Funk

In “Hip-Hop’s Year of Dangerous Living Put the Accused on the Charts” by Jon Caramanica, the author describes the recent trend of people with criminal records becoming sensations in the hip-hop/rap community. The author keys in on three main factors as of why these troubling artists are becoming so popular. The hip hop community’s tolerance of complicated histories, lack of understanding their artists’ backgrounds, and young and misleading crowd stands as the author’s factors as to why these…

From before the Progression Era and the “Roaring Twenties” to the “Disco Eighties” and beyond, the United States of America has seen a fair share of great epochs since its “birth” in 1776. If I had to choose a favorite era, it would most certainly be the time period from 1950-1959. An exciting wave of culture, as well of many of my favorite inspirational figures, rose to success in the 50’s. In addition, the 1950’s underwent the beginning of the meritorious Civil Rights Movement. Most…

Protest music is music that artist make to voice their options on world events, and protest music helps artist voice his/her opinion on a serious issue in society, protest music gives artist platforms to get lots of people to listen and learn about problems in society. The song “Hands up” by Vince Staples is a good example of protest music because this song informs people on police brutality towards innocent African Americans. Listeners can gain insight into the song “Hands up” by Vince Staples…

Each Band or Artist has a way of getting there message across to their intended audience. The band Nirvana used metaphors in their song “Rape Me” to show how the media and friends use and abuse their fame. While the song “The Way I am” by Eminem, can be heard as a diary entry into the life of a celebrity trying to live and be a normal person with the media. The song “The Way I am” is very clear with its use of imagism contrary to “Rape Me”, which could keep listeners guessing on who the aslant…

Peace, war and rebellion. These three words that can sum up rock and roll in a whole. Starting in the 1950’s, rock has been known to break all the rules. Challenging racial barriers, family values, and teen rebellions, transitioning the decades and shaping society. From the beginning and its creation to its influence in America through the decades, shows how important rock and roll was important to history. Singing out their pain and suffering, or just to make the time fly by, blues was said…

The term “jazz” is freely used by many people around the world to describe a particular category of music. Every person will have their own definition of such a broad category of music. However, attempting to set boundaries and limit the definition of jazz to a simple “Google-like” definition is not only an injustice to the art of jazz, but also to listeners’ ability to appreciate the vast meanings and interpretations of jazz music. Prior to taking a semester long course on understanding jazz, I…

I agree with the author of Hip Hop Fashion, Masculine Anxiety, and the discourse of Americana, Nicole R. Fleetwood. Although I don’t regularly listen to hip-hop, it’s evident to even me that within the community there are several unspoken rules that must be followed to make it in the industry. In regards to fashion, the author discusses the way in which style and aesthetics are presented in hip-hop. The author goes on to write how an obsession to keep up this aesthetic is then brought forth, so…

West African musical influences can be found throughout the rest of Africa and across the globe. These influences can be found throughout various genres of music, including jazz, blues, and electronic music. A modern example I discovered that demonstrates West African musical styles was M83’s Midnight City, an electronic song. Firstly, and prominently featured throughout the song is the synth pattern, or ostinato that is repeated through a large majority of the song. It is a simple four note…

Hip-hop history, especially that of gangsta-rap, falls prey to repetition; and only through repetition, may the reemergence of the novelty appear in the what has already been said. The what has already been said in the history of Hip-hop will appear anew merely by exhausting out of what has previously been said. It is imitation’s quality of wearing out words of the previously said that presents us with new histories. Once those words have been worn out, the what has already been said becomes…

Cultural Destruction In Imani Perry's article, " The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto Negotiating Spaces for Women", Perry criticizes the way black woman's are dressing in inappropriate attire, such as bathing suits or clothing that expose their body parts in music videos. She explains how hip hop culture is attacking black women identity and making them look like a commodity buying, and sell just for the pleasure of men. However black women body language on the videos are saying that they are…