Hip Hop has been with us since the ass. It started as a movement that regrouped four main elements; Digging, Mincing, Graffiti art and break dancing. Those four elements which are completely different all have the same aspects and small details that give to us what we know as Hip Hop. Moreover, Mincing, which is basically rapping, Is also formed of five different styles of rap.
The unimaginable success of two of those particular styles of rap, materialistic rap and gangster rap, Is what fined the Image of HIP Hop for the past fifteen years. In fact, for the unused to HIP Hop, this style of music is all about money, cars, clothes, women, and power. That image has been reinforced by video clips and by the influence it has on our youth. This is where our problem appears, that success was so overwhelming that the rest of the Hip Hop movement was shadowed and put aside; therefore, the image people had on Hip Hop was actually the image of Gangster and Materialistic rap.
However, when you know about Hip Hop, you know that rap is mostly poetry, that the Hip Hop event has worked alongside the church to spread out the message of god, that in some schools, rap is being taught in English Literature classes instead of regular poetry. Hip-Hop, help or nuisance for our youth? Introduction: The real image of Hip Hop’s movement has been lost, as well as the knowledge of its influence to the world. L. Hip-Hop, a Movement A. Digging B. Breaking C. Graffiti Art D. Mincing/Rapping II. From its birth until today A. What was Hip Hop influenced by? B. How did it start? C.
Hip Hop ‘s timeline (From old School to New School) Ill. The influences Hip Hop has on our youth A. The bad influences it has B. The good influences it has Conclusion: At first sight, Hip Hop is all about materialistic things and disrespecting women and you peers, however, when Hip Hop is well understood, it’s real image and purpose surface back again and show us the beautiful and helpful message Hip Hop can have not only on our youth, but on everyone. HIP HOP 3 Introduction Jeff Change wrote in his article ;it’s a Hip Hop world”, ;Rap music has long been considered a form of resistance against authority.
Boosted by the centralization of the music industry, that message has proven its appeal to youth all around the world. Now, from Shanghai to Nairobi to SAA Paulo, hip-hop is evolving into a truly global art of communication. ” (December 2007, p. 58). Hip Hop has been mainly defined by mainstream rap which gave it an image of sexism and violence; however, this is only a fraction of what Hip Hop really is. The real image of Hip Hop’s movement has been lost, as well as the knowledge of its influence to the world.
Literature review Alum (2006) said that Hip Hop, from its birth to today, has been misunderstood or not quite fully understood. The fact that it has been thought of only a style of music has led people to forget the other sides of Hip Hop. In fact, Hip Hop is not Just a style of music; it’s a movement formed of four different types of art which through time each has individually evolved. First there’s the ‘DC-inning” which is the art of sampling different songs, from a specific library, and putting them together to make one song.
Actually that’s how it started, but nowadays, they don’t sample songs or part of songs anymore, they sample basic sounds, hundreds of them, and put them together in a rhythmic way to make a whole new song from scratch. This is what they call the ;beat”. Then there’s the breakfasting, or ;B-boning” which is a style of street dance. This style of dance originated in the ass in New-York but is now loved, known and practice worldwide. It HIP HOP 4 started with only four basic moves, “the taproot”, “downpour”, power moves, and freezes, but now the different styles and approaches of that dance are not on the world (Alum H.
S. , 2006, p. 6). Third, there’s the most underrated part of Hip Hop’s movement but nonetheless still amazing; the graffiti art. Graffiti is writing or drawing simple written words to elaborated wall paintings, this art has been present since the ancient times but in the Hip Hop culture, since the ass. Graffiti art is often en as vandalism since it’s done on public walls, however, to be able to spray paint either an artistic expression or a historical, political, social or religious message on a wall and have people stopping to look at it on their way to work is worth any legal penalty (Alit-n H.
