Category: Hip Hop

Hip hop dance is a term used in reference to a choreographed dance and social styles mainly danced in response to hip-hop music. Alternatively, it is also used in reference to a genre of music that has over the years evolved to constitute the hip-hop culture. Accordingly, hip hop dance entails diverse styles mainly locking, breaking, and popping. These dancing styles emerged and gained prominence during the 1970s (Freeman para. 5) and were affiliated with Latino Americans and Blacks.

By and large, hip hop culture has been associated by many to a low urban class status which have been linked with numerous vices in the community at large. Nevertheless, this music genre has been extraordinarily a source of solace to those who embrace and practice it. From my perspective the negative attitude directed towards this conspicuous culture is an attribute of shallow knowledge about this wide spread culture.

Thus this paper seeks to explore this culture with emphasize on the hip hop dancing. Whereas hip hop has gained popularity over the years since its inceptions, on the other hand, an increasingly larger number of critics have sought to voice their concern on how this genre of music has thus far been too commodified.

Hip hop stemmed from an urban community of the south Bronx suburb in the city of New York and spread all across the globe. Financial constrains could not deter the spirit and creativity of the black communities residing in the ghettos. These black neighborhoods would regularly hold block parties, and dancers would take to the available space to dance to their favorite funk beat.

Sooner than later, these block parties transformed into groups contest in which individual dancers would form alliance amongst themselves, for instance the famous Dynamite Rockers and the Zulu Kings, and began to battle one another with their imaginative vertical moves denoted up-rocking and down-rocking.

These moves entailed dropping to the base of the dancing floor and intertwine their feet against their hand. Simultaneously, dancers in California state begun ‘locking’ and ‘pocking’ the Electric Boogaloos on Soul Train [TV show] emulating their jerky robotic moves. Noteworthy, this TV show greatly influenced the then young Michael Jackson, King of pop (Freeman para. 3).

Subsequently, further acrobatic moves were innovated by groups of dancers such as the famous Crazy Legs. These acrobatic muscle moves include; the suicide, the turtle, wind mill and flares, headspins as well as backspins. The suicide move signifies flipping to fall flat back first, whereas the turtle represented spinning horizontally with the trunk aligned to the floor (Freeman para. 4).

Characteristics of Hip hop music

Hip hop refers to a cultural society within which music, graffiti and break dancing, is a constituent. Hip hop music is basically composed of two segments; rapping and DJing. Rapping refers to the presentation of rapid, highly musical and lyrical verbal. Djing on the other hand refers to the composition of instrumentation via beatboxing, turntablism, instrumentation (arrangement of musical instruments), or sampling.

From the 1970s, when hip hop made its impact, it has since greatly impacted on the social aspects of the society, and more so in as far as the youths are concerned. Probably the reason why hip hop music is so appealing to the youth is because it reflects on the economic, political as well as the social realities that are often faced by the disenfranchised youth every day.

Hip hop beats are often in 4/4 time pattern. From its rhythmic foundation, hip hop moves are based on an anticipated sense more or less close to the stress associated with jazz beat, as opposed to a straight 4/4 count associated with rock and roll, pop music to name but a few. With similarity to the triplet swing stress associated with jazz beat, hip hop rhythms stand out powerful; since it’s seldom written down the way it sounds and is commonly played in about near delay or laid back manner (Global Oneness para. 2).

The above 4/4 time pattern was developed majorly in funk and soul music. This pattern involves repetition of thematic and beats music all through the duration of a track. The 4/4 pattern was initially developed and practiced all through the 1960s and 1970s by Brown, J who was famously acknowledge the godfather of soul.

His music presentation was characterized by synchronized talking, singing and screaming in manner similar to what the contemporary MCs do. Hip hop music essentially favors purpose for the MC because it emphasizes the significance of delivery and lyrical prowess (Global Oneness para. 2).

On the other hand, instrumental hip hop does not align to the above rhythm structure. Instead, it allows producers as well as DJs the liberty to experiment with designing instrumental patterns. Moreover, the DJs and producers of this subgenre can integrate segments of rap vocals although they are not influenced by the expectations for an MC (Global Oneness para. 4).

Hip hop music instrumentation is derived from other music genre such as, R & B, funk and disco, in regard of utility including the records models and sound system, as well as session musicians alongside their set of instruments (Global Oneness para. 2).

The invention of drum machine facilitated the development of partially original piece of work by hip hop artist, in converse with the original hip hop music that had entirely the DJ’s breakbeats and disc records samples constituent. A drum set sound facilitated the use of vinyl records beside their capacity to be played on their own.

Because the drum beats was the most danceable segment of the hip hop music, the hip hop musicians increased their focus on the quality of drum beat sequence. This lead to the improvement on drum machines to produce a powerful kick beat with an intense background bass sound (Encyclopedia II, par 6).

Another break through in the hip hop music followed the invention of a digital sampler. A sampler facilitated digital recording of piece of music and storage of small sound segments from whatever output machine including the turntable. This allowed producers to sample pianos, guitars, upright bases and horns which they could play parallel to their drums (Global Oneness para. 7).

The unique significance of the coarse, choppy beat of hip hop has continued to elude the appreciation of many people. Hip hop music rarely share a feature with the rest of music genre. In fact every hip hop band beat show a remarkable distinction from the beats of other hip hop bands since they use diverse samples in conjunction with the course, choppy texture of devices to design their own sound which correspond with their album.

During their live performance they usually replicate this beat with the entire band(Global Oneness para. 8). Like any other characteristics of a community, hip hop music has its share of misguided perception about its consistency. One prominent misconception shared across all walks of life is the belief that drum machines are used in hip hop music bands as a passive relief to a valid band. Furthermore, hip hop music producers have developed obsession for the frequency, texture and timbre of particular samples and drum machine beat.

This conviction is supported by the extent of inequity between a music session drummer presenting a break of the James Brown Funky Drummer, and the sample actual break from the original music data. Nevertheless, efforts to circumvent such inadequacy have been made in the recent years through inclination for original instrumental masterpiece in hip hop music by some popular producers and artist including The Neptune, The roots , OutKast and Timbaland(Global Oneness para. 2).

Types of Hip hop dancing

Hip hop dancing techniques are numerous and depend on the location of the dancer on the dance-floor. The most common hip hop moves include Popping and Floorwork. Popping is a subgenre of hip hop associated with breakdancing which involves faltering seclusion of the joints in robotic rhythms.

Floorworks on the other hand, concerns more choreographic motions of the feet; often in short sequences that can be aggregated into typical hip hop dance incorporation. Further, samples of hip hop dancing motions include, glide, heel toe, harlem shake, crip walk, moonwalk, sponge bob and soulja boy (Miller para 7).

There are two most common hip hop dancing styles including break-dancing and snake-hips. To begin with, break-dancing also know as B-boying, begun to develop in south Bronx parallel to other aspects hip hop culture. B-boying was initiated by dancer groups who attended DJ Kool Herc’s block party. Such dancing teams had the habit of saving their best moves for the break segment of the music. These dancers would thrust themselves far way front of the spectators and give their best shot, through a uniquely, frantic way.

The most famous move called the headspin involves supporting the weight of the entire body on the scalp of head while propelling the body entire body trunk using just the head.

Conclusion

Fresh styles and moves of hip hop dance are continuously being developed. These moves and styles pose an intriguing challenge to the choreographers as well as the dancers across the dance context to the layman. Hip hop dance is continuously undergoing transformation in its street settings, while concurrently spreading its influence across cultural boundaries to reach to the mainstream culture.

This music dance genre commands a wide range of attention from across the various walks of life. Hip hop dancing is taught in social centers, dance studios and have been utilized as featured dance genre on famous TV programs including Dancing with the Stars Tour and So you Think You Can Dance.

Numerous parents and self-chosen critics of cultural morals have condemned hip hop culture as a community vice, which ironically has helped sustained its popularity among diverse cultural settings (Miller, par 8). Thus, it is recommended that every person should gather sufficient knowledge about this culture before making baseless conclusion against it.

Works Cited

Freeman, Santiago . Planet Funk. Dance Sprit Magazine. 2009. Web.

