Alternative hip hop

used in hip-hop to discuss women. Queen Latifah, as well as many other female rappers, semi-dominated the hip-hop nation for several years when women empowerment and feminism were brought to the table. Since the beginning of the rap era, men dominated the genre, but during the end of the 20th century women came on…

What music do you like listening to? Does it affect the way you act? Does it affect the way your friends act? If it does then something needs to be done. All songs have a message to convey. The influence of music on our children is becoming higher and higher each day.The influence of music can be positive and negative. The influence of music does not only affect children but also adults. There is an influence of music lyrics on children because 1/3 of songs have references to negative…

Destruction of the Mind Rap is a story. A story that is written in blood, but, nevertheless, a story. However, this story contains points that affect society today and the individual listener. Rap has saved many lives, and rap has also destroyed many lives. Rap is the combination of previous experiences told through clever flows, rhymes, and beats. Rappers generally come from poverty-stricken areas. A great example is Eminem; born Marshall Mathers, he grew up in a broken family in Detroit.…

Every kid when they were little wanted to become a pop star, rock star, movie star, or sports player. Not every kid starts out listening to hip-hop or hardcore rap. Not every parent wants their kids to know about SOME struggles expressed by the hip-hop culture or the lifestyle of a different culture. It is perceived that rap is for thugs and bad people, but once Iggy Azalea come into it or Ryan Maclemore got into it, it become more of an art. There is a fine line of racism in everything that…

The emergence of Gangster Rap or as some call it “Gangsta Rap” led to a new emergence of culture & challenges to the values and understandings of this genre of music in more ways than one. As someone who was born in the 90’s I saw the change within the culture of rap but more importantly in gangster rap; something which challenged the message behind the song’s lyrics and really changed the movement because of the usage of words which were deemed to be inappropriate in past ages. Gangster rap…

Discrimination, poverty, and unemployment are just a few factors that inspired the rise of Black power movements, and can also be seen in the song “How We Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise”. The song “How We Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise” by Brother D consists of many diverse messages about racial inequality and is considered to be the first political rap record. This song, and many others, is an art form that is demonstrating history on what racial inequality Black citizens had to face.…

experience true freedom. I believe I accomplished this through my blend of what is essentially Hip Hop with a hint of R&B. This represents an important part of who I am given the very nature from which both genres emerged and that is from that of needing to tell a story that often went unheard, unseen, and out of mind. My music tells a story that my ancestors could not and I believe that’s worth listening to. Hip Hop as a genre, as a culture, is a social movement, as previously stated, that is…

Many Americans assume that jeans have always been a fashion statement. However, in the book Signs of Life in the USA written by Sonia Massik and Jack Solomon, the progression of how jeans originated as clothing for blue collar workers and gradually evolved into a fashion statement in the 1980’s. For example, ripped jeans in the 1960’s expressed defiance of the establishment and dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War. At this point in time, consumer culture leads us to believe that jeans no longer…

It goes without question that Hip-Hop has played a large role throughout America’s popular culture in recent decades. Aside from the entertainment aspect, there is more to the rap industry than meets the eye. For example, Hip-Hop is traditionally dominant in black, working class populations, or rather, populations that have historically faced systematic inequality from lack of opportunity. Many Hip-Hop tracks have touched base on these issues racism, poverty, and crime along with the structures…

leaned out realm of hi-hats layered over distorted samples ranging from Bleach to Linkin Park, the goth rap aesthetic has been adopted by different artists in different forms and is as much of a form of expression for these artists as their music. Hip-hop has been a stage for new trends and styles to emerge from and flourish since its inception, from the flashy Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five to A$AP Mob shaking the rap game up with the biggest merger of music and fashion ever that is…