Scratch That:
The Evolution of Turntablism
South Bronx 1970’s, the Bronx is in ruins. The entire burrow was riddled with evidence of arson and poverty. Buildings, abandoned and burnt to a crisp. Some buildings, however, were still occupied by tenants but were dirty and terribly maintained, which were most likely the results of slumlords, who would raise the rent until the tenets can no longer afford to pay. In which case they would hire thugs to burn it down, and the slumlord would collect on the insurance money (Chang, 2005). Due to an economic downfall, the unemployment rate was on a rise. The streets ran wild with drugs, crime, and violence (Chang, 2005). Because of this the police would rarely visit this area. With no police or protection the people of the Bronx had to protect themselves. They formed gangs to keep out drugs and any further arsons from occurring. These gangs consisted of mostly youth and would use any means necessary to keep their streets safe. Because of the violent nature of these street gangs, disco clubs and dance halls would not allow the youth of the Bronx access to these places (Chang, 2005). In need of a place to socialize, the young people of the Bronx would organize their own house and block-parties (Chang, 2005). It was at these parties where the evolution began.
Throughout time, since the phonograph was made there has been the disk jockey, the person who plays the records. It was not until the 70’s that someone decided to manipulate the records and or turntable to play whatever they so desired. At first it was only to extend a portion of the song; however, later it would be to make music as an instrumentalist. A Disk Jockey, or “DJ,” is a person who simply plays music for an audience. A turntabl...
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Works Cited
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Bush, J. (2013, August 13). All Music. Retrieved from www.allmusic.com:
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Chang, J. (2005). Cant Stop Wont Stop. New York: Picador St. Martin's Press.
Chin, B. (2004, January 26). http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/djarticles/kooldjherc.asp.
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Mcbride, J. (2007). Hip-Hop Planet. National Geographic, 100-119.
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The book emphasizes the idea of how difficult it is to leave the gang lifestyle. There are frequent cases of relapse by individuals in the book, who were once out to again return to gangs. This case is brought by what gangs represent to this in the book and what leaving entails them to give up. The definition of gangs presented to the class was, three or more members, share name, color, or affiliation, or must exist in a geopolitical context. To members associated with gangs, this definition can include your family members, neighborhood, everyone that they associate with. Take for example Ronnie from Jumped in by Jorja Leap it states,” Ronny’s role models are gangbangers. His family is a hood. His mentors are older homies in county jail.”(102). Ronnie and other gang members like him do not
Kody Scott grew up in South Central L.A. during the nineteen-sixties and seventies, soon after the creation of the Crips. Raised in poverty without a father, and a full family raised solely by his mother, Kody Scott led the stereotypical “ghetto” life, a poor and broken home. However he does not blame this on his own personal decision to join the Crips while only eleven year’s old. The allure of the respect and “glory” that “bangers” got, along with the unity of the “set”(name for the specific gang) is what drew him into the gang. Once joined, he vowed to stay in the “set” for life, and claimed that banging was his life. After many years of still believing this, he eventually realized that the thug life was no longer for him, and that gangs were a problem on society and the “Afrikan” race(page 382-383).
This can be connected to the Crips and the Bloods by the similar treatment the African Americans receive compared to the roughnecks. This recognition as being a roughneck makes it much more difficult to get a job, and escape the society they are currently in.... ... middle of paper ... ... Anderson discusses the code of the streets and how this set of rules and norms dictates how people behave in South Las Angeles and gives rise to organized gang violence.
Gangs have been in existence since the beginning of the Roman Empire. There were speeches made by Roman orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, which references groups of men who constantly fought and disrupted Roman politics (Curry, 2013). The history of street gangs in the United States begins with their emergence on the East Coast around 1783, as the American Revolution ended. Though many believe the best available evidence suggests that the more serious street gangs likely did not emerge until the early part of the nineteenth century (Sante, 1991). Although our country has had their share of feared gangs like in the 1980’s with the turf war between the Bloods and Crips, back in the 17th and 18th century the Mohocks of Georgian, England were one of the most feared gangs. What draws juveniles to the gang lifestyle? Many people will say that most gang members are children from impoverished communities, single family homes where there was no father present, or maybe there is a more psychological/sociological answer? By appearance and presence most gangs cause fear, crime, and disillusionment in the communities they occupy. Throughout history joining a gang has been perceived as a life without any reward, yet by joining this lifestyle many juveniles are able to gain the needed stability and security in their lives.
The neighborhood of Philadelphia in which the 6th Street Boys reside is not the poorest neighborhood in the city, however, it can still be classified as poor section. The young men being examined have never really had a positive male role model in their lives, and were exposed to crime at a very young age. Institutional bodies are also at play here. The gang did commit crimes, however, the police that patrolled the neighborhood were portrayed as bad guys, who just wanted to make these young men’s lives a living hell, by harassing them, their loved ones, and neighbors. The other institutional body at play was the high school that the gang members went to. A simple schoolyard tussle was blown out of proportion, thus leading the men to not trust authority figures. Drug use also seemed to run rampant throughout the neighborhood. This led to one of two things, either becoming a junkie, or becoming a dealer. While some people emerge from these backgrounds as successful adults, many do not, and Goffman made sure to ram that point home. The in depth description of Miss Linda’s (a drug user and abuser) home almost made me sick. According to Goffman, it was a mess, smelt like animal urine, and had cockroaches roaming all around it. This leads us to assume that this was the state of many of the homes in the
The author begins his ethnography by giving us insight of the crime rate in the 1990s. He described this subject as the “age of drive-by shootings, drug deals gone bad, crack cocaine, and gangsta rap” ( ) that dominated the talk of the time. This type of ideology led our society to believe that we should put massive
Tobin, Kimberly. Gangs: An Individual and Group Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
How a record player works is quite simple. A motor is somehow connected to a solid disc so that the disc is rotated at a constant speed. On top of the rotating disc (platter), The record is placed on top, with a slip mat in between. The slip mat can serve two functions. In the past to hold the record in place so that it would not rotate independently of the platter. Now, however, the slip mat serves a much different function. Instead of holding the record in place, the slip mat is now used to reduce the friction between the spinning platter and the record. This way a DJ can scratch (manually move the record, usually at high speeds) the record while the platter continues to spin underneath. Once the record is rotating, a stylus glides along the grooves and picks up the vibrations, these are then converted into audible sound.