S. ,2006, up. 7). Last but certainly not least, we have the “MS inning” or rapping which is mainly the essence of Hip Hop culture. Rap is the music, the wordplay, the beat and the rhyme of Hip Hop. It was brought to our world in the ass in the Bronx. It has come a long way from an unusual way to express yourself in the ghettos of New York to what people are listening and liking about worldwide, even in global conferences.
At first, it was about poverty, dance, music, graffiti and mostly fun with the historical figures that brought its birth: DC Cool Here, Africa Bumboat, Grandmaster Flash, The Sugar Hill Gang and many more in the late ass. Through the years, rap was pushed forward to a level where anger, politics and real issues lived by boys and young adults of the ghettos were all discussed (Elating D. , 2004, up. 25 – 28). Illegal (2004) has divided Rap music in 5 categories. First, there is the Gangster Rap whose origins comes from very or black communities, ghettos that face a big number of issues mostly never solved.
What it does to our youth is promote violence, crime and sexism, however, 5 it’s also a way out of the ghettos, of a place where surviving is hard enough, a place with higher rates of violence’s and murder and a shorter life expectancy, a place where young kids live a shorter teenage life because they feel the need to start with grownup actions to get out of the ghettos. Moreover, the fact that gangster rap is also about glorifying the fact that you’ve been shot and survived brings a message to the youth that you are to “hard” or should not be respected if you haven’t survived an attack like they did.
The main artists of that gender are: NNW, Easy-E, Master P, Above the Law, Notorious B. I. G. , Mob Deep, Segue Knight and every record that came out of Death Row records Then we have the materialistic rap where, contrarily to gangster rap, is not about how bad “you got it”, but how good you have it. It’s about the money, cars, clothes, sex and every other luxury you can afford. It’s not only about how to get rich, how these rappers have what they have; it’s also about the lifestyle you get once you’re wealthy. It can be describe as being the mainstream of rap music, the pop of rap music.
This style is defined by: Puff Daddy, Pitiful, Wiz Khalid’s, Gucci Mane and many more (Elating, 2004, up. 35 – 38). Third, there’s the Political/Protest Rap where from its name, you can understand what this gender is about. It’s all about having something to say regarding how “things” work in our society, in our government in our communities. It’s rap music that has a message and mostly it has a good effect on our youth; for example, KIRKS-as song “stop the violence” is a rap classic that promotes non-violence, it was considered the MILK or rap music.
Benefit concerts were promoted with artist of that gender to give back to the poor communities they came from. Artist of that gender are: Heavy D, Moss Defy Lope Fiasco, Common, Queen up. 39-42). 6 Fourth, we have one of Hip Hop’s less known genre, Positive rap. Now that is the gender that gives you hope, that makes you smile, that gives you the push you need to get through your day, to get through whatever is bothering, the push you need to make a move, a difference in your life. Not only that, its music that promotes the values of education, ethnic pride and responsibility. Music that promotes family ales, love for humanity.
This gender is not quite a gender you can apply for artists, but more artists that apply this gender in their songs. You can take for example papa’s classic “Dear Mama”, Black Eyed Peas “Where is the Love”, Ana’s “l can”, Dam’s “l Miss You” and so many more (Illegal D. , 2004, up. 43 – 46). Last but certainly not least, we have the gender that helped a whole generation get back to praying, Spiritual rap. It’s the mix of rap music with gospel music so that the religious message of gospel gets to the youth that would not care about that message if it wasn’t for the rap in the songs.
Kirk Franklin was one of the founders who collaborated with Salt N Peep to make the hit “Stomp” which was a huge hit a in the music industry as well as religiously because it affected our youth. For this gender you can think of DIM, Common, Kid Cud and more who used gospel music and mixed it with rap so you can have both the flow and wordplay of rap and the gospel message (Illegal D. , 2004, up. 47 – 48). Even if all those types of art are individually completely different, they all have the same language, the same attitude and the same style that form together Hip Hop. However, how did this movement start?
