Hip fracture

Within recent years, people have been quick to blame hip-hop music for a trend in youth violence and the bad habits they have inherited over the years. As a massive hip-hop head myself, that is nothing but ignorance to me. It’s never been about the music and the music has never been the problem… if anything, hip-hop has been the most important outlet for our youth. From the ever too common East Coast – West Coast rivalry, to the death of Tupac & Biggie, to even the notion of past rappers who…

Shawn Corey Carter, also better known as Jay Z, is a rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. Jay Z was born on December four, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York, being at the age of forty-five today. I believe Jay Z is a charismatic leader because of everything he went through and achieved for it. Jay Z grew up in a drug-infested area called the Marcy Projects, where he ended up associating his life with gun-violence and drugs. Jay Z's father, Adnes Reeves, left the family when Jay Z was at the age…

Music of all kinds affects its audience members and fans. In spite of the fact that all genres have this impact, and it is up to the artist to choose how they utilize that impact whether that be positively or negatively. A debate lately has been the developing issue of music that either advances or excuses violence in its verses (Hoga and Bar-on 1219). In spite of the fact that a few artists contend their utilization of violence as a device to relate and direct troublesome youth far from…

especially Chicken Curry. The first and only female rapper on Forbes Hip-Hop Cash King list Her music and rapping career began in 2004. However, in a short span, she managed to not only appear on the Forbes list of Hip-Hop Cash King list but also became the first female. So to say, she clocked no. 4 with an average earning of $29 million in 2013. She was discovered by Lil…

The introduction of female emcees into hip hop masqueraded itself as a major paradigm shift in the world of hip hop. Finally, a male-dominated genre infamous for its misogynistic lyrics was being infiltrated by the very women the music affected the most. From MC Lyte, the first solo female rapper to release a full album in 1988, to today's female emcee megastars like Nicki Minaj, women in hip hop have been celebrated for breaking barriers and using the very genre that oppressed them to reclaim…

The CNN of the ghetto is what Chuck D once defined hip hop as. Rappers pale their integrity on keeping it real and a lot of their supremacy lies in the legitimacy of their lyrics. However the art form similarly depends heavily on testosterone-driven braggadocio, embellishment and the formation of a fictional criminal persona. In “Decoded” – a stylishly formed mash-up of a diary and lyrical analysis, the former drug dealer turned millionaire rapper and mogul Jay-Z goes from “Bricks to…

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…

You, the reader, have probably heard of the hot song for this especially hot summer—yeah, you’ve guessed it – Despacito. You’ve most probably heard it somewhere, may it be in school, in the television, or maybe even in your workplace. It’s a single by a Puerto Rican singer, Luis Fonsi (real name: Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero) and a rapper of the same nationality, Daddy Yankee (real name: Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez) which was first released in January this year. The song was fairly…

Chance the Rapper: The Modern “Renaissance Man” Chancelor Jonathan Bennett born April 16th, 1993, known professionally as Chance the Rapper or Lil Chano from 79th. He is an American Hip hop recording artist from Chicago, Illinois. He was brought into a family where his father was working for the government, this politically exposed Chance to an environment of leadership and hard work. Recently he said,“When I write, I work off of a theme, an emotion, a narrative — thinking of it and then…

Jay Z and Sam Walton both began at the bottom and were born to working class families. They did not have a head start in wealth as most rich and wealthy people have present day. Jay Z and Walton both worked extremely hard to rise to the top and become successful. The ways in which they reached this level of greatness drastically differ. Walton discovered his ability to sell and promote things at a very young age. He used this to his advantage and focused on work centered around his abilities. He…