Global Oneness. Hip hop music: Encyclopedia II – Hip hop music – characteristics. 2009. Web.

Miller, Gray. Dance: Hip Hop Dance Moves. Love to know. 2010. Press.

Introduction

Hip-hop is a contemporary wave of civilization consisting of music, style, and art. Hip- hop is one of the most famous music genres in the world of music. The genre has been made very famous in America in the recent decades by young African -American artistes. Currently, its fame and appeal has spread worldwide.

This paper will extensively analyze the origin of the hip-hop genre with special focus given to its African roots. The paper will as well analyze four elements that are influenced by hip-hop culture. The four elements include Disk jockey, Graffiti, Rappers and the break dance.

Additionally, the paper will extensively look at four contemporary artistes, their influence on other artists, genres, culture, religion and political as well as the economy. Finally, the paper will look at other genres that led to the development of hip-hop genre, and draw a comparison of specific musical traits found in hip-hop as opposed to earlier genres.

Origin of Hip Hop

The term hip-hop is a mixture of two break-up colloquial speeches -“hip” which was used as African American dialect as early as 1898, denoting current or knowledgeable, and “hop”, for the hopping association (Kimberly, 2004). Hip-hop music has its source in African-American music and African music. The genre is associated with a group of traveling West African singers and poets termed the Griot (Kimberly, 2004).

The style of singing of the Griot was similar to that of current rappers. According to Forman & Neal (2004), Keith cowboy was the first artiste credited with creation of the term Hip-hop. He did not intend on a new music genre name; rather, his intention was teasing a friend who had joined the US Army. Moy (2004), notes that Keith and DJ Hollywood used the term Hip-hop when the music was still known as disco rap.

The actual time in which Hip hop as genre was adopted in the US is still not clear but according to Forman & Neal (2004), the Griot -like presentation of spoken words had a great bang on post-civil war period i.e. the American society of the 60s.

In actual sense, Hip-hop was for the first time generally accepted as a culture in New York City in the 1970s, through the block parties that were made famous by the combination of African- American and the Puerto Rican influence. Mostly, the music would be played in nightclubs within New York City (Hess, 2007).

Hess (2007), in addition, notes that from 1970s, the development of Hip-hop as a culture has been very complex due to immigrants from different parts of the world, who in one way or another equally contributed to the dynamic hip-hop culture as it is known today. Of specific importance in the development of Hip-hop music in US and New York City in particular is the American sailor DJ Kool Herc, who on migrating from Jamaica in 1967 started Dup style mixing that became extremely popular in Jamaica.

Elements That Are Influenced by Hip Hop Culture

Disc jockey

Disk Jockeys popularly called DJ is one of the four essentials that are influenced by the Hip-hop civilization. Popularly known as DJ or deejay, a disk jockey is a person who picks and play recorded music in effort to entertain his or her audience. Initially, disk was a term used to refer to gramophone; while disc was used to refer to compact disc.

Today, the phrase includes all types of music playback, regardless of the medium. Several kinds of disc jockeys currently exist; and they include Radio deejays that are responsible for introducing and playing music that is transmitted on radio waves or on Internet radios.

The other type of DJs is the club DJs who determine and play music in bars and nightclubs, at raves or even in arena. Hip-hop deejays select and play music using various turntables, often to support one or more musicians popularly known as MC’s. Similarly Hip-hop deejays may in addition do disc spinning or scratching to produce percussive reverberation (Weigant, 1999).

Weigant (1999) further observes that in reggae a singer who rap, or makes conversation over pre-recorded beat tracks where the person choosing and singing them is known as a selector. Mobile DJs on the other hand traverse with transportable sound systems and play recorded music at assortment of events.

Since the inception of Hip-hop culture in the 70s, the art of deejaying has undergone tremendous changes, with almost every other kind of deejaying having something to copy from the Hip-hop deejaying (spears, 1999). Spear remarks that clear illustrations are changes experienced in nightclub deejaying as well as reggae deejaying where the ideologies of hip-hop scratching, cross fader stabs and mixing is nowadays very prominent.

Graffiti (art)

As Hip-hop continues to spread all over the world, so will some of the elements such as Graffiti, which are heavily influenced by the culture. Political activists and gangsters used, according Emery (2004), graffiti as a form of expression.

They were used to mark political boundaries as well as forming a sign of belonging to a certain group of gangs. Emery (2004), however, observes that the hip-hop civilization has indeed incorporated other meanings to graffiti; currently, tattoos and other funny drawings on one body is an indication of one’s loyalty to the hip-hop culture.

Emery (2004), further notes that the affiliation flanked by graffiti and hip-hop customs arises from the emergence of latest and progressively more complicated and omnipresent type of the practice in vicinity where other essentials of hip-hop were developing as art forms- through a profound overlap connecting persons who wrote graffiti and those who adopted other fundamentals of the culture.

Rappers

Though there has always been a contradiction between Hip hop and Rap, Mitchell (2004), observes that Hip hop is not Rap and goes to the extent of defining, Rapping as a technique of transmitting a message, like singing, whining and whistling. Mitchell (2004) further clarifies that according to the founders of Hip-hop, it was meant to be a sub-culture, or means of living and governing one’s life.

However, this did not restrain Hip-hop to have effect on Rap music and mostly in US and Jamaica. The Jamaicans who migrated to the US found it hard to refrain themselves from incorporating the reggae genre with Rap and eventually resulted into a brand of music called Ragga or dancehall.

Break dance

Break dance is a major element of hip-hop music that evolved in 60s. It is a dynamic style of dancing that incorporates a person dancing in such a way as to portray that person as one without a Skeleton. The dancing style evolved as part of the Hip-hop revolution and so far, it has been incorporated in other genre of music and not just hip-hop (Perkins, 1996). Perkins (1996), in addition, observes that a popular move of the break dance is called the Head spin, a shift in which a person seizes their whole body mass on their head.

Famous Contemporary Artists of Hip Hop Music

Tupac Amaru Shakur

Early Life

Tupac Amaru Shakur is one of the most celebrated Hip-hop musicians of all the time (Olson, 2005). He was born of Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland in 1971 on the east Harlem in New York City (Olson, 2005). His parents were active members of an organization fighting for the rights of black minority in New York (Olson, 2005). Olson (2005) further notes that Shakur was a promising artiste from his young age and apart from regularly participating in drama and plays in high school, he was one of the best poet and rapper in school.

Rapping Life

Though very promising as an artiste, Shakur did not live long to enjoy fully the fruits of his talent. In late 1993, in a group of his friends and brother, Shakur formed a music group called ‘thugs life’ and happened to record only one album, which was produced by Johnny “j” Jackson (Olson, 2005). The album went gold i.e. selling millions of copies, with most of the songs in the album hitting platinum in sales as well as topping the billboards for records (Olson, 2005).

Conflict with Law

Most of Shakur’s early songs were perceived to encourage violence and anarchy and mostly against the law enforcing officers (Olson, 2005). Olson (2005) in particular notes a case involving a young black man who was arrested over the killing of a police officer.

After a thorough investigation, the young man was found to be a diehard of Tupac music and of concern in the case, was the fact that the young man was listening to Tupac songs in his Walkman radio cassette in the instance when he committed the crime. This led a request from the then vice president of the US that such music from Shakur is done away with from the countries music stores.

Being a talented artiste notwithstanding, Shakur’s short life was full of controversies and most of his adult life was spent either in jail or in law court’s corridors. In two notably instances, he was jailed for shooting a law enforcing officers as well as for sexual molestation.

Nevertheless, his fame followed him inside prison where, while still serving his sentence for sexually molesting a woman, he released an album that went on record for both the best selling album by a single rapper serving jail term, as well as for topping billboards for five consecutive weeks.

