Hip Hop Culture

What do you think of when you hear the phrase

HIP HOP?

Question:Who does Hip Hop belong to?

The FoundationHip Hop was born out

of New York.

Rap music is actually rooted in black oral tradition:

The “Griot” = storyteller

“Nommo” = the power of the spoken word to transform the world around us.

The Foundation Cont.Initially ignored by mainstream America.

By early 80s, hip hop culture made a national presence (even global) with first commercial hit:

Hip HopThen

Invisible

Recreational

Cultural Practice

NowVisible

Commercial

Cultural & Economic Phenomenon

Express Yo-Self!Rap music was a way

urban black youth expressed themselves in a rhythmic form.

Rap, graffiti and breakdancing was the poetry of the street

Platform to express rage towards the system

The Message by Grandmaster Flash, 1982

Broken glass everywhere

People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don’t care

I can’t take the smell, I can’t take the noise

Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice

Rats in the front room, roaches in the back

Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat

I tried to get away, but I couldn‘t get far

Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed my car.

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LanguageStreet language is transmitted through

rap music.

“Dope”, “da bomb”, legit”, “all that”

The word “nigga” is one of the most popular words of hip hoppers.

The “N-Word”Recently, many

communities, college campuses, and other groups have tried to ban the usage of the world – notably New York City in 2007

The word became socially unacceptable around the Civil Rights movement.

The “N-Word” Cont.Controversy in the African American

community:

Some believe that it has a positive meaning now and is empowering

Others believe it is still damaging to African Americans because of its history. (Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama)

Nas, speaking to MTVNews on 10/19/2007

“I wanna make the word easy on muthaf---as’ ears.

You see how white boys ain’t mad at ‘cracker’ ‘cause it don’t have the same sting as ‘nigger’?

I want ‘nigger’ to have less meaning than ‘cracker.’”

Reverend Al Sharpton, commenting on Nas to

MTVNews on 10/19/2007

“What they’re doing is, as we’re fighting to make it a hate crime, they’re making it not a hate crime, which is helping out the racists.

You don’t see people from another race trying to take the power out of the names being called them.

People wouldn‘t put out a record against whites or cops or Jews because they ain’t got the guts to do that.

They only got the guts to beat up on their own.“

Dr. Cornel West of Princeton University

on Diversityinc.com, 2007

“The term itself has been associated with such abuse.

It associates black people with being inferior, subhuman and subordinate.

We ought to have a moratorium on the term.

We ought not to use the term at all.”

Dr. Michael Eric Dyson of Georgetown University on

Diversityinc.com, 2007

“I don’t think you can bury words.

I think the more you try to dismiss them, the more power you give to them, the more circulation they have.”

Question:What is it about Hip Hip that appeals to non-blacks?

Why does Hip Hop transcend ethnic boundaries?One author tells us about many white kids who

are:

“…cultural tourists who romanticize the very ghetto life that so many black kids want to escape. Instead of the terrible mortality rate for young black males, they see the glamour of violence. Instead of the frustration of people denied jobs and hope and respect, they see the verbal defiance of that frustration.”

Suburban males have become the largest audience of gansta rap.

Question:How has Hip Hop influenced American's perspective on race?

What has the commodification of blackness done to the black community?

Russel Simmonship hop’s first millionaire entrepreneur

“Hip hop has transcended beyond just music.

It has become a lifestyle and/or a culture for people worldwide.

Hip hop is an attitude and hip hop is a language in which a kid from Detroit can related to a kid in

Hong Kong.

75% of our audience is nonblack.

Now you have kids in Beverly hills who are sensitive to the situations in Compton.”

This culture has the potential to make it cool not to commit hate crimes, not to discriminate or be homophobic or misogynistic, and not to be racist.

The power of the word inherent in Hip Hop can and should be used to influence positive and progressive change throughout the Global Community.

Hip Hop cannot be understood unless one becomes personally involved with it and the communities create that create it.

Your assignment: 2-3 minute hip hop

presentation Express Yo-Self!