African hip hop

originated as (and still serves as) a voice for the African-American community, which at the time was broken by the crack and AIDS epidemic. Early rappers took that bleak situation and created a conjunction between poetry and music to express their and their people’s emotions, to uplift their community with fun(ky) beats, but also to serves as a liaison between their community and those outside of it, who, otherwise, would go oblivious to it without the hip hop…

boastful rhyming patter glibly by vocalist or vocalists” (“Rap Music”). Rapping is a major part of hip hop culture which was developed in the Bronx in the mid nineteenth century. A group of young African Americans and Latinos living in a low income area where there was little to do and soon they made the hip hop culture (rapping, graffiti art, breakdancing and DJ-ing). Rap has become its own genre within hip hop culture because it grew popular so rapidly. Rapping is used as an expression and…

(A Word from Propaganda)” clearly challenges male celebrities to present more positive examples for young men to follow than the current amoral behavior which plagues the headlines and hip hop music. The men of tomorrow need role models who support responsibility, maturity and respecting women. Becoming a man with maturity and respect is accomplished by resisting immature behavior. Propaganda relates a line from scripture when he stated…

When it comes to Hip-hop, it seems that no subject is off limits. However, in these modern times, religious references are rare in this genre of music. Hip-hop music is often criticized for its provocative lyrics of misogyny and materialism. Despite that several mainstream rappers have released songs about societal issues they see. In addition, Jay Z seems to agree in his article, “Politics as Usual’’, where he makes it clear that Hip-hop “was hugely influential in making our slice of America…

In the study Misogyny in Rap Music; A Content Analysis of Prevalence and Meanings (Weitzer and Kubrin, 2009) the portrayal of women in hip-hop music and gender roles are discussed. It also examines the depiction of masculinity in contrast to femininity. It is established that women are often marginalized and depicted inferior to men which can be proven in the way women commonly are referred to by using degrading vocabulary such as bitch, whore or hoe and in lyrics and via visual imagery;…

activist movements. Modern artists such as Childish Gambino and Joyner Lucas have been putting social issues into the foreground with their songs of “This is America” and “I’M NOT RACIST”. In expressive music like hip hop, lyrics often reflected the situation surrounding the artist. Hip hop rose in popularity because it connected with a lot of youth across the country and the world going through the struggles present during that time. As America evolved, so did its politics along with public…

Although certain aspects of rap and hip hop music may be thought of as a misogynistic or violent influence to American culture, modern-day rappers such as Kanye West and J. Cole are creating music that projects a healthy viewpoint on women, informs the public of struggles found in African American culture, and constitutes a new art form with rap. Due to past rappers creating music that is considered misogynistic (reflecting or exhibiting hatred, dislike, mistrust, or mistreatment of women), a…

neighborhoods. Diverse ethnic minorities made up the group. The music they created became known as “hip-hop” a new genre of music which consists of four main components; “DJing (disc jockeying), graffiti art, and B-boying (break dancing).” (Baker, P. 8). The fourth component was rapping (rhyming lyrics over a musical background). (Baker, P. 8) Rapping became the most popular component of “hip-hop”. It was not the rhythmic pattern or music of rap, but the lyrics that people thought were too…

influences their behavior, forms their identities, and social lives. Today new and upcoming artist have changed the face of music. Hip-hop being the most changed. Hip Hop music made African-American men feel proud to be black and empowered. It inspired them to be someone, they knew how to respect those around them, and were taught more than just lust and violence. Hip-hop music today is now about greed, money, sex, disrespecting woman, and…

Hip-hop culture was created in the 1970’s. Hip-hop has undergone changes that would be considered degenerating to black culture. “ If people were to go back to 1995 and before they would say hip-hop was uplifting” (Roberts). In today’s society the culture of hip-hop has been diminished by rap music by the use of vogue and explicit themes. By the increased modern rap the true message behind hip-hop culture has been extinguished. Not only has the rap…