Death

Tupac Shakur met his death in Las Vegas after attending a boxing match featuring Mike Tyson. He was shot five times and died few days later due to respiratory problem as well internal bleeding caused by the gunshots. What made Shakur to stand out among his peers and other competing musicians of his time were his immense talent and his originality (Olson, 2005). Olson (2005), further notes that many rappers of the 90s attest that almost every single rapper of the time borrowed something from the life of Tupac. His social activism against black injustices was another factor that propelled him to such magnitude of fame, almost making him a legend in the Hip-hop world

Kanye West

Kanye West was born in 1977 in Atlanta Georgia to an English professor mother and award winning photographer father. His parents separated when West was young, hence was partly raised by his mother in Chicago and occasionally stayed with his father during the summer vocations.

Hip hop Life

West’s hip-hop life started early in life, though in a very controversial way. After completing high school, West enrolled in the University to study arts, but later dropped out after only one year. He later confessed that he was not learning fast enough while at school and consequently the decision to drop out, because life was teaching him better.

West, contrary to many other great Hip-hop artistes has a reputation of recording inspirational songs, which differs from many other songs from artiste in the same genre. Of particular importance in West way of life is his appreciation of God given talent to inspire and help the needy. He was among the artistes who participated in a 2005 music concert that took place in 5 different continents of the world, trying to recommend world leaders and mostly from developed countries to increase their efforts in trying to eradicate poverty in Africa.

Through his sole effort, Kanye West has revolutionalized the Hip-hop music i.e. changing the tradition negative perception associated with the Music to a socially acceptable standing. Initially, Hip-hop reflected a chaotic and gangster like sort of entertainment. Many hip-hop artistes have been banned by different governments of the world for their dirty hip-hop lyrics, which many perceive as a bad inspiration to the young generation

Influence on Different Industries

Other artists

Many great hip-hop artistes have so far influenced the life of other artists, world cultures, and economies. However, Tupac Shakur and Kanye West’s influence stands out compared to the rest of the artistes.

The effect of Tupac Shakur was evident both while alive and later in life after his death. In many interviews, many hip-hop artistes concurred that Tupac did not sound or copied anyone who lived before him. He was just himself and that alone encouraged many artistes making them to believe in themselves very much and in the process became very successful in their music careers.

Similarly, Kanye West has had an equal effect on other artistes, with many describing him as a phenomenon in the music industry. West is reputed for his unique qualities in music production and equally for his enormous talents in writing, composing as well as singing. West has in the process helped many renowned and seasoned musicians such as Jay z, Mary J Blige, Beyoncé, and many others

Culture

Tupac Shakur single handedly revolutionalized the Hip-hop culture. Starting from music itself, it was during his time that hip hop music was able to escalate to the level it is today. Hip hop became popular the world over as a result of the rivalry between the east coast and west coast groups of hip hop musician. On clothing, style and fashion, Tupac became a fashion icon and everything he wore was an instant hit to be emulated by all especially the youths (Price 2006).

It is further observed by Price (2006) that sagging trousers, fitting tops ,gangster-like and prison cloths became an instant dressing style, most of which were associated or originated from Shakur. The other part of culture to be influenced by Shakur was in art. This particular concept took the Hip-hop world with complete craziness as almost every musician was drawn a tattoo on his or her body.

This art became so popular that even non-musician also participated in the drawing. Tupac in particular had more than one tattoo and one was dedicated to his first Hip-hop group called the Thug life. Other elements associated with Hip-hop sub culture included strange hairstyles, Gold teeth the crucifix among many others. On the hairstyle Tupac in person was bald headed a shaving style he is almost synonymous with. However, other artiste would be found pleating their hair while others would entertain funny haircuts.

Economic influence

Hip Hop’s economic influence became more pre-eminent upon Tupac Shakur’s death. Economically, Hip-hop was viewed as the cheapest means of making one a multi millionaire over night. To some extent, this proved to be true. Posthumously, Tupac had sold millions of albums worth millions of Dollars.

West on the other side has as well registered an overwhelmingly large fortune from his music career. The industry, with no doubt, is capable of changing one’s life overnight. Owing to the influence of Tupac, many more musicians started the race to be the next millionaires (Donalson, 2007).

Additionally, Donalson (2007), remarks that this resulted in recording and selling of multi millions music projects and that apart from music, Tupac hugely benefited from his talents in acting where he was featured in quite many movies. Once again, this became another source of wealth and almost every Hip-hop musician turned an actor or simultaneous performed both roles.

Other genres

Before hip-hop became what it is today, several other genres had eased toward the development of Hip-hop. Of particular concern was the Griot-like performance associated with rapping poetry. Other genres included the Dup music that originated from Jamaica as well as the famously genre known as disco, which was mostly played in rave at nightclubs.

Comparison of Specific Musical Traits Found in Hip-Hop as Opposed to Earlier Genres

Compared to the earlier genres, hip-hop has so much revolutionalized such that one may fail to establish any relationship between Hip-hop and the earlier genres. The performance of hip-hop for instance has greatly changed in that an artiste can perform in any venue be it a stadium, or in night clubs (Roy, 2004. Roy (2004), notes that earlier genres had specific avenues and that it was extremely hard for one to perform anywhere like it is the case today.

Similarly, Roy (2004) notes that the way hip-hop is performed currently is different from the way it was played in earlier genres. Earlier genres did not incorporate much of electric instrument and mostly relied on simple instrument, which is definitely the case today.

Conclusion

Looking hundreds of years back, one cannot fail to marvel at the long journey that Hip-hop has so far endured to be the darling of many today. Starting with its origin from West Africa through the traveling Gloit musicians, Hip-hop has undergone tremendous revolution. Hip-hop of today is very different from the way it was initially composed and played.

The genre has as well taken part in changing people’s day-to-day way of life starting from economic, cultural to political. Along the tiresome journey, it has had it high and low moments, claiming lives of many great artistes while at the same time helping to spread inspiration message of hope to the homesteads of millions of needy people worldwide.

Nevertheless, Hip-hop has as well attracted admirers and critics. Many critics perceive the music as a bad inspiration to the young people; this was occasioned by its gangster- like stand and thus has been fought in many fronts. Many Hip-hop artistes have for long been on collision course with the law due to the kind of rebellious attitudes it ferments. Consequently, most of the genre’s critics spearheaded campaigns for its ban.

Overall, the genre has fought off many critics and today it still stands shoulder high as a favorite genre. With the initiatives from new artiste to modernize the genre, it is beyond doubt that Hip-hop will attract more admirers. Slowly, hip-hop lovers have been keen on changing the negative perception, beliefs and attitude some members of society have of the genre.

Reference List

Donalson, M. (2007). Hip-hop in America. Peter Lang Publisher: New York

Emery, A. (2004). the book of hip hop covers art, Mitchell Beazley publisher, New Hampshire.

Forman, M. & Neal, A. (2004). That’s the joint! The Hip-hop Studies Reader. Routledge Publishers: California.

Hess, M. (2007). Is Hip Hop Dead? : The Past, Present, and Future of America’s Most Wanted Music. Greenwood Publishing Group: New York.

Kimberly, D. (2004). The Many Faces of Kanye West: Producer-Turned-Hit Rapper Takes Hip-Hop In New Direction. Ebony Publisher: New York.

Mitchell, T. (2004). A Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop outside the USA. Wesleyan University Press: Connecticut

Moy, R. (2004). Popular Music Genres. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh

Olson, N. (2005). Tupac Shakur. Capstone Press: Minnesota

Perkins, W. (1996). Dropping Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture. Temple University Press: Philadelphia

Price, N. (2006). Hip-hop Culture. ABC-CLIO publishers: San Francisco.

Spears, A. (1999). Race and Ideology: Language, Symbolism, and Popular Culture. Wayne State University Press: Detroit.

Weigant, C. (1999). Careers as a Disk Jockey. The Rosen Publishing Group: Washington.

Within the course of three decades, hip-hop has become a part of the mainstream culture. Yet, the situation was quite different in the early eighties when hip-hop was marginalized. This paper is aimed at discussing the origins of this musical and artistic movement.

In particular, much attention should be paid to the distinctive characteristics of this subculture and its connection to African traditions. Overall, one can argue that it incorporated the elements of different genres, styles, and traditions. Furthermore, hip-hop can be regarded as a response to various social and political problems faced by African Americans several decades ago.

