The general argument made by Peter Catapano in his work, “Performing Race on the Great Divide”, is that minstrelsy has been a significant topic that’s been examined upon by many intellectuals. More specifically, Catapano argues that minstrelsy has influenced the field of race and entertainment. He writes, “popular music, theater, and popular advertising images were particularly destructive to their notion of uplift and respectability of a race that was suffering under an assault of odious stereotypes.” In this passage, Catapano is suggesting that there were stereotypes about African-American culture in music and shows back in the older days. In conclusion, Catapano’s belief is that even though the great divide raised a challenge between the
T being a sellout. Obviously, the 1980’s were a very different time, and the portrayal of African Americans in mainstream media has changed considerably since then for the better, with black people now having a much wider range of leading roles available as well as better representation at award shows. Since this poem was written in 2002, it is easy for the speaker to look back and label Mr. T as a negative role model due to his cooperation in demeaning roles; but I do not think that it is fair to look at Mr. T in this condescending way because the fact that he was able to win the uphill battle of achieving success in Hollywood during a time when it was much less considerate toward black people is impressive, even if the means by which Mr. T attained such success were controversial. All in all, Terrance Hayes’s “Mr. T-” may be harsh, but at least it advocates the pursuit of positive role models for the African American youth, which, fortunately, is what America now has a larger supply
Thesis: In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, Malcolm X in his telling of his life to Alex Haley uncovers the theme of positive and negative environments unearthed by the interaction of African Americans and White Americans in his life and what those kinds of environments inherently produce. Annotated Bibliography Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ethnic American Literature: an Encyclopedia for Students. Greenwood, An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2015.This encyclopedia points out that the negative interaction he held with the white man as a young hustler was countered by these same experiences pushing Malcolm X to reclaim his “African identity”. This shows, as described by the cited work, what a man pushed by his negative interactions with the oppressive white men is willing to do to find his identity (i.e. through hustling).
EJ Brown “was inspired by a photograph he saw of Ferguson police shooting victim Michael Brown dressed in his graduation gear, and felt that the image illustrated the contrast between the perception and reality of being an African American college graduate” he used this opportunity to shed some light and positivity against the stereotypical ideas held to black individuals through the use of graduation cap and gown and a criminal slate (Neuendorf, 1). After witnessing an unarmed black male be shot in the back by a police officer on the news, Brown felt he must express his anger through art to convey his message. He felt frustration towards how the media conveyed the blame onto the victims rather than the officers who committed the killing. Through how the media represents the information,
Nelson, Jeff “Kanye West Says the 'Infamous Taylor Swift Moment' Led Him into a Self-Imposed 'Exile”. https://people.com/celebrity/kanye-west-taylor-swift-vmas-caused-him-to-go-into-exile/. People, 2 December 2020 Accessed April 2023 Park, Ian. “The cultural impact of Kanye West’s ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ a decade later”. https://stanforddaily.com/2020/11/19/the-cultural-impact-of-kanye-wests-my-beautiful-dark-twisted-fantasy-a-decade-later/. The Stanford Daily. 19 November 2023, Accessed April 2023
In a time where sampling is a staple of hip-hop and other predominant, modern genres, it is not unreasonable for an artist to take ownership of past artifacts, even those which once were oppressed or used for oppression, as a way to reclaim the artifact itself, to subvert it, or otherwise reconstitute meaning. When we examine remixing and sampling in pop music in an academic way, we must consider how it is consumed by and therefore affects a non-academic audience. Understanding the audience is foundational to communication, after all. Radio listeners will not necessarily know where sampled pieces originate from, let alone their original contexts. And those effects should be further examined in the future.
Everybody Hates Chris, a TV Show Everybody Hates Chris is an American sitcom inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York from 1985 to 1989. Motivated by his childhood experiences, Emmy comedian Chris Rock narrates this very funny and touching story of a teenager growing up as the eldest of three children in Brooklyn, New York during the 1980s Uprooted to a neighborhood and bused into a predominantly white middle school two hours away by his strict Parents who work hard. This writer shows how this TV show tried to address the diversity in America and how. In addition, the way the show was based on stereotypes when depicting certain groups.
