The Degradation of Hiphop Essay - 2363 Words

When did music stop being an art and become a business? Hiphop used to be about keeping kids off the streets, used to channel their energy into positive pastimes to keep them from becoming involved with gangs. It promoted positive and peaceful messages through intelligently written rhymes. It used to be cool to use a dictionary to write rhymes and rap about science and political issues. But now that gangster rap has become mainstream, kids don’t want to hear anything that doesn’t mention pimpin’, hoein’, drinkin’ forties, or smokin’ blunts. The media has fused Hiphop and gangster rap, but what many people are unaware of is that there is another side to Hiphop – typically called underground Hiphop. The underground is where Hiphop†¦show more content†¦People would get together – typically at block parties or park jams – and show their skills as a positive pastime. Hiphop was created to stop gang violence, no t to promote it like the typical gangster rapper does today. This is one of the many things that people are unaware of when they are solely exposed to mainstream commercialized gangster rap. â€Å"Hiphop music isn’t experimental anymore,† Says Shortkut of The Invisibl Skratch Piklz, â€Å"It’s violent and materialistic. All the so-called rap videos on MTV are about holding cash in your hand, wearing Versace, and looking like a so-called playa. I never knew that as Hiphop. To me, Hiphop was partying and showing your skills, not calling somebody out and shooting them† (â€Å"Evolution†). The founder of Hiphop, Afrika Bambaataa, was himself a Black Spade Gangster, but he sparked the Hiphop revolution for the good of the community. When there were Hiphop park jams, there were thugs and gangsters present, but it was all about having fun and being positive. So why does the gangster version of Hiphop sell? Because America is in love with sex, drugs, and violence. Instead of creating a positive message that talks about doing something productive, the media sells a fantasy. Too often, intelligent rappers are labeled â€Å"soft,† and anything that is not gangster is labeled as being â€Å"not real.† But the gangster image is the fantasy! In an interview with DJ Lord Ron,Show MoreRelatedIs Modern Hip Hop Music?965 Words   |  4 Pagesof Native American Hip Hop exist before the founding of popular internet websites such as RedHipHop.com. RedHipHop went up on the internet in 1999 and disappeared in 2003. The web site connected users with hip hop blogs and downloadable MP3s. (RED HIPHOP) Soon after, NativeHipHop.net went up and began to gain traction. Due to the increasing adoption of the internet and hosting sites like YouTube, NativeHipHop has held a long record of frequent visitors and consistent updates. For example, on NovemberRead MoreChildhood Cognition, By Walter Benjamin2522 Words   |  11 Pagesâ€Å"accomplish the renewal of existence†.3 Benjamin is by no means alone in locating childhood as a wellspring of non-integration. This sort of secularised lapsarian perspective, where the source of corruption is neither Eve nor apple but society’s degradation of the innocence of childhood can be traced to John Locke s Essay on Human Understanding or Rousseau’s Émile and continues to haunt the contemporary in various forms.4 For Jean-Francois Lyotard for instance, processes of socialisation amount toRead MoreAlternative Learning Systems9735 Words   |  39 Pagesindustrial complex, especially by the labeling and stigmatization of our students as inmates. We were both informed during our training that we would need to address the students as ‘‘Inmate [last name],’’ but we wanted to avoid participating in the degradation rituals (Garfinkel 1956) and tried our best to treat our students at the prison as we would our students at the university. The administrator stressed the importance of being authoritative with the men and even stayed in the classroom with Kylie