First, it is important to mention that at the initial stages of its development, hip-hop was closely related to various social themes such as crime, social injustice, drug abuse, lack of educational opportunities and so forth. Overall, these artworks were supposed to explore the life of black neighborhoods such as the Bronx (Toop 12).

It should be taken into account that this artistic movement evolved at the time, when many inner cities were in the state of decline. This is why these problems were reflected in the songs of rap performers (Black 206). The situation changed only with time passing when hip-hop began to play an important role in the global culture.

Secondly, one should note that the representatives of this movement placed much emphasis on improvisation. For instance, rap performers valued free style or improvised lyrics. In this way, they attempted to demonstrate their skills. Similarly, b-dancers also had to create new movements while competing with one another. This is one of the details that should be considered. In part, this characteristic can be explained by the fact at that time, there were practically no standards or canons which musicians and dancers had to follow.

Thirdly, in the early eighties, hip-hop could be described as a synthetic or even eclectic artistic movement. In other words, people, who represented this subculture, could incorporate the elements of other musical styles such as blues, rock and roll, or jazz (Harrison 22). It should be kept in mind that rap performers were closely relying on already-existing samples that could be borrowed from other musicians.

On the whole, the pioneers of hip-hop argue that it was a “home-grown” culture (And You Don’t Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop). In other words, various performers had to develop their own styles and techniques because they did not have any example that could be followed. These are the main aspects that can be identified.

Overall, hip-hop culture strongly relies on African traditions. To a great extent, this tendency can be attributed to the popularity of Black Power movement in the United States (Harrison 90). The representatives of this movement argued that African Americans had to rediscover their authentic culture.

To a great extent, hip-hop reflected this trend. First, it should be mentioned that rap performers continued African oral tradition of story-telling accompanied by recitative (Harrison 92). This is one of the similarities that seem most apparent to me. These technique remains critical for many hip-hop performers even those ones who do not belong to the African-American community.

Moreover, judging from my knowledge of hip-hop culture, I know that emcees play a vital role in movement. However, their performances closely resemble the activities of griots in African savannah. These people were responsible for keeping the oral history of their communities (Harrison 92).

Moreover, they could act as narrators, poets, or even social commentators. This is another similarity that should not be overlooked. Certainly, one should take into account that hip-hop performers did not directly inherit the elements of authentic African culture. They did not choose certain artistic techniques because they were compatible with the cultural heritage. More likely, the development of hip-hop can be described as a spontaneous process. Nevertheless, the presence of African tradition is palpable in their works.

The readings that were discussed during these weeks have several distinctive elements that can attract attention of the audience. First of all, the authors attempt to look at the development of hip-hop from the perspectives of people who pioneered this movement. For example, in their book, Murray Forman and Mark Neal provide interviews with such famous performers Kool Herz or Afrika Bambaataa (46).

Such an approach is important for enabling the readers to understand how exactly these people struggled to attain success. Moreover, one can see what kind of difficulties they encountered. Moreover, the authors emphasize the idea that hip-hop culture was to some extent the response to the disempowered position of black people in the country. This issue is also vital for the development of this artistic movement.

Overall, this discussion suggests that hip-hop culture evolved significantly with time passing. At the beginning, it could be regarded as an eclectic artistic movement that was represented by people who attempt to develop new techniques and styles. They strived to reflect the experiences of black neighborhoods that could be affected by crime, poverty, and drug abuse. However, in the course of several decades, hip-hop became an inseparable part of mainstream culture.

Works Cited

And You Don’t Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop. Ex. Prod. Richard Lowe. New York: Bring the Noise LLC, 2004. Web.

Black, Albert. The Sociology and History of African Americans, Washington: University of Washington, 2000. Print.

Forman, Murray and Mark Neal. That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader, New York: Routledge, 2004. Print.

Harrison, Anthony. Hip Hop Underground: The Integrity and Ethics of Racial Identification, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009. Print.

Toop, David. Rap attack 3: African rap to global hip hop, New York: Serpent’s Tail, 2000. Print.

Introduction

Hip Hop is a culture of self expression musical art. It was started by Latino-Americans and African-Americans in the seventies. During this period, youth unemployment had risen to about 70% in the United States. The unemployed youths used it to address the hardships and social injustices that they experienced.

Hip Hop, since its ignition, has influenced the behaviour of youths from different social, cultural, and economic backgrounds all over the world. Oppressed ghetto people used Hip Hop to voice the social injustice, discrimination, and poverty they experience (Bradley and DuBois 253).

Hip Hop evolved from music written by Dj Kool Herc. He used to make reggae beats and recite rhymes over these beats. Before Hip Hop became popular in the United States, it used to be a local occurrence that spread out in the poor neighbourhoods around New York City borough. Since then, Hip Hop has grown to become a very influential culture. Hip Hop has influenced people in poor neighbourhoods to behave differently because it gives them an identity.

Today, Hip Hop has become a very popular genre of music and art. Its popularity has been as a result of the extensive air play it receives in radio stations and television channels like MTV. Hip Hop has provided an avenue for oppressed minority’s voice to be heard.

Hip Hop has been adopted and adapted by youths living in the ghettos all over the world regardless of the racial, social, or economic backgrounds. Youths living in the ghettos have had Hip Hop as one of the most effectual means to voice the social injustice that they experience.

Hip Hop as the Voice of the Ghetto

From a ghetto point of view, Hip Hop has been the most fruitful way of getting the peoples’ opinions heard. In his book, Chang is more concerned with Hip Hop as a revolutionary medium, a culture that has become political as people try to fight for their rights. Hip Hop has become a global movement that defines a generation (Ogbar 45).

The voiceless youths used Hip Hop to address the seismic changes during the post civil rights era which was rapidly transformed by globalization. It was necessary for unemployed youths to find a method of getting the government to consider the growing number of youths who did not have jobs.

In their pursuit for jobs, youths living in ghettos found that they could use Hip Hop music to earn a living. It has since become a job-making venture and the hope of youth revolution. Hip Hop has brought a multiracial worldview in the young generation. It has transformed culture and politics in different nations all over the world (Chang 230).

Hip Hop in many nations has been the integral part of race riots, urban flight, neighborhood reclamation projects, and grass roots movements. These issues have greatly influenced political agendas. As a result of Hip Hop, ghetto people have formed activist groups that have led to ideological movements in an attempt to voice the people in these poor neighborhoods (Chang 98).

In the song “love is blind”, the singer mentions his sister who has been oppressed by her lover. She suffered under the hands of a lover. Finally, she died from the beatings she received from her lover. After the death of his sister, the singer murders the husband to his sister. The singer finds Hip Hop music as the best way to inform people of the social injustice his sister experienced.

Ice T in his lyrics insists; “If I had a chance like you, maybe I would be in school but I’m not, I’m out here living day to day surviving”. Ice T communicates to his audience to inform them how he and many others living in the ghetto are discriminated. Most of the youths like Ice T never got the opportunity to go to school; this is due to poverty in their families.

Ice T reckons that what he and other Hip Hop artist do is not right, but insists that the hardships that he undergone has led him to his current lifestyle. Ice T also insists that if he had a chance he would have gone to school like other kids.

Eminem and Jay-Z use the song “Renegade”, which literally means traitor, to show how they experienced poverty and hardships as they grew up. “My childhood didn’t mean much, only raisin greener”. Eminem and Jay-Z conclude that they are traitors.

This is because they have chosen to tell young people the truth, unlike their parents. Eminem and Jay-Z believe they have been misjudged. They have been regarded as bad role models to children and young adults. They claim they are traitors because they have decided to inform the young people what their parents would never have told (Rose 56).

Hip Hop was started by poor young people living in ghettos in the United States. This led to United States being tagged as a “Hip Hop nation”. However, Hip Hop has since evolved and now includes many cultures around the world. “Hip Hop world” is now used to refer to all the cultures in the world that use Hip Hop as a means to voice the injustices and discriminations in the society (Rose, 159). Hip Hop has helped many people especially those living in the ghettos when it comes to dealing with political and social issues.

