Jasmine Franklin

Gillian Lawlor
Composition 1301.240
15 October 2007
Hip Hop or Hip “NOT”
The issue of violence within the art of hip hop lyrics and rhymes are debated an
d criticized throughout our communities. The international phenomenon is not onl
y taunted for their ignorant lyrics but also for broadening their raps by creati
ng rhymes on war and poverty, living conditions and cultural issues. Many argume
nts have been placed amongst the social and political activism of inner city Afr
ican American youth title hip hop such as behavioral issues amongst teens, the c
ause for war and violence, murders, and many more. No matter what debates take p
lace the cultural icon will still remain the same opening doors for new uproars,
questioning is Hip Hop an innovative form of art or a brain washing movement.
Hip hop, which started as a music and a culture in New York in the 1970s, was a
product of inner city life and has historically been the voice of the Black inne
r city youth. But it has deep Jamaican and African roots, which can be seen in t
he rawness of its beats and the rhythm of its lyrics. Some of the first pioneers
of hip hop were from the Caribbean and brought with them the same rhythms and s
tyle that were to give birth to reggae in Jamaica. Looking back into hip hop's h
istory, one inevitably bumps into West Africa. Hip hop, like all African America
n music styles, borrows from African traditions. In the case of hip hop, this is
particularly true of its lyrics and their delivery.
Rapping in African music and culture is a tradition that was carried to the new
world in the 1400s. History has come full circle, and rap music and hip hop cult
ure are now being re-created by African youth all over the continent, who have t
aken rap's current day manifestations and added a new African twist. And just to
add to the irony, the word "hip" has been linked to the Wolof word "hepi" or "h
ipi" which means "to see" or "to open one's eyes". Several scholars debate wheth
er the word "hip" is actually derived from Wolof or whether its usage is simply
a coincidence.
Hip hop music and culture landed in Africa between the 1980s and early 1990s. Si
nce then it has spread with the energy and passion of a musical and cultural rev
olution. The frustration, anger, poverty, joy, and spirit which young African Am
erican rappers expressed transformed the minds of millions of African youth, who
related to the messages and stories being told. Tales of poverty, crime, violen
ce and corruption were also the stories of countless urban African youth. Americ
an rapper 2Pac became a legend across the continent precisely because of the soc
ial importance of his lyrics. There was no major city in Africa one could go to
in the late 1990s and not see images of 2Pac or hear youth reciting him.
Hip hop was more than just another form of music -- the fact that it was also it
s own subculture and a transmitter of political and social commentary was absorb
ed by African youth who related to all aspects of this new musical revolution. M
any young artists who would have once entered the music scene through the Afropo
p or traditional music genres have become hip hop artists and have contributed t
o the evolution of the musical form in Africa.
Parental Advisory or explicit content ; the monochrome sign is synonymous with h
ip-hop. Like the genre, the sign has evolved. While rap music moved from simple
lyrics and turntable scratches to a more sophisticated, self-aware art form of i
ntricate rhymes, samples, breakbeats and attitude, the sign was transformed. Swi
tching its focus from "explicit lyrics" to "explicit content", the sticker becam
e incorporated into the artwork of hip-hop albums. It became a badge of honour.
NWA, early hip-hop proponents, did much the same thing with the first word of th
eir acronym, Niggers With Attitude. Slap a tag on us and we'll use it against yo
u. "We see our advocacy of the parental advisory label as part of our theme of t
aking back responsibility," says Minister Benjamin Muhammad, president of the Hi
p-Hop Summit Action Network (HHSAN). "On one hand we defend the right to freedom
of speech and artistic expression. But with freedom comes responsibility." Hip-
hop is the biggest-selling and fastest-growing genre in music. But it's much mor
e than that. It is a clothing industry, a culture, a lifestyle, and a language.
