...Misogyny Page1 In today’s view hip hop is blamed for the negative images of women in music videos. When it comes to degrading and sexist representations of women in music, it is often perceived as misogynistic. Misogyny in hip hop culture refers to lyrics, videos or other aspects of hip hop culture that justifies exploitation of women. Hip hop has influenced modern popular culture, saturating mass media through music videos, radio broadcasts, and a variety of others. Most of the lyrics and images you see today in the hip-hop industry portray women of all ethnicities as sexual objects and depicts the exploitation of women. The image of dozens of semi-naked women dancing provocatively around one famous rapper has become the usual in music videos. Hip hop has become a mess of unrealistic images of female sexuality. Some defend that the sexism in hip hop is a part of a hip hop artist life. If that’s the case then how did this image become the accepted standard of hip hop music video format? Many artists try to manipulate their fans in believing that this is their lifestyle, but the main reason behind that is sex sell and it draws people in. Some women have made careers of this lifestyle. If you pay attention to hip hop videos you may see some of the same faces in multiple videos. The more revealing they are the more casting calls and more money they will receive. To me I find it embarrassing that rappers degrade females in their music videos but still have the same ones in every...
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...Hip-hop plays a major role in its effect on African-American women (AAW). African American rappers, whether being male or female have evolved tremendously especially when focusing on lyrical content. Rap lyrics have shifted over a period of time. The form of music many people know as hip hop, rap, gangster rap and exedra started as a culture, more so a way of life which had the ability to captivate an audience and reach into the souls of many listeners across the world. Black rap music has exhibited Black women as objects all the while female emcees of color are approaching music with a different emphasis to recreate the image of women of color and empowering them. Hip hop originated in the South Bronx, New York around the mid-70s. It involved...
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...Hip hop has influenced generations in a way I believe no other genre has. Hip Hop in the textbook is said to have first emerged in largely African-American, afro Caribbean, and Latino communities of the Bronx and then spread to Harlem and other boroughs of the New York City in the early 1970s. It is defined as a style of popular music of United States and Hispanic origin, featuring rap with an electronic backing. It can also be described as a culture and form of ground breaking music and self-expression with elements that consisted of the elements of graffiti art, DJing, MCing, and breaking. Today Hip-Hop is considered to be dead in the mainstream because so-called mainstream Hip-Hop doesn't have the elements of hip-hop and have no meaning....
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...phrase "Hip Hop is dead" it caused a discrepancy in the Hip hop community. Southern style artists such as Ludacris and Lil Wayne felt as if that was a direct insult to the music that they were making. But what many failed to realize was that Nas has achieved a great deal in his career, which made others artists work harder to compete. When you think of Hip Hop a few artists probably come to mind – Wale, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Drake, etc. When you hear them rap it is as if the beat was made to fit their flow instead of the other way around. Jay-Z once said that “once you hear a beat you must find your place in that beat”. In my opinion certain artists have perfected the pocket presence inside of a beat such as Kanye West, B.o.B. to name a few. Many of them hold the “southern ring tone music movement” which is said to be responsible for the Death of Hip hop. This movement was led by artist such as Soulja Boy, D4L, and New boys because their nursery rhymes lyrics have no meaning and its only purpose is to get the youth to the dance floor. Auto-Tune also threw the rap world into frenzy while artist like T-Pain mastered the craft others have totally massacred it. Once again Jay-Z came to the rescue with his single Death of Auto-tune and ended this well over-due phase in Hip Hop. As far as the current state of Hip Hop, it is on the rise again with the release of The Carter IV, G.o.o.d Kid M.a.a.d City and 2.0. Conscious rappers are taking the art back. I believe that Hip Hop needs...
