...Music has the power to inspire, like literature and speech, like all forms of media. Music is a powerful tool that has been used to inspire and incite social movements as it has a massive influence on the ideas and viewpoints of others. Music has been used to foster success and expand the influence of social movements, one of these movements, the Black Panther Party utilized media, especially music to promote and propagate for their cause. The Black Panther Party surfaced in the 1960’s in response to a variety of issues threatening and affecting the African-American community such as police brutality, poverty, and lack of education. The Black Panther Party recognized the need and want for a militant party to press for change. The Black Panther...
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...Introduction + Tone/Meaning The song, written by rapper Tupac Shakur, Keep Ya Head is a song dedicated to black woman. It's a self-love feminist anthem, that showed that Tupac care about the woman in his community. The message of the song is conveyed clearly and concisely, and although it uses similes, metaphors, symbolism, and other literary devices to get the point across, the message is very clear. The song is very upbeat and positive, like it is a song to uplift people, particularly the black woman. It meant to say, life is gonna get better, and no matter what happens you just gotta keep your head up. Song Interpretation The first verse tackles the abuse black woman face from black men, questioning their actions. For example, he says, in the song, “I wonder why we take from our women, Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?, think it’s time to kill for our women, Time to heal our women, be real to our...
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...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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...Hip Hop music is the most popular music that is out in today's world. Blacks, whites, and latinos listen to Hip Hop music that is being played. What the question is a lot of people would like to know and come to a complete agreement on is who does hip hop music belong to. Hip Hop music belongs to a cultural group, African Americans. African Americans are the ones who started it first. African Americans know how to make it come alive and they can relate more to it. Everyone wants to know the fact and truth on who does hip hop music belong to. Hip Hop music belongs to everyone but however, it belongs to African Americans. Some may say it's a racial standard and that it's not true are right to give a group all the credit for something they started, but it's true. Hip Hop started in 1970, in south Bronx in New York city, with the African American youth residing in the Bronx. First, Hip Hop artist was the Sugar Hill Gang. Hip Hop was inspired by the urban black community. Hip Hop music started in one area before...
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...As Tupac Shakur points out in his song “ Keep Ya Head Up” he writes “when he tells you you ain't nuttin' don't believe him and if he can't learn to love you you should leave him” In those lyrics Tupac Shakur identifies the lack of respect that men give women but it is also reminding a woman her self-value. Many people believe that Hip Hop has the ability to connect with the soul. Word Press recently conducted a study and concluded that women are objectified and mistreated in Hip Hop lyrics (Cundiff 13). Hip hop’s derogatory lyrics have effected women’s relationships, body image and self-esteem. Hip Hop lyrics contacting explicit content about women have effected their relationships with men. Some women are infatuated with the Hip Hop artist and the money, cars and lifestyle that they talk about in their lyrics. Women can be oblivious by the lyrics that are being said in Hip Hop songs/ music. They are conforming as well as accepting for Hip Hop artist to degrade them which hinders their relationship with a man by allowing them to be insulting. “Hip Hop is a man’s game”- (Hurt06) Sug Knight , meaning that you have to play the role to get the part, in other words to receive a record deal. Rapper Kanye West wrote a song called “I’m in It”. “Black girl sippin white wine put my fist in her like a civil rights sign” He is clearly stating that it is acceptable to be physically violent with a woman. This type of attitude is what can lead up to abusive relationships. Statistics have...
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...likes music, because everyone can relate to some genre of the song somehow. Since 1773 Boston Tea Party protesting has been very popular in the United States. Song writers that use protest music are people who have experienced social issues in the past and want to angrily express themselves and their situation. The people are what make a country and when oppressed song lyrics is the most powerful way to connect with people as a mass about social issues. First of all, Jackson’s song, “They Don’t Care About Us,” goes into the issues in society involving racial biases, human rights and police brutality. The song mentions, “Some things in life they just don't wanna see/ but if Martin Luther was living/ He wouldn't let this be, no, no” (lines 67-69). In this stanza, Jackson mentions how some things in life they do not want to see, he refers to how our government does not want to acknowledge our...
