Crack era to Lean Culture: Whether its something we like or not, it is hard to speech of hip hop music without speaking of the drugs involved in the industry. Drugs have been and probably will remain a massive component in hip hop culture. No matter the drug, no matter the era, drugs have always played a major role in the sound and presentation of hip hop. Rap has gone hand in hand with the idea of partying, drugs, and everything else that comes along with it.
During our presentation, I plan to inform the audience of what similarities that hip-hop has with jazz, blues and soul, but to also explain why so many still listen to and are inspired today. Although our presentations will include several more reasons for hip-hop and why was it so significance and how is it still significance to the African-American community, we plan to also explain the progression of how it became the revolutionizing message it is
The story of hip-hop is long, storied, and extraordinarily complex. With influences stretching back to the 1900s, particularly during the civil rights movement when Black Pride and cultural identity were at the forefront of the political landscape. Various musical genres that emerged during this era like ‘The Blues’ tragic and depressing undertones, ‘Gospel’ and its themes of recognizing the hard times and the necessity to remain strong, ‘Jazz’s’ unique sound, spoken word poems’ cadence of saying sentences in a rhythmic manner, and most notably ‘Funk’. laid the foundation for what hip-hop would become. As the 1970s arrived, the pioneers of hip-hop began to arise, each with their own idea of what hip-hop would become.
Evolution and Revolution in Hip-hop As hip hop began to gain popularity, it started to include people beyond poor urban neighborhoods. As this occurred, new members of the hip hop generation struggled to define themselves beyond the slums. Although it was the birthplace of hip hop, it was dangerously misleading to allow society to continue to perceive hip hop as the child of neglect, poverty, and suffering. Though by no means an collective response to outsider views, songs attempting to define hip hop began to appear. From “We Rap More Mellow” to “Damn it feels good to be a gangster, 13 years pass (1979-92), but the ideology expressed in the lyrics remains thematically the same, in hoping to redefine hip hop and what it means to be member of
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.
Hip Hop culture with the black community and amongst the world has altered in several ways. Hip Hop today has certainly devolved in ways that have effected the mentality of humility, practical the younger generation. Hip Hop relays a much different message and most of it makes sexual references toward women and speak on things such as drugs and money. This is not to say that music in the 80s and 90s did not reference or speak about the same things but today it is presented in a way that is a lot more opened, acceptable and vulgar. Hip Hop within the 80s, 90s and early 2000s spoke about life and the issues that the black community faces.
Formally, Hip Hop is a subcultural movement that formed during the early 1970s largely by African-American youth residing in South Bronx, New York City. It became popular outside of the African-American community in the late 1980s, and continued on to become the most listened-to musical genre in the world (Chang and Herc 2005). Given Hip Hop’s extensive roots in underground culture, many hip-hop and rap pioneers have denounced the culture’s shift to mainstream, arguing that modern hip-hop artists are more concerned with image over depth. Still, since its development throughout the Bronx, hip hop spread to urban and suburban communities throughout the world. It is characterized by six distinctive elements, all of which represent the different
Hip Hop is more leaned towards the younger generation and
If more rap artists like Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore and Frank Ocean received more radio air time, then perhaps the levels of positive rap and negative rap can reach an equilibrium. Overall, hip-hop culture is one that encompasses the authenticity and creative beginnings that started from a state of
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.
The “Golden Age” era of the hip-hop was the late /80s and /90s, this is when the new popular form of music made their mark in the music industry. In this era we have the greatest of all time, somewhat pioneers besides the ones who created hip-hop in the first place. Rappers of the “Golden Age” such as Kurtis Blow, KRS-One, Rakim, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, N.W.A, 2pac, and Biggie put hip-hop on another level. Before these rappers and others influenced the hip-hop scene, the lyrics were considered to be somewhat PG-13. Most of the music then consisted of topics about partying and what goes on the inner cities of the ghetto.
It started to become pessimistic and unplayable. In today’s world, some parents think hip hop is at it’s very worst even though most individuals strongly disagree with that statement. Old school rappers seem to be disrespected by how some rappers are these days and feel like it is hurting their reputation. Although hip hop has a very outgoing and explicit lyrics, it has never really had a negative impact on society. Sometimes those explicit lyrics are ways for people to get their point across.
Hip Hop has always been a great way to express thoughts and feelings through music. Hip hop/rap has its roots in African American music, such as soul, funk, and R&B, as well as Jamaican music, specifically the style known as toasting, where a DJ or MC would talk over a rhythm. According to The Master Class, “Early hip-hop music saw its roots in the 1970s in the New York City borough of the Bronx. It started as a collaboration among intersecting groups of Black, Latinx, and Caribbean American youth at block parties”(The Master Class).
As the world evolves so does music. In the late 70’s hip hop was becoming more popular due to DJs. DJs began to use samples to scratch records at parties. Eventually rappers took this style of scratching and turned it into digital sampling.
So you can't blame hip hop if what majority of fans want to here is violent and negative things fans make the artist its money and in order for them to stay rich they make the music that will benefit them not the world. But some artist don't care and rap about what they want to rap about about the rights things in life the goodness in the world the positive things in life “there are songs that denounce violence and call for more peace and togetherness in the inner city in an attempt to improve the quality of life”( tricia