In the novel, If Beale Street could talk, author James Baldwin, seeks to humanize black men, through the implementation of character development and their relationships with parents, lovers, and friends. With today’s modern black lives matter movement and frequent cases of police brutality in relation to people of color, this novel humanizes the black male, and Baldwin efficiently dismantles the reader’s tainted ideas about African Americans in America. The novel starts off with the introduction of two main characters: Tish, a pregnant, 19 year-old, lower-class African American girl- and Fonny, who is her 22 year-old baby-daddy who also happens to be in prison. This creates stereotypes in the readers minds, but as you continue to read, your mental state of how you see them changes and the stereotypes fade out.
While Blood Orange’s new single certainly has noble intentions - the song is a tribute to Sandra Bland, who died this summer under the custody of Texas police - it feels like an unfinished thought, both in lyrical and musical composition. All the Blood Orange elements are there: beautifully arranged saxophone, atmospheric synths in the background, Hynes’ own voice, and 808 drum effects, a new addition to Hynes’ sound. At two minutes, though, it fails to leave much of a lasting mark, and Hynes’ lyrics about Bland and Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina, while certainly poetic, also fade away without much of an impression. For those waiting for a Blood Orange record, it’s a welcome but fleeting glimpse at what Hynes has up his sleeve; for those who
World War 2 led to many advancements for the warfare area, and research. With few examples being Weaponry, Communications, and Rocketry. Weaponry advanced in more simple ways, like with small arms which included revolvers, pistols, and rifles, basically the idea was to make anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns portable, also jet aircraft came to be during World War 2, jet aircraft are propelled by jet engines, and have a fixed-wing. Also huge advancements for tanks, which made ground warfare way easier but was more of an undertaking to maintenance, but the tanks could be equipped with a mine flail to clear mine fields for the infantry, two major tanks that were used were the tank destroyer, and specialist tanks. Tank destroyers focused on engaging enemy armoured vehicles, and the specialist tanks consists of unusually modified tanks, that operated in different ways, examples being a tank with a flame-thrower, or the mine flail, even some were used for transportation in water.
These are important techniques, which can be used in my own memories, since they offer a multiple-point perspective on the differing aspects of public and private identity. Also, James shows the creative and spiritual side of his personality as a self-aware individual, which presents a different image than the criminal image of an Africa-American rock star. In my own memoir, the interview method can surely bring a more biased approach to qualitative aspects of autobiography, but it is also the self-awareness of family history and cultural aspects of the personality that can also be presented through personal narrative. I found James’ autobiography to be afar more self-aware analysis of his personal life, than I was expecting. In this manner, the interview-based narrative structure of Rick James’ Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James has been examined through the self-awareness of spiritual insight and African American criminality in the context of the artist’s public and private
In 2012, Chris Brown hired Mike G his new manager in order to clean up his reputation. Mike G was supposed to clean up his image, get him off of drug, and out of debt. Now Mike G is suing Chris Brown because he is claiming that Brown beat him and he wound up in the emergency room. Everything was fine between the two until a few month ago. Mike G said without any provocation Brown took him to a room and attacked him.
Brown Girl in the Ring, written by Nalo Hopkinson, is set within a Caribbean-Canadian community in Toronto and it is a reflection on the unique national and ethnic identities of the Caribbean diaspora. The language plays an important role in the story, since it serves as a means to identify not only the various national distinctions within this Caribbean community, but also the relationship between the Caribbean community and the larger Canadian society. However, through Hopkinson’s description of “serving the spirits”, the story depicts a pan-Caribbean identity inside the Caribbean diaspora Toronto. In this concept of “serving the spirits”, the author gathers numerous African-derived religious traditions that are found throughout the Caribbean and combines them into one religious practice, creating a unique pan-Caribbean identity.
In their chart topping song “Sonday Bloody Sunday” the band U2 sang the lines, “And the battle's just begun/ There's many lost, but tell me who has won/ The trench is dug within our hearts/ And mothers, children, brothers, sisters / Torn apart/ And the battle's just begun/ There's many lost, but tell me who has won/
The musical’s revolutionary twist on the classic Broadway genre to incorporate hip-hop music showcases America’s diverse population through music and theater. Miranda links these ideas to the music he creates by purposefully crafting each individual character’s unique musical sound to hip-hop and by alluding to cultural aspects of the genre itself to celebrate its place in society and what it has achieved over the years despite the struggle that comes with being a person of color. Though Hamilton faces criticism for being historically inaccurate, the “inaccuracies” of casting historically white figures as people of color highlights the musical’s strong hip-hop influences. By doing this, Miranda is able to generate discussion around the importance of embracing the diversity that lies at America’s very foundation as well as what needs to be done to promote the equal treatment of the minority population that is not only an important part of America’s past but also its
