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Alicia Valadez
English 3
Final Draft
May 3, 2013
The beats, rhythm, and raps don't stop, because Yo! This is Hip-hop.
From the cool beats, to the rappers rhymes, hip-hop will be an everlasting impact
throughout time. Hip-hop began in the 70's and started to transform and become more
popular in the later 70's. In 1979, Rappers Delight by The Sugarhill Gang was the first
hip-hop genre record published, and it became extremely popular among a wide range
of the American population. In the late 80's early 90's was when "gangsta rap" was
created and popularized by a rap group called N.W.A. which stood for Niggas With
Attitude. Hip-hop was becoming more globalized with different communities other than
black communities. Hip-hop was more than music to listeners, it was a lifestyle and still
exists today. Hip-hop overall has a positive impact on American Communities although
it still has it flaws.
Whether it’s through art, fashion, dancing, or emceeing, hip-hop creates a
cultural identity. Graffiti was a type of art popularized by hip-hop. It was a way for people
to express themselves on walls creating art, although it was against the law without
permission. Breakdancing was a dance craze popular more in the late 80’s through
early 90’s. It didn’t last too long because there is always new dances being developed,
but that was the original hip-hop dance. Breakdancers danced to deejayed music
because its fast to slow beats and its rhythm made dancers just want to move . That’s
when deejays were born and got popular, and still are to this day. The hip-hop fashion
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was very urban and different. Rappers influenced a lot of the fashion. Usually it included
baggy pants and a baggy shirt on a guy, but nowadays the rappers fashion is different.
Today people wear hats like snapbacks and get ‘tatted up’ due to rappers making that
style look cool. There is even a song about it called Snapbacks and Tattoos as well as a
song called Snapbacks back by Tyga claiming he made those hats come back. Not only
do rappers influence the fashion, but they influence the young listeners to do drugs by
mentioning them in songs. Rapper Wiz Khalifa raps about weed in every one of his
songs or at least mentions it once. With new drugs coming out, rappers try to make
them famous. Like the new Ecstasy-like drug called Molly. It’s becoming popularized by
careless rappers, Lil Wayne almost died due to it, yet he still endorses the drug. Other
than some of the rappers influences, hip-hop has great meaning and empowerment to
it.
Hip-hop was more than just a music genre, it was a culture that moved many and
spoke to those facing hard times. Like during the 1992 Rodney King riot that happened
in Los Angeles when Rodney King being black got brutally beaten by white L.A. police
officers, that didn’t get in trouble or fired until after the riots. The riots were directed
towards civil rights, and being more equal, and less prejudice. N.W.A.had a song called
F*** the Police and it was a very violent song in response to the Rodney King incident
with lyrics like “F*** the police comin straight from the underground, A young nigga got it
bad cause I'm brown, And not the other color so police think, They have the authority to
kill a minority F*** that s***, cause I ain't the one, For a punk motherf***er with a badge
and a gun, To be beating on, and [thrown] in jail.” This specific song got people really
hyped up for the Rodney King riot. It really influenced the younger listeners to get
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involved or to know what was going on with the riots, it was like a song teaching kids the
news, but some parts of the song were violent. But remember that rap and hip-hop is
just music, it is not words to live by.
Hip-hop is a voice for the people without voices. Rappers like to give listeners
inspiration and hope, and they have the right to say what they want because everyone
gets freedom of speech. In the CQ researcher hip-hop article, Katel states that “Like all
human beings, hip-hop artists have moral obligations that necessarily inform their
professional and personal lives... [They should not] create any music that degrades,
assaults or otherwise contradicts the values and goals of our communities, But they
should feel empowered to produce art that reflects their own feelings, desires, and
beliefs about the world --- uplifting or not.” There are still those careless rappers with
lyrics out there that aren’t so good, but that is where freedom of speech comes in. In the
CQ researcher article on hip-hop, Katel came in contact with an artist who said if he
“wakes up in the morning and feels like writing about having sex with groupies and
smoking crack, he would write it and feel “proud” to perform it.” So if the listener decides
to listen to a song about that it’s their choice. Rapper Rakim once rapped in his song I
Know You Got Soul saying "I start to think, and then I sink/Into the paper like I was
ink/When I'm writing, I'm trapped in between the lines/I escape when I finish the rhyme."
This particular verse was creative, and beautiful. It tells the listeners what he's thinking
and how he feels when he comes up with his lines. Hip-hop voices the struggles many
people face in life and relates them to listeners. In Tupac’s song Dear Mama dedicated
to his mother, he rapped "No love from my daddy cause the coward wasn't there. He
passed away and I didn't cry, cause my anger wouldn't let me feel for a stranger. They
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say I'm wrong and I'm heartless, but all along I was looking for a father he was gone. I
hung around with the Thugs, and even though they sold drugs, They showed a young
brother love." This was how a lot of young kids felt. Many fathers leave the mothers with
their kids to fend for themselves because of reasons like money issues, having to be
tied down, being a jerk, or any other reason. This verse also showed how some
youngsters feel, lonely, so they join a gangs to get that sense of belongingness,
because in reality, we all want to belong or fit in. Today, we have rappers like Kendrick
Lamar, Tyler the Creator, and J Cole who still put meaning into their lyrics. Tyler the
Creator is not afraid to include foul subjects in his songs. His raps are very raw and not
sugar coated like most rappers in the game today.
Hip-hop is an influential genre, positively or negatively, but it is a great genre and
has so much more behind it. Even though hip-hop is positive, it still has some negatives,
so we should encourage rappers or lyricists to start being better role models for the
young listeners that look up to them because if we don’t, people will continue to judge
hip-hop by the bad influences rather than the good ones that are out.
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Works Cited
Katel, Peter. Debating Hip-Hop. Issue brief. CQ Researcher by CQ Press, 15 June
2007. Web. 02 May. 2013.
<http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2007061500
>.
Garcia, Courtney. "TheGrio." TheGrio. MSNBC, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 02 May 2013.
<http://thegrio.com/2013/03/18/is-hip-hop-bad-for-black-america/>.