Wattstax

Many African Americans had no way to express themselves, in fear of the cops brutality getting worse than before. So in return many rap groups targeted police with violent references and stories from the ghetto. Many talk about murder, selling narcotics, and having sexual relations with prostitutes. But their explicit content worked by catching the younger crowd. And eventually sparked a fire with the media and blew up across the country and made it to news some people thinking that there songs were gross.

In his inaugural address on August 9th, 1974, President Gerald Ford assured the nation “our long national nightmare is over.” He may have spoken too soon. The early 1970s were a bleak time for black America. So much hope had died with the assassination of Martin Luther King. When Malcolm X was, in turn, shot dead, the leadership of the struggle for equality was seized by the paramilitary Black Panthers, and violence became its hallmark. There were riots in cities across the United States and brutal encounters with the police. Much has been written about the state of the nation in the 70’s, how bleak and desperate things were, but something extraordinary came out of the fire, music. The music of New York City during this time

As N.W.A fell into the laps of the mainstream target audience: white, middle class, suburban males and their angst filled teens, more problems began to arise regarding the misconceptions of gangster rap and appropriation of the experience of black men in low income cities. Most of the rap that this demographic would hear on the radio was the lighter Pop-Rap of MC Hammer and The Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff. According to GZA, the founder of the Wu Tang Clan, “the label (Gangster Rap) was created by the media to limit what we can say. We just deliver the truth in a brutal fashion…They don 't like that, so you hear 'ban this, ban that '. We attack people 's emotions. It 's a real live show that brings out the inside in people”. But many people outside the scene just associated it with the violent rivalry between the East Coast’s Bad Boy Records and the West Coast’s Death Row records that ultimately resulted in the mysterious murders of The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac. However, when ‘Efil4zaggin’ hit number #1 on Billboard charts, the genre became more widely acknowledged and accepted by mainstream audiences. Although, in a general sense, “Fuck Tha’ Police” was relatable to the Every-Man in it’s dissatisfaction with unfairness- it cannot be separated completely from it’s specific context. Although facing discrimination and brutality at the hands of cops was a common experience for minorities, suburban America still refused to believe that this bias was happening. This track

The album created large controversy and, “was among the first to offer an insider's perspective of the violence and brutality of gang-ridden South Central L.A. With songs like "Fuck tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta" set in a chaotic swirl of siren and gunshot sounds, it also foreshadowed the 1992 L.A. riots” (2). When HBO rejected Ice Cube and Dr. Dre's song "Boyz-n-the-Hood," which was about the South Central town of Compton, Eazy E decided to record the song himself, which began the start of N.W.A.

Later on, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated James Brown gave a concert in Boston which helped preventing the riots in the city and proclaimed his manifesto regarding racial differences through his song: “Say It Loud -- I’m Black and I’m Proud” (Shumway). His song was adopted by the black-power movement making it their anthem and a motivational quote to keep fighting for their rights. Music is “a glue that help[s] young people together,” concerts such as the Woodstock festival, also known as “three days of peace and music,” (Shumway) demonstrates the success that lyrics in rock music like Bob Dylan’s achieved. Young people have had a certain connection among themselves throughout time, and in the sixties they were able to unite in this events to fight verbally for their demands, creating this “power of generation” that Dylan once mentioned in his songs.

Jay-Z explains in one song…"I never prayed to God, a Pray to Gotti." The desire for material things is something very common to those that are listening. Jay-Z, coming from the same back round writes songs on things he knows and surrounds him. Besides the "hunger" another subject that is very common to this subculture is violence. It is not a coincidence that violence is a subject matter prevalent in both the music and the subculture. Like Donna Gaines, Nas and Jay-Z acts as sociologists reporting what they see. Nas writes on the graphic violence that he is accustomed to…"Straight up *censored* is real and any day could be your last in the jungle get murdered on the humble, guns'll blast, niggaz tumble the corners is the hot spot, full of mad criminals who don't care guzzling beers…" Donna Gaines writes that she has observed that the "burnouts" drink in front of a 7-11, Nas also explains that criminals hang out on the corner. Both Donna and Nas write about what they observe. It is true that violence is a major theme in this music, but that is because the artists are writing about the real issues that are present in the subculture whom they are part of.

