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Gangsta Rap And American Culture Analysis

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“Gangsta Rap and American Culture” is an enlightening essay written by Michael Eric Dickerson, where he counters the claims made by political activist, Senators, and other Congressmen to censor “Gangsta Rap”. Dickerson made a highly effective, fair, and accurate argument by bringing to light several reasons on how “Gangsta Rap” could possibly represent the voice of the outspoken and oppressed people of the black community; As well as larger underlying issues plaguing society that need to be focused on before we condemn rappers and their music. Dickerson’s background and current position as a professor and minister, along with his open-minded view on the allegations paved the way for a superb rebuttal to censorship of “Gangsta Rap.” First
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343 Words | 2 Pages

This article focuses on the color-blind ideology that allows white people to participate in and appropriate hip-hop culture. Rodriquez notes that they do so by using the guise of inclusivity of all races to justify their participation in hip hop and to adapt characteristics of the culture without respecting Black identity. He uses his own interviews of several white audience members of hip hop concerts who identified as participants of hip hop culture. Rodriquez identifies two groups resulting from social collectivity to reinforce his argument: consciously collective white groups, who actively reinforce racial segregation and passively collective white groups, who unknowingly unite and reinforce systematic racism through their adherence to color-blind ideology. The participants of his research are part of the latter, who unconsciously reinforce systematic racism through treating cultural objects, namely aspects of hip hop culture, as shareable products and experiences.

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984 Words | 4 Pages

In the article, that quote was stated meaning Ice Cube doesn’t think they’re glorifying the lifestyle but merely informing people of what happens in South Central Los Angeles. All of these reasonings are true because the song did introduce the world to gangster rap and it does explain the lifestyle in Compton. Even though Ice Cube, one of the artists of the song, doesn’t think it glorifies the gangster lifestyle, it is still a very violent song. If the song wasn’t censored, kids could easily find the song and listen to all the ostentatious lyrics, and non-kid-friendly content. Kids listening to this song would normalize cussing, the n-word, and the violent scenarios discussed in the

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154 Words | 1 Pages

Nelson George supports his statement of “Gangsta rap is a direct by-product of the crack explosion” (paragraph 32) with providing the timeline of the two. Crack was introduced in the ‘70s, and its popularity exploded in the early ‘80s, becoming immensely accessible for users of different economic and social positions. Its by-product, gangsta rap, made its debut in the ‘80s, and first featured references of crack usage in 1983 and 1985. The explosion of gangsta rap did not occur until the end of the ‘80s- years after its antecedent. Without the detrimental effects of crack abuse such as addiction, incarceration, prostitution, and obsession of power, rappers could not fully implement a bond with their audience and appeal to the emotions of the

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1186 Words | 5 Pages

Hip Hop is seen as something inspiring, but most people see it as a way to speak out the truth about a problem. As in “Hip Hop planet” being able say the truth can sometimes worsen any situation because sometimes what we say can promote violence and whatever happens after is not in our control. The essay is about how hip hop has changed into speaking out the issues that need to be taken care of in order to maintain a proper society. McBride talked about how rappers use violent lyrics to degrade women and gays and because of this it shows how the music has evolved into something entirely different that no one would have ever expected to have changed. In James McBride's essay “Hip Hop Planet,” he argues that hip hop has a negative influence on American Culture despite people thinking of it as inspirational and how people live through different experiences in life despite of your race.

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1882 Words | 8 Pages

Hip-hop culture has been the topic of various academic, social, and political discourses. Rap music, in particular, has made its way to mainstream media which is evident in the numerous films and movies that centers on what was once a part of an underground culture. Scholars explain that the popularity of hip-hop in both music and films are partly due to its potential to disseminate information, address an issue, and promote social change. Tinson and McBride (2013), for example, note that hip-hop is a “…form of critical education at the intersection of, and inseparable from political engagement” (1). Scholars further note that hip-hop’s current state “…requires frequent accounting of its engagement with the social, political, and cultural climate

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754 Words | 4 Pages

Within creating this song the NWA has established a negative connotation and narrow stereotype of African Americans being in relation to violence, drugs, murder and rape. The song links all African Americans to an “American gangster” lifestyle which creates and contributes to the undesirable marginalization of an African

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633 Words | 3 Pages

In her essay “hip hop’s betrayal of black women,” Jennifer McLune implies that “(h)ip-hop owes its success to the ideology of women-hating” (193). She does not agree with Kevin Powell’s article that hip-hop does not mean to “offend” black women, but instead artists are only letting out their temper throughout their music. McLune feels infuriated that many artists in hip hop (including black men) rap about their community and downgrade their own women. In the hip-hop genre, sexism is mainly used, not only by black men but also by many other race hip-hop artists. Artists assume that women-hating in their rap songs will be accepted by women, but do not realize that it is affecting all women.

