Since the beginning of its creation in 1970 rap music has always been judged. People think of rap in a negative way because of the subjects it normally references. In some cases this is understandable but in most cases it is not. Rap just like any other form of music is a way to express thoughts and feelings that not everyone can relate to but this doesn’t mean individuals should be able to criticize the music and its listeners based off the lyrical content.
Rap music has always been an intriguing topic in society. It was created in the 1970s and continues through the present. There have been drastic changes since the commercial success for the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rappers Delight” in 1979. The way rappers convey the message is completely different
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If a person were to conduct a survey on which genre of music people consider the most indecent, most would choose rap music. It’s quite obvious that the majority of people have a negative view on rap music; people believe that it is meaningless, misogynistic, extremely violent, and detrimental to the progression of African American life. These ideas are understandable, but they are oftentimes incorrect. There are countless songs made by rap artists that are sexist, violent, and meaningless, but that shouldn’t lead someone to generalize the whole genre as being that way. There are numerous rap songs and albums that go completely against what the majority of people think of the genre. The Hip hop industry consists of mostly African American musicians. Since blacks are often alienated in society, their music seems to be too. People often give rappers negative labels such as “gangster” or “thug”, which are discriminatory words that people have often used to describe African Americans in the media. There is an everlasting double standard in music. as people bash rap music for being sexist and violent, other genres of music such as country or alternative have the same themes, but they’re vulgar lyrics go …show more content…
There have been many rap songs and albums that have been very meaningful, and have gained millions of fans that appreciate their music. For example, on Kendrick Lamar’s debut album Good Kid, m.A.A.d City, each song is a piece of his life story. He describes his struggles growing up in the ghettos of Compton, California. Kendrick addresses situations such as gang violence, peer pressure, and oppressed women. On the song “The Art of Peer Pressure”, Kendrick describes the inner conflict that he dealt with at a young age, trying to distinguish right from wrong in certain situations. Another major theme on the album is violence. The unfortunate fact is that when people hear violent lyrics in rap music, they automatically think that the rapper is a violent person. . Contrary to popular belief, there have been songs dedicated to the empowerment of women in a male-dominant society. For example, in J. Cole’s song “Crooked Smile”, he is speaking to women who think that they have to meet certain expectations for men to accept them. More specifically, he explains that women shouldn’t have to make themselves perfect for anyone because nobody’s perfect. The title “Crooked Smile” refers to his crooked teeth that he’s had since childhood, as a way for listeners to relate to him. In the song, he raps, “We don’t look nothing like the people on the screen, you know the movie stars, picture perfect beauty queens, but we
Morgan’s obligation to write this article is to change the center of attention of rap criticism and look deeper in to it. The intended audience is for man and women in young age. His intension is to notify us what causes all of the dysfunction and hate actions between man and
The summary of “Hip-Hop Planet” by James McBride In the essay Hip-Hop Planet by McBride, a national book award winner, he states that he believed the newer music like rap wasn 't meaningful. McBride talks about how he never understood why rap was so popular, he didn 't see why everyone liked it. In the essay he describes the first time he listened to rap and how he found it absurd. McBride noticed no one really cared where rap come from or how it came to be, people just liked it regardless of who created it.
Rappers have slowly stopped focusing on matters with social significance and instead focus on themselves. The language has drastically changed as well as the use of explicit words and derogatory terms mostly towards women are being widely used across the whole movement. Another method rappers use to gain attention is to indirectly diss other rappers to ignite some sort of altercation which fans of today like
Misogyny is a prevalent characteristic of rap music. Women are described in a derogatory manner, being called “bitches”, “thots”, “hoes”, or “whores”. Lyrics sexualize the female body and normalize the objectification of women. This can lead to negative stereotypes towards women. Male rappers often emanate hyper masculine demeanors which manifests the idea that they have the ability to disrespect women.
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.
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 encourages and glorifies violence, high class living without working to get there, and promiscuity. Hip-hop culture isn’t considered scholarly because it drives people to attain a lifestyle of laziness, not working to attain goals, and demeaning the value of schoolwork. At this time hip-hop is viewed in a negative connotation while other genre of music, like jazz, are seen in a positive
Most people believe that “lyrics should appeal to us, not degrade us” (Glidden3). There is controversy surrounding “some artists accused of rapping sexually inflammatory lyrics” (Encyclopedia4). The actions of a few is causing people to put a bad label on rap in a whole. This bias opinion is becoming the cause of listeners to believe that rap lyrics “are setting a bad example for kids and teens” (Glidden2). I can understand where this may lead to critics to misapply such distaste to the rap form, but “there are rap artists who don’t use offensive language or portray women in a negative light” (Glidden1).
Stereotypes in every context are bad, but in music you can generalize listeners based on the type of music they listen to which is unfair to the artist and the audience. There is a stereotype of rap music that the context only consists of money, sex, drugs and swearing. In the music video and song of “Gangsta`s Paradise” by Coolio, the lyrics and meaning behind the music video
Hip-hop songs promote violent behavior and some of them drugs. And They used degrading lyrics towards women. An example of hip-hop songs promoting violence and bad behavior is this song: "You heard of us, official Queensbridge murderers. The mobb comes equipped for warfare beware.
¨If Hip Hop has the ability to corrupt minds, it also has the ability to uplift them.¨ Hip hop music, also called rap music, is a music genre developed in the United States by African Americans consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. Mainstream hip hop culture is also filled with misogyny and negative images of women. These artists are unaware that sexism has been forced onto them through the brainwashing from the media, which is controlled by a patriarchal society. Conversely, feminism is the belief that both genders should have equal power.
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.
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.
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
“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.