An Ideological Exploration Of Macklemore 's Racial Redemption As A Musical Genre And Cultural Movement

Long before the 90s, race and ethnicity have been a controversial issue all over the world, particularly in the United States. In sociology, the concepts of race and ethnicity is connected to the concept of minority and majority groups, with the social structures of stratification, power, and of course inequality. Race is a term that describes the physical differences that are considered socially critical to cultures and groups, while ethnicity is a term that describes the shared culture, like beliefs, language, practices, and ancestry. Agitation for equality has been seen in the music world, particularly among the blacks in the United States, the majority of black musical artistes have written songs relating to how black lives matter. This paper will analyze an old rap lyrics of the 90s titled as “Erase Racism” in relation to race and ethnicity.

Rap music has become one of the most distinctive and controversial music genres of the past few decades. A major part of hip hop culture, rap, discusses the experiences and standards of living of people in different situations ranging from racial stereotyping to struggle for survival in poor, violent conditions. Rap music is a vocal protest for the people oppressed by these things. Most people know that rap is not only music to dance and party to, but a significant form of expression. It is a source of information that describes the rage of people facing growing oppression, declining opportunities for advancement, changing moods on the streets, and everyday survival. Its distinct sound, images, and attitude are notorious to people of all

One of the more prominent criticisms of hip that Rose points out is that there is a large amount of misplaced blame in the world of hip hop. She writes, “increasingly, too many of hip hop’s supporters point to structural racism to explain the origins of the problem but refuse to link these structural forces to individual action and to the power of media seduction” (p. 73). In this section of the second chapter, Rose is explaining that those who defend commercial hip hop are taking a more-or-less one-dimensional approach to their arguments by solely blaming structural racism and overlooking the

The controversial context that is often used in Hip-Hop sets the standard of what it means to be ‘masculine’ as an artist of the culture. Artist who does not display contentious lyrical content in their music may not receive as much notoriety in the industry. In today’s Hip-Hop culture, more ‘conscious’, ‘apathetically masculine’ artist like, J. Cole have become more in popular. Cole’s lyrics are a reflection of his adversities that he has endured during his lifetime. Cole’s inspirations behind his music does not stem from a place of violence or from his ability to accumulate wealth, but from his ability to overcome his hardships as a black man and fulfill his purpose in life.

Molefi Asante is the author of It’s Bigger than Hip-Hop: The Rise of the Post Hip-Hop Generation. In this article, Asante predicts that the post-hip-hop generation will embrace social justice issues including women’s rights, gay’s rights, and the anti-war movement. To challenge these stereotypes, Asante speaks to the personification of the African-American ghetto and the need to stop glorifying black suffering. For Asante, the post-hip-hop generation no longer expects hip-hop to mobilize disenfranchised youth. Asante states, “The post-hip-hop generation shouldn’t wait for mainstream musicians to say what needs to be said…No movement is about beats and rhythms…. it must be bigger than hip-hop.” Because hip-hop is controlled by corporations, Asante says hip-hop will never be the focus of political change. Asante argues that “old white men” have dictated hip-hop, and by extension the actions of black youth, since 1991. “Allowing white executives, not from the hip-hop culture, to control and dictate the culture is tragic because the music, and ultimately the culture, as we can see today, has not only lost its edge, but its sense of rebellion and black movement- the very principles upon which it was founded.” Asante calls for the rise of “artivism,” a new social movement that uses art to improve community police relations, failing schools and the criminal justice system. Asante encourages the post-hip-hop generation to unite with Latino/Immigration Rights and Black Civil Rights

A recent, though appalling song by Macklemore, White Privilege II, describes Macklemore’s inner battle being a white activist in the Black Lives Matter movement. Honestly, just like the GQ News Outlet puts it, it’s the most “Macklemore move Macklemore has ever pulled.” We all can agree that his intention in this song is remarkable and a unique take of the current news, however, the song itself is odd.

