Jay Z Developmental Psychology

Rap music, also known as hip-hop, is a popular art form. Having risen from humble origins on the streets of New York City during the mid-1970s, hip-hop has since become a multifaceted cultural force. Indeed, observers say, hip-hop is more than just music. The culture that has blossomed around rap music in recent decades has influenced fashion, dance, television, film and—perhaps what has become the most controversially—the attitudes of American youth. For many rappers and rap fans during it’s early time, hip-hop provided an accurate, honest depiction of city life that had been considered conspicuously absent from other media sources, such as television. With a growing number of rap artists within this period, using hip-hop as a platform to call for social progress and impart positive messages to listeners, the genre entered a so-called Golden Age

Chapter 4 – Case StudyJay Z the Rap Artist and Business Mogul: His Rise to the TopPlease read Chapter 4's Case Study on pages 116-118 and answer the following questions: 1. As mentioned in the case, Jay-Z wears several hats with respect to the several business ventures he manages. What does this say about his time management skills? Time management means techniques designed to enable people to get more done in less time with better results. Jay-Z is known for multitasking. In the text it says research has found that people who multitask are actually less efficient than those who focus on one thing at a time. This was not the case for Jay-Z.

Originally from Marcy Houses housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City,[9] Jay-Z was abandoned by his father Adnes Reeves and shot his brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry[10] when he was twelve years old.[11] Jay-Z attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn, along with rapper AZ, until it was closed down. After that he attended George Westinghouse Information Technology High School in Downtown Brooklyn, with fellow rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes, and Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, but did not graduate.[12] He claims to have been caught up in selling drugs, to which he refers in his music.[11]

The hip-hop genre has set standards and norms for rap throughout its development. Eminem’s “The Way I Am” and Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” are examples of well-known rap songs written by authentic rappers. These songs conform to the conventions set for rap with their structure and literary devices and deviate from the conventions with their approach toward establishing their credibility in an original and effective manner.

In the essay, “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal Of Black Women”(221), by Jennifer McLune, she vents her feelings regarding hip-hop songs that are rhythmically diminishing the value of black women. She provides example on how the lyrics are being voiced and how hip-hop artists do not seem to care. Kevin Powell in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head” writes, “Indeed, like rock and roll, hip-hop sometimes makes you think we men don’t like women much at all, except to objectify them as trophy pieces or, as contemporary vernacular mandates, as baby mommas, chicken heads, or bitches” (221). There have been apologizes for what the rappers have said but nothing to resolve the dehumanization of black women. McLune informs the readers that hip-hop singers belittle black women and make them invisible. Jay-Z, a popular hip-hop artist is brought to center stage by McLune. The essay shows the example of a part of Jay-Z song that says, “I pimp hard on a trick, look Fuck if your leg broke bitch hop on your good foot” (222). This lyric is a perfect example of how hip-hop artist have no remorse in the words they sing. The hurt feelings and loss of self-esteem black women suffer, is of no concern to the rappers. McLune expresses that those who are underground hip-hop artist follow the footsteps on being sexist and using crude words in their lyrics just because they yearn and dream of being in the spotlight. Upcoming rappers want to be loved like Jay-Z and other famous notorious rappers.

In the first verse, he reveals the irony of the situation by contrasting on how the relationship was better when the both of them were struggling to how their problems started when he gained fame. The line: “We was together on the block since free lunch/ We should’ve been together having Four Seasons brunch” suggests that their relationship started when they were kids at school trying to get food for free, and yet they can’t enjoy luxurious food together as successful adults. He admits to letting the money and fame complicate the relationship in the second verse as it seems rather innocent in the beginning (as innocent as a relationship with 90s Jay-Z could be): “On repeat, the CD of Big’s “Me and My Bitch”/ Watching Bonnie and Clyde, pretending to be that shit/ Empty gun in your hand saying, “Let me see that clip”/ Shopping sprees, pull out your Visa quick.” However, things don’t stay good for long– “We was so happy poor, but when we got rich/ That’s when our signals got crossed, and we got flipped.” The signals getting crossed serves as a metaphor for the mistake of him neglecting his ex while she continued to support him; because, when two cars follow signals that conflict each other, there’s going to be an accident that can end up hurting everybody involved. The third verse illustrates Jay-Z’s original contempt towards his ex after she decided to move on with somebody else: “ A face of stone, was shocked on the other end of the phone/ Word back home is that you had a special friend/ So what was oh so special then? You have given away without getting at me.” “A face of stone” refers to the feeling of being so shocked that you freeze on the spot, which would be a reasonable reaction to finding out that somebody that you’re involved with is suddenly seeing