The Use of Electronic Technology in 20th and 21st Century Music In this essay, I have examined the use of electronic technology within 20th and 21st Century music. This has involved analysis of the development and continuing refinement of the computer in today’s music industry, as well as the theory of the synthesiser and the various pioneers of electronic technology, including Dr. Robert Moog and Les Paul. Also within the essay, I have discussed the increasing use of computers in the recording studio. The computer has become an indispensable tool in ensuring that both recording and playback sound quality is kept at the maximum possible level. Many positive ideas have come from the continued onslaught of computerisation.
These gangs tend to hang out in certain places and claim it as their territory. Many of the gang members are drawn together by similar interests, and are brought up in similar neighborhoods. The Social Disorganization Perspective The social disorganization perspective follows the substance users to their living era and environment. Social disorganization perspective examines why individuals move from one environment to another and how they struggle to adjust to a new environment, and how they are lured or forced into substance use, deviance, or criminal activity in the face of difficulty in the new environment or due to their individual maladjustments. On the other hand it studies how a particular environment causes stress, disillusionment, and disorders among individuals who live in it, and why substance abuse, deviance, crime, and other social problems tend to increase in a time when or in a place where change occurs abruptly.
The presence of gang violence has been a long lasting problem in Philadelphia. Since the American Revolution, gangs have been overpopulating the streets of Philadelphia (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). Most gangs in history have been of lower class members of society, and they often are immigrants into the U.S (Teen Gangs, 1996). Gangs provided lower class teens to have an opportunity to bond with other lower class teens. However over time, the original motive of being in a gang has changed. In the past, gangs used to provide an escape for teens to express themselves, let out aggression, and to socialize with their peers. It was also an opportunity for teens to control their territory and fit in (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). In the past, authorities would only focus on symptoms of gang violence and not the root. They would focus on arresting crime members instead of preventing gang violence. Gangs are beginning to expand from inner-city blo...
In his research Jay Macleod, compares two groups of teenage boys, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers. Both groups of teenagers live in a low income neighborhood in Clarendon Heights, but they are complete opposites of each other. The Hallway Hangers, composed of eight teenagers spend most of their time in the late afternoon or early evening hanging out in doorway number 13 until very late at night. The Brothers are a group of seven teenagers that have no aspirations to just hang out and cause problems, the Brothers enjoy active pastimes such as playing basketball. The Hallway Hangers all smoke, drink, and use drugs. Stereotyped as “hoodlums,” “punks,” or “burnouts” by outsiders, the Hallway Hangers are actually a varied group, and much can be learned from considering each member (Macleod p. 162). The Brothers attend high school on a regular basis and none of them participate in high-risk behaviors, such as smoke, drink, or do drugs.
The movie ‘From Mambo to Hip-Hop’ is a great documentary about a revolution in the entertainment industry. It talks of evolution on Salsa music and Hip-Hop culture in suburbs of New York. South Bronx is a ghetto neighbourhood. The people living in the area are challenged economically. There is a record of high cases of violence that exist in the streets due to high crime rate and drugs being traded as a means of survival (Gordon, 2005). Most of the people living in the area are descendants of African immigrants who could trace their origin in the Caribbean islands with a large number Latin American population too.
It portray violence and gang activity to be normal. There was numerous amount of violence in the Bronx during late 20th century, because of low wages and unemployment, which made people turn to other alternative like drug dealing. The Warlord was a gang displayed in the Get Down who attacked Zeke and his friend for being on their territory. Gangs were everywhere in the Bronx particularly on every block. During this time it wasn’t safe to travel alone because there was a high crime rate, which is the reason gangs were created in the first place because it would give young teens and children a sense of protection. Gangs became more than protection when they started committing crimes like robbery, arson and even murder. During the episode, the Savage Warlords went to Kingston Top Stop Variety Store to make the owner sign a contract promising to give them $50 a week not to disturb the peace or hurt the owner. This was normal around this time, because gangs would just intimidate other people for income or sell drugs to the people in their territory. This made surviving life in the Bronx difficult, because all of the crime that was being committed around them. “The Get Down” also portrayed violence to be normal because you here sirens wailing throughout the episode. Another example of how dangerous the Bronx was, Les Inferno was dance club run by a drug dealer which led to a big shootout in the club
Gangs originated in the mid 1800’s in the cardinal direction using it as a method to defend themselves against outsiders.The idea of gangs became populous, powerful, and a broad influence. But like all powers, they tend to corrupt and recognizes violence as a way of getting what they want faster than other methods.They turn violence into fun, profit, and control.Creating a situation that affects youth in today’s society.