To me Hip Hop is a genre of music that I know close to nothing about. Today I truly began an in depth education not only about the genre Hip Hop, but also Hip Hop as a culture. Watching the film Letter to the President brought up knowledge of Hip Hop and introduced many government conspiracy theories targeted at the black community. Completely unaware of any agenda behind Hip Hop music my eyes were opened to a social a political movement the Hip Hop genre created and in turn created a culture.
http://www.hiphop.org.au/history/
The link above gives detail to the birth of the Hip Hop phenomenon. Hip Hop, like most forms of music is a way of expression for the artist. Hip Hop began like an explosion as a way for those whose voices were not being heard to finally be heard. Hip Hop has been compared to rock most saying that it is the modern day rebellion. One article I read about rock-n-roll claims that racism killed rock for many black people. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/columns/article/8079/racism-killed-rock-part-ii/ Many rock artists sang about issues that related to both blacks and whites. However in more recent days a more racial line has been drawn. I believe this line was drawn mostly by the media. Leading the masses to believe that music such as rock is meant mainly for white people and rap and hip hop is to only be listened to by black people and rebels. These accusations are completely ridiculous, to me, music is universal. Music is so powerful. It has the power to open minds, change hearts, and inspire people. I think this is partially why the authorities fear Hip Hop.
I see Hip Hop as a movement. The people who began Hip Hop were rapping about issues that are very serious. They were and are screaming out for help for their community and no one seems to be listening. I agree, I never took the time to listen to the lyrics of many Hip Hop songs. I cannot tell you why. Maybe it’s because I always assumed it to be crude or violent. Maybe it’s because I felt as though I couldn't relate. What I do know is that Hip Hop artists have a lot more to say than the media gives them credit for. One may not know this by the music industries way of selling albums. Most of the main stream Hip Hop artists are not rapping about serious issues but instead have lyrics that sell. They rap about meaningless things like shoes, grillz, or candy. This is what makes some believe that Hip Hop is on the brink of extinction. http://allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=6524
I am not exactly sure of what Hip Hop is to me, but hope it is alive long enough for me to find out.
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2 comments:
I can agree with all your views on Hip-hop. One thing that I found out is that i know a lot less about the Hip-Hop culture than I thought i did. I had always thought has Hip-hop as just a type of music and not actually as a whole culture with many different aspects. Hip-Hop has characterisitics that can be seen in almost every young person of this day, either in the way we talk, dress, or type of entertainment we prefer. I think it's great that something like Hip-Hop has so much to offer people and that it really has a chance for people to learn more about themselves and how we are more connected to each other than we think we are. Just because we think we come from different cultures isn't necessarily true and Hip-Hop is one medium that has been able to show people of the American society that we are not the different from one another.
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