Rather than select one artist and compare their cultural context I chose to reverse it. I chose the real world situation of inequality and mistreatment of Blacks in the United States. A slew of unarmed African American men, women, and children are being killed by the police every day, this has sparked movements and rallied nationwide run by the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement covers a lot of political and social issues, including showing black power and also fighting for justice and equal treatment of African Americans. The Black Live Matter movement stands for uniting the black people and standing up for them as a whole no matter the orientation, background or upbringing. This movement alone has inspired such an involvement from
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Cole not only makes music influenced by the movement, but he has also been seen in the front lines of the fight. The deaths of both Michael Brown and Aiyana Stanley-Jones have set a foundation for the movement. at the memorial for Michael Brown, an 18 year-old unarmed black man shot by a white Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson. Cole uses a large percentage of his platform to bring awareness to the unarmed African American population being killed by police officers. In his video for “Crooked Smile” he practically reenacted the night Aiyana Jones, a seven-year-old, was shot by an officer while the taping of an episode of The First 48. In his video for G.O.M.D. he uses the setting of slavery era and him being the ‘light skinned house slave’ that all the outside slaves dislike. As the video proceeds the ‘house slaves’ aid in revolt and include the ‘outside slaves’ and arm them. I believe it signifies that no matter the color of their skin, they were still slaves and in trying to free themselves they also assisted in freeing the others since they are all in the same boat. Which is what the BLM tries to be bring awareness to. The equality amongst black people can only succeed if we act as one. If one of us suffers, we all suffer and in order for all of us to be ‘free’ we must work together.
In conclusion, hip-hop has been present through a lot of causes and movements. This day and age the black lives matter movement is having the most influence on black people everywhere and especially black musicians. This movement has started fashion statements and made black men, women and children proud to be what they are and proud of where they’re from. The entire black community is related to this real world situation that is currently among
Cole not only makes music influenced by the movement, but he has also been seen in the front lines of the fight. The deaths of both Michael Brown and Aiyana Stanley-Jones have set a foundation for the movement. at the memorial for Michael Brown, an 18 year-old unarmed black man shot by a white Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson. Cole uses a large percentage of his platform to bring awareness to the unarmed African American population being killed by police officers. In his video for “Crooked Smile” he practically reenacted the night Aiyana Jones, a seven-year-old, was shot by an officer while the taping of an episode of The First 48. In his video for G.O.M.D. he uses the setting of slavery era and him being the ‘light skinned house slave’ that all the outside slaves dislike. As the video proceeds the ‘house slaves’ aid in revolt and include the ‘outside slaves’ and arm them. I believe it signifies that no matter the color of their skin, they were still slaves and in trying to free themselves they also assisted in freeing the others since they are all in the same boat. Which is what the BLM tries to be bring awareness to. The equality amongst black people can only succeed if we act as one. If one of us suffers, we all suffer and in order for all of us to be ‘free’ we must work together.
In conclusion, hip-hop has been present through a lot of causes and movements. This day and age the black lives matter movement is having the most influence on black people everywhere and especially black musicians. This movement has started fashion statements and made black men, women and children proud to be what they are and proud of where they’re from. The entire black community is related to this real world situation that is currently among