Hip-Hop “Hip-hop allows a kind of marriage between the rhetorical and the musical by means of some of the most amazing linguistic virtuosity we have seen in the English language. (West, 2008). Hip-hop first originated in the late 1970’s early 1980’s with animated, rhythmic bass and rhyming words. 1986-1991 was the golden era of hip hop artists such as Public Enemy. The term Hip-hop originated from an early New York rapper Lovebug Starkski. (Kunjufu 1993). The origins of rap are Black and Latino. (Dyson 2007). Hip hop has a lot more than music it has become a way to break barriers into becoming a way of culture for society. Hip-hop music gives youth a content and feeling to explore identity and voice amidst what is often the chaos of daily living. “Hip-hop is a highly dynamic culture whose very nature is change” …show more content…
Hip hop has gone from just DJ-ing, graffiti, break dancing and just rapping to self-expression, mannerisms and demeanor. Hip-hop has made its way to mainstream tv such as Wild N Out, Love and Hip-hop, and Growing up Hip-hop. Hip-hop has influenced the lives of today’s youth, mostly African American youth. The influence that hip hop has on today’s youth can be both positive and negative. Unfortunately, it has more negatives because of the lyrics can be rather aggressive, the want for material gain, and encouraging misogynistic behaviors. Hip-hop has been positive, when a rapper such as T.I raps about a song it brings awareness to the community, it gets everyone talking and wanting to make a change. The Black Lives Movement going on he wrote a song called “We Will Not”. The meaning behind this song is to bring awareness, for police brutality and justice for African Americans. Hip-hop has become a platform for people to be able to
Has Hip-Hop given us a warning of change or is it simply a part of musical evolution? In “Hip Hop Planet” by James Mcbride he argues that hip hop is destructive to our society. Hip hop provides a variety of beats, intense rhymes, and yet provocative language. The author has many negative views on the genre but sees some positive influence. With this said, his warning to our future generations can be challenged. Hip hop can have a negative impact on young adults but it also provides large amounts of support to people who struggle with similar complications.
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.
Back in the disco days, in the early 1970’s, began a new genre called Hip Hop. It was born in the crime ridden neighborhoods of the South Bronx. Hip Hop is the extracting rhythms of melodies from existing records and mixing them up with searing poetry chronicling life in the hood. Though, hip hop started on the east coast, it did spread rapidly throughout all the clubs and hotels in New York. Then later on, it began to spread to the west coast in Los Angeles. This is where hip hop began to develop its own musical style. Hip hop is known and described as the voice of a generation that refused to be silenced by urban poverty. It is a genre that is fueled up with a lot of passion and truth that is spreading across the entire world. Hip hop is
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.
Hip hop is both a culture and a lifestyle. As a musical genre it is characterized by its hard hitting beats and rhythms and expressive spoken word lyrics that address topics ranging from economic disparity and inequality, to gun violence and gang affiliated activity. Though the genre emerged with greater popularity in the 1970’s, the musical elements involved and utilized have been around for many years. In this paper, we will cover the history and
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...
Typically when we immediately think about modern hip hop and rap, we immediately de-fine it as a creative mode of expression laden with influences from its African-American roots. Of course, generally speaking, that much of it is true; although the true origin of Hip Hop isn't precisely known, according to Dr. Renford Reese and Becky Blanchard, Hip Hop scholars col-lectively hail the South Bronx in 1970's New York as the birthplace of Hip Hop. Over time, Hip Hop became a cultural phenomenon. As abrasive, succinct, and diverse as each form of expres-sion (emceeing, breakdance, graffiti, and more synonymously, rap music) gets, however, Hip Hop emanates such a contemporary appeal amongst the masses. Ultimately, Hip Hop culture embodies the inextinguishable
Hip hop originated in the ghetto areas of New York during the 1970’s and is a mixture of DJ, MC, B boy and Beat boxing. In his studies of defining hip hop, Jeffries concluded that these mixtures of art forms do not define hip hop but rather that Hip hop itself is a culture of these elements. “Hip-hop is like a culture, it’s a voice for black people to be heard. Our own style, our own music” (Jeffries. 2011; 28). Jefferies identifies hip hop as a social movement, which stems from the concept of ‘collective identity’ (Jefferries.2011; 27). This can be defined as “an individual’s cognitive, moral and emotional connection with a broader community” (Polletta and Jasper. 2001; 84). Which relate to Smitherman’s views that hip hop is a celebration of black culture uniting these individual to form a collective community. (Smitherman. 1997; 20) .These Theorists generally accept that hip hop is culture and it’s the production of its creators and the individuals who consu...
In spite of the controversy the hip-hop culture encounters, its' significance cannot be overlooked. Rap music is an important cultural phenomenon that represents a part of society that, after many years, has found a voice. It would be a mistake to think of all hip-hop as monolithic in fact it could be seen as a continuous dialogue within a community. Despite some of the controversial elements of hip-hop, rap music is an essential tool for the African- American community's search for identity.
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
For centuries, music has been a powerful form of art that has influenced many people, social policies, and cultures. Music often mirrors the milieu from which it is created. The genre of hip-hop music, also known as rap music, developed among African-American and Latinx youth in the Bronx in the 1970s. Ever since then, it has evolved and spread to all parts of the world. However, hip hop is not just a music category – it is also a form of culture that conveys the marginalization and oppression suffered by individuals of minority populations. Because a culture often involves sharing of customs and values, sampling has been a method of building a tradition and heritage between modern hip-hop and older pieces of the same or different genres. Sampling alludes to the borrowing of musical elements from the recordings of other performers and the incorporation of these sonic* elements into contemporary hip-hop pieces. Sampling can involve borrowing just the rhythm and beat of a piece, but it often integrates parts of the lyrics as well. While it is true
Music has been prevalent in America since before its foundings. From the sounds of the Indians to the music of the Pilgrims there has always been some tone of music in America. In this paper we will look at a newer form of music known as hip hop or rap, although hip hop does not have to have a rap chorus in it to be considered hip hop. Hip hop originated in the Bronx of New York City by African American kids in the 1970’s. Hip hop is a combination of many of the well known genres including but not limited to: Funk, Disco, R&B, Jazz, and Rock. Also, poetry was an influence as well.
Black culture in our society has come to the point where it is allied with pop culture. The most popular music genres, slang terms, to dance forms it all comes from black culture. Hip hop emerged from black culture, becoming the soul of it that is seen in the media. Hip hop helped the black community by creating new ways of expressing themselves, from breakdance, graffiti, rap and other music, to slang. This culture was rooted in their tradition and created from something new. Hip hop created a new form of music that required the use of turn tables, ‘cuts’, loops, rhythm, rhyme, stories, and deep-rooted emotions, but also incorporated black oral forms of storytelling using communal authors.
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.