing the triumph and perseverance inherent in true greatness.
Hip-Hop’s criticism of George W. Bush is a good example of hip-hop’s reflection of Black public opinion. The Republican candidate who already had a low approval rating of 57% amongst African-Americans received an even lower approval rating after his lackluster efforts to support Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (Jones, 2003; Cillizza & Sullivan 2013).
Hip-hop began in the undergrounds in Bronx New York in the early 1970s and has gradually grown to become mainstream music. According to Lori Selke a professional writer for Global post, “hip-hop is the term that refers to more than just a musical genre; it includes culture, dance, art, and even fashion” (Selke). Since it originated in the 1970’s, hip-hop has had profound influence on society, and has grown into the lives of listeners worldwide; hip-hop’s influential power is astonishing. Within the last decade, hip-hop artist like Jay-Z, Nas, and Young Jeezy helped to increase voting in the 2008 presidential campaign by informing a hip hop audience consisting of a majority of African Americans on soon to be 44th President of the United States, by using their voice and lyrics as their tool to encouraging people to stand up for a change by voting. According to Emmett Price in his book Hip Hop Culture (2006), “in the early years prior to the rise of recorded rap music via Sugar Hill Gang’s controversial “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) hip-hop was a growing culture driven by self-determination, a love for life, and a desire to have fun [through entertaining fans and expressing themself].” (Price) Although artists today accomplish the same things, the focus of the lyrics has changed consisting of “extolling violence, drug and alcohol use, and detailing sexual exploits” (Selke). If one were to observe the most popular music from artist in the 80’s until now, they would notice a definitive change in its overall message. If hip-hop continues on its current route it will become a musical genre known solely for its references to sex, drugs, and violence.
Light, Alan. "About a Salary or Reality? – Rap’s Recurrent Conflict." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 137-146. Print.
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.
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...
Negus, Keith. "The Business of Rap: Between the Street and the Executive Suite." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 525-540. Print.
Forman, Murray. “Conscious Hip-Hop, Change, and the Obama Era.” American Study Journal. American Study Journal. 2010. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
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.
Some weaknesses of James McBride’s “Hip Hop Planet” include its cynical tone and his attitude towards the musical side of Hip Hop. McBride opens the essay with a reflection on what his ultimate nightmare is. He showcases the Hip Hop community in a negative light with phrases like, “music that doesn’t seem to be music—rules the world” (McBride, pg. 1). This starts the essay off negatively because it misleads the reader by letting them think he is not a supporter of the Hip Hop movement. As you read the entire essay you realize this is not the case. The article itself isn’t very inviting because tone of the entire essay is very cold and cynical. He also doesn’t agree with the typical Hip Hop sound saying things like, “It sounded like a broken record” (McBride, pg. 1). The sound of Hip Hop music is what helps define it and is a crucial aspect of
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.
In an interview about hip hop music President Obama states that his favorite hip hop artists’ are Jay Z and Kanye West. When asked why he likes hip hop music Obama states, “ I love the art of hip hop.” In addition, Obama emphasizes that, “ Hip Hop is powerful, it can make you think. It is like poetry to introduce complex arguments” (¨USA President¨). Although, President Obama is a huge supporter of hip hop he admits, that it is,“ degrading to women,”and it is, “ Always talking about the material things.” Additionally, Barack Obama believes that hip hop music is poetic and powerful; though, there are downsides to it. In short, this is yet another reason why parents should allow their teenage children to listen to hip hop music--- I mean take it from United States President Barack
Hip- hop is a standout amongst the most compelling musical sorts on the globe. There are rappers everywhere that know what amount of an impact their music can have. Some entertainers attempt to utilize that force of impact to do great (Ruiz INT).