N.W.A.- Fuck tha Police was made because police officers forced the group to lay face down in the street with guns to their heads. In the 80’s police brutality was at high, and young African American teens were there target. African Americans complained about police brutality but there were not cell phone cameras to capture the officers’ actions. So, if the case went to court it was a “he say she say battle”, and the police officer will win that battle. Unless you have experienced police brutality or racial profiling (DWB), you wouldn’t understand their complaints. Majority of the population couldn’t relate to what these African Americans were enduring. Not until the video of the Rodney King beating surfaced in March, 1991, police brutality
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. 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.
As detailed in Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, hip-hop was born through the explosion of creativity within America’s forgotten youth. The music spoke to the individuals in these forgotten communities. The music had a purpose and illuminated the political issues of the time. Sadly, over time, the increasing commodification of hip-hop as an art has gradually altered the audience of the music. As the audience has slowly changed, the meaning of some of the music has also changed. Capitalism has had a dual effect on hip hop; it has made hip hop “successful,” in that it spread it throughout the world and made it lots of money. On the other hand, it has distorted the original political nature of hip-hop. With that said, how has this change in hip-hop affected the purpose and audience of the art?
The first real study of social disorganization happened during the 1800’s in France by two men, Adolph Quetelet and Andre-Michel Guerry. They studied social disorganization by taking the recently released criminal records and mapping them. They were able to show that crime is related to places. After Adolph and Andre Michel came Robert Parks and Ernest Burgess who studied the similarities between ecology and urban social structures. Parks and Burgess after seeing how time played a role in how cities are affected, created a theory called the Concentric Zone theory. This theory correlated ecology means of invasion, dominance, and succession and combined it to cities. After Parks and Burgess, two men by the names of Shaw and McKay took up this theory and applied it social disorganization and its effects on delinquents.
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. Rodriquez’s interviews demonstrate that color-blind ideology enables white people to
Jordan Peele is the director and screenwriter of the horror thriller Get Out. The film was released on February 24, 2017. The movie is about a young successful African American man named Chris, who is dating a wealthy white woman, named Rose. He goes on a weekend trip with his girlfriend to meet her family and it turns out to be a nightmare. The film Get Out reveals the horror of liberal racism in America.
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. Through their lyrics they were able to express their opinions about society, the government and the treatment of African-Americans in the U.S. for decades. The black community used this platform to protest against social attitudes and try to change them. The famous MCs like 2Pac, Biggie, Snoop Dogg and rap groups for instance the one and only Wu Tang Clan or the generally known gangster rap group from Compton called N.W.A. were orators of a generation with the intention of raising the black culture and community from the oppression remained in the
It was around 7 on a hot August afternoon in 1965, in a Los Angeles south central neighborhood; when a twenty-one year old man named Marquette Frye was on his way home after a few beers to drop off his Brother. Not far from his house they were pulled over by an officer Lee Minkus who then proceeded to give Marquette Frye a field sobriety test. As Mr. Frye stumbled along the curb his brother Ronald Frye walked a few blocks over to the Frye residence and shortly returned with their mother. As the events unfolded the number of curious onlookers grew.
The movie that I have chosen to analyze is the 2004 film Crash. This film emphasizes the intertwining cultures of today 's society and the conflicts faced from class, culture, stereotypes and racism. The explicit content of this film is to teach the audience that one person 's choices has an impact on another person or multiple people and to persuade the audience that we as a society need to change how we treat each other. The films overt message does generate social dialogue, however, this film can be interpreted by the audience through their own beliefs and behaviors causing some misinterpretation. In Crash, ideology is screaming that the audience needs to open their eyes to the harsh reality of today 's challenges and make a change.
It is evident the social control theory is strongly emphasized in the film End of Watch after reading chapter 6 Social Process and Social Development in the textbook, Criminology 2nd ed. by Frank Schmalleger. There are three bonds that are expressed in the movie, End of Watch. The bonds are between the two main characters, Brian Taylor and Miguel Zavala, the Los Angeles Police Department, and Miguel and Bloods gang member, Tre. In this essay, I plan to demonstrate a working knowledge of the social control theory and how it relates to the main characters of the movie.
Step into the twenty-first century where the use of the word has shifted and evolved drastically. Going from nigger to the contemporary “nigga” has produced a fluid, adaptable, postmodern, and urban construction of identity epitomizing numerous social and rhetorical flows. “Nigga” identity has been most expressed in hip-hop and rap culture, one end that presents a sense of masculinity, misogyny, as well as sexual violence then another side that attempts to locate an authentic self amidst the difficult life that has forever plagued blacks within urban America. This is a term used to bring African Americans together. The issue that lies through this metamorphosis is that African Americans have managed to establish the unspoken rule that it is
Officers are supposed to use their power for good and take care of those who are violating the laws. It is their duty to take care of the citizens who feel threatened and afraid. Police officers need to make fair judgements and take appropriate action, however, discriminatory views can cloud their judgement which could lead to harming innocent people. In the novel, Starr has to witness a police officer abuse his power. This event scarrs Starr and whenever she encounters the police, she becomes uneasy and acts in a way to avoid trouble and suspicion. Even though Starr knows there are honourable police officers, like her uncle Carlos, she cannot help what she fears. In one instance, Starr and her mother were going back home when they encountered a police roadblock “[...] Suddenly it’s as if someone grabbed [her] heart and twisted it. ‘Can we-’ [she] swallow[s]. ‘Can we get around them?’” (164). Starr does everything she can to avoid the police because they trigger the memory of the incident. Additionally, former rapper Tupac gets mentioned a few times for his famous saying that thug life means “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody” (168). Starr talks about how this saying is more than just about the youth, it is about the minorities; everybody at the bottom of the society. Starr’s father explains to Starr about the discriminatory
As new black artists began creating music leading into the 80s, historical events were beginning to allow artists to use music as a platform to discuss social and political injustice in ways that had never been seen before. One specific gangster rap group, N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes), used this so-called platform to shed light on the injustices of a black man living in the city of Compton in the most raw and purest way possible. (Wahl, 1999)
As mentioned before N.W.A’s music album helped spread awareness across the country. As the audience got bigger the more people really understood what these young kids were going through. In fact, it even changed people’s perspectives on other cultures. As more people got into media and spread the word about this music group, a very powerful movement was created called “Black lives matter”. “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) is an international activist movement, originating in the African American community, that campaigns against violence toward black people”(Petersen-Smith,1). Over the years, since the black power struggle “Between 1970 and 2005, the prison population increased by a historically unprecedented 700 percent. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, roughly half of federal prisoners are incarcerated for drug offenses”(Petersen-Smith,3). This was due to inequality and police officers abusing their power. “Black youth are ten times more likely than white youth to be arrested for drug crimes” according to the ISR (International Socialist Review). As you can see African Americans were at a disadvantage, even if they weren’t doing anything wrong, they were more likely to get stopped by a cop over any other race. Even in today’s society, we see a repeated act of unfairness, especially towards ethnic cultures. Though officers no in their mind its not right, they continue to abuse their
In a society that is becoming increasingly connected through the internet and social media, the effect of music on society has been exponentially amplified. Artists have the ability to connect and share thoughts with listeners more directly and rapidly than ever before, and the result of more direct communication is a more powerful influence over culture. In times of struggle and strife, many people look to the words and lyrics of musicians and artists to help make sense of tragedies surrounding them. Areas of the country that are particularly prone to poverty, gang activity, and violence, often look for role models who made it out of that very situation and became successful. The members of Black Hippy, a rap group originating from Los Angeles,