Secondly, “gender” is the key elements of cultural formation of hip-hop. When focusing on this aspect, there are obvious influences from African American hip-hop to Asian hip hop. The fashion of the black people, so-called street fashion presents the connotative bad image of black people, such as drag and violence. Therefore, it can be presumed that these fashion establishes the symbol of bad authority or “manliness” to Asian rapper. Therefore, in the most of the music video of Asian hip-hop, the rappers wear caps, oversize t-shirt, and gold accessories, like African American rappers do.
On the other hand, the different way to describe their “manhood” can be seen in the music videos. The concept of “masculinity” in the original hip hop which
Smith claims that the shift in style was accredited to the influential factor of music such as hip-hop in the 1990’s. The book further analyzes types of music such as jazz music and hip-hop and explains how their roles as popular cultures affected American fashion. As a result, such widespread interest into the genre of music led to the appropriation of rap style: blue jeans, T-shirts and sneakers similar to the style of gangsta rappers they listened
“…the appropriation of hip-hop cultural forms suggest not that whites want a black identity: rather, they want characteristics of blackness.” (Perry 2002, 109). This is quote by Pamela Perry, a sociologist as University of California Santa Cruz, from her book Shades of White:White Kids and Racial Identities in High School. Pamela Perry is a sociologist from University of California, Santa Cruz, throughout her book she touches on the idea of white children developing a sort of identity crisis depending on their environment. This quote helps put the appropriation of African American culture in its simplest terms. In most cases people associate Hip Hop culture with African Americans. With that being said, many artist of different genres who attempt to have a more hip hop vibe, fall subject to appropriating African American Culture. Various artist have been appropriating culture in several different ways whether it’s through dance, sound, or even image.
At the present time, there seems to be a blurred line between ideal and practiced masculinities. Across different cultures and even ethnicities, the definitions of masculinity tend to differ, hence the plurality of masculinity. For example, “the stereotype of the Latino male centers on machismo“, the display of strong and aggressive masculinity” (Masculinities 1: Ethnic Identities and Men’s Ways of Being), whereas African-American’s masculinities developed a masculine gender identity known as the “cool pose, which enhanced their social competence, pride, dignity, self-esteem, and respect” (Masculinities 1). Even though the experience of each individual person may have been different, it is evident that both of these expressions of masculinity,
Today in Hip Hop every rapper has to portray themselves as being hard, having a lot of girls in their circle and having money. Since the beginning of the American society being considered a real man was to be able to protect their families. When television came around western films portrayed men as either strong or weak and defined their masculinity as being the stronger man because of their guns. For example in a western movie during a draw two men would be about twenty feet away from each other and whichever man shot the other man first won the draw and was then considered the dominant male and very masculine. Therefore what goes on in rap
Hip hop and rap as a musical genre is a very controversial subject for nearly everyone. Its influences are powerful, both positive and negative. There are many positive influences of hip hop, and a few examples are the breaking down of cultural barriers, the economic impact, and political awareness of pressing and urgent issues. Though there are many positive influences, there are many negative influences as well. Some of the more heated debates of the negative influences of hip hop are that it glorifies violence, and the fact that the music sexualizes women and degrades them as well. Attached to the negative outlook on hip hop, there are also many stereotypes assumed by society towards this type of culture
“During the late 1970s an underground urban movement known as "hip-hop" began to develop in the South Bronx area of New York City.” (Baughman) Additionally, it started as a civil, rebellious culture that enclosed of four original elements—graffiti, breakdancing, rap music, and fashion. Since then, the genre has grown through the outskirts, nationally, and eventually, worldwide. Hip-hop has exceeded the limits that many of the designers had anticipated, a tremendously fortunate commercialized business.
