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Cultural influence of hip hop
Over the years hip-hop has developed as a culture as well as an artistic phenomenon
Hip hop's effect on culture
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According to Orejuela, “Hip hop includes four related art forms – Djing, MCing, breaking (b-boying), and graffiti – that are the product of a unifying ideology” (2). Therefore, one can understand that there is more to hip hop than meets the eye and Orejuela felt passionately
This music that once made visible the inner culture of America’s greatest social problem, its legacy of slavery, has taken the dream deferred to a global scale” (McBride, 3). McBride reveals how hip-hop talks about a nation’s social issues and makes people aware of them. This demonstrates that hip-hop is powerful because it educates people on both past and current issues that their nation has faced. Finally, hip-hop is stimulating and commanding because even though it has evolved, it still urges people to put an end to racial
“Hip hop: Beyond Beats and Rhyme” (2006), by Byron Hurt is a documentary which tells the hidden side of a today’s Hip Hop culture. The documentary was made in 2006 in the United States by a lifelong hip hop fun and lover Byron Hurt, who realized that each hip hop video has something nearly identical; therefore he decided to make a documentary based on music, politics of hip hop and its culture. The purpose of this essay is to show how Byron Hurt used his non-fiction picture to document hip hop culture from different angles and in what way he has presented his main point to the public. After a short outline of a plot and the background of the documentary, it will analyze the structure of the documentary and effects that are used in the documentary, and what effect it might produce on the watchers.
“Beyond Beats and Rhymes” Summary This movie was a broad discussion about hip-hop music (or more specifically gangster rap) and what kind of social issues the music not only showcases but seems to promote. The producer of this film, Byron Hunt, interviewed people involved in all aspects of the hip-hop industry, including famous rappers, to try to get to the bottom of this. Some of the most prominent issues discussed in the film were the over-sexualization of women, gun violence, and anti- homophobic attitudes. Hunt would ask those involved in the industry about why they think these themes are so prevalent.
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.
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
For my ethnomusicology project proposal, I have chosen to focus on the history of Rap Music in New York. My reasoning for choosing the state of New York was mostly in part because of the demographics pertaining to the people who live there. Life has not been easy for many African Americans and other minorities, especially early on during the birth of Rap Music. This leads to the stories of struggles and hardships, which makes Rap Music personally favorable to myself. Another reason for wanting to do my ethnomusicology project on Rap Music in New York is because some of the biggest names in Rap Music have gotten their start in New York.
In the video she talks about how black people uses cornrows to keep black textured hair from getting tangle, neat and in style in rap and hip-hop culture. Then she goes on saying that in the 2000’s white rappers would adopt the hair style and later in movies. I believe her argument was saying that we, Americans love black culture yet we are using the fundamentals of what cornrows are actually used for as what white privilege people uses cornrows as high fashion and rap and hip-hop culture. I agree to what she saying because white privilege is something that white people do take advantage of.
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.
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 block parties, graffiti art, rapping, disc jockeying and diverse forms of dancing built Hip Hop by the black youth. They expressed their feelings, thoughts, but most importantly the problems they had to face, which were related to their race, gender and social positions. The rights that were given to black people during and after the Civil Rights Movement left the following generations at a lack of how to continue the fight for black rights. Hip Hop gave them this platform and with the usage of black nationalism, Hip Hop can explore the challenges that confront American-Americans in the post-Civil Rights Movement era. In the 1990’s Hip Hop lived its prime, sub genres started to appear and famous groups, MCs led the whole community, providing a voice to a group of people trying to deliver their message.
I believe that the appreciation of rap music contains a cultural element as it pertains to understand what the artist is talking about. Hip-Hop artists use references and lingo in their raps that are well known from their background (or culture) but someone that does not come from a similar background might not be able to understand the references. I think this is one thing that has made rap at times difficult for all types of people to understand. The references some artists say might not be appreciated by a more diverse audience because of the knowledge needed to put some of the lyrics together.
Not only has the evolution of hip hop has changed, but the type of hip hop artist has changed also. Back when hip hop was more positive and had a true meaning you could listen to the music and become inspired. Nowadays the artist that makes music aren’t really making music. It’s not about love and peace anymore it’s all about dollar signs, guns, gangs, and drugs. and that is a reason why most rappers these days make poor music.
The African American community has not gained full equality to this day. Even after fighting for many years this present day issue has come to light in Hip-Hop artists songs like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis song, White Privilege II. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are respected in their line of work because they have become very popular in today 's Hip-Hop music. Hip-Hop has been the newest way of news being broadcasted. As many artists like Macklemore have become more of an activist in this day and age.
Subcultures are values and norms different from those of the majority and are held by a group within a wider society, these social groups are organized around shared interests and practices. A subculture is usually attached to clothes music and other visible fronts within the given community, that is part of the general society. Subcultures contain individuals who think alike who feel like they are not a part of the bigger culture of society and then create a sense of identity for themselves. The term Hip Hop is used as a subcultural movement. Scholars such as Carl and Virgil Taylor emphasize “Hip-Hop is not only a genre of music, but also a complex system of ideas, values and concepts that reflect newly emerging and ever-changing creative correlative expressive mechanisms including but not limited to song, poetry, film and fashion.”