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...Culture Wars Culture wars; there have always been a variety of music to listen to such as Country, Pop, Latin, Hip Hop and Rap. The meaning of culture wars to me is people who dislike a certain genre for instance rap music. Some people are against rap music because of the controversial meaning that songs have. In this paper you will be reading on an interview for Foxx 11 news with O’reily interviewing rap icon Cameron and CEO producer Damon Dash. Principal Salome Thomas-EL asked a couple of questions stating that gangster music is a terrorizing impact on his students, On my opinion you can never tell a rapper they have a negative effect on the youth. It’s their work and their art and what they do as a musician. For example when you hear the stories of kids shooting up a school, was it the rap music they listen to? No, it is the parent’s responsibility to moderate what their kids listen to, it’s wrong for people to blame rappers for the actions that people make. O’reily interviewed rap icon Cameron and CEO producer Damon Dash. During this interview there was also a principal from an elementary school who had questions for the rap stars. The principal complained that the kids at his school look up to the rap star and he thinks Cameron is showing a bad example. He confronted Cameron asking him why his music is so negative when there are little kids listening to his music. Cameron replied that his music is just what he see’s and what he goes through as a person. He...
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...our senses. For example, we see visual art by using our eyesight. Another famous form of art, which involves our sense of hearing, is music. Music is vast that it has so many genres and subgenres. One genre, that is quite popular in today’s world, is hip-hop. Most people view hip hop as a movement, but i consider that its more than just a movement. Hip Hop is a median to express yourself. The shared ideology of Hip Hop is that it is a platform to portray art and beliefs through lyricism, abstract art, clothing, etc. Hip Hop is a subcultural movement, which was formed in the 1970s in South Bronx, New York. African Americans mainly started this movement, but now it is diversified. It has various components, such as “DJing”, rapping, graffiti art, and break dancing. Hip Hop gained a lot of popularity for its fashions. Its authorial power and influence highly impacts the fashion world. Many rap artists have successful cloth lines, which are quickly adopted by the followers. Language, in Hip Hop, plays a vital role. Slang terms gained its popularity after it was being used in raps. Some say that rap is the modern day poetry. Rapping also known as “MCing”, is basically a mixture of rhymes and beats to produce a meaning or even a message. Many rappers incorporate historic events or figures in their raps to compare things. Rap Artist Tupac Shakur used to read and write poetry at an early age, and it developed to show through his rap songs. During his last days, he was studying...
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...Davon Keppel Professor Todd Craig English 112 3/19/16 What Is Happening to The Message? Throughout history, poets were known for telling the people what was going on in either their country or town. Hip-hop was born as a descendant from poetry. But as it began its craze was due to the DJ scratching different beats together. As the DJ began to like the music they created it became background sound to the lyrical Emcee. Everyone wanted to know what the Emcee had to say and how they would rhyme. I have noticed that the positive message in the Emcees rhyme’s and political statements that rap music started with began to deteriorate over time. It was as though hip hop went from talking about what was going on currently in a positive way, to rappers encouraging violence as promoting a negative message. Since the 1980’s to current time there has been a persistent problem of how hip-hop has changed. Grand Master Flash’s “The Message” is a sociopolitical rap song that is truly about poverty and how inner city life was in America in 1982. The first verse speaks to the apparent struggle in his time, “Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice”. Many people at the time, even though their surroundings were not safe, had no money to move away. Another verse from Master Flash “Rats in the front room, roaches in the back/ Junkies in the alley with the baseball bat” is a light way to show the public what is going on in some neighborhoods. In the 1980’s there was a crack epidemic...