Hip Hop is a tool used to shape the behavior of the society. However, Hip Hop is condemned by people who are not from poor backgrounds. This is because; some people believe that it spoils the youths’ minds. Musicians like Eminem claim that Hip Hop is real and what is mentioned in music is true; hence it is necessary for young minds to know the truth (Ogbar 69).

Conclusion

Hip Hop is not only about rap music and graffiti; it is about an attitude; a culture and a lifestyle of a certain class of people, a low class of people who have found it essential to voice their complaints, but can not identify a better way to do so. The impact of Hip Hop in today’s culture is evident everywhere in the cities.

Hip Hop has become so popular because of its ability to voice the social injustices, poverty, and discrimination faced by many people living in the ghettos. Its popularity has also been contributed by the fact that it is everywhere around the globe. Generations use the powerful idea of Hip Hop to unite the people. It has helped generations to define their identity. Hip Hop has grown into something that frames the way the society sees the world.

Works Cited

Bradley, Adam and A. DuBois. The anthology of Rap. London: Yale University Press, 2010. Print.

Chang, Jeff. Can’t stop Won’t stop: A history of the hip-hop generation. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005. Print.

Ogbar, Jeffrey. Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (Culture America). Westbrooke Circle: University Press of Kansas, 2008. Print.

Rose, Tricia. The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop–and Why It Matters. New York: Basic Civitas Books. 2008. Print.

Jay-Z says many times in his book that the “story of a hustler” is the most important theme in all hip-hop. Hustlers are the young Black boys and girls trying to make a living in the streets usually by selling crack. The story of a hustler is a story of the struggle to make a living. It is a story of many different people. Some of them are trying to help their families. Some are trying to make it big and achieve the dream which artist often rap about. It is a dream of money, girls, and beautiful life. Jay-Z thinks that it was important to rap about that story because it shows how the Blacks are sometimes forced to chase their dreams. In the 80s, it was nearly impossible to get rich without selling drugs or doing something else illegal. Jay-Z says that it is important to make people understand what that life was. It is essential to show that it was like a war in the streets, trying to stay alive as much as to make money.

He says that other artists used to focus too much on the street life or the rich gangsta life. That is also mentioned in our previous class reading “Race Rebels.” That book says that early rappers focused on tough life in the street and nothing else (Kelley 185). For Jay-Z, it was important to show how street boys became rich and what horrors they had to experience. I think the “story of a hustler” is like the stories of the Wild West outlaws. It has the same charm as the stories about robbing banks and fighting off sheriffs and rangers. The background is also similar. The Wild West was a violent and brutal place where people were killing each other to make some cash and defend their families (Hine and Faragher 10). The neighborhoods Jay-Z describes are very similar. Just like in the Wild West everybody was carrying a gun and was ready to kill. I think that is one of the reasons those stories became popular.

I read the enhanced ebook. It was fascinating to see all the photos and newspapers from the time of those stories. It really creates the atmosphere. You can see what people saw back then, and it makes you imagine the stories clearly. Sometimes the pictures just demonstrate the background events, like the death of 2pac. Those photos really show how important those events were and how big the hip-hop music was at that time. The only plus of the enhanced edition was the ability to quickly go between lyrics and comments. That was convenient, but the book was the same as the printed version with all of the pictures. Listening to the music by Jay-Z with lyrics explained was interesting. It was different to just listening to the tracks. The comments by the author make the context of the songs clear. That allows you to view them differently and really appreciate them. The book also tells about the inspirations Jay-Z had. He mentions people like Bono and Michael Jackson. He even writes that Thriller is the best album ever (Jay-Z 87). It is curious since you do not expect a former hustler to be into such music. That explains why the lyrics of Jay-Z are so varied and complicated. He uses his own experience to write lyrics but also adds material inspired by the other famous musicians.

Works Cited

Hine, Robert V and John Mack Faragher. The American West. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 2000. Print.

Jay-Z. Decoded. New York, NY: Spiegel & Grau, 2010. Ebook.

Kelley, Robin. “Kickin’ Reality, Kickin’ Ballistics.” Race Rebels. New York, NY: The Free Press, 1994. 183-227.

The Seattle hip-hop scene is extremely diverse with many interesting and unusual artists. However, Wanz has fascinated me with his unusual biography. The artist never achieved great success but did some amazing work for other musicians.

Wanz’s real name is Michael Wansley. He was born in 1961 and has been a part of the hip-hop and pop scene of Seattle for the most of his life. He has been performing since the early 1980s (Gale, par. 4). His interest in music was increased after he studied jazz at the Central Washington University and taught himself to play bass. His career included playing bass and singing in various bands like Boys Will be Boys and Lifering. He used to be an established hook singer for D. Sane and worked with the artist for about ten years. Wanz never really became famous. After failing to get recognized, he became a software testing engineer and accepted that music is nothing more than a hobby for him (Unterberger, par. 3).

He still occasionally sang for Street Level Records and even took part in the opera Porgy and Bess. However, his musical life changed after he was offered to sing a hook for the 2012 song “Thrift Shop” by Ryan Lewis and Macklemore. Nobody expected the song to become an international hit. Once it climbed the charts and the video went viral, Wanz once again hoped to create a career for himself through the unexpected popularity. He did tours with Macklemore and was making some money and fans. He said that time “seemed surreal” (Soper, par. 5). That allowed him to quit his software testing job and become a full-time musician. However, that did not last long. He was hired to sing hooks for several songs after that point, but his solo EP never came out. As the original video stopped being as popular everybody seemed to forget about the old singer. He did manage to publish “The Book of Wanz.” The collection of aphorisms was published last year. It covers his experience as a fifteen-minute star from 2012 to 2015. He had to return to his job as a software tester and once again give up on being an established hip-hop artist.

When it comes to music, Wanz is well-known for his hook in “Thrift Shop.” With his deep, powerful and melodic voice, it is no surprise that the hook was widely known as the catchiest part of the song. It is surprising to me that the old artist failed to become popular by himself. His voice is truly powerful and in my opinion could be used to create some great hip-hop. However, the story of Wanz shows that great vocal ability is not everything in hip-hop. While it can be useful, most hip-hop artists, especially underground ones have achieved their popularity through hard work and a bit of luck. Wanz seems to just have failed to create anything compelling on his own. And holding the audience is hard. After years of being a backup artist, Wanz failed to stand on his own.

I think the story of Michael Wansley is really fascinating. He was making music for a very long time. Then, he finally got recognized in 2012. And after that, he lost all popularity again and returned to his job as a software engineer. On the one hand, this story shows that you should never give up on your dreams. On the other hand, it also shows that remaining popular can be really hard. Since Wanz no longer performs as a hip-hop artist, there are no upcoming shows for him. He did present his book at the University Bookstore in March of this year.

Works Cited

Gale, Alex. “Meet Wanz, the 51-Year-Old Former Software Engineer Who’s Topping the Charts With Macklemore”. XXL 2013. Web.

Soper, Taylor. “‘Thrift Shop’ star Wanz returns to software testing job after ‘surreal’ year on tour with Macklemore”. GeekWire 2015. Web.

Unterberger, Andrew. “The Story of Wanz, The 51-Year-Old Breakout Singer on Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop”. PopDust 2013. Web.

Introduction

People are social creatures that tend to form communities and develop identities based on them. However, a particular social and geographic environment may either facilitate or deter such community building and have a positive or negative impact on how people perceive themselves in their respective social contexts. Different settings may promote or hinder communitarian tendencies among their inhabitants, thus contributing to whether the people would feel as belonging or isolated and alienated. Since urban areas have a much higher population density than the non-urban ones, it only makes sense that these effects are the most pronounced in large cities among the urban dwellers.

Considering this, it is only expectable that the coverage of urban life in film often addresses the issues of community and isolation. Such films as Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Hip-Hop Evolution, Episode 1: The Foundation all cover hip-hop culture in the urban context, but touch upon the topic of alienation and belonging as well. They all coincide in the notion that segregated urban enclaves produce strong and vibrant communities that promote common identity and struggle to overcome their stigmatization in a larger urban context.