The raw emotions and lyrics in early gangsta rap songs made it a very profitable form of rap (Quinn 4). While gangsta rap would eventually appeal to a larger audience, it purpose was to shock and tell a story like original African storytellers.

Hip-Hop originated in the late 70s in the Bronx; it was a way for young African-American men and women to express themselves while shedding light on the sadness and oppression within their culture and society. Hip-hop was also used to channel their anger against the disadvantages and social injustice they faced within society. For example, N*ggas with attitudes also known as N.W.A one of the most controversial rap groups in the history of hip-hop created a song titled F-word the police in the song rapper ice cube says “F*** the police! Comin' straight from the underground, a young n**** got it bad ‘cause I'm brown and not the other color, so police think they have the authority to kill a minority.” This song stands out the

“Cultural resistance creates a free space to create new language, meanings, and visions of the future” (p. 8). Gangsta Culture uses rap and hip-hop as the main form and content of conveying their political messages. Gangsta rap, the form of medium, which the subculture uses to express their political message, uses poetry along with the slang language in the content that highly characterizes the Gangsta Culture. It is also important to consider how the political message of the Gangsta Culture is interpreted. During the 1980s, the rise of Gangsta rap, the music received criticism accusing the content of promoting violence and of it being a dangerous influence; however, even though the lyrics might contain an aggressive discourse, the main message of the Gangsta Culture which they portray through their content, is against violence, racism and police

The “Fuck tha police” vinyl never stayed on the shelves when they released it. The song topped Rap charts and worked as one of the most pivotal songs during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. (www.southcentralhistory.com) Gangsta rap spoke a lot about the street gangs, the drugs, the murders, the police and everything violent. The rappers were more brave now after their mainstream success and weren’t afraid to rap the truth.

The Rap in its origin was talking about government policies that excluded the black population and on the racism suffered by other citizens. The success of the rap exists because it reflects the reality of the moment in which it is lived through rhymes and that is the reason why this musical genre still being very popular.

The history of rap originated from inner city kids who rapped about their everyday struggle that the world may not have seen eye to eye with. Kids from all over the country who’ve dealt with the struggles of drugs, violence, and everyday inner city problems. Being more than just the music rap became more as a culture and ways to express themselves. At the rise of people brutality, the a gangster rap group from South Central Los Angeles by the name of” N***** With Attitude” put out a protest song called “F*** Tha Police” to protest against police officers who were often harassing and abusing African American young adults at the time.

Hip-hop music allows people to hear the struggle people come from, and how they got away from that lifestyle. When most people think about rap music, the usually think about all the violence and subjective language that is attached to it. However, many people don’t know where these artists came from and how they grew up. Most of these artist come from a very violent area where all they know, and are taught to do is to survive by any means. These artists know this struggle and the only way out of this situation for them is

“Whip it through the glass n***a…I’m blowin money fast n***a” these are the words of rapper O.T. Genasis, not to be mistaken for O.T. Genesis, no this is O.T. GenAsis and his awe inspiring lyrics featured in his hit single “Coco”. Rap wasn’t always this bad, back when Rap first started with a group by the name of Sugar Hill Gang and their hit single to begin the era “Rapper’s Delight” Rap was about peace, harmony and just hanging out at a party, but r=this precedent split into more violent distorted versions of the genre such as the more 1990s popular genre of “Gangsta Rap” or the more recent rap music that glorifies sexual themes, practices and criminal mischief. This violent rap music has been seen to have harmful and undesirable effects on the behavior of adolescents as seen in many academic journals and a couple of long term scientific experiments. Even though many have acknowledged these negative effects seen in rap music of this time, some have used rap music to relay more positive messages such as using rap music in church sermons or just releasing music without the crude themes of most rap music and using the same aspects of rap music used by Sugar Hill Gang, Slick Rick and others in the past.

Specifically “Gangsta rap represents part of a larger focus on hip hop and politics that is popular within the media and among scholarly research and the prominence of gangsta rap in the late 1980s and early 1990s prompted the association between hip hop and violence that contemporary social scientists theorize” (Gilliam, 2007).