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72 Words | 1 Pages

The author who wrote this journal article focused on the images heavy and rap music left behind to the younger generation. Binder explored that music was harming the listeners and provoking violence. The author argues that black rap music was perceived as anger and hatred, and white music was a threat to society. However, this argument supports my thesis that music should be censored, because people are convinced by what they

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718 Words | 3 Pages

“Large business” (Spotlight 13), utilize “hip-hop artists as” (Spotlight14) spokesmen to gain attention. Many believe that by doing this companies are “purposefully --promoting negative values” (Spotlight15). Yet to say that all rappers promote negative values is completely bias, because as we have previously established not all rappers rap about negativity. “No connection is found between antisocial behavior in young people and controversial genres of music such as ‘gangster music’”

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2341 Words | 10 Pages

Adriana Rodriguez Mrs. Diaz US II H 5/23/2016 Gangsta Rap and Social Justice Music is a powerful tool that artists have used since its creation to mold society. From the songs that slaves used to sing in the fields that were their cries for freedom, to today’s girl power anthems that propel the feminist movement forward, music continues to be an incredibly influential force. One recent and well known movement that music propelled was the gangsta rap movement of the late 20th century. In the 1990s, African Americans in the United States faced destructive systematic oppression, which became widely acknowledged due to the creation of “gangsta rap;” this genre of music was critical to African American history because it responded to issues such

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777 Words | 4 Pages

Rap music has been consistently berated by the public since its conception. This is due to the vulgar and intense lyrics often incorporated in the genre. While this is not a concept unique to rap, it is presented as such when brought up in criminal cases. Briana Younger, a writer for the New Yorker, challenges these assumptions of character by presenting examples of the issue before addressing why it is detrimental to the rap community and a failure of the legal system, “By introducing the work of a rapper into the courtroom, prosecutors are relying on racism to do its job—insisting that those in the courtroom accept, as fact, the worst kinds of stereotypes about this music and the people who make it” (par. 9). Younger explains how prosecutors utilize the storytelling found in rap music and claiming it is founded in truth.

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982 Words | 4 Pages

Gangster Rap is by definition “Gangsta rap or gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop music with themes and lyrics based on the "thug" or "gangsta" lifestyle.” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangsta_rap) The “gangsta” life style has been glamourized by the media. On the media the gangsta lifestyle is nice cars, lots of money, drugs, and parties but that is far from the truth. In reality the real life style is full of violence, drugs, poverty, racism and danger at every corner.

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946 Words | 4 Pages

Nowadays, everyone wears the identity with pride. The genre was a testament to triumphing over hardships, to having enough confidence in oneself not to let the world drag you down, and to rising above the struggle, even when things seem hopeless. Violence in rap did not begin as an affective agent that threatened to harm America 's youth; rather, it was the outcry of an already-existing problem from youth whose world views have been shaped by the inequalities and prejudice they have experienced. The relentless wave of heroic new rappers arriving on the scene formed the golden age of hip hop in the 1980s, a newfound voice which rose from the impoverished ghettos during the 1980s and inspiring a generation of black youth to fight the police brutality they faced on a daily basis.

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921 Words | 4 Pages

McBride begins his essay in high contrast to his intended purpose with an anecdotal discussion of his first encounters with Hip Hop music that inevitably represents black men as arrogant, aggressive, and poor. The introductory paragraph details McBride’s fear of his daughter marrying a black rapper that he describes as having “a mouthful of gold teeth, a do-rag on his head, muscles popping out of his arms, and a thug attitude” (McBride para. 1). This stereotypical description of a rapper, as well as the sense of fear McBride feels, contributes to his initial representation of black males as aggressive thugs that are unsuitable to become husbands.

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1006 Words | 5 Pages

The Impact of Hip-Hop Ever since its birth in the 1970s in West Bronx, Hip Hop has been known as “Gangsta” music and most commonly associated with black culture. Since its creation it has become a fast growing genre of music and has growing fame all over the world. The popularity of it has increased to all races, age and gender. However the growing popularity of hip hop has come with several controversies among scholars. Some scholars argue that the growing popularity of the genre is very helpful to low income families who can use this as their outlet into going to Universities, on the other side some believe associating the genre to black culture is bad for the culture as a whole and they should not be associated together.

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