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...Izquierdo Tim Melnarik English 1A March 21, 2016 Music Identity Music is a form of art that has been around since the dawn of man. It touches our inner soul without psychically feeling its presence. Without music, the world would be dull and dreary. Music is one of the most expressionistic forms of media known to society. It sometimes gives you the extra push for moments of inspiration and self-confidence. It helps express our feelings, and assist us to get through moments of sorrow. It also unshackles us from reality, and takes us into a euphoric state of mind where our problems become inexistent. Music can quickly change the mood into a romantic setting, or can completely change it into a blissful dance affair. It’s a bridge that connects our inner self with the outside world. Even though music can be portrayed as a form of art and entertainment it can also posses a much greater force that some tend to belittle. Music plays a vital role in pop culture, and has the clout of shaping ones identity. The development of self-identity is a vigorous process in both internal and external interfaces. One’s self-image is something that is crucial growing up, and our choice of musical preference inclines to influence that journey dramatically. To begin with, the personality trait that we all develop is a primary example of an internal type of self-image interface. As we grow older, we tend to be exposed to different types of music that influence our personality, and it tends to alter...
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...When Nas created the 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...
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...MUSIC : THE GOOD,THE NICE,THE DOPE! “ Music is the drug of my choice!” is an ink on one of my favourite tees. And heck ,it’s true! Music is a sweet poison which even makes death (boring lectures in reality) tolerable .this poison is available under various labels – rock, blues,metal,pop,RnB etc.For my convenience, I have arranged these cracks under three stacks: the good,the nice & the third the dope. In our hood, we have lot of ‘good drug’ users. They can be distinguished from their over the top hairdo.They have a great affinity for the devil’s number.They have a self – destruct habit of head banging. One shouldn’t bug them because they have a reputation for their 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...
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...their thoughts without ending up behind bars or beaten to death. Once Rap became mainstream many listeners let go of the beat and listened to the message behind the beat, they started to focus on the lyrics. While being freed from slavery, African American were still slaves to the abuse and being mistreated in American and many didn’t have a fire behind the anger to make a stand. Rap lyrics that held a strong uplifting message gave many people those flames to stand and fight for their rights. In an article I recently read that Rap is linguistics major’s dream while also being their worst nightmare. I didn’t read on to see why the writer stated that because I held my own beliefs as to why this may be true. While rap lyrics hold so much meaning to those listeners it can also be confusing to those who do not agree with the rapper’s lyrics. Within rap there is also many dialects and registers. When listening to a local rapper it can be much easier to understand what he says when he uses a semantic change, while listeners from a different region may not understand what the rapper is trying to say. There is...
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...generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it” - Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth In cultures all over the world, music can be seen encompassing many aspects of life for many individuals. It is a form of mass communication that speaks directly to society as a cultural form", and often reflects a collection and pattern of personal experiences. Hip-hop or rap, an art form and culture nearly thirty years old originating from The Bronx, New York, has provided a forum for Black and Latino youth to express their respective cultures and speak on a number of issues. Today, Hip-hop is a global phenomenon that appeals to almost all ethnicities and is synthesizing a new culture that goes beyond race, education, and income. Hip-hop has been under continual metamorphosis since its 1970’s inner-city inception. Some of the original artists like Kurtis Blow chose to lament everyday life in the ghettos. Others, Sugar Hill Gang among them, took a more dance inspired approach to the music. But for both these and other artists from the early years of rap through the late 1980’s including KRS-One, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah and LL Cool J, fast beats and socially relevant lyrics were among the primary components of the music. By the 1990’s a new face of rap music emerged. It began with Ice T and later gained popularity with artists such as NWA (Niggaz Wit Attitude) whose first album shocked and titillated the rap world with their obscene...
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...Music itself by definition means the expression of oneself through either your voice or an instrument. It is the most well liked art form. The music industry is a bit different though, it is run by these big companies and people who try to make money off creating catchy songs and concerts. It is often seen as either something that just about everyone wants to be involved in or something negative due to the large amount of child stars going in a downward spiral adults. Many people overlook the bad messages the music industry, specifically rap music gives to the adolescents and children, it influences them to have sex at an early age, become drug addicts, and engage in violence. Music is apart of life, it brings people together and brings people apart, in a sense that they get so lost in a tone of a song that they mentally escape reality, thus bringing people apart in a way. Even though this is a fact not many people listen to the lyrics of the song they love so much. Adolescents, are usually those who do not think about the message about their favorite song. Teenagers in today’s generation would say that the music they hear does not effect them in any way shape or form. On the contrary it affects them without them without noticing with subliminal messages. Rap music in particular has the greatest impact on young people to this day....
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