Review Of Rave Culture: The Alteration And Decline Of Rap Culture

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

With the recent election being highly controversial and contested the United States finds itself with an incredibly volatile and inclement political climate. While the United States continues to face social and political issues rap music and its artist have been a source to document the oppression that is still occurring within the country. Documenting racism and oppression by using politically charged lyrics is a method the rap community is particularly familiar. As time went on rap artists began to become more politically informed and began to shine through their lyrics to become sources to start a national dialogue. Rap artists like Tupac Shakur, Chuck D, Chance the Rapper, and Kendrick Lamar have been fundamental pieces of the

"Rap music brings together a tangle of some of the most complex social, cultural, and political issues in contemporary American society. Rap's contradictory articulations are not signs of absent intellectual clarity; they are a common feature of community and popular cultural dialogues that always offer more than one cultural, social, or political viewpoint. These unusually abundant polyvocal conversations seem irrational when they are severed from the social contexts where everyday struggles over resources, pleasures, and meanings take place.

The topic I have chosen for this review is the association between a particular music genre and a subculture. In particular, the issue of focus is the association of the hip-hop rap genre with the black youth subculture in America.

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

Not only has Hip-Hop had a major influence on society throughout the years, music as a whole has had impact on the world today and society within it. Music has been a powerful technique for stimulating social awareness throughout American history. Music simultaneously reflects trends, ideals, conditions in society, and encourages attitudinal progression and social change. To this end, Hip Hop in the United States can be perceived as “a blend of reality and fiction” insomuch that “rap music is a contemporary response to conditions of joblessness, poverty, and disempowerment… it is a rebellion against white America’s economic and psychological terrorism against Black people” 1.The increasing popularity of Hip Hop culture throughout the nineties can

When rock and roll made its debut, it was criticized immensely. Critics despised rock artists such as The Beatles, their sound, and their lyrical style, but nevertheless rock and roll emerged as one of the most successful genres in popular music (Considine 34). New musical genres are subject to both tremendous praise and harsh criticism, and in the 1990’s the genre of hip-hop and rap experienced just that. Throughout its evolution in the 90’s, hip-hop and rap endured harsh criticism from not only the musical press, but the general public as well. In the early 90’s, many raps embodied the ideology of rapping against controversial sociopolitical subjects, and that angered many individuals while creating a divide between artists and listeners.

Since the emergence of Bronx in 1970s, rap industry has centrally focused with place-based industries. Geography has played an important role in conception of authenticating the characterization of rap genre

But, in the survey, WCU student surveyors say collegians listen to Rap through popularity. I realized that at WCU, college students that listen to Rap music are split into two listening categories: lyrically and musically. Those that listen to Rap are interested in it for the sound while the others listen to the music itself. Rap reinvented the world of music through its exponential rhymes and explosive beats. During its emergence in the 1980s, Rap began to evolve from party songs to socially conscious songs. Through the 90s, Rap reached commercial status through the movies, clothes, and television. Yet, the music has faced obscurity for having

As discoursed in lectures, preceding literary collections, and films, hip-hop is beyond just ‘rap’: it is a philosophy with a history determined by countless inspirational and influential themes and communities. The term ‘hip-hop’ was said to have been produced by Keith Cowboy, a rapper within Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and the subculture apart from this genre of music was said to have been first established through Zulu Nation and Afrika Bambaataa. By now, it is understood that the elements of rapping or ‘signifying’ were primarily developed by African Americans in West Africa and that the music and culture was brought to America around the 1970s. It was at this time that block parties befell admired in New York City, and

Emerging in the 1970s in South Bronx, New York, hip hop took America by storm, becoming one of the fastest growing genres. Hip hop is not only rapping, but an entire lifestyle that consistently incorporates diverse elements of ethnicity, technology, art, and urban life. However progressing into the 21st century, hip hop has taken a exceptional turnaround and instead of providing a forum where hip hop once allowed for individuals to express their creativity and struggles through everyday life, hip hop has become a negative target. Not only in videos, but hip hop lyrics as well; this has had a negative effect on society because individuals begin

The purpose of this paper is to explore the major characteristics of hip hop studies, how they have evolved over the years, and how hip hop can be used to teach others. To begin, a great summary of the major characteristics of hip hop studies is The Kaledioscope of Writing on Hip-Hop Culture by Gail Hilson Woldu. For instance, in his book Woldu discusses the academic characteristic of hip hop studies (Woldu, 10). The author gives several examples of major works that have come from academic writing. He also goes into great detail about what they each focus on. For example, Woldu mentions Black Noise from author Tricia Rose as being a book that falls into the academic characteristic of hip hop studies (Woldu, 13). Woldu states, “.... this

Hip hop and rap music have always been a magnet for controversy, both within the music and the actions of hip hop artists themselves. Although there are a wide variety of hip hop and rap music, it is important to note that despite this, the messages used have been identified as homogenous. Hip hop has also been a medium for messages, such as cultural, political, and social. This essay will focus on the scope of hip hop from its roots, cultural significance, reproduction of gender and racial constructs, misogynistic themes towards women and African American women in particular, claiming of power within academic literature in two songs, ‘Famous’ by Kanye West and ‘Back Home’ by Zeds Dead and Freddie Gibbs.

Rap was born in the 1970s as a need of African Americans, who were living in impoverished and crime-infested neighborhoods, to express the issues that they were facing. It was “a genuine reflection of the hopes, concerns, and aspirations of urban Black youth in the last quarter of the 20th century” (Powell 245). However, rap did not stay limited to African Americans. Its popularity expanded rapidly among the minorities because the problems which they were facing were the same. These problems were “a lack of access to justice, health care, voting rights, employment, and other everyday privileges of citizenship” (Price 2). Having come out of this environment, while serving as an alternative to the streets, hip hop positively uplifts the cultural barriers within the society and educates the youth. This paper argues this important topic, because in contrast to the common belief that rap is harmful to the society, it has many benefits to our youth, and its benefits socially and educationally improves our society.

This paper will trace the history of rap music (also known as hip-hop). The origins of this music are found in the experiences of urban African Americans during the 1970s. One of the most unique elements of rap music is its vocal style. In 1979, the record “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang defined this style with its use of “speedy staccato word play and verbal dexterity” (Perkins 11). However, as pointed out by one of rap’s early leaders, Afrika Bambaataa, the true roots of this vocal style are found in the previous developments of African American culture. These developments include not only the traditional musical and storytelling styles brought over from Africa, but also such things as the style of speech used by the civil rights leader Malcolm X. Summing up Bambaataa’s views on the roots of rap, Perkins says: “The rap tradition has been nurtured on the accumulated and residual forms of African and African American music, verbal art, and personal style as well as the constant process of self-innovation within each of these elements” (5).