ipl-logo

Hip-Hop: A Cultural Appropriation

1088 Words5 Pages

The mixture of globalization and multiculturalism are catalysts for the ever existing cultural appropriation. Now more than ever, individuals are exposed to various outlets such as, media, music, and movies that portray many ethnicities, ideas, and beliefs, thus making cultural appropriation inevitable in this generation. Arguably, the most notable way of cultural change is music, Hip-Hop is a prime example. Hip-Hop has been dominated by African American communities for years. Through Hip-Hop the spreading of “African American” culture and the awareness of the “Ghetto” grew. This essay aims to discuss the notion that cultural appropriation exists and is good for society, and it will be supported by the ideas of social inclusion (race), Hip-Hop …show more content…

With that said, it is not surprising that Hip-Hop has made such a huge impact on world-wide culture. In Jason Rodriquez’s article Color-Blind Ideology and the Cultural Appropriation of Hip-Hop the author states that Hip-Hop itself has been appropriated by the majority, this was done in order for the music to enter the mainstream and for the artists to make money(Rodriquez, 2006). This is simply untrue; many mainstream songs were directed against the majority. NWA, a legendary Hip-Hop group who recently got inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame, created one of the most notorious songs of the 80s called “Fuck the police”. This song brings police brutality and various other racial conflicts such as the “Ghettos” into light. This is a prime example of a Hip-Hop group going against the norms of society, and bringing real issues into light, while still appeasing the mainstream audiences. This example is not isolated, various artists such as Jay-Z, Tupac, Mos Def, Biggie, and other rap legends do not adhere to Rodriquez’s ideas of cultural appropriation in Hip-Hop. Aside from mainstream Hip-Hip artists, …show more content…

Globalization allows for the world to have access to information from different cultures and media. The diffusion of cultures results in similar cultural traits, identical materialistic cultures, and even similar laws depending on the state (Hahn, 2008). Ultimately, globalization makes the world more aware of different ideas. This includes African American culture through Hip-Hop. Rodriquez often states in his article that individuals listen to hip hop music because they think it makes them cool (Rodriquez, 2006). The simple rebuttal to this point is the fact that people could just like the music. I conducted a survey regarding Hip-Hop and cultural appropriation. Approximately 50 individuals answered the questions with about 60% of them are Canadian or from the United States; the participants were of various ages, consisted of 43% female and male, and 12% identifying as other. The survey aimed to answer a series of simple questions regarding whether individuals enjoyed Hip-Hop, why they did, and if they believe music can influence the masses, as well as their definition of the ghetto. Approximately 70% of individuals who answered, enjoy Hip-Hop, and about 93% of the participants, believed that music brings awareness to cultural issues. About, 80% believed that the ghetto is an impoverish location, with mostly minorities in an isolated area of the city. The survey proceeded to address how people know about ghettos. Most

Show More
Related
160 Words | 1 Pages

The article “Hip Hop Planet” by James McBride is about how hip hop is not his favorite type of music but, it needs to be heard. McBride shows us this by explaining that he avoided hip hop most of his life. In the article McBride says that he basically ignored “the most important cultural event in my lifetime.” James informs us that hip hop has influenced the world globally and that it has become a phenomenon. Furthermore, McBride made clear that he eventually realized that hip hop is much more than just music, it has a message.

Read More
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.

Read More
2049 Words | 9 Pages

Young people and marginalized communities have historically used music, fashion, and style to express who they are, protest against injustice, and resist oppressive systems. Within these cultural movements, diverse gender identities are also celebrated by disrupting societal norms and promoting inclusivity. The multifaceted roles of music, fashion, and style serve as outlets for self-expression and can be leveraged to challenge the hegemonic standards of the ever-changing society. Different genres of music such as rap and hip-hop have paved the way for political progress, by advocating for change through an art medium. Numerous marginalized groups have found their voice in the hip-hop community due to the shared experiences within this avenue

Read More
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.

Read More
675 Words | 3 Pages

Since the 1980s hip-hop has influenced the world greatly. Artists like Tupac and Biggie have helped make hip-hop the mainstream phenomena it is today. The hip-hop culture is everywhere today and it affects people of all ages. In discussions of hip-hop's, one controversial issue has been hip-hop's place in schools. On the one hand, many teachers argue using hip-hop in schools to educate young students because of the negative influences most hip-hop music today exists.