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...temper. But to be honest my rock listening & metalhead homies ,when I heard the crew of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, I certainly got ‘Led’ out on my ‘stairway to heaven’! We all know the nice drug,pop does lighten up our minds & heighten our spirits & RnB does feed our souls. It gives us a goody-goody feeling. This nice drug have various manufacturers ranging from legends like Madonna,Stevie Wonders,Elton john to newbies like Justin beiber,Lady Gaga,Katy Perry,Taylor Swift etc.Artists like Akon ,Usher,Rihanna have taken RnB to an another level. But when I need to be real high & tight I use my third stack ‘the dope’. When I put on my snares (headphones) & hear hip hop/rap, my heart begins to beat to the sync of the hip hop beats & the words of the MC flows like venom into my veins, I totally get gassed up. It tones me up to take up my stance against all the odds. Rap Music! Many think that’s an oxymoron. They say it’s whack. But my dawgs don’t huff n puff,haters will always be haters so ignore them till they fade away. Rap music like any other art has rich heritage & history. RAP-the word has been originally used in British English since...
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...WHAT IS HIP HOP? By: Mohammed Al-Salem Hip Hop is a cultural movement that developed in New York in the 1970’s, primarily for the African-American and Latino population. Hip Hop consists of four elements; MCing, deejaying, graffiti art and breaking (b-boy/b-girl). The cultural pillars that Hip Hop is founded on are comedy, rivalry, nursery rhymes, storytelling, poetry, and rhyming tendencies in humans. Hip Hop was born in the South Bronx at a summer block party. The father of Hip Hop, DJ Clive “Kool Herc” Campbell is a Jamaican that built upon the Jamaican tradition of toasting. Toasting is rapping the impromptu poetry over music, with this tradition in mind DJ Kool Herc created the blueprint for Hip Hop music as he began to isolate the instrumental portion of the record, creating the break beat; an isolation of one particular section of a musical composition to have a vamp for an MC or b-boy/b-girl. He then added another turntable and bought two copies of the same record to elongate the break beat – this technique is the foundation of Hip Hop and eventually led to the deejaying styles of a pair of legendary deejays, Afrika Bambaataa and Grand Master Flash. Since the first rap record in 1979, “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugar Hill Gang, Hip Hop as a culture has grown immensely and is continuously spreading around the world influencing so many lives. However, before Hip Hop music even existed there were music genres like jazz, rhythm and blues, soul and funk that have...
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...Hip Hop Is Dead: The Impact Of Social media & Technology Because of the home grown music producer, hip hop music production has changed drastically in the past decade as the advent of digital computers and the internet has reciprocated the face of hip hop music production. Hip hop has always been intimately tied to technology however, it is important to note that the creation of hip hop music has never required the latest and greatest equipment. The earliest pioneers of hip hop used the analog hardware abandoned by the recording industry who were in search of even better equipment; two turntables and a microphone has been the equipment of choice for many hip hop artist as well as producers over the years. While Hip Hop has not yet led directly to advancements and innovations in the technologies of music engineering equipment, its producers have revolutionized the use of the technology in ways that incorporate priorities of black culture. How has technology shaped the creativity of hip hop, well one Carlos Bess commented that, while high-end digital hardware and software are becoming cheaper, its price tags are still out of range for the beginner producers. Carlos, who has spent his last 10 years as a studio sound engineer, was convinced that skill was a better determining factor when judging weather someone could escape the bedroom and enter the big time. Carlos went so far as to say that he felt that the new equipment simply created lazy producers who could only...
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...Hip-hop culture is everywhere. The culture, which encompasses rapping, deejaying, break-dancing and graffiti-writing, has become so popular that it has entered mainstream fashion and modern language. It doesn't stop there. The culture permeates everything from TV commercials to toys to video games. Currently, there is even a hip-hop exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. You name it, and hip hop is there representing. However, hip hop's most potent form is its rap music--embraced by urban Blacks and suburban Whites alike. It is raw self-expression that sometimes features profane lyrics, misogyny and violence. The music, along with rap videos that often present a disturbing mix of rap, hip-hop dance styles, fashion and language, leave many people asking: Is hip-hop culture harming our youth" "The hip-hop culture is just like electricity," civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton told JET. "It can be used negatively or positively. The same electric current that lights up your house can also electrocute you. It is the misuse of hip-hop culture to attack our women and promote violence. We must encourage the proper use of hip-hop culture. We are all influenced by the hip-hop generation." Sharpton, who recently hosted a special summit on social responsibility in the hip-hop industry, labeled gangsta rappers "well-paid slaves." Advertisement "Don't let some record executive tell you that cursing out your mama is in style. Anytime...
