Hip Hop Hooray
It was a Tuesday morning in the Information Technology 105 class on the third floor at Heald College San Francisco. An older student was doing his best to ignore the loud, obscene disruption occurring next to him, the result of two younger students ignoring the lesson at hand. Finally, he gave in and spoke up against their sanctimonious display, and was quickly bullied and threatened with violence in front of the entire class. Both aggressors exemplified and embodied every aspect of the hip-hop culture: Ebonics spewing out of their mouths, expensive and baggy clothing draped and sagging from their bodies complete with headphones around their neck blaring expletive laden song lyrics. The dynamic duo mentioned here certainly aren’t the only members of this ilk, nor are they unique specimens of any particular breed. In fact, they could even be labeled as poster children for the hip-hop culture. Indeed, many people have encountered similar “thugs” and “thuggish” activity, the putting-down others and degrading society, seemingly as they wish. This has caused a general fear of most of these types of people, in addition to staining the mind of the American consciousness with the thought that this is somehow “cute” or a passing trend. To this effect, the hip-hop culture is the most detrimental to the American consciousness, because of its poor moral code and mental attitude that produces underperforming citizens.
You might be wondering what exactly does a poster-child for hip-hop look like. Well, in turn I might ask, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word thug, or gangsta? How about top-selling rap artist in the country? As for me, I think of a black man, about 22 years old, wearing $200 Nike shoes, pants that are held by a belt just under his buttocks, a 5X, plain t-shirt, platinum chain, and a crooked baseball hat with the tags still on. This cookie-cutter mold can sadly be seen on just about every street corner. Why? Because it’s part of the culture. When you are a part of a culture, you adopt the food, music, speech, and dress that are unique to that culture. People who are a part of the country music-based culture are generally perceived as wearing tighter fitting jeans, button up shirts, and cowboy hats, whereas punks and Goths are assumed to always be wearing black, tattered clothing and are typically paler in appearance than most. Stereotypes and generalizations like these don’t simply fall out of the sky; rather, they are brought about by how the majority of any particular culture represents it. Your culture, be it domestic or adopted, is indicative of who you are as a person. Each culture also contains more than just clothes and food, but also a mindset, a way of thinking, and a set of values.
In the world of hip-hip and rap, the default emotion/mindset appears to be anger; anger at a world that represses and stymies the advancement of the minority race through society, forcing them to turn to selling drugs and dropping out of school just to make ends meet. For example, rapper Tupac Shakur laments how the average thug’s mentality reflects this attitude:
It was a Tuesday morning in the Information Technology 105 class on the third floor at Heald College San Francisco. An older student was doing his best to ignore the loud, obscene disruption occurring next to him, the result of two younger students ignoring the lesson at hand. Finally, he gave in and spoke up against their sanctimonious display, and was quickly bullied and threatened with violence in front of the entire class. Both aggressors exemplified and embodied every aspect of the hip-hop culture: Ebonics spewing out of their mouths, expensive and baggy clothing draped and sagging from their bodies complete with headphones around their neck blaring expletive laden song lyrics. The dynamic duo mentioned here certainly aren’t the only members of this ilk, nor are they unique specimens of any particular breed. In fact, they could even be labeled as poster children for the hip-hop culture. Indeed, many people have encountered similar “thugs” and “thuggish” activity, the putting-down others and degrading society, seemingly as they wish. This has caused a general fear of most of these types of people, in addition to staining the mind of the American consciousness with the thought that this is somehow “cute” or a passing trend. To this effect, the hip-hop culture is the most detrimental to the American consciousness, because of its poor moral code and mental attitude that produces underperforming citizens.
You might be wondering what exactly does a poster-child for hip-hop look like. Well, in turn I might ask, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word thug, or gangsta? How about top-selling rap artist in the country? As for me, I think of a black man, about 22 years old, wearing $200 Nike shoes, pants that are held by a belt just under his buttocks, a 5X, plain t-shirt, platinum chain, and a crooked baseball hat with the tags still on. This cookie-cutter mold can sadly be seen on just about every street corner. Why? Because it’s part of the culture. When you are a part of a culture, you adopt the food, music, speech, and dress that are unique to that culture. People who are a part of the country music-based culture are generally perceived as wearing tighter fitting jeans, button up shirts, and cowboy hats, whereas punks and Goths are assumed to always be wearing black, tattered clothing and are typically paler in appearance than most. Stereotypes and generalizations like these don’t simply fall out of the sky; rather, they are brought about by how the majority of any particular culture represents it. Your culture, be it domestic or adopted, is indicative of who you are as a person. Each culture also contains more than just clothes and food, but also a mindset, a way of thinking, and a set of values.