Racial and Economic Marginalization as a Basis for Community and Identity-Building

Since all three films covered in this paper cover the subject of hip-hop culture during the early stages of its history, it is only natural that they all refer to its place of origin. It is common knowledge that hip-hop as a cultural phenomenon emerged in the predominantly African American communities of New York, mainly the Bronx, in the late 1970s – early 1980s. As an area populated mainly by working-class African Americans, the birthplace of hip-hop immediately refers to both racial and economic segregation in an urban context. In this respect, the Bronx of the late 1970s and the early 1980s is not unlike many similar urban areas in other countries.

Favelas of Brazilian cities feature the same stigma related to “social marginalization and ethnicity” (Costas 2011, 117). Banlieues of Paris are also working-class neighborhoods populated predominantly by Arabic and Hispanic migrants to the city (Garbin and Millington 2011, 2). Due to this socio-economic similarity, some of the insights gained from studying favelas and banlieues can also apply to the black neighborhoods of New York depicted in Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Hip-Hop Evolution.

As mentioned above, the urban landscapes covered in all three films discussed in this paper are products of segregation in two senses simultaneously. As the areas are populated predominantly by African Americans, they differ sharply from the parts of the city designated as white. As the working-class neighborhoods, they also become synonymous with stagnation and lack of economic development “in the deindustrialized, mass-mediated New York City of the 1970s and ’80s” (Hayman 2013, 119).

This spatial segregation based on racial and economic factors alike coincides with the association between African American neighborhoods and unemployment, lack of opportunity, and, ultimately, street crime. Not unlike their Brazilian counterparts, the black neighborhoods of New York become the “spaces of evil,” which leads to corresponding stigmatization of their inhabitants in the popular imagination (Costas 2011, 116).

Aware of their marginalized status and stigmatized representation, the inhabitants of such areas attempt to “resist… their collective defamation” (Garbin and Millington 2011, 13). This resistance to the vilification and stigmatization of their neighborhoods as spaces of crime, chaos, and evil is one of the factors that strengthen community bonds and communal identity in the neighborhoods in question.

This tendency to form and maintain communal ties despite socioeconomic obstacles and unfavorable representation manifests in the film depiction of the Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s. It is especially evident in the first episode of Hip-Hop Evolution that emphasizes the resilience of the Bronx to all manner of adverse circumstances. As the narrator describes the woeful condition of the borough back in the time, the camera pans over the burning or desolated buildings of the piles of broken bricks and mortar.

However, in the midst of these pictures of evident urban decay, there suddenly appears an apartment building with the inscription “We are still here” written in big white letters on its façade. The film consciously juxtaposes the images of decay and disorder to this stubborn statement. The use of “we” suggests that, even in such turbulent times, the people of the Bronx maintain their sense of community and will rise again as “the phoenix out of the ashes” (Hayman 2013, 123). The film highlights that the common experience of segregation and marginalization made the Bronx community all the more resistant and resilient.

Marginalization to Opportunity: Hip-Hop as a Uniting Force

The fact of being segregated within an urban landscape is the foundation of the distinct communal identity of the Bronx inhabitants, as depicted in the films discussed in this paper, but far from its only manifestation. Rather, the population of the borough is portrayed as tapping into its unfavorable situation as a source of energy and will to go on and discover new ways to improve its lot. The depiction of break-dancing in Beat Street emphasizes this vitality and resilience as a source of opportunity.

Lee, a young dancer from a decaying neighborhood, has no other means of expressing himself except for dancing. However, his passion and skill attract the attention of Tracy Carlson, a music student with TV connections. Essentially, Lee uses the forms of artistic self-expression devised in a marginalized neighborhood as the means for self-realization beyond his neighborhood. This “transformation of marginality into opportunity” is the characteristic feature of how Beat Street depicts hip-hop culture (Hayman 2013, 122). According to it, working-class African American neighborhoods not only create and maintain communities despite the disadvantages they face but also transform the experience of said disadvantages into distinct cultural practices.

These practices are not only a product of artistic self-expression in the urban landscapes of marginalized communities but also a way to enhance the communal unity within them. Even though the Bronx as depicted in Beat Street, is a predominantly African American neighborhood, the cast and characters are more diverse. Quite on the contrary, the film begins with a performance of a “multiracial group of break-dancers” that brings together African American and Latino characters (Hayman 2013, 123). Among the main characters, disk jockey Kenny and his brother Lee are black, but their friend, an aspiring graffiti artist Ramo is a Puerto Rican.

Of course, this community still has noticeable racial undertones, as it is explicitly non-white. Still, it is important to note that it transcends purely racial boundaries and is instead built around a common residence area. The characters of Beat Street share the same identity and belong to the same community, not by virtue of being black or Hispanic, but because they live in the same neighborhood. Their sense of belonging is rooted in the urban landscape they live in and unites them despite the difficulties they face.

The films depict hip-hop culture as a unifying force that brings and holds the inhabitants of marginalized cityscapes together. Krush Groove demonstrates it with great clarity in one of the initial scenes of the movie. While introducing the main characters of the film, the opening sequence alternates between their performances and the production of vinyl records with their popular hits. This cycle makes a full loop closer to the end of the sequence, as the vinyl recordings play in a boombox machine, inspiring the Fat Boys, who represent a new generation of hip-hop artists. In this scene, hip-hop serves as a unifying force for the community: “mass production makes possible the audience’s connection with and enjoyment of the music” (Hayman 2013, 125).

Self-expression by means of different aspects of hip-hop culture unites the performers and their immediate audiences, and the following commodification of their work unites even greater numbers of people with a feeling of community. Thus, the production and reproduction of hip-hop, as depicted in both Beat Street and Krush Groove, creates a virtuous cycle that promotes a sense of belonging within the communities inhabiting marginalized urban landscapes.

Bringing Communities Together: Overcoming Marginalization with Hip-Hop

It is important to note that hip-hop, as interpreted in Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Hip-Hop Evolution, not only unites the community that practices it but also serves as a vehicle to create inter-community bonds. The films show the association between the black neighborhoods of New York and chaos, disorder, and decay. As mentioned above, Hip-Hop Evolution demonstrates the grim landscapes of the late 1970s’ Bronx with burned-down buildings and piles of broken bricks and mortar. Beat Street offers similar images, such as the subway car with a graffiti mural showing mushroom clouds and signed as “Word War III.”

This depiction juxtaposes decaying working-class neighborhoods to the predominantly white areas associated with the “peaceful middle-class life” (Costas 2011, 116). However, the decaying parts of the city do not isolate themselves – on the contrary, their inhabitants seek to forge connections outside as well as within their communities. In Beat Street, the relationship between Kenny, an aspiring MC and disk jockey, and Kenny, a composer with connections on TV, symbolizes these inter-community bonds. Hip-hop not merely creates a sense of belonging within its community but also seeks to expand it further.

This emphasis on overcoming the borders of just one community and translating its culture across the entire city is especially notable in Krush Groove. While setting the introductory scene on a localized street level would seem appropriate for the early hip-hop as the explicit manifestation of street culture, the director does not do that. Instead, the movie opens with a panorama of New York City as a whole, thus representing it as a diverse yet still interconnected urban space rather than a constellation of isolated boroughs.

This shot creates an impression that hip-hop as a form of artistic expression or source of aesthetic pleasure “permeates the entire city, not only specific enclaves” (Hayman 2013, 125). This scene strengthens the approach to the theme of belonging already evident in the relationship between Kenny and Tracy from Beat Street. For all their differences, racial or socioeconomic, the people of the city, as depicted in Krush Groove, are still New Yorkers, and hip-hop aims to strengthen their sense of belonging and unity.

The attempts to appear on mainstream TV or to make a performance in a prestigious nightclub are not the only ways in which the hip-hop communities attempt to reinforce their position in a larger context. The opening scene of Beat Street portrays a group of break-dancers performing in a public park to the movie’s title music track. By participating in a cultural activity explicitly associated with their less-than-prosperous community, the dancers affirm their creativity and vitality by “claiming this public space for themselves” (Hayman 2013, 123).

Although the marginalization of a given community serves as a source of opportunity for artistic self-expression, the performers are not content with their status. The public park is an urban space that belongs to all inhabitants of the city without exclusion and, by performing there, the dancers translate their signature cultural practices beyond their own community. In this scene, hip-hop functions as a force that can promote a sense of belonging not merely within a given neighborhood but on the scale of the entire New York City.

