Rap Culture in Comparison to the Tone of Hughes and Brooks Today it is hard to get into a car and turn on the radio without hearing a song about money, sex, or fame. Modern day rap culture tries to force those three things on our population through their music and lyrics. They have changed many people’s perception of the perfect life through their tone, music, and lyrics. Many poems help express and can relate to the tone of the modern day rap culture. The tone in the poems, “Red Silk Stockings” by Langston Hughes, and “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks, can be tied to the tone in rap culture and express many modern American values. Rap culture in the twenty first century has exponentially grown and in turn has influenced daily American live. Today, everyone is exposed to this new rap culture that is developing everywhere. Rap culture started in about the 1970’s in New York City (Sullivan). In those days rap was about everyday life and race but has greatly change since then. Rap songs these days are all about sex, money, drugs, women, cars, and practically any material thing. Many songs talk about how rich the rappers are and the extravagant ways they live. Most songs in rap culture have poor grammar and language. These songs are crude and talk about women only as sex. The view points of modern day rappers are extremely clouded because of what they talk about and how they live. The tone of the Hughes and Brooks poems help to show the tone and expression of modern day rap culture. “Red Silk Stockings” by Langston Hughes is a poem that reveals a man talking to a black woman about her legs and how good she looks. The tone is condescending and seems to downgrade the woman in this poem. This shows a tone about how women were looked upon in the 1920’s and even up to now. This woman, in “Red Silk Stockings,” seems to show off her looks because she knows she is attractive and men are telling her that. This tone is also shown in rap songs and in the way these rappers live their lives. First, “Red Silk Stockings” very much relates to the rap culture and their tones are consistent with each other. In this poem, the speakers tone shows the objectivity of women. The speaker talks about the woman’s legs and how pretty she is. The woman is viewed as an object, just how women are viewed in the rap culture today. This poem was written in 1927 but it still shows signs of how women are viewed now. In this rap age in America, most songs talk about women and sex. Rappers of the twenty first century rap about how much sex and women they get. This shows a tone to the listeners and everyday person in America that women are material objects and sexual pleasures. Even women in today’s culture play the role of how they are subjected in rap songs. The people who listen to this music want to follow in the ways of their favorite celebrity rap star. The fans will hear their lyrics and music and want to be like the rapper and do what they say. This poem degrades woman and the rap culture does exactly the same. For example, the popular song “Apple Bottom Jeans” by T-Pain, talks about a woman who is dancing in a club while everyone is watching her. In his song, T-Pain talks about how he wants to have sexual experiences with this woman and wants her to take off her clothes. T-Pain’s song, which is an example of rap culture, shows a comparison to Hughes’ poem but is more drastic and clear cut. The tone of rap culture today downgrades woman and makes listeners want to follow in their ways. Next, “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks illustrates a pool hall with seven young people inside playing pool. The speaker talks about how the people think they are cool because of the things they do. The speaker says that they “left school” and “lurk late.” These things make the people think they are cool when in reality they aren’t living correctly and they will die soon. The tone and mood help convey the people in the pool hall as followers and seem to show the same tone as shown in popular rap culture. Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, “We Real Cool,” also has a tone that is similar to that of today’s common rap culture. The people in the pool hall are staying up late, drinking, skipping school, and trying to be viewed as “cool.” Rap superstars today have dropped out of school to pursue their careers in the music industry. Rap culture has completely changed the view point of American life. They talk about getting drunk and partying all night, which provides an incorrect image of the “perfect life.” The tone of “We Real Cool” helps show that the people in the pool hall are cool because of what they are doing. Its tone sounds very quick and smooth, just as the rap culture tries to make their songs sound like. The tones in Hughes’ and Brooks’ poems are very closely tied to the tone in rap culture today and express many American values. Rap culture has strongly impacted the everyday life of an American individual. The poems tones relate to rap culture today by the way women, the “perfect life,” partying, material things, and sex are conveyed. The language the poems used also indicates the similarity between rap culture and poetry. Everyone is targeted by this new rap culture phenomenon. The similarities of Hughes’ and Brooks’ work express many of the same ideas as the fast growing rap culture era. Works Cited Meyer, Michael, ed. 5. Poetry: An Introduction. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.