Essay on Hip Hop Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

length: 1421 words 4.1 double spaced pages hip hop is a musical art form, created by african americans and latino americans in the mid seventies. Its conception came from a young generation of african americans in the bronx, who created a beautiful, prideful expression of music, art and dance from a backdrop of poverty. Since that ignition in a new york city borough, it has inspired people from all socio economic and cultural backgrounds all across the world. When hip hop is discussed as an art form and not just as rap, it usually is meant to include the four elements: the dj, the emcee, graffiti writing, and break dancing. Some of these were around before the words hip hop were uttered, but they reestablished their identities within hip hop.

However, i do not adhere myself to hip hop by identity, meaning i don't rap, dj, break dance, or write graffiti on a regular basis. Thus i accept my fan status, but i do consider myself an educated fan, and since hip hop has given me a lot in terms of ideas, joy, and enlightenmen. I could have gathered more viewpoints on this subject, but i think the sources i.

It might be hip and even make you hop, but as innocent as it may appear this hip music has hopped and entire generation into a world of drugs, sex and gang violence. Hip hop or rap, is not only a genre of music, it is a language and a challenging lifestyle. From the distinct beats, the clothing and the seemingly aggressive use of language, it is almost undeniable that hip hop influences its listener. The problem is that hip hop projects a certain image which can be very damaging to the listeners perspective. It is even a greater problem since the main listeners are children and teens between the ages of 12 and 18. This music directly influences how they identify with each other in terms of sex roles in society, creating violence among them and promoting the use of drugs. When children listen to this kind of music, they think that what they are hearing is not wrong or against the law.

The lyrics in many songs contain violent and explicit lyrics that usually talk about killing someone. Unfortunately, parents have no control over what music their kids listen to since there is no age limit on purchasing such music. It is also unfortunate to see that the media promotes it all as fun and games and society easily embraces it. Hip hop music is definitely not the only source of violence, yet it is a very potent one. A perfect example of such lifestyle is rapper tupac shakur who was murdered in 1996 due to hard core gang fights.

Highlights of shakurs police records show that he was arrested for aggravated assault, charged with shooting two off duty police officers in atlanta, but the charges were later dropped. He was also accused of beating a limousine driver in los angeles and threatening a fellow rapper with a bat in michigan. To top off his record he was later found guilty of sexual abuse in 1994 and was serving time up to 4 ѕ years in prison sims 84. My concern with artists like shakur is that this generation looks up to him as a role model. Is that what we want in our society today? little shakurs walking around town creating violence and abuse. When musicians conduct themselves in such a poor manner, they influence children to copy their actions. Warning labels have been placed on albums with provocative lyrics, but these warnings do little to prevent the lyrics from reaching the children.

Chairmen, executives and the media claim that music is not the cause to societys problems mtv. I strongly agree, yet i also believe that it does a marvelous job in promoting and magnifying societys ills when delivering it to kids at home. When confronted with the question as to why they refer to women as bitches and whores, their responses were quite similar. Snoop doggy dog, another controversial rapper along the lines of tupac shakur answered that what they say are only for women that are like that and if youre a real woman, you are classy and elegant.

Com 150 Final Project Expository Essay

He also said that he chooses to call them hoes and sluts because all the women he knows are like that farley 78. Do these artists think they own women and can treat them anyway they want to? if so, what paths will the children listening to such artists who accept their behavior as normal follow? in my opinion, they will follow a path of destruction leading to a corrupted society. Hip hop has changed for worse by taking the art form and transforming it into trash. Of course there are positive messages in hip hop, but if the entire album is about death, violence, sex and drugs, what kind of message is going to be placed first? parents might have control within their four walls yet even then they cannot supervise every single moment of their entertainment. It has literally been censored out of their programming the same way porno films have. Even though many stations have censored explicit hip hop, some still promote it heavily. Violence, sex, and drugs are a reality in todays world, but should it be exposed and shared as if it is ok and make it sound like fun and games.

Hip hop stop! attention. hotessays.blogspot.com provides free sample essays and essay examples on any topics and subjects. Essaylib.com essay writing service produces 100% custom essays, term papers amp research papers, written by quality essay writers only. You can order a custom essay on hip hop now! the positives and negatives of hip hop in geoffrey bennett’s essay titled, hip hop: a roadblock or pathway to black empowerment, he speaks about the positive and negative effects that hip hop has on the black community.

Bennett goes all the way to the beginning of hip hop, which he says took place in the early 1980s with rappers such as run dmc, public enemy, sugar hill gang and many others. The author then speaks about how hip hop grew not only in the young black african american culture but also in the white youth culture as well. Finally, bennett states that hip hop has the power to influence positive and negative effects on african americans and the larger cultural in general. I believe that the hip hop culture has contributed positively to the african american cultural but it can also be degrading and explicit to the black community. There once was a time where old school rappers such as run dmc, heavy d, ll cool j, public enemy and many others would rap about promoting political awareness about topics from racial inequality, gender inequality, police abuse, voting, education, family and more. The golden age of hip hop is very different from the hip hop that is popular now. In the mid to late 1970s the cultural shockwave that would be known as hip hop emerged from the economic paralysis of new york city, especially the neglected black and latino neighborhoods in the bronx.