Yet while the films suggest that the common identity shared by all New Yorkers may eventually overcome socioeconomic and racial segregation within the urban landscape, they do not deny its reality. Marginalized neighborhoods that are the birthplace of hip-hop still have to overcome actual social and economic challenges, and their inhabitants are still stigmatized in the popular imagination. Overcoming this stigmatization and standing on a par with more respectable parts of the city, at least in terms of culture, is one of the primary goals pursued by the main characters in Beat Street. In the grand finale of the movie, Kenny gets his long-sought performance in a prestigious club and decides to turn it into a tribute to the memory of his friend Ramo.

The latter was a graffiti artist – someone whose style of art is as stigmatized as the urban ghettoes it comes from – but Kenny passionately compares him to Michelangelo. By doing so, he stresses that graffiti, regardless of what anyone thinks about it, is “real art” (Hayman 2013, 126). Thus, hip-hop becomes a vehicle for overcoming social stigma and promoting the city-wide sense of unity and belonging.

Conclusion

As one can see, the depiction of urban landscapes in Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Hip-Hop Evolution, Episode 1: The Foundation maintains that marginalized communities promote a sense of belonging and community. The inhabitants of the decaying working-class neighborhoods populated mainly by racial minorities find their common identity in the struggle against their adverse circumstances. This identity manifests in many forms, including hip-hop culture that provides a creative outlet for youth and brings the community together. Moreover, the emissary of hip-hop forge alliances beyond their neighborhoods and seek to promote their art on a citywide scale.

Thus, while neither of the films denies the reality of urban segregation, they still portray the city as a place that promotes belonging and strengthens community bonds, even only through overcoming adversity and hardship. The acceptance of hip-hop by the members of different communities also suggests that the common identity shared by all New Yorkers may eventually overcome the stigmatization of the marginalized communities.

References

Costas, Gundo Rial y. 2011. “Spaces of Insecurity? The “Favelas” of Rio de Janeiro between Stigmatization and Glorification.” Iberoamericana (2001-), Nueva época 11, no. 41 (Marzo): 115-128.

Hayman, Casey. “Melle Mel in the Megaplex: Postmodern Performance and the Hip-Hop “Real” in Krush Groove & Beat Street.” African American Review 46, no.1 (2013): 117-132.

Garbin, David, and Gareth Millington. “Territorial Stigma and the Politics of Resistance in a Parisian Banlieue: La Courneuve and Beyond.” Urban Studies 49, no. 10 (2012): 1-17.

The Jazz Concert

The concert was held on 5^th May 2016 at the Catalina Jazz Club. The concert lasted for two hours, from 8.00 pm to 10.00 pm. This being my first attendance at such a big concert, the spectacular recitals by the solo guitarist Billy Dean really captured my attention just like it did to the jovial audience. The concert hall was packed by an audience dressed in their best evening attire. The majority of the audience appeared youthful. The performance stage background was illuminated with a mixture of bright colors and decorations. The background illumination systematically and frequently changed to different themes as each solo guitarist was on the stage. The audience and performer were generally excited, and you could see a smile on nearly every face.

Billy Dean did six compositions during the concert. In performing the piece, Mysterious Barricades, Billy Dean displayed prowess in a compound and straightforward tempo. His strategy of adopting repetition in the composition balanced the rhythm and melody. In my opinion, Billy Dean succeeded in appealing to his audience since the presentation of this composition awoke the excitement expected of him. Billy Dean’s performance had harmony in the compound and straightforward tempo. Two pieces in the second performance, In Germany Before the War and Mysterious Barricades, were well performed during the concert. The solo guitarist, Billy Dean, was outstanding, especially in balancing moderato to andante tempo before progressing to a more vigorous allegro tempo. Reflectively, Billy Dean perfectly introduced the andante tempo of the second piece, after which he suddenly ushered in a slow rhythm to create a harmonized piece.

The Hip Hop Concert

The concert was held on 3^th May 2016 at the MazMaze Club with the Xzibit as the main artist performing his hip hop songs. The concert lasted for two hours, from 9.00 pm to 11.00 pm. The concert hall was packed by an audience dressed in their best evening attire. The majority of the audience appeared youthful hip hop lovers since most of them were dressed in hip hop attire. The performance stage background was illuminated with a mixture of bright colors and decorations with big speakers stationed at the corners. There was a deejay on the deck and background dancers to back up the performance of Xzibit.

Xzibit’s music contained the elements of syncopation in his characteristic opposition of authority or habit and instigating the audience. For instance, while performing the song “Enemies and Friends,” Xzibit displayed prowess in a compound and straightforward tempo in artistically criticizing ‘snitches.’ He adopts repetition in stating rules of friendship. Across the three hours concert, the rhythm and melody of Xzibit’s rap compositions moved people to like the information being relayed. He appealed to his audience, who somehow live within the culture displayed in his music. The arrangement of words in the songs emotionally relayed his appalling demonstration of the contemporary black community of the United States. The tone of the songs brought out the bottomless grief that he intended to put across. This example portrayed how emotion in a composition has a profound connection with the audience and can easily persuade them to like the music. For instance, in performing the song, Enemies and Friends, the crowd was wild and was rapping along to every word Xzibit pronounced.

Comparison

In my opinion, the jazz concert was better than the hip hop concert. The compositions I liked best were presented by Billy Dean. The compositions consisted of pieces such as Little Meggie, St. Louis Blues, Whale in the Sky, Goodbye, My Friend, and A Nice Place to Visit. The talented Billy Dean artistically fused the tempo and dynamics to create deep jazz music. Gradually, the tempo of the compositions increased and harmonized proficiency and controlled energy as the audience clapped on through the swings between moderate, allegro, and andante. The hypnotic quality of the fast beat perfectly suited the modern performance style of Billy Dean’s jazz composition. The musical instrument played during the performance was a guitar. Song after song, Billy Dean demonstrated emerging and entertaining performance styles in balancing the tempo variances. On the other hand, the hip hop concert was controlled by a deejay, and there were no musical instruments.

The performance I liked best were those presented by Billy Dean. The composition ability in the six masterpieces was nearly faultless. Although Billy had instances of misbalance between changing the tempo, which was a little off by a fraction of beats, it was understandable given that the context of the performance was live, and such errors could be noticed easily. On the stage, Billy appeared calm and striking, and I would judge him as a successful performer. For Billy’s live performance, he constantly engaged the fans through his solo performance with a guitar, which he appeared to have mastered very well. In the other concert, the stage was disorganized, with many fans constantly interrupting the performance of their favorite songs. Xzibit could not complete a single composition since there was no coordination between him and the deejay.

In the two concerts, I learned the importance of a mixture of form, rhythm, harmony, tempo, and melody to create a perfect piece. Coherently, the level of auditory components have different audience repertoire for sensory connection, commonly referred to as context modality, which the solo guitarists showed with little struggle. However, I preferred concert 1 over concert 2 because it was better organized with the real instrument, and I have a liking for Billy Dean.

General Information

Name:

Title of the study: Hidden Things and Ideas behind Hyper-masculinity in Hip Hop.

Sociological Research Question: What lies behind the dominant hyper-masculine paradigm in Hip Hop and Black culture and its various manifestations in lyrics and music videos?

Abstract

Nobody would deny that hyper-masculinity is present in Hip Hop and manifests itself brightly in the music industry. The central objective of this short paper was to find out, identify and explain what things and concepts this cultural phenomenon contains. Societal ideas that form hyper-masculinity turned out to be Black masculinity, financial success and attractiveness, and homophobia. Interestingly, a massive paradigm conversion occurs in Hip Hop culture nowadays. This content analysis provides a sociological insight into the massively changing music subculture and the Black community.

Rationale & Research

Being created, cultivated, developed, and popularized mainly by marginalized Black men, now mass consumers of the entertainment industry strongly associate Hip Hop with masculinity and hyper-masculinity specifically. It is a rather strange situation considering that other musical genres remain gender-neutral in the media, at least on the surface. The question arises as to what serves as an inspiring driver for such a bright and clear gender image of Hip Hop. Another intriguing one is what future hypothetical findings might say about the Black community’s current social trends and conditions.