Read More
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

Read More
1574 Words | 7 Pages

People outside of the African American community can purchase and listen to Hip-Hop music, but when artists profit from a skewed ghettoized and plagiarized version of underground Hip-Hop it then becomes cultural appropriation. This is because Hip-Hop was a voice for inner city African Americans and a form of verbal heritage as expressed in Rodriguez’s article and other sources; originating from the African tradition of toasting (Black talk, 2000; Rodriquez, 2006). Regarding the African American community as a non-nation state like aboriginal communities, their cultural property is at a higher risk of getting skewed due to the lack of state protection (Anderson & Geismar, 2017;

Read More
362 Words | 2 Pages

Both racism and classism contribute to the cultural appropriation of black culture because culture is not always portrayed in the right context, often viewed as a negative or stereotype for the group in which the cultural component belongs to and white groups tend to capitalize on the appropriation of other cultures. The appropriation of black culture is nothing new, nor is black culture a trend or recent fad. The usage of elements of black culture through appropriation contributes to the marginalization of the people and some of the major forms of oppression, in particular racism and classism. Racism being a primary factor; it is a form of discrimination towards an individual or group of people based on their race. Classism playing less of

Read More
1097 Words | 5 Pages

The cultural practices including; graffiti art, graffiti writing, DJs, breakdancing and a unique fashion sense, evolved around the struggling community and the racial inequalities that were present at the time. Today, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly has become a defiant yet proud source of black culture in the face of those who don’t see hip-hop as anything more than a “race-baiter” or “thug” genre (Harris 2). The album successfully incorporates the struggles of oppression and racial injustice that caused hip-hop to emerge as a genre. This essay will work to analyze Kendrick Lamar’s cover artwork for To Pimp a Butterfly as well as his music video “Alright” in order to justify how, unlike the majority of hip-hop genre classifications today, Lamar genuinely fosters the afro-diasporic origins and institutionalized racism and oppression from which hip-hop became a

Read More
647 Words | 3 Pages

Appropriation concerns: The fusion of Indigenous music with Hip Hop and R&B raises concerns of cultural appropriation, as non-Indigenous artists may exploit and profit from Indigenous traditions without fully understanding or respecting their significance, potentially eroding cultural integrity. 2. Dilution of cultural identity: The mash-up of Indigenous music with Hip Hop and R&B may lead to the dilution of Indigenous cultural identity as artists navigate the demands of mainstream popular music, potentially compromising the authenticity of Indigenous traditions and erasing their distinctiveness. 3. Commercialization and commodification: The process of mixing Indigenous music with Hip Hop and R&B runs the risk of turning Indigenous cultures into a marketable product, perpetuating harmful stereotypes and profiting off Indigenous artistic creations without meaningful engagement or contribution to Indigenous communities.

Read More
1727 Words | 7 Pages

The contributions and experiences of ‘homegirls’ as well as the experiences of the group characterize the hip-hop generation. Furthermore, an essential part of the hip-hop generation is the appropriation of Black youth culture. It is a new form of racism in the sense that many White people, notably White college age males, appropriate the culture, by listening to the music and adopting the style meanwhile ignoring or discrediting the people who created it. There is an ‘illusion of inclusion’ in the sense that people accept and like the culture, but do not aid in the fight against discrimination and instead use it as a fashion (Lindsey, 2015).

Read More
946 Words | 4 Pages

What seems to us now as excessive violence and misogyny in hip hop stems from a culture that has been consumed in a continuous battle against social and economic oppression since its early days. In the beginnings of hip hop, there was an explosion of defiance against the subjugation these artists had to experience on a daily basis. For many artists, rapping about guns and gang life was a reflection of daily life in the ghettos and inner-city housing projects. Not only did rap provide an outlet to voice the struggles of black youth, it also gave them a sense of pride. Before major hip hop groups such as NWA arrived on the scene, people would refuse to admit they were even from Compton.

Read More
921 Words | 4 Pages

Hip Hop was the wildfire that started in the South Bronx and whose flames leapt up around the world crying out for change. James McBride’s Hip Hop Planet focuses on his personal interactions with the development of Hip Hop culture and his changing interpretations of the world wide movement. Many of his encounters and mentions in the text concern young black males and his writing follows an evolution in the representation of this specific social group. He initially portrays them as arrogant, poor, and uneducated but eventually develops their image to include the positive effects of their culture in an attempt to negate their historical misrepresentation.

Read More
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.

Read More
870 Words | 4 Pages

A study shows appropriation as the action of taking exclusive possession of a cultural appropriating dominant cultural element. Yet, the act of appropriation can be placed into four categories cultural exchange, dominance, exploitation, and transculturation. As cultural exchange transform into transculturation, it is a part of appropriation which it involved taking elements from multiple culture. By circulating into different cultures, creating and exchanging into a new form of identity or new culture which everyone enjoy (Rogers, 2006). Transpacific culture in the music world is known as fusion music we hear today.

Read More

More about Hip-Hop: A Cultural Appropriation

Related Topics

Open Document