What was it influenced by? Deems (2003) explains how Hip Hop has been influenced by different genres of music in both its lyrical and beat making aspects. When Hip Hop had Just began, no vocals were involved, HIP HOP 7 Ids used to sample different songs together. The song library they had, which was constantly growing since the ass was mostly a compilation of the best Jazz, funk, soul and disco music. On the other hand, the roots of spoken hip hop music are found in African- American music, in the story telling of West African culture and in the African- American tradition of giving a figurative meaning to words.
Jazz poetry and the call and response patterns of African and African-American religious ceremonies are as well influential to Hip Hop’s word play. James Brown is known to be one of spoken hip hop’s fathers. With that music in mind, in the ass, Ids started throwing block parties in the Bronx. They used to mix and grab the microphone and rap at the same time, and when that got popular, the Ids would concentrate on playing the songs while other rappers would grab the “mimic” and show everybody their skills.
DC Cool Here is known to be the one who started all of this, he was the first one to throw big block arties and to play and sing at the same time; that’s why he’s known for being the father of Hip Hop, and that’s how Hip Hop was born. Common once said “Ids are the foundation of Hip Hop, Hip Hop started with Cool Here, that’s how it was brought to us, and you know he was a DC, Ids are a strong element, they need to be in hip hop forever. ” Noun 16, 1997). Nowadays, Hip Hop music is always separated in categories regarding its time period; Old School and New School Hip lot of changes since what is our Old School today was once New School.
In this paper, we will only concentrate on the categorization present today. People tend to think that Hip Hop is only separated by Old and New School with New being today and Old being the ass, however, Hip Hop was born in the ass hence the three different categories; Old School, Golden Age and New School (Change, J. , 2007, up. 59-60). 8 Old School’s time gap ranges from the ass to the late ass with the main artists such as DC Cool Here, Africa Bambina, Run DIM, EL Cool Jay, NNW, Grand Master Flash and many more. It’s when rap had Just begun, when no definite definition was set for Hip Hop.
Golden Age is the time period people forget or don’t know, it’s from the early ass to late ass. It’s the period that saw; the birth and the death of two of the greatest; OPAC and Notorious B. I. G. And the climax of many artists still present today (Snoop Dog, Dry. Deer, Ice Cube, Craig Mack, Common and many more). Until today, the rap that originated from that period is still popular, not once does a dance floor stays empty when the DC plays either OPAC or Biggie, that’s why that period is called the Golden Age, because it’s known today to be Hip Hop’s climax. New School is all the Hip Hop that came from the year 2000 to today.
It is the time of experimental Hip Hop, it’s where artists don’t el have to be from the hood to be able to rap, it’s where acceptance and tolerance to new genders of rap are present, it’s where risks are taken and people that were said no too because they did not conform are becoming legends. It’s the time where alternative Hip Hop gain a place in the industry, the time where producer step out of the studio and go in the recording booth, it’s the time where everything is possible. Here I speak of Kenya West, Jay-Z, Outcast, Kid Cud, Lope Fiasco, T. L. , B. O. B and the list goes on, and on (Change,J. , 2007, up. 61 – 65).
When you think about it, Hip Hop is bigger than it appears. Pace and Notorious B. I. G. Created a costal fight simplemindedly that caused two sides of the same country to hate each other. The amount of influence Hip Hop has on the youth, on us, is abnormal, not any other style of music has affected people as much as rap has for the past four decades. This makes us think HIP HOP 9 about the type of influence Hip Hop has on our youth. Bruce (2000) explains how Hip Hop has come a long way from an unusual way to express yourself in the ghettos of New York to what people are listening and talking about worldwide, even in global conferences.