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...Hip-hop culture developed during the seventies. Throughout its formation, the various elements were at some time or another, deemed unacceptable. Graffiti artists faced jail sentences, break dancing became illegal in some areas, and rap music has been severely criticized for various reasons. These elements were never analyzed in an oppositional manner until recently, however. Hip-hop culture represented the claiming of urban communities by the residents. Writers decorated the empty walls of their communities in an attempt to personalize their surroundings. They also painted trains, which traveled to other communities, and in this sense they developed a living and moving art form. Break dancing claimed space simply because it utilized community space for the performance of a culture specific dance form. Finally, DJing and MCing claimed public space because the main stage for performance was often local parks where they would throw parties for the community. ?The power was supplied by the city unknowingly as community members discovered ways in which they could tap into the city's power boxes at no expense to themselves? (Shomari, 45). Therefore, the development of hip-hop culture was inherently oppositional. Rap music now viewed as an area for political debate by many, did not begin with this in mind. Rap music was developed by DJs, who used two of the same records and looped the break beats of the record, which then allowed the beat to be extended infinitely. They also used...
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...The Despicable Content in Hip-Hop Music – Making Plato Turn in his Grave In a city where each individual is able to do as he pleases is a city that will be filled with murder, theft, gluttony, deviance and prejudice. Hip-Hop artists, in their music, constantly incorporate these aspects of life within the content of their lyrics. This content is not only described throughout their songs, but the lifestyle of being able to do such things is constantly being advocated. “F*ck the Police” and “Beat a police out of shape and when I'm finished, bring the yellow tape to tape off the scene of the slaughter” (Rap Genius) are lyrics from the song “F*ck the Police” by the world renown hip hop group, NWA. This is one of many Hip-Hop groups that promote violence through music. Other songs such as “She swallowed It” and “Dopeman” both promote greediness, “lawless desires”, sexism and being promiscuous. If Plato were alive today to bear witness to Hip Hop music he would have despised the content of these songs, as the aforementioned contents of this type of music are all aspects of society in what he calls the “Luxurious City” and the “Purged City” and go against his idea of a just society. Hip-Hop’s first major concept that is addressed time and time again throughout its lyrics is the concept of Greed. Greed is defined as an “intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.” (Oxford) Many Hip-Hop songs address accumulation of wealth (among other things)...
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...Masculinity in Hip Hop Introduction In their discourses on the same, Frith and McRobbie (1990) tackle the issue of sexuality in popular culture. As they tackle this issue, the authors focus specifically on the issue of masculinity as depicted in imagery, songs, videos, and concert tours. In the course of their work, Frith and McRobbie (1990: 374) observed a prevalent trend, which they referred to as ‘cock rock’ in their initial scholarly account. This was the reference to the dominant pattern of masculine chest-thumping as well as the aggressive and explicit portrayal of male sexuality. Later scholars also used the term hegemonic masculinity to sustain this viewpoint. Besides hegemonic masculinity, Frith and McRobbie (1990: 375) identify ‘the soft sentimentalist’ as another form of masculine sexuality, essentially a subtle evolution of the former. Sentimental masculinity appeals more to female vanity and the need for affection. The sentimentalist is charismatic and charming full of sensual flirtation aimed at luring the superficial audience. Critical observation indicates that both forms of masculine sexuality are still present in the world of Hip Hop today. In a detailed overview on the same, this paper tackles the issue of hegemonic and sentimental masculinity as evidenced in the world of Hip Hop today and the pervasive trend of aggression and sexuality in popular culture. Sexuality in Popular Culture The issue of sexuality continues to dominate the world of popular...
