-
Essay / The expression of political and social opinions in hip hop music
Table of contentsIntroductionOriginsYouth in hip hopGraffiti expressionism as an element of hip hopNegative connotations of hip hop cultureConclusionIntroductionDonald's most impactful musical visual Glover (Childish Gambino) to this day is much more than just what your typical rap music would imply. "This Is America" is a music video that depicts and symbolizes guns, violence, and racial issues in America that particularly affect the black community. This is a perfect example of how hip hop culture is used and has been used to express a statement or convey a message. The song and music video are well represented by Glover to show the reality of black life in America. Glover expresses his emotions through dance moves, words, beats and people in the video. From its beginnings, hip hop has been dominated and controlled by the black community. The goal of the black community was to use hip hop music and culture to express their views on social issues affecting their neighborhoods and communities. In this essay, we will explore the different ways in which hip hop music has been used to express political and social views experienced in our society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayOriginsHip hop was inspired by many factors to become the art form it is today. The founding father of hip hop is Clive Campbell, better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc. He founded the musical genre in the recreation room of their apartment on his sister's birthday. This was about six years before the term hip hop was coined. The musical genre was born from a multicultural exchange between African-American youth and young Caribbean immigrants. At the time, hip hop was the voice of disenfranchised youth from marginalized communities and public housing projects. Hip hop culture represented the political, social and economic realities of their lives. To many people, hip hop seems like a conceptual nuisance (economic thinking). Many critics have called hip hop materialistic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, vulgar and violent. At first glance, this can be considered true. However, when looking at hip hop in a deeper context, it is a profound testament to black urban poverty, government neglect, social injustices towards marginalized communities, and the hold that street culture has on many young people. According to Tricia Rose's book "The Hip Hop Wars," she states that hip hop provides a basic view of what it can mean to live in war-like conditions in communities facing a myriad of intimidating circumstances. Sometimes a rapper's lyrics tell gripping stories of loss, despair, hopelessness, heartbreak, rage, exploitation, and confinement. These are conditions that are nevertheless denied in society as a whole. Society at large only pays attention to the extraordinarily desperate conditions in which poor black youth try to survive. Hip hop activism is said to have begun to become a significant factor when Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who represents the 35th district in South Central Los Angeles, California, made hip hop her crusade. This created a generation of young people who avoided being scapegoated due to generational divides over language and media representation. Marc Bamuthi, artist and activist, commented: “a broad force of hip hop resistancewas activated by movements against apartheid, police brutality and the systematic abandonment of social services spurred by Reaganomics. » According to Hall, the social justice origins of hip hop culture resulted in the formation of organizations such as the Hip-hop Political Action Network which began in 2001 and the Hip-Hop Congress which began in 2000. non-profit organizations are also present. on action as they use the power of hip hop to educate and organize. Some of these organizations include H2ED which started in 2003 and is based in New York, the University of Hip Hop which started in 2000 and is based in Chicago and the International Association of Hip Hop Education which started in 2006 and is based in Washington, DC, these organizations and others have made the connection between hip hop, education, and activism in schools, correctional facilities, and out-of-school spaces. Youth in Hip Hop According to Emdin (2010), hip hop culture has a way of knowing. It has its own sets of beliefs, customs, practices and schematic conceptions that are unique to those immersed in this culture. It also represents a place for black boys who, historically, are normally separated from the dominant school culture by racially stereotypical practices. When young black boys are treated racially, they align themselves with hip hop music, including spending a lot of time learning about and chronicling the lives of hip hop artists on social media. Educators can use hip hop culture to provide teaching strategies that can also be used in the classroom. Hip hop has permeated social constructs of race, class, ethnicity, and gender. Emdin (2010) theorizes that the term hip hop constitutes more than just a musical genre. He argues that hip hop is a culture that allows young people around the world to connect through their shared experiences. It is through these shared experiences that young people develop their own identities and resist the oppressive nature of the American public education system. The controversial nature of hip hop expresses the language and attitude of many young people in schools today. Educational researchers use the controversial nature of hip hop culture to capture the voices and themes of an ethnically diverse population of inner-city youth. According to Brown (2010), hip hop culture has been seen as a reference to urban music, although in recent years it has been increasingly used as a reference to understand youth. He further asserts that youth immersion in hip hop culture has become a rite of passage. Urban youth's strong grasp of hip hop culture should signal to educational practitioners that today's students are not only connected ethnically, but also experientially. Emdin writes, “The cosmopolitan nature of hip hop includes people from backgrounds other than black Americans and makes it clear that in hip hop, loved ones are not just those related by blood but those related by experience. This is particularly the case if the shared experience is one of oppression carried out by the same political and socio-economic institutions and policies that exclude a particular set of people from full participation in activities in a particular social domain. Black boys develop close associations and identities based on themes presented in hip hop culture. This is relevant because hip hop culture allows black boys to resist the hegemonic culture they face in public schools. When rap music was in its infancy, itreflected the voice of urban youth. It also remained under the control of the black community. the music contained serious socially conscious messages. The greatest artists would master the ability to articulate social and political messages while maintaining rhythmic integrity. The ability to manipulate words would wow audiences and encourage inner-city youth living in New York to build their own vocabulary. This led to each youngster carrying a pocket thesaurus in their backpack, eager to outwit their friends with their verbal skills. In the 1990s, the emergence of artists such as Poor and Righteous Teachers whose lyrics contained political rhetoric and revealed the economic hardships that inner-city neighborhoods were experiencing. Rap music from the early hip hop era of the 70s and 80s would be primarily about race and resistance. Various artists were protesting government procedures and policies that have led to a concentration of poverty in the Bronx, particularly in African American and Hispanic communities. Graffiti Expressionism as an Element of Hip Hop Conquergood (1997) argued that gang graffiti goes against literacy and he supported this with numerous examples of the cavernous meaning and complexity involved in graffiti gangs. Graffiti writing allows the inner thoughts, fears and desires of marginalized groups to be expressed, read and acknowledged. There is a sophisticated literacy in graffiti. Gangs use it to convey meaning to images and words. Sometimes gang members use double meanings of words since they use well-known advertising products to signify gang terminology. For example, corona beer to represent the crown or the royalty of the Latin kings which is a gang based in Chicago. Graffiti messages are used to display messages that discredit and often disrespect opposing gangs by reversing or inverting their gang names or symbols. Graffiti writing allows artists to freely express their thoughts and fears, just as rap music allows young people to declare their existence within mainstream society. The empowering confrontational images expressed through graffiti are also expressed through rap lyrics. Hip hop has been a great platform for criticism of the social world. The idea of hip hop is more nuanced than just a category of music. Although many scholars consider hip hop to be a cultural movement, the music is only one element of this lifestyle. Just as the civil rights movement of the 1960s saw progress for black people in the form of rights and privileges, hip hop is seen as the movement that continues to fight for black equality. It can be said that hip hop is a culture within the black community that has united people and given them a voice. Hip hop artists are respected and accepted based on their ability to be real and “keep it real” (Boyd, 2002). The notion of reality is largely an appeal to the authenticity and ethos of rhetoric. The concept of reality is that of credibility, which must be one with the oppressed communities depicted in the music. As Ogbar (2007) states: "At its most fundamental level, the 'reality' of hip-hop involves an intimate familiarity with the urban and working-class landscapes that gave rise to hip-hop in the 1970s. This spatial notion is implicit. a class consciousness inextricably linked to race. This implies (rather narrowly) that black communities are synonymous with poor communities. We can affirm.