This paper will open by first and foremost, explaining the different sociological meanings of the term power, so as the reader has an understanding of the arguments being made. This will allow anybody reading this paper to follow the arguments being made. Music can provide a means of resistance for challenging the power relations of racism, class and gender in a number of ways. The first way that this paper will approach this is the racial aspect and as a means of doing this, the main focus point will be Eminem and his break-through in to the Rap/ Hip-hop genre. This is relevant because he was the first white person to ever successfully break into this specific genre of predominantly Black artists. This will lead neatly onto the next element to answering the question of music providing a means of resistance for challenging power relations, It will move on to look at the class element of resisting and challenging power. This section will start off by continuing with regard to Eminem and how he used his “underclass” background as a means of connecting with his black counterparts, But still gaining acceptance from his peers and even forming a working relationship with an already massively established artist that aided him in his entrance to the hip-hop music industry and his credibility their after. Whilst still staying with subject matter of class, this

In Joan Morgan’s article “Fly-Girls, Bitches and Hoes: Notes of a Hip Hop Feminist”, she shows the way rap music has changed through it popularity. The widespread appreciation of rap had negative impacts upon the black community. Morgan talks about this through her Feminist point of view. She focuses the topic on what rap music says about the African American culture in Hip Hop. Rap music and Hip Hop were invented through the pain of African Americans. Hip Hop and the Rap industry use sexism and machoism to express the long years of oppressive pain they went through by the hands of the white people. Especially for the black brothers who continue that oppression by using provocative words that degrade the black sisters. Morgan states that blame isn’t only on the brothers

The commodification of rap has not limited its impact as a vehicle for social change around the globe though. Many critics of hip-hop fail to miss the point of the message of hip-hop as they have to study it from its social and historical context. Hip-hop is a great advocate for social change as historically this comes from its predecessors, as many early songs were created to show a form of resistance to the system of slavery and subjugation. Even though slavery doesn’t exist anymore, the system is still the same today, as minorities are still seen as second class citizens. Hip-Hop has the potential to address economic, political and social issues, even though it is primarily seen as entertainment for the masses. “Hip-hop in Australia, as in Germany and elsewhere, represents a ‘credible alternative’ exposed by youth of non-anglo background to the ‘whiteness’ of preexisting Australian youth cultures and the racism experiences by migrants.” (Mitchell, 30) It unifies the voice for its audience, as it seeks out to solve the problems that plague our society. “Hip-Hop has appealed to Australian youth of non-English-speaking backgrounds as a vehicle for expressing their otherness within Australian culture.” (Mitchell, 28) It is not seen as a scapegoat for artists still, despite its commercialization and popularity. While there are artists who rap about nonsense, there are still those who use its power to bring awareness and create a social voice for those who don’t have the platform to speak

In the first chapter of her book Hip Hop and Religion, Monica Miller compares hip hop to "dirt" to underscore societal opposition to this cultural art form (Miller 26). She claims that since those in power believe hip hop is disorderly, hip hop is often perceived as a cause of social unrest instead of a criticism of societal faults (Miller 27). Throughout this discussion of hip hop as a "matter out of place", Miller describes that the distinction between socially acceptable and unacceptable cultural forms is made intentionally by those in power (Miller 32). While reading this chapter, I kept thinking of Iggy Azalea, the Australian rapper who in popular culture has been exiled from hip hop (Drake 2). Similar to Bill O'Reilly's attack on hip hop as a motivator for societal disorder, some from the hip hop community such as Azalea Banks and T.I have claimed Iggy has exploited the black experience for profit (Miller 24, Drake 2). Others celebrate Iggy Azalea for her ability to succeed albeit momentarily in a black, male dominated rap industry (Hope 1). Understanding the contradictory perceptions of Iggy Azalea allows for a discussion of the power structures and motivations inherent to hip hop. Throughout this essay, I will use Miller's depiction of "dirt" to describe Iggy Azalea's rise and exile within the hip hop community.

