Andrew Garcia

5-22-17

Analysis

Hip Hop Culture has become one of the most influential subcultures in the world.It has

expanded its reach far past its early roots in the 70s New york.It has become one of the most

influencing factors in the world and for popular culture In recent history.In it's time scene

became it own art form it has changed not only what we listen to but What we dress like and the

beliefs of many.We have seen that the climate towards Hip Hop change as we have also seen the

artist adapt to modern times.It has become more than just a musical type but has become its own

movement that encourages the youth to become there own person while spreading social

awareness of the struggles of underprivileged youth.It has become more than just What we listen

to but what we watch and who we are.Hip Hop is constantly evolving and constantly spreading

this is what makes it so unique..Hip Hop is a movement and a culture that has helped so many

before and will forever be something that is meant to benefit the people .

While Hip Hop has changed a lot in the past 20 years we can still see that its original

messages still are in the game today.The messages that you can become something for nothing is

one of the core beliefs of hip hop.This is why so many underprivileged youth become so

entranced by hip hop and its messages.An example of this is the famous poem by Tupac shakur

The Rose That Grew From The Concrete. This poem was powerful because it looks at how we

perceive struggle and success.The rose that grew from the concrete was never supposed to grow

but it did just like pac.He was never supposed to grow but he did he made it out of the hood.This

is what they want to see that they could be that rose in the concrete and make it out of there hard

situations.There was this feeling that their favorite artist were underdogs misfits and people who
had hard times and persevered.This gave more validity to what they were saying now because of

how their music would be perceived as real talk and influential to many.Mos Def an influential

rapper in new york in the early 2000s released a track called Mathematics on his album

Black On Both sidesThat questioned what we see in our world and how perception can change

a situation. Numbers is hardly real and they never have feelings But you push too hard, even

numbers got limits Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret:The million

other straws underneath it - it's all mathematicsMos Def Mathematics.This expert from the song

would hit hard as it tackled mass poverty and the way that we view a broken system that does not

allow poor people to make it out and become more.The way on which the message was spread

made room for more social commentary to be added in future tracks from him and the members

of hip hop who embraced the ideals of social arewnessm in the people.

Hip Hop culture Has made big impacts on our youth.From how they think about life to

what they see in our societies.The spread of social awareness in hip hop has made it more

evident than ever for our youth that they needed to fight for change.Scenes Hip Hop creation it

has challenged the beliefs of others and has made people question what was going on.ITs

messages about social and political awareness have made our society's slightly more progressive

and accepting to minorities.We have seen more of an influences of hip hop culture in popular

culture.Hip hop has transcended races and gender it has allowed groups of people to come

together under one building and come together for one thing that they all mutually love.Hip hop

culture has become more accepting of social changes this can be seen in the artists that have

come out to be openly gay or who embrace social individualism and dress in womens

clothes.Recently a rapper named young thug completely changed his perception of himself by

releasing an album underneath his real name jeffrey.He then proceeded to do the album cover
shoot in in a dress by Alessandro Trincone who had participated in the vfiles event which was

part of crowdsourced Season 7.A fashion line that wanted to break gender lines in clothing and

believed that people should wear what they want without feeling shame or like they were

different.This Movement is now spreading throw hip hop with artists like young thug and lil uzi

vert embracing this movement wearing traditionally women's style clothing.They are embracing

this new style and bringing it into the culture by using hand bags and wearing blouses and by

doing so they are expanding the culture and bringing more more people in and opening minds

about what should be acceptable.Thug would go on to say that "I feel like theres no such thing

as gender."Young thug Interview with complex.Young Thug would make this statement to say he

believes we should have no gender specific categories that we should all just be us and love

what we love.These messages of positivity and accepting of different peoples beliefs has brought

more people into the culture and is changing thoses in it be consciously aware of the world

outside of them and what they believe.

When people think about Hip Hop they don't always focus on the positives of what is

said.When people who listen to the music without trying to understand the culture first get into it

they take the lyrics for face value.They don't try to dive deeper in the meanings of what they're

saying and they get an incomplete experience.You can't completely grasp what they are saying

unless you know what's been said.When you pull a single out of a song you assume that the

single stands on its own and not really pay attention to what's being said and take it has just

means less garbage.But when you put the entire project together you get something beautiful.The

hip Hop artists tell stories or try to convey a message throw an album and have several different

perspectives in on work from an artist.An artist thats works reflect this lupe fiasco,He always

aims to put together a complete album that tell a story conveys a big message to the audience.He
puts together full bodies of work. The Game is another artist that tells story through the album

and whose work can be taken out of context and made to look more menacing than it is intended

to be.In the games song Bigger Than Me he talks about being the best rappe and seemingly

takes shots at kanye west and others.If you listen to the whole album kanye actually makes an

appearance he was just speaking as the angry rapper people perceive him as that's what the first

track demonstrates to the audience.These artists are multifaceted they are aware of their

appearance and the culture that feeds into them.They are trying to not only expand what they are

but what hip hop can be received as.In the past year several artists revealed visuals albums that

are entire works of music accompanied by images and video.The two with the most impact this

past year were beyonce with Lemonade Which gives a glimpse into her life and the struggles

that she has faced.The other being Frank ocean's long awaited album Endless witch gave the

community music it has been waiting from for the past 4 years.They both convied messages of

internal and external struggle for all people to connect to.their visuals along with their lyrics

spoke to many people and have made a legitimate case for Hip Hop as an art form to be taken

seriously by the masses.