In the world of hip-hip and rap, the default emotion/mindset appears to be anger; anger at a world that represses and stymies the advancement of the minority race through society, forcing them to turn to selling drugs and dropping out of school just to make ends meet. For example, rapper Tupac Shakur laments how the average thug’s mentality reflects this attitude:
[they] Try to show [you] another way but you stayin' in the dope game
Now tell me what's a mother to do
bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you
You gotta operate the easy way"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way
sellin' crack to the kid. "I gotta get paid,"Well hey, well that's the way it is
This in-song comparison tragically proves true for most males in the urban and hip-hop based culture. They have come to feel that The Man and society don’t want them to succeed so they resort to these malicious activities, and then sing about it in their music. But, is this form of release or venting actually uplifting them over the struggle, or is it perpetuating a thug-like mentality that tells the world you’re not going to take it anymore? Is rebellion always the answer? Let’s take a look back into the first half of the twentieth century and find out.
Rosa Parks was a rebel. She woke up that morning, sat down on that bus seat, and said “No more”. With that as the catalyst, the civil rights movement began, and after some of the most difficult struggle seen in the U.S., blacks were given the same freedoms as whites and allowed to live as human beings. Now ask yourself, what dominated black airwaves in the 60’s and 70’s? During this time of social upheaval, were Dr. King and Huey Newton and Angie Davis listening to songs of women holding a “motor booty contest” (Too $hort)? Did they turn on the radio and embrace the struggle of life that blacks, 40 years after the civil rights movement, portray as “the way it is”? The answer simply, is no. Throughout history, when times were excruciatingly hard, people have listened to positive, up building music to keep their minds off of their current situation, not to embrace it as an excuse to ease their conscience of their misdeeds.
Still, some people argue that rappers like 50 Cent and Twista and Too $hort are just simply bringing to light the state of mind and life that exists within the ghetto. But were conditions this bad during the civil rights movement? Dr. King and his followers only got sprayed with fire hoses, attacked by dogs and lynch mobs right? That’s not “real” though. That won’t give you “street cred.” The Man wasn’t trying to hold them down and keep them in their place right? And yet somehow, they were able to rise higher than any other before them without a ghetto anthem singing about the death of police as true liberation.
This ‘hood mentality arguably became embraceable, as a method for accepting violence, through raps that stemmed from life in the Bronx in the 80’s, as rapped by Grand Master Flash in the song The Message:
Rosa Parks was a rebel. She woke up that morning, sat down on that bus seat, and said “No more”. With that as the catalyst, the civil rights movement began, and after some of the most difficult struggle seen in the U.S., blacks were given the same freedoms as whites and allowed to live as human beings. Now ask yourself, what dominated black airwaves in the 60’s and 70’s? During this time of social upheaval, were Dr. King and Huey Newton and Angie Davis listening to songs of women holding a “motor booty contest” (Too $hort)? Did they turn on the radio and embrace the struggle of life that blacks, 40 years after the civil rights movement, portray as “the way it is”? The answer simply, is no. Throughout history, when times were excruciatingly hard, people have listened to positive, up building music to keep their minds off of their current situation, not to embrace it as an excuse to ease their conscience of their misdeeds.
Still, some people argue that rappers like 50 Cent and Twista and Too $hort are just simply bringing to light the state of mind and life that exists within the ghetto. But were conditions this bad during the civil rights movement? Dr. King and his followers only got sprayed with fire hoses, attacked by dogs and lynch mobs right? That’s not “real” though. That won’t give you “street cred.” The Man wasn’t trying to hold them down and keep them in their place right? And yet somehow, they were able to rise higher than any other before them without a ghetto anthem singing about the death of police as true liberation.
This ‘hood mentality arguably became embraceable, as a method for accepting violence, through raps that stemmed from life in the Bronx in the 80’s, as rapped by Grand Master Flash in the song The Message:
You Grow in the Ghetto, living second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you play and where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
You’ll admire all the numberbook takers,
Thugs, pimps, and pushers, and the big money makers
Don’t Push me cuz I’m close to the edge,
As Dr. John H. McWhorter puts it: “The ultimate message of ‘The Message’ – that ghetto life is so hopeless that an explosion of violence is both justified and imminent –would become a hip-hop mantra in the years ahead” (McWhorter 2).