"Usually when hip-hop activists or artists make the news, there is always somet
hing negative," says Muhammad. "Somebody's been arrested or somebody's been char
ged. A lot of people only saw the negative side of hip-hop and assumed that it c
ould not have any positive redeeming value." In other words, hip-hop had gotten
a bad rap.
The negative side of hip-hop focuses on the violence, misogyny, racism and gleef
ul support of anti-social tendencies in some lyrics, particularly within the sub
-genre, gangsta rap.Another division in hip-hop might be between political aware
ness and crass materialism. Such opposition can be seen in the names of recently
touted artists: the female rapper, Truth Hurts, or the male MC, B-Rich."Critics
fail to understand that hip-op is very diverse," says Muhammad. "All hip-hop is
not gangsta rap. The fastest growing genre of gospel music is hip-hop gospel. B
ut the media, the establishment, tends to focus on the controversial. When young
people stand and speak out of context it has always been considered something o
ut of bounds." Hence, for instance, more attention was given to R. Kelly's arres
t for child pornography offences than to Wyclef's arrest during a political prot
est. Nelson George, the music critic and commentator, called hip-hop "a product
of schizophrenic, post-civil rights movement America" in HipHop America, a book
that was equal parts musical history, critical assessment and autobiography.
It has been argued that being black in a white country provokes such identity fr
actures. Take the proliferation of hip-hop aliases: Christopher Wallace, the ass
assinated New York rapper, also went by the Notorious BIG, a.k.a. Biggie Smalls.
Sean "Puffy" Combs was once known as Puff Daddy, but recently changed his name
to P. Diddy. And even the phenomenally successful white rapper, Eminem, has name
d his three albums to date after various alter-egos, including Marshall Mathers
and Slim Shady. Some consider hip-hop as yet another example of the exploitatio
n of African-Americans, where transnational corporations use black style to deve
lop and market products for mass white consumption. Naomi Klein's book, No Logo,
records the turnaround in Tommy Hilfiger's profits once Hilfiger gear had aggre
ssively targeted New York ghettos. Hilfiger is, coincidentally, friends with Rus
sell Simmons. Nike, Sprite, numerous alcohol companies and several others all fo
llowed commercial suit.
Many argue that hip hop is in many ways the nation's most significant youth move
ment since the countercultural revolution of three decades ago. "Hip hop is a wa
y of living," said Tshombe Core, 19, a member of a Boston rap group, Young Natio
n. "You can't just say it's this or that. It's about everything you do." To the
uninitiated, hip hop is most closely associated with music, specifically rap. In
particular, two rap artists, Sister Souljah and Ice T, have drawn nationwide at
tenion, much of it negative, because of the explosive lyrics contained in some o
f their songs. But those who know hip-hop culture say it would be wrong to inter
pret it as being solely about music. "In recent years, rap music has been gettin
g a lot of the attention, but it is much bigger than that," said David Mays, pub
lisher of The Source, a New York-based publication that is one of the most popul
ar hip-hop magazines on the market. "Rap music is the engine that is driving the
entire culture and the lifestyle that a whole generation is growing up on." The
re is mounting evidence that hip hop has become a legitimate cultural developmen
t.
We all agree that some of the lyrics portrayed in rap music are disgusting and d
egrading, but is that the cause for behavioral problems in teens? Studies state
that the maximum number of hours spent watching rap videos per week is 1000 hour
s. Emory University states that “ teenage girls who watch long hours of rap musi
c videos are more likely to be arrested, have multiple sex partners, use drugs,
or hit a teacher". Although many may believe the acquisitions are correct the st
udy does not apply to all teens. In the Emory study they only tested 522 teens,
which is not enough to create an accurate assumption or theory that teens are ef
fected by the production or Hip Hop lyrics. That is why the Emory researchers st
ated that “their study does not mean that rap music videos are the cause of unhe
althy behavior”. So if that’s the case what’s the cause?