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...movement. For the music genre, see Hip hop music. For other uses, see Hip hop (disambiguation). Graffiti of "hip hop" in Eugene, Oregon Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic subculture that originated in African-American and Hispanic-American communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx.[1][2][3] DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, B-boying and graffiti writing.[4][5][6][7] [8] Since its emergence in the South Bronx, hip hop culture has spread to both urban and suburban communities throughout the world.[9] Hip hop music first emerged with disc jockeys creating rhythmic beats by looping breaks (small portions of songs emphasizing a percussive pattern) on two turntables, more commonly referred to as sampling. This was later accompanied by "rap", a rhythmic style of chanting or poetry presented in 16 bar measures or time frames, and beatboxing, a vocal technique mainly used to imitate percussive elements of the music and various technical effects of hip hop DJ's. An original form of dancing and particular styles of dress arose among fans of this new music. These elements experienced considerable refinement and development over the course of the history of the culture. The relationship between graffiti and hip hop culture arises from the appearance of new and increasingly elaborate and pervasive forms of the practice in areas where other elements of hip hop were evolving as art forms, with a...
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...|How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not long ago, I was having lunch in a KFC in Harlem, sitting near eight African-American boys, aged about 14. Since 1) it was 1:30 on a school day, 2) they were carrying book bags, and 3) they seemed to be in no hurry, I assumed they were skipping school. They were extremely loud and unruly, tossing food at one another and leaving it on the floor. Black people ran the restaurant and made up the bulk of the customers, but it was hard to see much healthy “black community” here. After repeatedly warning the boys to stop throwing food and keep quiet, the manager finally told them to leave. The kids ignored her. Only after she called a male security guard did they start slowly making their way out, tauntingly...
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...Introduction In this course, we learned many different ways in how trauma can affect people and how trauma can shape the music around us. In this paper, I will reflect on what trauma is and how it can affect people. I will then describe three events that occurred in The United States that had a significant impact on how music changes during periods of trauma. I will first inform you about the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway and how it created Hip Hop culture. I will then look at what ideologies were promoted within country music after 9/11. Lastly, I will look at how Hip Hop artists utilized Hurricane Katrina to point out social injustices that remain in our country. What is Trauma? My definition of trauma is that it is a painful event that creates a lasting effect on someone. It can be physical, mental or emotional. The painful event can be either man-made or natural. An example of a man-made traumatic event would be the attack on 9/11 which killed thousands of people. An example of a natural, traumatic event would be Hurricane Katrina, which also killed many people and displaced thousands from their homes. Even though not all traumatic experiences result in death, death seems to be a consistent outcome from both man-made and natural traumatic events. Trauma and death can affect people differently. The difference can occur on a cultural level, community level, family level, individual level, even a generational level. Many cultures will deal with...
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...[pic] AMST 100 – Introduction to American Studies Fall 2013 -- 100-01 -- 9:00 – 9:50 a.m. MWF – Information Technology 229 100-05 -- 10:00 – 10:50 a.m. MWF – Sondheim 409 Instructor: Ellen Gorman Office: Fine Arts 424 Office Hours: By appointment E-mail: elg@umbc.edu; elgorman@msn.com Required Texts Celebrity Culture and the American Dream, Karen Sternheimer The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz Shoplifting from American Apparel, Tao Lin It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation, M.K. Asante Films: The Social Network (Fincher 2010); Mean Girls (Waters 2004); Bomb It (Reiss 2007); Objectified (Hustwit 2009), The Bling Ring (Coppola 2013) Course Description: In this course we will engage in an interdisciplinary analysis of oral, written, visual, and material representations of American life and culture and the historical and social contexts in which they are produced and consumed. Our analyses will necessitate a survey the interplay of the popular arts and American society, using American studies interdisciplinary methodologies. The framework of the course is the development of critical thinking and writing skills. All students are encouraged to avail themselves of the free services at the University’s Writing Center, http://www.umbc.edu/lrc/writing_center.htm List of assignments and percentage of grade Formal Assignment #1/Critical Analysis 20% Formal Assignment #2/Creative Production 30% ...
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