African hip hop

Hip hop culture can be traced all the way back to the 1930’s when African American men would retell stories, sometimes of World War I, using rhythm, rhyme and poetry for entertainment. This process was often referred to as “signifying” or “playing the dozens.” These soon were passed on and became what we today know as rapping. Telling a story was still a prevalent part of rapping but improvisation was introduced around the 1970’s. During this time, there were block parties around New York and…

outspoken Kanye that we all know and love? Where are the highly influential people of the African-American community? This apathetic attitude from the black community temporarily faded when 14 of today’s biggest names in hip-hop collaborated on a track dedicated to Mike Brown and the civil turmoil in Ferguson. Entitled “Don’t Shoot”, the themes of the track involves racial injustice and the deaths of other young African-American men such as Trayvon Martin and Emmett…

Hip-Hop and Rap have been regarded to be genres that promote gun violence, gang affiliation, and drugs. This however is not true. Hip-Hop and Rap has moved people emotionally and mentally throughout the years. Impacting and connecting individuals in riots within communities, more specifically in the US. These are usually triggered by the musical structure of the piece performed, along with the message being foretold to the audience. Artists in other genres such as Bob Marley, have accomplished…

Hip-hop culture has the ability to effect the way people think about politics and how presidential candidates execute their campaigns. This power has been realized recently, especially by President Obama, but we have yet to truly see it reach its full potential. Hip-hop has been around since about the early 1970s, but never had it realized its potential to effect politics until the 2008 presidential election. The starting point of this realization was during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This…

represented opposite coasts. They were both God’s of Hip Hop respectively and in there own deserved right. Starting with 2Pac on the West Coast he a staple in what is considered gangsta rap. His lyrics were about gang related violence, what he witnessed and what he was involved in. He was anti-police and hated them. Racism, poverty, police harassment and inequalities about black people weren’t far from his mind and rightfully he spoke out about these social issues in his music. At the time of…

I completely agree with this quote and the sentiments it encompasses. Misogyny runs rampant through both hip hop music and hip hop culture, and reveal much larger problems that still exist in our society. Examples of misogyny can be seen in almost every aspect of hip hop culture, and in all four pillars of hip hop B-Boying/B-Gigling, DJing. MC’ing and Graffiti. Misogyny can be seen in B-Boying/B-Gigling in the documentary All The Ladies Say. It describes many of the struggles that are faced by…

anaconda don’t want none Hip-hop is an large and ever growing industry that is constantly evolving, but out of the many popular genera’s of music currently inhabiting the media today why does hip-hop regularly appear with the artist name followed by either a crime, a controversial statement, or action that was committed. But to truly understand when and where the controversy appeared and began influencing the youth, one must delve into the history and evolution of the hip-hop’s tyrannical…

Hip Hop was born in Bronx, New York City. The style of music, hip hop has roots in other forms, and its evolution was shaped by many different artists and came to life precisely on this day. DJ Kool Herc had been using and refining his break-beat style for the better part of a year. However put him before his biggest crowd ever and with the most powerful sound system he’d ever worked. Hip-bounce music is for the most part considered to have been spearheaded in New York 's South Bronx in 1973 by…

radical notion to some, and even sacrilegious to a few, West’s imprint on hip-hop music can be traced through his albums and reflected in the work of some of today’s biggest stars. One can look no further than West himself to…

in hip hop mogul Ice Cube’s song “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It”. There has been much controversy surrounding the hip hop culture, in whether or not “gangsta rap”, or hip hop music is to blame for the youth’s violent lifestyles. Many political and media groups are quick to blame hip hop for the trending violence in youth (Blanchard). In Ice Cube’s song, he mocks the phrase quite often, and points out that the crazy stuff going on in the world is not caused by rap music. While some blame hip hop for…