All over history, music has been a critical commitment to people’s lives. Various kinds of music have been created after some time and impact people in unique ways. Of the numerous kinds that have come to frame, hip-hop has turned out to be more prominent inside today's standard pop culture. Alongside the formation of music recordings, hip-hop's popularity has taken off and changed from various perspectives. Inside the music videos of most hip-hop artists, men and women are portrayed in unmistakable and clear ways that may subconsciously influence our perspectives of the standards of today’s society. Hip-hop music videos are so present among the people that these depictions of sexual orientation parts frequently go unrecognized. The complicated
Connecting Masculinity to Hip Hop as an entire movement Hip Hop originated in the 1970’s, and during that period the genre was known as a means through which African Americans could speak their minds and state their opinions and concerns about important issues in their communities and society. However hip hop has immensely changed since its creation to what it is now, as a result of its profit-oriented nature. Even though a few aspects of the original old school hip hop are still recognized and practiced in today’s mainstream rap, the genre as a whole has come to be known for revolving around the common themes of violence, drug use, promiscuity, fashion, and materialism. In reality, today’s mainstream hip hop is based on the beliefs of what
Hip-Hop culture objectifies both men and women as both violent and aggressive and very sexual beings. For women, it shows them as simply sexual objects, whether it be half naked in music videos dancing in a sexual manner or through the lyrics which talk about the plethora of women these men have had sexual relations with. For men, it shows this hyper masculine misogynistic aggressive male body displayed in the video as well as in the lyrics with multitudes of underdressed women in the background dancing often being groped without any actual consent. This sends the message that women do not have avoice and are simply there to please the
In the world of Hip-hop, artists have the ability to shape the image and status of women in our society. Over time, these music videos have misrepresented women and portray them as sex symbols or material objects. In these music videos, women wear provocative clothing to pacify the desires of males further
With things, such as explicit lyrics and depiction of women, drugs, and violence an assumption can be made that gangster rap represents a masculinity that rappers portray themselves as in their songs. Dating back to its origins, African Americans had always been the face of gangster rap, with such names like Tupac, Biggie, Jay-Z, DMX, and much more, as covers of rap magazines. Gangster rap had always been seen as what people interpret it to be and that is a raw rhythmic and explicit version of poetry in motion, but gangster rap depicts more than what people interpret it to be. Gangster rap depicts the image of how a strong African American male should look like, a bold, angry, rebellious, and fierce man. Strong African American males are subjective to gangster rap, mainly because of how gangster rap portrays masculinity. In “Brotherly Love: Homosociality and Black Masculinity in Gangsta Rap Muscic” Oware argues that although gangster rap music portrays the masculinity of African American males through the use of hyper masculinity, misogyny, and violence in lyrics, gangster rap music also provides a way for rappers to express themselves to commemorate their fellow friends through lyrics that depict family/friend relationships, success by association, and have a tribute for lost friends.
This essay aims to examine the importance of the Hip-Hop culture in 21st century society. It will begin with consideration of the history of Hip-Hop, discussing its stylistic adaptations, cultural preferences and concerns, referring to the studies of black culture by Ellis Cashmore and Mark Neal. Within this I will explore the ethnicity and authenticity of the culture, with reference to last years Popular Music and its Cultural Context unit. The essay will then move on to evaluate the culture’s relationship with the media, concentrating on the well documented moral panics associated with the culture; I will make particular reference to the theories of Stan Cohen. By studying the political and historical patterns of the culture, I
Masculinity has been an important part of many cultures throughout time. African, European, Asian, and American groups have had a concept of masculinity. However, some groups show masculinity using completely different qualities from another group. In particular, African, Burmese, and English groups have had very distinct beliefs, though some similarities do occur. Achebe, Orwell, and Kipling all depict this in some of their works.
The fashion aspect in Hip Hop and Punk is very distinctive. Throughout Hips Hop’s history, the fashion trends have evolved, but the concept of Hip Hop fashion has always remained conceptually unchanged. This has given birth to a few varieties among Hip Hop fashion according to their respective generations and choice of self-expression through the four pillars of Hip Hop which are Bboying (dance), MC/Rap (music), DJ (music) and Graffiti Art (visual art). The varieties of fashion within the Punk culture differ from Hip Hop in a different aspect. While Hip Hop’s fashion alternatives were born from historical factors within the cultural aspects, Punk’s sense of fashion stems from the different mentalities that exist within the Punk subculture.
The young men and women of Bronx, New York created the cultural phenomenon called hip hop, because of the changes in the environment during the 1970s. Some of these changes include population diversity, advancement in media technology, changing economy, and the citizens’ ideas of their rights. Hip-Hop is a multi-layered art form. It consists of four layers. These four layers are DJing/Beatmaking, break dancing, graffiti, and rapping. Hip-Hop has become a worldwide sensation. It can be found in about every city in the world. For example In countries like Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, Havanna, Rome, and Tokyo the hip-hop culture is embraced. The race of people who are correlated with Hip Hop culture are usually african americans and latin americans. Although many of the people who started the phenomenon fall into those categories, there were also caucasian members who added the momentum of Hip hop. For example Cap who many people consider to be a graffiti artist legend.