¨Ghostface, catch the blast of a hot verse, my glock burst, leave in a hearse, I did worse¨ (Ghostface Killah, Bring da Ruckus). Gun toting, murder, and drug abuse are tropes commonly associated with hip hop music and it's culture. Rappers, and those who follow them, are labeled as thugs, ignorant, or downright dumb. They are chastised and outcasted from the mainstream for the mood of their art. However, hip hop and it's culture is incredibly complex. The lyrics that compose the songs tackle issues that resonate with the group that listens to the song, ranging from surviving in poverty, to trying to succeed in a hostile environment. The lyrics within raps songs can not be taken at face value. The immense complexity and vast differences of
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During the the 1970’s New York City was experiencing great economic strife, keystoned by the 1977 NYC blackout, and popularized by the infamous phrase “The Bronx is burning”. Poverty gripped the city, and the struggle that the people endured, particularly young blacks, gave way to a new form of music, Hip-Hop. As stated by Rebecca Laurence, of BBC News, “On a hot August night in 1973, Clive Campbell, known as DJ Kool Herc, and his sister Cindy put on a ‘back to school jam’ in the recreation room of their apartment block at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the west Bronx” (Laurence). The party was a simple get together, but as later stated by Laurence, the children grew up in abandonment, and thus the seeds of “mass cultural renewal” were innately planted. The popularity of this music quickly spread throughout the city, and soon the everyday struggle of life found its way into the contents of the music. To make a decent living in the less affluent boroughs of New York City, the people often took to illegal and nefarious activities. As these were the people producing the music, it led to the thug persona that exists in hip culture today. In attempt to make their story heard, those involved in hip hop sung the tale of the struggle that they endured. Gang banging, dope slanging, and other crimes became the subjects of their music, and as a consequence, it is what the music became known for (Romano). The casual picture of a “hip …show more content…
Coming from uneducated, poorer backgrounds, hip hop heads constantly see gang violence, drug abuse, and misogyny growing up. However, this large disparity in meaning, not commonly seen in mainstream genres, led to the belief that everyone who makes or listens to this music, must surely be thug, drug user, or a wife beater, and if not, then surely they support it via supporting this medium. They receive a stereotype not indicative of their self at all, but instead of the art form they support. This is analogous to assuming someone who eats meat also hates animals. It is a deep travesty that a beautiful cultural movement, representative of Minority America, was discredited by the story it attempted to tale . Hip Hop, and it’s heads, are not all drug users, killers, or wife beaters or
During the the 1970’s New York City was experiencing great economic strife, keystoned by the 1977 NYC blackout, and popularized by the infamous phrase “The Bronx is burning”. Poverty gripped the city, and the struggle that the people endured, particularly young blacks, gave way to a new form of music, Hip-Hop. As stated by Rebecca Laurence, of BBC News, “On a hot August night in 1973, Clive Campbell, known as DJ Kool Herc, and his sister Cindy put on a ‘back to school jam’ in the recreation room of their apartment block at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the west Bronx” (Laurence). The party was a simple get together, but as later stated by Laurence, the children grew up in abandonment, and thus the seeds of “mass cultural renewal” were innately planted. The popularity of this music quickly spread throughout the city, and soon the everyday struggle of life found its way into the contents of the music. To make a decent living in the less affluent boroughs of New York City, the people often took to illegal and nefarious activities. As these were the people producing the music, it led to the thug persona that exists in hip culture today. In attempt to make their story heard, those involved in hip hop sung the tale of the struggle that they endured. Gang banging, dope slanging, and other crimes became the subjects of their music, and as a consequence, it is what the music became known for (Romano). The casual picture of a “hip …show more content…
Coming from uneducated, poorer backgrounds, hip hop heads constantly see gang violence, drug abuse, and misogyny growing up. However, this large disparity in meaning, not commonly seen in mainstream genres, led to the belief that everyone who makes or listens to this music, must surely be thug, drug user, or a wife beater, and if not, then surely they support it via supporting this medium. They receive a stereotype not indicative of their self at all, but instead of the art form they support. This is analogous to assuming someone who eats meat also hates animals. It is a deep travesty that a beautiful cultural movement, representative of Minority America, was discredited by the story it attempted to tale . Hip Hop, and it’s heads, are not all drug users, killers, or wife beaters or