Thursday, November 1, 2012

Pre-Reading Questions Week Eleven


I believe that hip hop as a lot to do with race, class, and social justice. Hip hop was not created by the rich, but it was created in the Bronx of New York. It has come along way since then. When I first started listening to hip hop the rappers would talk about their constant struggles through life in their lyrics, but nowadays some of the lyrics doesn’t even make any sense; as long as it has a good beat, it’s a hit. 2 Chainz is a perfect example of this. His song No Lie is one of the most out played song on the radio, but if people have not noticed his lyrics doesn’t make any sense. “I am smoking on that gas, life should be on Cinemax Movie…” the ridiculousness goes on, but you get my point. I don’t think that hip hop is aimed at any particular race. Although the majority of the rappers are black, their fans are diverse. I believe that people see hip hop as problematic not because of the lyrics, but because of the rappers themselves and their reputation. For example Tupac and Biggie Smalls, people say they are two of the greatest rappers of all time, regardless of how many times they have been in and out of jail and of their deaths due to gang relations. I do believe that it is really up to the listener, people should really listen to the lyrics of the rapper and understand the hardships they had to go through to get to where they are at.
After watching that clip from Chris Rock, I agree with what he says, “in the old days it was easy to defend rap music, it was easy to defend it on an intellectual level, you can break it down intellectually…Houdini was art, Grand Master Flex was art…I love all the rappers today, but its hard to defend this shit, its hard to defend “I got hoes in different area codes”.”  Chris Rock also mentions that the government hates rap. “if they can find Sadam Hussein in a hole, and they cant find out who shot Tupac?” I find this is very true; Tupac’s murder case till this day is still unsolved. This could be all one’s opinion, but if you look at it from their point of view, race does play a huge role in the hip hop culture. 

Words: 405

3 comments:

  1. Hey Phong, I understand where you are coming from, I defenatly agree with the fact that hip-hop was much better back then. Now, hip-hop has tunred into, what som may say, a 'bad influence'. Have you ever thought why hip hop has changed so drasticly over the years? what is your opinion on this topic?
    -Jackie C.

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    1. I concur hip-hop was better then. I believe the "bad influence" of hip-hop is stem from the economic view; selling the images of "gangster-life" and sex. This is what has been accepted as a norm in the hip-hop culture and somewhat expected to be successful a successful artist..

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  2. Hi Phong,
    I greatly appreciate that you have some historical grounding for hip-hop, that knowledge will come in really handy for class over the next two weeks! I have not heard that 2 Chainz song yet, but I am definitely going to youtube it after class today (and listen closely to the lyrics!)- I may use it as an example in class :) You mention the role of the listener, and their responsibility to choose music that is not so ridiculous. Why do you think this doesn't happen and people like 2 Chainz are so popular on the radio?
    --eas

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