Hip Hop's urban roots are what gives it a unique style compared to other art forms of

art.Its roots on the underground culture are what make it popular amongst urban youth.These are

the same factors that draw intrigue in the form the fashion communities and the general masses

who are enthralled with its rawness.It is one of the only art forms that has not been copied into a

template for others to follow every person finds their own unique path and way to accept or

become part of the culture.This was explained well by a journalist from the magazine general

music today who wrote an article called being hip hop where he tries to embrace what he

believes are the core beliefs of hip hop.In the article he explains that the following statements are
the core elements of Hip Hop ; Keep it real,Flip the script ,make some noise and saty freesh.In

hiis study of hip hop culture and what it is he finds these statements to be the ones that truly

embody what it stands for. He opens up saying that he himself was just learning about what it

really nmet to be hip hop when in his life he accepted these ideals into his everyday life.What h

found was not that he acted different towards people or that he was changing into something

different.That these ideals only allowed him to progress further as a person and be more of

himself,but that he was seeing life in a different manner and approaching obstacles different.He

took a dive into the history and what the words they said meant and was looking at the evolution

of hip hop and what it has done for the people and what messages it spreads.

The constantly evolving manner of hip hop Is what allows hip hop to stay relevant in an

ever evolving world.This is proven by its new life emerging as a popular theme in high

fashion.We have seen this in recent eras as artists like kanye west and young thug collaborating

with major design labels such as louis vuitton and chanel.This is the evolution of hip hop

fashion which has taken from high fashion in previous years.To most of the hip hop community

staying fresh and wearing the right clothes is a big part of their perception of you as an artist.We

look at the artist to tell us what's the right thing to wear to be completely immersed in the

culture.This started when acts started to promote shoes and wear different types of outfits to

draw attention to himself.This was most evident in the case of Run DMC has they had A song

called My Adidas where they promoted their adidas shell tops superstars and tracksuits.This

changed the culture by allowing the people to become more immersed by buying their shoes and

wearing the clothes.The message changed from just a form of music to a style of dress and sense

of being.They felt that they were now not just part of hip hop but that embodied hip hop that they

were hip hop.This feeling of belonging lead more acts to spread different clothing and styles as
part of them and there acts.How you dressed began to show what area you live in and what artist

you listened to.Hip Hop's evolution to fashion is what has made the movement stronger and has

affected its spread around the world because not everyone would listen to the music but everyone

would see the influence in the style.

This change in style is most evident the rise of sneaker culture senecas the mid 80s.When

rapper began to talk about what kicks they had and what was freesh.In the early 2000s many

rappers started to make songs about air force ones and other nikes along with talks about iconic

basket shoes by Michael jordan.These big names being sprawled to the children and seeing their

favorite artist wearing sho3es gtha could get made the culture of sneakers grown across the

world.With big name artists along with athletes getting sneaker endorsements the culture was

becoming and what you had on your feet matters.This has contributed to the culture and grown

the number of people who hip hop had reached and affected.A documentary in 2015 would

tackle the sneaker community and hip hop's influence in the shoe movement know.This

documentary was called Sneakerheads And would illustrate the direct relation between hip hop

culture and sneaker culture.It would include valuable details about the culture from several

sources in the hip hop and the sneaker communities to show how one influences the other.This is

just another way that the Hip Hop culture has evolved and become bigger than anyone could

have imagined.

The Hip Hop community is a vast expanse of multiple cultures that have all united under

one domain.It is one of the biggest influencing subcultures across the world today and will

continue to grow across the world in the coming years.In its humble street roots this massive

expanse of knowledge and art has become something greater than its founders could have ever

imagined.It is a culture that feeds to the youth a message of hope and resilience to your
suurondings.It provides strong role models to kids who might not otherwise have a strong role

model to look up to.It spreads the message to people that if you want something bad enough and

you work through you can become anything you want.It is a way of living that people have

accepted and embraced and strive to become.This is a massive collection of experiences and

influencers that are all working towards the same thing to ensure the survival of this beautiful

thing that invites all people to take part in it.Hip Hop is who you are it's what you wear it's how

you live,Hip Hop has transcended its musical background and has become a way of life.Its

culture is constantly evolving and gowning It will never die because it is to big to fail.In being a

massive subculture and a world influences in popular culture hip hop will be around forever and

its message will forever be clear.It is what it is and being in that unapologetic nature it supports

the people that support it.

WU-TANG IS FOR THE CHILDRENOld dirty bastard 1998)