The term ‘hip-hop’ refers to a complex culture compromising of four elements: deejaying, rapping, rhyming, graffiti painting, and b-boying. These elements incorporate hip-hop dance, style, and attitude. “Hip-hop originated in the primarily African American economically depressed South Bronx section of New York City in the late 1970s” (Tate, pg.1). Hip-hop is a culture of fashion, language, music, movement, visual art and expression. The genre of hip-hop comes with a very significant history and evolution with its own heroes, legends, triumphs and downfalls. “Real” hip-hop is often stressed in the 21st century due to what is being passed off as hip hop, and it is often made clear that just because one takes a hip hop class, or listens to hip-hop music, does not mean they conform to the true immersion of hip-hop culture. Therefore, “real” hip-hop encapsulates the true essence of hip-hop culture, untarnished by impurities such as rapacious record labels, and vapid, materialistic subject matter. Due to the background of how and where hip-hop first emerged, the African American culture often feel responsible to protect what is for them, and to protect the culture of hip-hop entirely. Boyd states that even though hip-hop as a culture was created as a social movement, the “commercializaiton” of hip-hop demonstrated in film and media construes it to another form of urbanization and popularity”(Boyd, 79). However, in the two movies being examined in this essay (Save the Last Dance

Through the eyes of a struggling young African American female desperately seeking for sense of her heritage, Hip Hop is all she is able to hold on to. However, as courageous writers Andreana Clay and Michael Dyson attempt to unearth deeply embedded misconceptions of our seemingly normal Hip Hop culture, her perceptions are exposed to the shattering truth that Hip Hop has become a queer identity revolting platter which serves up plagues called homophobia, sexism, racism, and violence. Hip hop, once her beloved escape is now ravaging her community with broken practices, devastated systems, crushed philosophies, and immoral ideologies. The mortifying reality is that her love Hip Hop has transformed into corrupt factory distributing self

Since the beginning of its art form rap music has been subject to scrutiny throughout its existence. In a Theresa Martinez reading from the semester, the author describes rap music as a resistance. She builds on a theory of oppositional culture that was composed by Bonnie Mitchell and Joe Feagin (1995). In this article, “POPULAR CULTURE AS OPPOSITIONAL CULTURE: Rap as Resistance”, Martinez explains how African Americans, American Indians, and Mexican Americans draw on their own cultural resources to resist oppression. She states that this very resistance to the dominate culture in

Marshall Mathers, better known as Eminem, is recognized for his work as a rap artist who is able to connect with his audience through humor and rhythmically dicey lyrics. Eminem’s “My Name Is” music video is able signify whiteness and rearticulate race with the use intertextual editing techniques that parody common representations of whiteness. Eminem is using his “My Name Is” video as an approach to solidify his style of rapping and thus create new political and cultural authenticities that entice questions of race representation in the 1990’s and beyond. (Kajikawa).

Pop music has a long established history of proving their unoriginality and offenses through cultural appropriation. For some odd reason having money, fame, personal resources and being white come together to create a barrier around artists who believe they have the freedom to do whatever they want, with the exception of breaking the law. Instead they just weasel their way into another cultures ways and get to slap a sticker on it and call it their own. Major white pop artists from the past and present have always got called 'edgy ', 'cool ', or 'hip ' for something that a person of color would be called 'ghetto ', 'trashy ', or not get acknowledged at all for. The fact of the matter is in the eyes of pop music 'white is always right '. Which bring me to this thought: in what ways does intersectionality affect white artists and the communities of color whom they culturally appropriate? In this paper I will address how current rap/pop artist Iggy Azalea edginess is not "the realist", while comparing her to another queen of appropriation, Madonna, and explain how these women use their benefits of race, gender, uprising, and stardom, to excuse themselves from stealing from other cultures without giving any means of acknowledgement.