Rose Xu

ENGL1010-022

Maurice Rodriguez

3.10.2020

Race

Race, which is the word to describe different physical aspects of human beings, it

can be used to organize several characteristics for the standards. Although this makes

people more convenient find what they should belong to, this rule also motivates the

racism which is the most obvious disadvantages for people of different races. In hip-

hop, this is also one of the most popular topics for composition because there are so

many social events which are related to racism. YG, one of hip-hop black rappers,

composed the song called Black & Browns which is mainly about the outrage at the

racial discrimination. For example, ‘If we get locked up it’s double rate.’ is one lyric

to show black people face higher jail time than any other race, this is actually six

times the rate of white according to the research. These injustices made them angry

about the law, that is why blacks are often labeled as impulsive. The song is not only

showed the racism between the white and black, YG is one Mexican descent so the

song is also about immigration which addresses his Hispanic brethren.

As an international student, I also have different races with most of the students

in the university. Different culture will make us have the permanent gap with the

native, but the difference is that I come from another country and I am not one

immigrant which makes me understand why sometimes have the racism to Asian
people. Skin color is not the decisive point for the black to afford the unfair

treatments, they have the rights to vote for their president, own their guns, and the

proof of permanent residents. ‘Gotta get the green card for me and my child’

expresses the feeling from YG and he wanted to claim he has the power to stay in the

United States forever. According to this song, it is also mentioned Mexican migrants

get more low pay jobs which no one wants to do; he used this example compared to

dog which shows the poor circumstances for immigrants. These immigrants with low

social status is much harder than the native household in hardship. I think green card

is the proof for the immigrants to have the equal treatment with normal citizens. If the

people who has the difficulty to find a job, the government has the responsibility to

provide the benefits for opportunities. Hip-hop songs have become the channel to

make the cruel situation exposed, this is more useful than social media to spread

because hip-hop has also become one culture worldwide.

People are willing to recognize how they should behave among different groups

of people to get the confidence. The atmosphere make people have common bias to

the immigrants or the people who have different physical looks. Hip-hop makes the

audience consider deeply about why they have been treated and what they will face in

the future.