African hip hop

Thebe Neruda Kgositila is a Chicago native, the son of a UCLA law professor and a South African poet. Nowadays, Thebe is far better known as Earl Sweatshirt. The rapper, producer and former key member of the Los Angeles based collective and movement Odd Future has gained recognition and praise ever since he'd released his debut mixtape, Earl, released back in March 2010. The subject matter of "Earl" can be easily described with one line from the title track. "I got nuts to bust and butts to…

Rap/Hip hop music is a music genre formed in the United States in the 1970s that consists of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic, and rhyming speech that is chanted. Rap/Hip-Hop music as we know it today, actually began thousands of years ago in Africa with the “griots”. Griots were village story tellers who played a simple handmade instrument while they told stories of family, village, and hunting events. The griot still is a major form of communication in…

form that has affected millions of people across the wold. Rap and Hip Hop are no longer just a music genre it 's a art form and a way of life. Rap music is still a fairly new genre in music starting off in '70s but didn 't really kick off until the '80s with big name artist like N.W.A and the Beastie Boys. The '80s were a big time for Hip Hop groups like Beastie Boys. N.W.A brought forth a new kind type of rap, Gangsta Rap which is a type of rap music…

Many regard hip hop as offensive noise but many of the music’s elements have roots deep in American history and helped shape the country as we know it today. It’s earliest roots date back to the rhythmic music of tribal Africa. Much of the music consisted of drum beats and rhythmic chanting accompanied by melodic vocals and other minor instruments, such as, shakers, string instruments, and flutes. Today’s rap music is also centralized around heavy beats and the same rhythmic chanting, which we…

Another area that the media often associates with hip hop music is its relation to drugs and violence. Violent and explicit themes are what makes rap music often subject to controversy. Looking at Eminem, a notorious artist known for his provocative and explicit songs, is very often criticized for the vulgar themes and aggressive behavior. His “The Marshall Mathers LP” album details his rage with drugs, his relationship with his estranged wife Kim and his mother, and his price for fame. Despite…

chapter, Cobb explained that at its core, hip hop’s foundation contains three elements: the beats, the lyrics, and the flow. The beats refer to the type of music one will be emceeing over. The beat of hip hop usually contains rhythm that one may be able to dance with. Lyrics refer to the content of what the artist is saying over the beat. Flow refers to the specific way in which beats and lyrics are combined. Cobb also explained that, “The heart of the art of hip hop is how MC does what he…

“Rap is something you do; Hip-Hop is something you live.” Words spoke by one of Hip-Hop culture’s philosophers and celebrated artists, KRS-One nearing the end of what is considered the genre’s golden age of its creativity and influence in the mid-1990s. For some, the statement is self-explanatory and almost reverent in it pronouncement. For others on the outer periphery of rap music and its associated culture, the delineation between the two may be murky. Nonetheless, the statement has much to…

Breakdancing marked the beginning of the hip-hop movement in dance. It consisted of unique styles and movements that still exist in breakdancing today. Breakdancing, or “b-boying” rapidly grew since the 1970s and is popular amongst many street dancers today. The history behind breakdancing derived mainly from Puerto Rican and African American dancers in New York. These dancers brought different movements and terminology within breakdancing that are very iconic within this style of dance. This…

issues of sexism while talking about the identity of Muslim girls in a Canadian school while also discussing the medias stereotyping and gender inequality of Muslim women. Another author, Anaya McMurray considers the presence of Muslim women and hip hop and the issues they face while also discussing the exposure of young Muslim women’s bodies, control over their mobility and racism towards them from other Muslim groups and more problems that they…

Rap has mixed reviews when it comes to America’s society. Not all rap songs have sexually explicit content, and some promote healthy sexual relationships. According to researchers at Florida International University, the more time African American young people spend…