Adapting this way of thinking and set of values, that of violence and thuggery as an inevitable response to society’s pressure, has not advanced any particular group of minorities nor has it made any of the ills affecting these groups lessen to any extent. Again Dr. John McWhorter: “By reinforcing the stereotypes that long hindered blacks [or any other minority group], and by teaching young blacks [or minorities] that a thuggish, adversarial stance is the properly ‘authentic’ response to a presumptively racist society, rap retards black [or minority] success” (1).
The people that emerge from this primordial ghetto ooze carry and maintain the aforementioned thug mindset more often than not. Through my own life experience I have seen people grow completely engrained in the hip-hop culture and upon maturity, realize that being a”pimp” or a “gangsta” really has no place in the real world; the world that moves on despite you being alive or dead and that doesn’t care how many “homies” you’ve “smoked” or “slept” or how many “ho’s” you’ve torn through like tissue paper. I’ve seen them completely able to rise up and shed the shell of thuggery and move on to becoming an actual person functioning in the actual world outside of their city limits. Therefore from this you can say that it is possible to escape your situation if you make a solid and earnest effort, which involves physical action, ultimately resulting in your becoming a better person.
All of this comes with the caveat that not all hip-hop is bad. This is true; so true that, rappers like Kanye West, Common, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, and Fort Minor have been able light up the charts and airwaves with raps about living the good life, being there for your “baby mama” and leaving the ghetto behind for a better life without losing your identity. This form of “conscious” rap has certainly breathed new life into the genre and looks able to actually hold on for the ride of fame and success. Besides, songs about nothing but killing police and anonymous sex with strangers would get very old very fast, so history dictates there must be variety. Indeed the ‘all rap isn’t bad’ crowd certainly has a louder voice, but as money tends to be the proverbial carrot in front of America’s face, what sells is what stays and what stays is what permeates.
In addition to not all rap being bad, not all people who listen to rap/hip-hop are bad. Even Dr. McWhorter enjoys “conscious” hip-hop. I even enjoy London Grime and Japanese trip-hop from time to time. Roundabout and again however, what sells is what stays and what stays is what permeates. What has permeated into the American consciousness is the ghetto thug, so much so that even in the suburbs where life is picturesque, you’ll find non-minority Caucasians adopting the hip-hop culture, posing as if Tupac Shakur’s lamenting voice is representative of their own condition. Frequent friendly police patrols, clean and encouraging school environments, and no drug dealers on every other corner is not what Tupac or any other “poet” spoke of in their songs. As rapper David Banner put it however, “I wish America would just be honest. America is sick. … America loves violence and sex” (AP 2). And the numbers show it. I give you Grand Theft Auto 4, a game in which a struggling immigrant comes to America to make it big through taking over an organized crime syndicate at any means possible. Full of blood and sex this game took in $500 million (GTA 1) in its first week. Most motion pictures would be lucky to make that over 20 years.
This is only one of the reasons why the ghetto thug appeals to those living not only in the cities but also in the suburbs. The ghetto thug represents rebellion, independence, and something that is to be feared; all tools which can empower the lowly and weak to aspire to greatness. Think of the character Michael Bolton from the movie Office Space. He was a tool; used and abused by his coworkers and superiors, but felt empowered and unstoppable in his commute everyday with the windows up and particularly violent rap music pumping from his Toyota Corolla speakers. Along the same lines, it’s incredibly easy to replace Jay Z pouring champagne over gyrating nude women with yourself as you strive to “come up big”, making easy money “slangin’ rocks” to your neighbor who happens to have the same goal.
The “me first” attitude that the culture exudes is a by-product of the music it so proudly embraces. Rappers gloating about their abilities from the dance floor to bedroom, has been a part of the music from the very beginning. In 1979 the Sugar Hill Gang brought this music and culture to the fore with Rapper’s Delight.
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you play and where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
You’ll admire all the numberbook takers,
Thugs, pimps, and pushers, and the big money makers
Don’t Push me cuz I’m close to the edge,
As Dr. John H. McWhorter puts it: “The ultimate message of ‘The Message’ – that ghetto life is so hopeless that an explosion of violence is both justified and imminent –would become a hip-hop mantra in the years ahead” (McWhorter 2).