Despite being minimalist in the melody, Hip Hop is still a very expressive music genre due to the combination of emotional lyrics and sensual rhythm. I believe it was this musical uniqueness and paradoxicality, as well as the depiction of marginalized and oppressed communities in many Hip Hop lyrics, are the things that attracted me to this music style long ago. I cannot say precisely when I started listening to Hip Hop and many of its sub-genres, but I am sure it was in my early teen years. While writing this qualitative analytical paper, I now realize that Hip Hop developed my social and cultural awareness and drove me into the social sciences.

Source 1-title: Homosex, Hermaph, or Trans-a-vest… Hate Fags? The Answer’s Yes”: Hypermasculinity in America and Commodified Homophobia Through the Lens Of Hip Hop.

In this research paper, Annalisa Ciro explores Hip Hop, its cultural influences, and the behavioral patterns it cultivates in its listeners. For example, one of her most interesting implications is that hyper-masculinity began to emerge and actively manifest itself in the genre as the socioeconomic conditions of the Black community in the United States began to decline (Ciro, 2019). The inclusion of this work in the content analysis paper is because it provides basic knowledge about this musical style, related sociocultural context, and gender imagery in it. In addition, the researcher discusses the homophobia and effeminophobia that still exist in both Hip Hop industry and the African American community.

Source 2-title: Frank Ocean: Challenging Hip-Hop’s Hyper-Masculinity.

This digital article by Alex Layton discusses Frank Ocean’s 2017 single “Provider” and its sociocultural effect on the entrenched hyper-masculine paradigm in the music style. According to Layton (2017), the famous Hip Hop musician “challenges stereotypes of genre just as he challenges stereotypes of sexuality” (para. 4). He also notes that “one cannot be taken seriously as a contemporary hip-hop artist without proving their masculinity” (Layton, 2017, para. 6). This source provides critical insight into the current cultural changes in the discussed genre related to hyper-masculinity and gender relations.

Sample

This image is a screenshot from the super popular “INDUSTRY BABY” music video. Both visually and lyrically, the super-popular Hip Hop artist challenges and criticizes the existing hyper-masculine culture that prevails in both performers’ and listeners’ communities (Lil Nas X, 2021). Jack Harlow appears as a typical straight man in the second part of the video, which enhances the previous imagery of Lil Nas X.

Role 1: LGBT Hip Hop artist, prisoner, marginalized, oppressed.

Norm 1: LGBT Hip Hop artists are oppressed.

One can safely say that this picture is a perfect example of manifested hyper-sexuality in Hip Hop. DaBaby’s lyrics in “VIBEZ” also contain many images directly related to the cultural phenomenon under discussion. Throughout the entire music video, the artist is surrounded by many young girls who constantly touch and hug him (DaBaby, 2019). It is also noteworthy that “VIBEZ” includes many shots that focus on DaBaby’s physical form.

Role 1: Hyper-masculine Hip Hop artist, lover, provider, attractive and wealthy person.

Norm 1: Being a hyper-masculine Hip Hop artist is attractive to women.

One more picture with Lil Nas X was selected as the object of this content analysis. Here, Lil Nas X is kissing another man during a live concert (Roberts, 2021). Interestingly, this move can be interpreted as both a manifestation of hyper-masculinity and an action of challenging it. It seems that the artist is serious about changing the sociocultural paradigm and imagery of Hip Hop as a musical genre and industry.

Role 1: Non-hyper-masculine LGBT Hip Hop artist.

Norm 1: Normalization of LGBT and non-hyper-masculine LGBT Hip Hop artists.

Discussion

This research brief analyzes the gender-related phenomenon of hyper-masculinity in Hip Hop. Hyper-masculinity in the discussed genre is a combination of the historical, social, and gender elements of the male side of Afro-American culture. It has been found that it combines such societal concepts as socioeconomic success, Black masculinity, homophobia, and effeminophobia. A study of related digital research papers and news articles has shown that a massive ideological transformation occurs in Hip Hop culture today.

References

Ciro, A. (2019). “Homosex, hermaph, or trans-a-vest… Hate fags? The answer’s yes”: Hypermasculinity in America and commodified homophobia through the lens of Hip Hop. For(e)dialogue, 3(1). Web.

DaBaby. (2019). Vibez (Official music video) [Video]. YouTube. Web.

Layton, A. (2017). Frank Ocean: Challenging Hip-Hop’s hyper-masculinity. The Prindle Post. Web.

Lil Nas X. (2021). Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow – Industry baby (Official video) [Video]. YouTube. Web.

Roberts, A. (2021). Inside Lil Nas X’s groundbreaking journey as a LGBTQA+ artist. Nicki Swift. Web.

Introduction

Hip-hop is the most popular genre of music, the influence of which can be traced in movies, fashion, and the music industry overall. However, hip-hop can be called not only the music or fashion genre but also a lifestyle (Cohen 9). Despite the fact that the hip-hop genre originated in America, its spread has reached various cultures in various regions, being consumed by millions and millions of individuals.

Analysis

Charlie Ahearn’s 1983 movie Wild Style is viewed as the first movie that depicted the hip-hop culture in its essence. The primary setting of the movie involves the empty streets and subway stations of New York. The life of the main character called Zoro, an artist, revolves around the art of graffiti, which he called his world. In his search for finding himself and mastering the art, he creates connections with the most influential individuals in the entire history of the hip-hop genre (White par. 4).

A similar theme of emergence and later the evolution of the hip-hop culture was discussed by Jeff Chang in his book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. The author outlines the life and the creative process of Clive Campbell or otherwise known as DJ Kook Herc, one of the most influential figures in the early history of the hip-hop genre. Furthermore, the process of assimilation with the American culture had massively affected the artist’s works as well as changed his identity (Chang 73).

As discussed in Kelley’s work Race Rebels, hip-hop is a phenomenon that reflects the composition of the American spirit that does not agree with the standards and the demands of the modern society, rejecting the notion of “Americanism” itself (183). The connections between American politics and the hip-hop community are ambiguous. For instance, the reaction of the hip-hop community on the events connected with the beating of Rodney King was surprising, as mentioned by the rapper Ice Cube “It’s been happening to us for years” (qtd. in Kelley 184). On the other hand, the community did not react as patiently to the killing of Eula Mae Love, who was shot a dozen times by the police in 1979.

In the chapter “Necropolis: the Bronx and the Politics of the Abandonment” Chang describes the “urban renewal” which was characterized by the poor Puerto Ricans, Jews, and African-Americans moving to South Bronx and Brooklyn in New York, places where the housing sector was widely available while the ability to find a job was very limited (11). Robert Moses, the most influential builder of the 1930s, was the primary initiator of the plan of turning the Manhattan area into the center for the wealthy, moving poorer layers of the community to other areas.

The correlations between hip-hop culture and politics are still relevant today. According to Republican Senator Mark Rubio, rappers used to be and still are the reporters of the events that surround the country. When the 1990’s the United States was captured by racial tension and gang wars, hip-hop artists like Tupac wrote songs reflecting those events (Hughes par. 8).

On the other hand, the latest tendencies of hip-hop culture rarely revolve around politics. The modern hip-hop artists have become entertainers rather than reporters; thus, those who think that hip-hop has the potential to revolutionize the life of the African-American community are disappointed to a large extent (The Economist par. 4).

Works Cited

Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: a History of the Hip-Hop Generation, New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press. 2005. Print.

Cohen, Dror. The Role of Rap/Hip-Hop Music in the Meaning and Maintenance of Identity in South African Youth. Jun. 2008. PDF file.

Hughes, Dana. Hip-Hop in Politics: What a Difference a Generation Makes. 2013.

Kelley, Robin. Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class, New York, NY: The Free Press, 1994. Print.

The Economist. The Politics of Hip-Hop. 2008.

White, Alicia. Film Review: Charlie Ahearn’s “Wild Style”. 2013.