THe Power of Hip Hop: The beginnings, present DAY hip hop and possibilities for the future

By: Brittany Dawson CopyRight by Brittany Leigh Dawson 2012

Introduction Hip hop music originated in the 1970s on the streets in the Bronx as a way to unite the communities through music (hip). Over time, mainstream hip Hop has transformed into an individualistic art that idolizes certain aspects of society that would otherwise be deemed as undesirable. Not only does it promote less desirable lifestyles, Hip Hop music has evolved into a genre of music that degrades specific groups of people, such as, women and people of color. This is harmful to those groups, because it does affect how these people are viewed, Yet I believe that hip hop has the power to create positive change in society by sending messages that influence people in a good way. this is evident in some local and underground hip hop artists today, but we need to shift our music preferences from those that emphasize negative and harmful messaging to songs with uplifting messages. I will start by going through a history of how hip hop started. From there, I will look at mainstream hip hop and what it is today, then I will present to you what hip hop could be by highlighting a few underground/ non-mainstream hip hop artists and end with a call to action that will offer ways to get involved. History Hip hop started on the streets of New York City, as I stated earlier. In the 1970s, a rapper that would soon be known as KOOl DJ Herc immigrated to the bronx from Kingston, Jamaica. He needed a way to pay for his sisters school supplies, so he decided to throw block parties to raise money. From there He became a disc jockey and

wanted to incorporate his Jamaican roots into his music style. To do this he would recite improvised rhymes over reggae records. This didnt excite people, so he had to adapt his style to involve chanting over the instrumentals or percussion sections. Once he started to do this, his music started to gain popularity very quickly. As hip hop progressed, there became four elements, which included Mcing, graffiti, Bboying, Djing and currently they have added knowledge (Chang). For people who want more information on hip hop, read Jeff Changs book Cant Stop, Wont Stop: A history of the Hip Hop Generation. Popular Hip Hop Today Hip hop or rap today has become all about degrading women, glamorizes illegal activities, and boasting about all the money the hip hop artists have. THis is not only harmful to women, because it teaches men that it is okay to degrade women, but it also idolizes illegal activities and jail time, which can negatively influence the young people that look up to these rap artists. THis can be seen in many artists, such as Lil Wayne, who just recently got out of jail and is constantly rapping about topics, such as, weed and his famous purple drank. In a movie titled Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhythms, the director interviews groups of women at a summer hip hop concert and asks them how they feel about rappers use of the word bitch. Their reactions were that the artists were obviously not talking about them, yet when the director then went up to a group of men and asked if that group of women that he was just talking to were dressed like bitches, their immediate answer was yes (Hurt). I think part of the problem is, when it comes to hip hop music. the very People that are being degraded in the songs feel as if they are exempt, because they dont associate themselves with the group

the rapper is singing about, yet other people would easily classify them into these groups. that is very specifically what the songs are encouraging them to do. This can be seen in quite a few examples, but I will focus on just a few in this paper to prove my point. Tyga This first artist that I will focus on is Tyga. He is a very popular artist among the youth presently, and also has some very degrading music and music videos. One of his most popular songs currently is Rack City. Here is a link to the music video if you are unfamiliar with this song or music video Rack City. Before watching, be warned that this is a very risque video.. Also I would like to state that this is a toned down version of the music video, Youtube will not post the unedited versions anymore. Though this is not even his most risque video, it is his most popular video. Looking at this song, lyrics and graphics, the viewer would see that it degrades women, by not only showing them as nothing more than sexual objects, but it also dismembers them. In a video by Jean Kilbourne, she talks about how dismembering women in media is very harmful to our understanding of women, because it allows men to see them as physical items rather than human beings (kilbourne). In addition, it is also not appropriate for everyone. Rack city is on the radio and that means that everyone can listen to it. This means that kids from a young age are getting the messages that women are objects that can be bought, sold, sexed up, and discarded. THis is not only unhealthy to be teaching to the youth, but artists like Tyga are not artists that they should be idolizing for apparent reasons. Chris Brown and Rihanna As most people know, Chris Brown and Rihanna, already have an abusive past together. Many people have been skeptical of them getting back together, not only in fear for Rihanna, but also for what it says to the public about being and getting back into abusive relationships. Being in the public eye means that this couple is not only always being watched, but it also means that people look up to them. When