It has influenced us with variety; from our music to the clothes we wear. As well as the youth, Hip Hop affected adults, teachers, clergy and global communities. However, this influenced it gave to the world is not always what we would want it to be . Politically, rap and Hip Hop can be considered as a bad influence. What mainly caused it was Ice-TV’s hit single “Cop Kill” that was blamed for encouraging the riot that happened in Los Angles in 1992. This riot was so massive that a boycott was led against this song, a boycott that became so big, the president, vice president and National Security
Council Aid of the USA spoke about it and about the bad influence on the youth that song has as well as the whole hip hop movement (Bruce, H. E. , Davis, B. D. , 2000, up. 122- 125). For certain people, Hip-Hop is still a rude guest who since 1992 on how rap music badly influences our youth. However, the biggest effect this has is to elevate hip hop music’s sells. Moreover, the success of materialistic rap gave a very bad image to Hip-Hop; an image of ;blind-blind”, money, cars and clothes. This image was spread by ridiculous displays of wealth in the video clips, in he concerts, in their houses with their big mansion and big cars.
Moreover, the girls in the video clips were used as props, objects that stand there Just for their looks (Murray, D. C. , 2004, up. 15-16). These controversies (political, social and religious) hip hop has had over the past four HIP HOP 10 decades personifies the impact rap music has had on the American society, and now worldwide. However, this personification is not limited by those controversies; in fact, Hip Hop has had a good influence on the world that no one would have ever thought possible.
Murray (2004) explains how in our generation, Hip-hop is what we are, it affects our personalities, the way we talk, dress and act. Therefore, we know a lot about the word play present in rap, about the flow, the rhymes and the metaphors that are all present in poetry. In fact, with a certain amount of knowledge of Hip-hop, English teachers can base their poetry teaching on Hip-hop. That will attract the attention of the students for one, and for two all the violence and anger they have coming in to class will disappear as they try to understand poems written by people from the same background.
Yes it is hard to cope with the fact that Hip-Hop and rap have a lot in common with poetry because of the image rap first gave to the world(violence, sexism and explicit language use). However, it is nonetheless very important to remember that aggression, violence and raw emotions are very important elements of poetry writing. Bryan Davis wrote in his article title ;slam: Hip Hop meets poetry’ hue argue that taking the fewest words and making them mean the most is what poets expertly do” (May 2000, p. 123). We’ve been living in a world where the English school system has been the same for ever.
We need to realism that as the time changes, our school system must change too. We cannot keep studying the same things when the world around us is evolving including English literature. We’ve come so far; from a world where Hip-Hop did not exist to a world where Hip-Hop is considered as a form of poetry, and a good one. With that in mind, we need to remember that to study rap is as good and as educative as studying Edgar Allan As said before, no one could ever have anticipated the impact Hip-Hop would have on HIP HOP 11 the world. Only in Hip-Hop has black ownership and entrepreneurship succeeded on massive scale.
Rap artists have begun to stand out in both the entertainment and business industry; for example, Master P. , and Sean “P Daddy” Combs, 50 cent Dry. Deer, Russell Simons and Jay-z to name a few have established companies that turned out to be more than successful that own the rights to their production. Furthermore, Hip- Hop is its own multi-billion dollar industry that has created opportunities for young black adults wishing to become stylists, clothing designers, graphic artists, Web designers, producers, publicists, writers, editors, A&R reps, and make-up artists that loud never have reached their goals if it wasn’t for hip-hop.
Hip-hop continues to innovate and inspire, it tirelessly fights to keep its authenticity, to stay ;real” (Murray, groups were walking around criticizing Hip Hop, other groups used hip hop for gospel music, and sermons to get their religious messages through everyone, especially those who wouldn’t listen to the spiritual message. What that did was to raise a whole generation based on Hip Hop and Gospel Music which trained unconsciously African American lyrical geniuses who can write better than most song writers today (Murray, D. C. 2004, up. 17 – 19).
Conclusion When someone ,who has no knowledge whatsoever about Hip-Hop, turns on the TV and sees half naked women and money everywhere, the reaction he’s going to have towards rap music is obvious. Anyone in his right mind would despise this style of music and the way they treat women like objects. However, it is important to remember that this is only one type of Hip Hop’s categories. Hip Hop is more than just rapping; it’s about giving a message to everyone HIP HOP 12 whether it is through rapping, dancing, art or music. Yes, Hip Hop has its downside, but what movement doesn’t?