Conscious Rap Research Paper

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

Hip-hop culture began to develop in the south Bronx area of New York City during the 1970s. It had a significant influence in the music industry. Hip-hop music generally includes rapping, but other elements such as sampling and beatboxing also play important roles. Rapping, as a key part in the hip-hop music, takes different forms, which including signifying, dozen, toast and jazz poetry. Initially, hip-hop music was a voice of people living in low-income areas, reflecting social, economic and political phenomenon in their life [1]. As time moves on, hip-hop music reached its “golden age”, where it became a mainstream music, featuring diversity, quality, innovation and influence [2]. Gangsta rap, one of the most significant innovations in

Rap is a genre in music that consists of rhyming or being poetic over a certain unique beat. The origin of rap is significantly different from any other form of music. The flow, change, subject of the music, and the instrumentals behind the rapping has all changed with time. Most people would underestimate the complexity of the music and the evolution it has undergone. The real roots of rap music began in the late 1980’s with the “Golden Age.” It was innovative and mostly based around the party scene. Gangsta Rap followed the Golden age and was very impactful on the young culture. After the Gangsta Rap era came the time in rap referred to as Crunk Rap which combined the country sound with the party lifestyle. Conscious

Death Rap is the fifth studio album by American rapper Necro, released on September 11, 2007. This album was produced Psycho+Logical-Records through Koch Distribution.

Hip-Hop and rap resurfaced in the Bronx, in the 70’s, around this time people in Bronx were going through, poverty, unemployment, increased crime, etc. Which caused them to have freedom of expression through rhyming; creating the meaning rap. Although the meaning of the word “Rap” original meant to strike or blow. Which in my opinion fits perfectly because they are striking mentally with words instead of physically. This genre is basically a form of

In the early days, Hip-Hop was primarily related to the rhyming, rhythmic spoken word art form known as rapping. Rapping is, in fact, not a new method of creative expression. The ease with which young people can participate in this form of creativity seems to have helped the phenomenal growth of this genre of music and expression. Review of rap music lyrics and styling from the early to mid-1970's, when Hip-Hop began, reveals several aspects of the musical genre that appear to have had significant appeal to young people, particularly those in urban communities. There has never been one all-inclusive form of rap music.

How has our understanding of ‘race’ been shaped and influenced by mass media in America in relation to hip-hop?

The following is an excerpt from Black Noise, a book written by Tricia Rose, that describes the importance and background of rap music in society.

Drake, jay z, Kendrick Lamar, j Cole are all famous famous rappers. They are the new hip hop rappers changing the world with their talent. Some rappers start from the bottom, they start from nothing, then they work their way up to be prosperous. They bring new style of rap to the world, telling stories about their struggle in their lyrics, but the more famous they get, the more they start to modify. Rap and hip-hop music, as we know it today, actually began thousands of years ago in Africa.

Hip-hop is a cultured style that started in the 1970’s. Majority of different funk groups began playing disco music at that time it was popular. During this time funk music was technology driven more electronic sounds were being used on the drum machines. Funk was the new dance in the early 70’s. This particular style of singing in which was being used is called rapping, this begun in African American, Urban Areas, Jamaican American, Latino American and many others cities of the United States. The group of artist or singer say words with a rhythm that rhymes. Some hip-hop music lyrics are about violence and illegal drugs. Often time lyrics are about the life of urban people who stay in big cities. Other styles that hip-hop uses come from

The rap genre originated from some of the most underprivileged areas of New York in the 1970’s. What was once DJ’s talking over a beat they were playing to encourage more activity on the dance floor, turned in to a new genre of music called rap. The majority of earlier rap songs were fun inducing tracks, but in the 1980’s, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five introduced social consciousness to the genre. They sparked a long lasting impact on rap as it started to evolve rapidly as time went on. The 90’s was home to “gangsta rap,” followed by a softer side of song writing pioneered by the likes of Outkast and Kanye West in the 2000’s. Today, rap music is very diverse and more accepting of different styles than it was before. However, throughout the entire history of rap music, the one thing that has stayed

Hip hop or hip-hop is a subculture and art movement developed in South Bronx in New York City during the late 1970s.[1][2][3][4][5] While people unfamiliar with Hip Hop culture often use the expression "hip hop" to refer exclusively to hip hop music (also called "rap"),[6] Hip Hop is characterized by nine distinct elements or expressive realms, of which Hip Hop music is only four elements (rapping, djaying, beatboxing and breaking). Afrika Bambaataa of the Hip Hop collective Zulu Nation outlined the pillars of Hip Hip culture, coining the terms: "rapping" (also called MCing or emceeing), a rhythmic vocal rhyming style (orality); DJing (and turntablism), which is making music with record players and DJ mixers (aural/sound and music creation);

According to Wikipedia, Hip-hop music, also called rap music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, breaking/dancing, and graffiti writing. Hip hop is also characterized by these other elements: sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing.

stuff, so I don't listen to that genre all that much, but there are many

I changed my mind about rap music. Growing up, I never really liked it, the quick beats, the vast usage of inappropriate words not equipped for my adolescent ears disgusted me. I associated rap music as being "dirty," only discussing explicit topics and having no real meaning. While everyone else in high school was blaring Drake and Lil Wayne in the parking lots, I was perfectly okay with listening to Demi Lovato or John Legend. During my sophomore year of high school, my friend kept pestering me to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack, and even though the songs were raps, I realized I loved it. Eventually, I started to not associate all rap music as detrimental and discovered that some rappers rapped about important messages of adversity, conflict, and pain. This lead me to listen to Chance the Rapper's "Coloring Book, " Childish Gambino's "Red Bone and J Cole's "4 Your Eyez Only." I realized that rap is just poetry with accompaniment, poetry that has the rhythm and style to bring generations of people together.