Rihanna produces songs like I Love the Way You Lie, which promotes ideas of abuse within relationships as being acceptable, its hard to picture the message she, as a popular women hip hop artist, is sending out to young women that look up to her. when she sings about topics of abuse like in this case, she is degrading herself. Within the last year, Rihanna and chris brown produced the the song Birthday Cake, which is a video that offers a another good example of women being degraded, yet in this video, its Rihanna degrading herself, because it is her song and her body she is allowing to be portrayed sexually in the music video. This can almost be seen as worse, because she is the artist and has a say in how her music videos look. Looking at the contrasts between Rihannas video and the earlier example by Chris Browns, they are quite different. In Chris Browns video, he is the star, every scene features dancing where women are shown fully clothed and he is shown with kids and large groups of people. This can be seen in most of his performances and music videos that he makes, but he made a bad name for himself, when his abuse of Rihanna was broadcast in the media. Rihanna on the other hand dismembers herself, by having shoots of just her lips speaking and showing close ups of different body parts and shows herself in many degrading poses that over sexualize her. Looking at the differences between these two different kind of scenes in the same music video, it makes me wonder who decided to depict Rihanna in this way and why. Is it the record company that she is part of, or is this how she wanted to be depicted? Underground Hip Hop with Positive Messaging As I have demonstrated, women are often degraded in hip hop songs, but it isnt just women that are hurt by hip hop music. The language and messages of songs can hurt men, as well. In a blog on News International, the author talks about the debate going on around if hip Hop degrades or enhances society. Here is a link to the blog for those who want to read this entry. Xanna, the author, raises a number of good points around this subject. He brings up the facts that there are underground artists that

are spending the careers producing songs that have positive and educational messaging, but they arent in the limelight. This is not the only example of sites that are talking about this topic. in another article, the author quotes people as saying things like Its still sexist, homophobic, in thrall to the criminal lifestyle and as dumb as a baG of hammers and, in a vote on the page, 54% of people that voted believe that it degrades society (Townshend). With this being the case, I believe there needs to be a change in what hip hop artists talk about and I believe that there can be a shift in hip hop that would send upbuilding messages, which would result in positive outcomes. So I will highlight a few artist that arent as popular, but have produced songs with positive or educational lyrics. Nas Nas is an older artist, but he is also one of the most mainstream hip hop artists that I can think of that has produced songs to uplift his listeners. A good is example is the song I Know I Can. This song basically uplifts his listeners by telling everyone that if you work hard at anything you can be where you want to be and also talks about how easy it is to mess up and how those situations can end up. He uses lyrics such as Read More, Learn More, CHange the globe, which I believe sends out positive messages about change coming from knowledge. Blue Scholars Blue Scholars is a local Seattle group that came out of the University of Washington around 2005. Currently they perform songs like Motion Movement, which not only sends life lessons to their listeners, but also uplifts them. this group produces many songs that talk about history in a way that gains listeners. Those people that also listen to their music often gain knowledge while listening to the lyrics. As you can see, there are artists out there with positive messages that can help and teach society in many ways, but the direction in which hip hop is going right now is hurtful to groups of people. WHen strong emphasis on money and misogynistic ideas are getting pushed into society thru hip hop, its no

wonder why the youth learn from a young age are learning that stealing is okay and being a pimp and degrading girls is acceptable. Call to action 1. Be aware. KNow what you are listening to. This means understanding the messages the song is presenting and understanding how those ideas are being projected in the lyrics. 2. Stop supporting Negative messaging in songs. If you find that the songs that you are listening to arent in line with ideas you agree with, find new artists to listen to0. There are thousands of rappers out there that are either popular or working to become popular. Find those that are sending a message that you agree with and starting spreading their music around. 3. Actively listen to song lyrics. Dont just listen to music, because it has a nice beat. You are receiving the lyrics whether it is conscious or not. 4. Get Involved in Underground music, such as, Zulu Nation, a national hip hop organization. There are many organizations that support up and coming artists. by doing this, it can help the artist that you like become popular. 5. Support local artist that you agree with their messages. This means anything from buying their CDs or MP3 on itunes to going to their concerts. Conclusion Afika Bambaataa, known as the Godfather of Hip hop, started as a gang member and today is an

intellectual and respected by fan and the hip hop community. He recognizes that a great deal of ignorance exists within society, and he constantly strives to educate the misguided, indoctrinated masses (Ahmed). he makes the comment about rappers saying Just look at yourselves, sounding like a bunch of fools, who really dont have any true knowledge of self and knowledge of hip-hop culture and what its all about (Ahmed). With the godfather of hip hop making comments like this about current rap, I believe that this truly enforces the idea that mainstream hip hop today needs to transform back into something that focuses on knowledge and education to enhance our society. As Krs-one once said We are hip hop, we preserve it, we protect it and we are the ones who are doing it, and we are not criminals. In fact, we are scholars, we are philosophers, we are priests, we are ministers, we are activists (Watkins 229). If we are hip hop, what is it saying about our culture right now?

Authors page
I am Brittany Dawson, a senior at the University of Washington, studying Communications and Comparative History of Ideas. With graduation right around the corner, I spend most of my time on school, but when I do have free time, I enjoy playing sports and hanging out with friends. Having the opportunity to write a project that I would have to publish to a website, I wanted to write about something that would actually affect people in my generation and possibly bring awareness to people. By no means is this supposed to be me bashing hip hop or rap, I just see the potential it could have as a genre of music. I love music, especially hip hop and pop, but often get frustrated with the negative messaging that mainstream music puts out. Being frustrated, I found a class at the University of Washington titled Hip Hop in the 206, where I was able to explore these ideas further, while also learning about some new and exciting non-mainstream artists. For those who have questions or comments about this paper, feel free to contact me at bldawson@uw.edu.

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