A Times staff writer wrote an article titled “Black churches are urged to denoun
ce gangsta rap; An influential pastor from Atlanta tells his peers from around t
he country that the music has a negative effect on young people”. K. Connie Kang
attended the third annual Pastors and Laity Conference and interviewed various
pastors about the issue. "The church ought to say, If you can t do more positiv
e rap, shut up and get the hell out, " said Rev. Michael A. Battle, president o
f the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. Reverend Battle, a Bapt
ist preacher who heads the nation s premier center for black church scholarship,
stated gangsta rap denigrates all young blacks, especially black women. Reveren
d Battle stated the “charged that gangsta rap has stolen "the soul of positive r
ap," meant to articulate the "sociological circumstances" of African Americans,
especially men. Some raps capture the obstacles facing a teen as he tries to "be
come a man somebody with character in their turbulent circumstances.” He also qu
estions what is “what gangsta rap is to the hip-hop.” Is that the questions that
should really be answered?
In 1992 the case of Ronald Ray Howard states that while Howard was legally stopp
ed because of a broken headlight, Howard allegedly shot and killed Texas state t
rooper Bill Davidson. At that time Howard was listening to an NWA’s song titled
“Fuck the police” which triggered the murder. Joe Steussy, director of music sta
ted that “gangsta rap is one of the most dangerous genre of music he has studied
because of the prevalence of violent and antisocial themes and lyrics”. Steussy
testified that rap music can be particularly harmful when it mirrors the enviro
nment of the listener. So if that’s the case every crime that’s been committed w
hile the murderer was in the car listening to rap music, the lyrics was the caus
e?
Although many assumptions may be placed amongst rap music it’s funny to say that
critics and debtors do not look on the positive side of the art. Rap music came
from an period of time where the artist didn’t have anything. In their lyrics t
hey talk about their past their lives, growing up in the ghetto, hustling to mak
e an living, and political issues involved during that time period. Hip hop is n
ot all about degrading women and killing the police but describing the real life
struggles people in the ghetto go through each and everyday. Hip hop also is an
form of poetry. If only people could see hip hop for what it is an style of a r
hythmic, rhyming vocal style.
While followers of hip hop believe it is generally a positive development, they
acknowledge that there are negatives, such as rap artists who promote violence o
r inject misogynist lyrics into their songs. But like any cultural movement, hip
hop is not monolithic and there are different types of rap artists, some of who
m emphasize valuable political, social and cultural themes.Like the countercultu
ral revolution of the 1960s, hip-hop culture with rap music as its mouthpiece wa
s born out of a sense of alienation felt by young people. In the case of hip hop
, the young people are mostly in inner cities and believe that mainstream values
are woefully out of touch with the realities of their communities.
Hip-hop culture is an attempt, particularly by inner-city youngsters, to make wi
der society listen and learn about their experiences. One of the phenomena of hi
p hop is that kids are saying that they respect their ancestors and all the tria
ls they went through, but they don t want their experiences discounted . This is
a way to establish their own identity. And in the attempt to stake out an ident
ity, hip hop tends to treat derisively assumptions that today s inner-city youth
are "rudderless, leaderless young people yearning for a catch phrase upon to wh
ich to focus their lives," Juzang wote in the MEE Productions study. "They have
leaders. They have a social structure. But, like the white counterculture moveme
nt of the 60s, the African-American inner-city teen-agers are far more certain
of who they are not than who they are, and their efforts at self-definition, eve
n those they know to be antisocial and self-destructive, are defended on the gro
unds that they are, at least, authentic." One of the most crucial elements of hi
p hop is that is one of the few cultural movements that has been shaped and cont
rolled by young black males, a segment of society that many believe is at best d
isregarded and at worst vilified. "Hip hop is something that blacks, especially
young black men, can unequivocally claim as their own," said Molefi Asante, chai
rman of the department of African-American studies at Temple University in Phila
delphia. "And because black men have been so marginalized and so feared in Ameri
can society, hip hop gives them an outlet to say exactly what s on their minds.
It gives them a sense of potency they ordinarily do not enjoy."