Adapting this way of thinking and set of values, that of violence and thuggery as an inevitable response to society’s pressure, has not advanced any particular group of minorities nor has it made any of the ills affecting these groups lessen to any extent. Again Dr. John McWhorter: “By reinforcing the stereotypes that long hindered blacks [or any other minority group], and by teaching young blacks [or minorities] that a thuggish, adversarial stance is the properly ‘authentic’ response to a presumptively racist society, rap retards black [or minority] success” (1).
The people that emerge from this primordial ghetto ooze carry and maintain the aforementioned thug mindset more often than not. Through my own life experience I have seen people grow completely engrained in the hip-hop culture and upon maturity, realize that being a”pimp” or a “gangsta” really has no place in the real world; the world that moves on despite you being alive or dead and that doesn’t care how many “homies” you’ve “smoked” or “slept” or how many “ho’s” you’ve torn through like tissue paper. I’ve seen them completely able to rise up and shed the shell of thuggery and move on to becoming an actual person functioning in the actual world outside of their city limits. Therefore from this you can say that it is possible to escape your situation if you make a solid and earnest effort, which involves physical action, ultimately resulting in your becoming a better person.
All of this comes with the caveat that not all hip-hop is bad. This is true; so true that, rappers like Kanye West, Common, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, and Fort Minor have been able light up the charts and airwaves with raps about living the good life, being there for your “baby mama” and leaving the ghetto behind for a better life without losing your identity. This form of “conscious” rap has certainly breathed new life into the genre and looks able to actually hold on for the ride of fame and success. Besides, songs about nothing but killing police and anonymous sex with strangers would get very old very fast, so history dictates there must be variety. Indeed the ‘all rap isn’t bad’ crowd certainly has a louder voice, but as money tends to be the proverbial carrot in front of America’s face, what sells is what stays and what stays is what permeates.
In addition to not all rap being bad, not all people who listen to rap/hip-hop are bad. Even Dr. McWhorter enjoys “conscious” hip-hop. I even enjoy London Grime and Japanese trip-hop from time to time. Roundabout and again however, what sells is what stays and what stays is what permeates. What has permeated into the American consciousness is the ghetto thug, so much so that even in the suburbs where life is picturesque, you’ll find non-minority Caucasians adopting the hip-hop culture, posing as if Tupac Shakur’s lamenting voice is representative of their own condition. Frequent friendly police patrols, clean and encouraging school environments, and no drug dealers on every other corner is not what Tupac or any other “poet” spoke of in their songs. As rapper David Banner put it however, “I wish America would just be honest. America is sick. … America loves violence and sex” (AP 2). And the numbers show it. I give you Grand Theft Auto 4, a game in which a struggling immigrant comes to America to make it big through taking over an organized crime syndicate at any means possible. Full of blood and sex this game took in $500 million (GTA 1) in its first week. Most motion pictures would be lucky to make that over 20 years.
This is only one of the reasons why the ghetto thug appeals to those living not only in the cities but also in the suburbs. The ghetto thug represents rebellion, independence, and something that is to be feared; all tools which can empower the lowly and weak to aspire to greatness. Think of the character Michael Bolton from the movie Office Space. He was a tool; used and abused by his coworkers and superiors, but felt empowered and unstoppable in his commute everyday with the windows up and particularly violent rap music pumping from his Toyota Corolla speakers. Along the same lines, it’s incredibly easy to replace Jay Z pouring champagne over gyrating nude women with yourself as you strive to “come up big”, making easy money “slangin’ rocks” to your neighbor who happens to have the same goal.
The “me first” attitude that the culture exudes is a by-product of the music it so proudly embraces. Rappers gloating about their abilities from the dance floor to bedroom, has been a part of the music from the very beginning. In 1979 the Sugar Hill Gang brought this music and culture to the fore with Rapper’s Delight.
check it out, i'm the c-a-s-an-the-o-v-a and the rest is f-l-y ya see i go by the
code of the doctor of the mix and these reasons i'll tell ya why ya see i'm six foot one and i'm tons of fun and i dress to a t ya see i got more clothes than muhammad ali and i dress so viciously i got bodyguards, i got two big cars that definitely aint the wack i got a lincoln continental and a sunroof cadillac so after school, i take a dip in the pool
Here we see the initial verse full of self promotion. This began the trend, but even today is still considered harmless in its diction. There’s no talk of stealing your wife or girlfriend for a one-time-use and disposal. The talk of how dead you will be for crossing him isn’t present, but through this we can see that from the very beginning hip-hop has included shameless self promotion, only now it has turned into threats, gloating, and proclamations all with the intent to keep the listener in awe of the “artist.”
