How Has Rap & Hip Hop Culture Influence the American Youth

In recent years, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding hip hop and rap music, it has been the forefront of the American media. Majority of it came from the east coast-west coast rivalry between the two rappers that got murdered named Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. if it were not for those two artists along with other hip hop pioneers, the rap and hip hop genre would not be what it is today.

Hip Hop music has been demonized by the public and the political and media groups were quick to blame rap for a seeming trend in youth violence after the school shootings that took place in Littleton, Colorado. Just like every other genre, every rap song comes with a message and a meaning, in order to understand it you have to know that rap reflects its origin in the hip hop culture, it roots in the African oral tradition. It is the voice of the underrepresented group of America which are the African Americans.

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The research I have done will provide an up to date view on what rap and hip hop music represents today and how it has influenced the American youth from how they dress to how they talk. I will also be talking about how it all began and what has made this genre very popular to everyone all over the world. Moreover, Hip hop has spread everywhere to all different cultures around the world and has somehow influenced not only the music industry but also the fashion industry and the way of living for the youth. This research that I conducted will be of significance to those who have an interest in this field.

In the early to mid 70’s, the biggest genre in music was Disco like the “Saturday night fever” in 1977. Late into the 70’s, bands like Earth, Wind and Fire added funk to disco but while part of the world was boogieing, Life was not the same in the Bronx, New York. The economy was really bad and building owners could not find people to rent out their apartments to so they ended up burning their buildings. There was an overall of 60% unemployment rate among young adults, this caused the people specifically African Americans to turn and tap into their creativity and with this Hip Hop was born.

“Out of oppression and depression came much creativity.” -Kurtis Blow, Hip Hop Music Pioneer. Grand Master Slash developed scratching and mixing techniques that became the basics of Hip Hop. He started doing what DJ’s do now which is physically placing his hand on a record and scratching and coming up with beats by having absolute control. Grand Mater Slash and his crew “the furious five” were the first hip hop artists to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. They were presented by rapper Shawn Corey Carter also known as “Jay Z” in 2007.

“How you act, walk, look and talk is all a part of Hip-Hop culture. And the music is made from black, brown, yellow, red and white.” -Afrika Bambaataa. South Bronx born DJ Afrika bambaataa, is best known for bringing electro funk to the world of hip hop. He did this by using a drum machine instead of rapping over disco music, Afrika bambaataa and his crew the soul sonic force had electronic background music. Like other hip hop artists, he used his music to convey important messages and express his feelings about the issues going on in the world. Hip hop gave the inner city a voice and the world awareness. There were a few hip hop pioneers but the man that was considered to be the “father of hip hop” was DJ Kool Herc. He is credited for introducing classic “Mo Town funk” like James Brown to the youth in south Bronx during the 70’s. What these hip-hop pioneers created could not be contained in the urban neighborhood were the movement began. Today hip hop is mainstream, 6 of out of the US billboard top 10 songs were hip hop songs, the artists are now as diverse as the fans of this genre. Hip hop fans are not confined by neighborhood race or economic situations. Hip hop was created many years ago and till this day it has continued to change dance and fashion not just in the American culture but all around the world. “Contemporary hip-hop culture includes music, film, graffiti, dress, language, expressions, journalism, activism and knowledge” (Ciardiello, 2003: Veltre & Hadley, 2012).

“Rap music is different from Hip-Hop. Rap is the music, the beats, and rhyme of a culture known as hip-hop” (Eligan 2012 p.28). As I mentioned earlier both rap and hip-hop started in the Bronx and to this day it is a multi-billion dollar industry. “Rap is the only African American genre of music that has both remained primarily created and performed by its people while simultaneously gaining widespread popularity across racial and ethnic lines.” (Alvarez, 2012: Hara 2012). Many of the authors acknowledge rap and hip-hop as an influential force in the American youth and youth communities. Although they believe that, they also believe that with rap comes violence and destructive forces due to its music videos and what it promotes. On the contrary, for the youth rap and hip-hop is a source of strength. It is the way they express themselves. Whether it is in the lyrics of the song, the music videos or in through their fashion it is all expressive. Tyson (2005) found that people from different backgrounds have both positive and negative perceptions of rap music, and generally view it in three ways: violent-misogynistic, empowerment-positive, or artistic-aesthetic. In the news, they only show violent-misogynistic type of music that are produced by a minority. Philosopher bell hooks (2006) states, “Rap is so diverse in its themes, styles and content. But when it becomes a vehicle to talk a bit in mainstream news, the rap that gets in national news is always the rap music that perpetuates misogyny and that is most obscene in its lyrics, and this comes to stand for what rap is.”