Music and society have always been closely related. For years now music has been apart of people’s everyday lives all around the world. Having so many different genres out there, it makes it easy to be appealing to so many different ethnic backgrounds. However, one type of genre in particular has seemed to grab the attention of a younger generation. Rap music has undoubtedly had its utmost impact on African American youth, since many of the performers themselves are African American. An overtly masculine culture dominates rap music and creates gender stereotypes that become abundantly popular to the youthful audience. Three constant themes that are found within the rap culture are encouragement of violence, the misogynistic representation of women, an extreme hatred of homophobia. Each theme plays a detrimental role in the process of defining black masculinity as well as shaping the values, morals, and beliefs that its younger audience adopts after tuning into this “gangster lifestyle”.

Another rap artist she used in her argument was Shawn Carter, also known as Jay-Z. Jay-Z did not have a father as he grew up. Both Tupac and Jay-Z grew up as adolescents, who sold drugs, had guns, lived in the ghetto, and had a mentality of a thug or gangster. Even though they had those cons, they both rapped about being good parents will prevent your kids to be like them. “The fact that child abandonment is also a theme in hip-hop might help explain what otherwise appears as a commercial puzzle—namely, how particular music moved from the fringes of black entertainment to the every center of the Every teenager mainstreams” (Eberstadt). Hip-hop music does not only symbolize adolescent black teens, but also disobedient white teens.

Side Note: This song written by Jay Z was released a couple months ago, so there is no album out yet. I read in an article that the album would be release next summer. So I just chose a picture from his other albums.

The Rapper Jay-Z, born Shawn Corey Carter released a memoir called Decoded and Droga5 New York (Drogra5) was tasked with creating and launching a marketing campaign for the biography (Droga5,

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.

“Rap is poetry” (xii). To any avid fan of the genre, it is a statement that seems obvious. The words could easily be the musings of a listener first introduced to the art form, not the focal point of an entire work of contemporary criticism. Yet in Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop, Adam Bradley’s primary focus is this very point, the recognition of traditional poetic elements within rap music. With the global cultural and economic phenomenon that hip hop has become, it is easy to forget that the style of music is barely thirty years old, that scholarly criticism of it has existed for only half of that time. When viewed within this relatively new arena of scholarship, the importance of Bradley’s text is

For many years, the youth have been known for singing along to their favorite song and taking that song as whole and using it as their motto for life. It may seem that sometimes these kids do not know what is being said in the music but this shows that they do know what the lyrics are saying. According to Franklin B. Krohn and Frances L. Suazo in their article “Contemporary Urban Music: Controversial Messages in Hip-Hop and Rap Lyrics,” many teenagers and minority groups view rappers as their spokesmen because of their ability to speak in street language and bluntly express their frustration (Krohn, 1995). Unfortunately, hip hop lyrics usually tend to talk about drugs, sex and violence leading kids to think that everything they hear is okay and that is how they have to live their life. Yet, there are artists out there who take their lyricist skills to give positive lyrics and messages in their music, but these songs are not often played in the mainstream.

Rap star G-Eazy, born Gerald Earl Gillum, may only be twenty seven years old but he has played on the same stage as legends such as Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles to U2 and John Denver to Prince and Macklemore and many more. Coming off his sophomore album, When It’s Dark Out released December 4th, 2015, his career is reaching new levels of popularity which isn’t all it’s cut out to be. This album, which featured his triple platinum single “Me, Myself & I” featuring Bebe Rexha, brings a spotlight to tragedies in his past and the “rollercoaster that was the past two years”, said Gerald in an interview with billboard.com’s Adelle Platon. His most popular song, “Me, Myself, & I” released on October 14th, 2015, was released as the lead single for his upcoming album, When It’s Dark Out. “Me, Myself, & I” is in a moderato tempo and in a c-minor key, a common key and tempo among the hip-hop genre. In “Me Myself and I” by G-Eazy, Gerald comes to terms with the aspects of being famous and forever in the spotlight, which he wanted but didn’t realize everything else that came with it. He does this through his thought out lyrics and his use of artistic discretion in the music video that he released shortly after the song.

I think line 2 says that he is from the hood and never forgets about what he went through. In line 3, “, is referring to