Fear mongering, misogyny, senseless or vengeance based murder, self-glorification and seeing operating outside of the law as an inevitability are not part of anything that is revolutionary, up building or a vocalized cry for help. All brands of music and entertainment spawn clones and drones that mimic every aspect of a life that is not theirs, or a life that may be theirs, but by choice. But anything that creates people who feel challenged to fisticuffs when confronted with a common, meager concern is poisonous; cancerous even. Eventually, the creature or consciousness containing the poison will die if not treated properly. Noted rapper David Banner said America is sick, what can we do to treat it?
Ultimately, we must wait. Hip-hop turns 31 this year, giving it the title of longest reigning musical trend in America’s short 200 year history. Every attempt to kill it and move on has been stopped by lack of a replacement. Doo wop killed swing, disco dethroned doo wop, and hair metal joined with new wave to kill disco. Without a replacement, hip-hop, and its resultant culture, remains unchallenged and un-phased even as its pushers run out of things to rap about. Really, how many songs about a girl shaking her behind can sell two or three million records?
Here we see the initial verse full of self promotion. This began the trend, but even today is still considered harmless in its diction. There’s no talk of stealing your wife or girlfriend for a one-time-use and disposal. The talk of how dead you will be for crossing him isn’t present, but through this we can see that from the very beginning hip-hop has included shameless self promotion, only now it has turned into threats, gloating, and proclamations all with the intent to keep the listener in awe of the “artist.”
Fear mongering, misogyny, senseless or vengeance based murder, self-glorification and seeing operating outside of the law as an inevitability are not part of anything that is revolutionary, up building or a vocalized cry for help. All brands of music and entertainment spawn clones and drones that mimic every aspect of a life that is not theirs, or a life that may be theirs, but by choice. But anything that creates people who feel challenged to fisticuffs when confronted with a common, meager concern is poisonous; cancerous even. Eventually, the creature or consciousness containing the poison will die if not treated properly. Noted rapper David Banner said America is sick, what can we do to treat it?
Ultimately, we must wait. Hip-hop turns 31 this year, giving it the title of longest reigning musical trend in America’s short 200 year history. Every attempt to kill it and move on has been stopped by lack of a replacement. Doo wop killed swing, disco dethroned doo wop, and hair metal joined with new wave to kill disco. Without a replacement, hip-hop, and its resultant culture, remains unchallenged and un-phased even as its pushers run out of things to rap about. Really, how many songs about a girl shaking her behind can sell two or three million records?
Traditionally, when one group or movement produces typically self destructive people with overall loose morals, it leads to disaster. Ancient Rome collapsed as a result of a split in the empire, but, it began with the failure of the family system. So goes every other world power no matter how strong. When the basic moral code, and the innate conscience get lost in the current lifestyle, humans and society as a whole, crumble. We must keep in mind that it all boils down to whether or not you or anyone else is going to allow any particular movement to have a positive or negative influence on who you are as a person. After all, it is only music, right?
Works Cited
Associated Press. MSNBC Online Retrieved March 18, 2009 from <http://www.msnbc.com/id/17386527/page/2/>
Grand Master Flash. “The Message” The Message Sugar Hill, 1982
“Grand Theft Auto 4.” Wikipedia. Retrieved March 24, 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_4>
McWhorter, John H. (2003) Hoe Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back. City Journal Retrieved March 18, 2009 from <http://www.city-journal.org/13_3_how_hip_hop.html
Sugar Hill Gang. “Rapper’s Delight” (Single) Sugar Hill Records 1979
Too $hort. “Shake That Monkey” Married to the Game Jive Records 2003
Tupac Shakur. “Changes” Greatest Hits Interscope/Amaru/Deathrow 1998
Grand Master Flash. “The Message” The Message Sugar Hill, 1982
“Grand Theft Auto 4.” Wikipedia. Retrieved March 24, 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_4>
McWhorter, John H. (2003) Hoe Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back. City Journal Retrieved March 18, 2009 from <http://www.city-journal.org/13_3_how_hip_hop.html
Sugar Hill Gang. “Rapper’s Delight” (Single) Sugar Hill Records 1979
Too $hort. “Shake That Monkey” Married to the Game Jive Records 2003
Tupac Shakur. “Changes” Greatest Hits Interscope/Amaru/Deathrow 1998
