African hip hop

more. Written by an African American male, rap was originally used to get people hyped and excited for parties, and still serves that purpose to this day! Since rap is generally a masculine genre, does that mean women can’t be rappers? Defying odds, today there are many successful black women rappers who have broken the gender gap; not just for women of color, but for women of all races and nationalities to be rappers. Gwendolyn Pough speaks on what it is like being a black/african american…

Stereotypes have been outcasted in most forms of popular culture, but a few are left that utilize these ideas. Music genres like rap or hip-hop stereotype women and colored people, but when it is used by a television personality, people become outraged. One incident in particular, a famous cook, Paula Deen, used degrading terms to describe an African-American, but those and similar terms are used in popular music today (Dowd). All minorities alike will become outraged when derogatory terms are…

related to African American studies due to the fact it featured poets and spoken word performances about African American history in the 21st century. One of the featured artists on the program as D Noble. He recited a spoken word titled “In Search of Ourselves and Anti-rap”. The spoken word was about how rap portrays African American women as unequal to men. A line in the spoken word stated “Hip hop needs gender equality but rape remains”. This line references how men degrade women in hip hop…

identities. Although this inclusion of cultural objects from different cultures can be seen as signs of an inclusive society, it can also be regarded as cultural theft. For example, the theft of hip hop culture by white Americans is evident from their large presence in the subculture. Their participation in hip hop can be seen as appropriation due to several factors, including the past history of cultural theft, mockery and the lack of respect for the…

Cultural Hijacking: The Commercialization of the Hip Hop Genre Ever since the formative years of the recorded music industry, Africana artists have played a major role in shaping some of the most influential music genres of the 20th century. Jazz, blues, and hip hop, to name a few, would not exist in the current state that they do today had it not been for all of the great artists who overcame racial intolerance and segregation through their art. Unfortunately, the period of social…

used in hip-hop to discuss women. Queen Latifah, as well as many other female rappers, semi-dominated the hip-hop nation for several years when women empowerment and feminism were brought to the table. Since the beginning of the rap era, men dominated the genre, but during the end of the 20th century women came on…

Old followers of hip hop may say that there are four main components of the genre: ‘rap, break dancing, graffiti and disc jockeying’ (Uzeki). The genre is seen as a part of youth culture because they have a special connection to it. This essay will be discussing rap and the evolution of the language used since the beginning of the movement during the 1970’s. Rap is a form of music that stemmed from the Hip Hop genre, also known as ‘rhyming’ or ‘MCing’. Since its…

In an excerpt from her book, titled When Chickenheads come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down, which was first published in 1999, music writer and hip-hop enthusiast Joan Morgan expresses her deep concern of the negative influence lyrics in rap music have on women and people of the African American community, as stated in her essay, "From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos". Morgan shares her views on the root causes of the prevalence of misogyny in rap music lyrics. Morgan illuminates…

Many will not classify hip-hop as poetry, but when one analyses the rhythm, the alliteration, and the metonymy used in hip-hop, they will be obligated to interlink poetry and hip-hop forever. The great Tupac Shakur categorized himself as a poet. Andre 3000 characterizes himself as a poet. Similarly to Kendrick Lamar characterizes himself as a poet. Lamar uses several elements of poetry in the song “King Kunta” , creating a thesis that establishes his supremacy as hip-hop king, and as a great…

The Fifth Element of Hip Hop - Knowledge In addition to the four elements of hip-hop – breakdancing, graffiti, emceeing, and DJing - The Zulu Nation places emphasis on a fifth element of hip-hop being knowledge. Bambaataa and members viewed knowledge to the link that connects the other elements together to form hip-hop culture. Without knowledge, an individual would not be able to be a respectable emcee, effectively DJ, constructively tag graffiti, or safely breakdance. Therefore, one of the…