Thesis paper on rap music. - 4322 Words

Rap music has become one of the most distinctive and controversial music genres of the past few decades. A major part of hip hop culture, rap, discusses the experiences and standards of living of people in different situations ranging from racial stereotyping to struggle for survival in poor, violent conditions. Rap music is a vocal protest for the people oppressed by these things. Most people know that rap is not only music to dance and party to, but a significant form of expression. It is a source of information that describes the rage of people facing growing oppression, declining opportunities for advancement, changing moods on the streets, and everyday survival. Its distinct sound, images, and attitude are notorious to people of all†¦show more content†¦In the global popularity scene, hip hop now rules, and is a dominant cultural form in many parts of the world. Rap gives voice to every culture that produces and circulates it, not just African-Americans. As a new force, rap levels the playing field, opening doors to new cultural players, and ripens for new corporate snakes to pounce on. Circulating ideas, images, sound, and style, it is becoming central to the new multimedia global culture and is an expression of a multicultural world with no borders and limits. A raw expression of urban hip hop culture, rap quickly became the sound of African-American anger, rebellion, cultural style, and experience. Anticipated by the ground-breaking work of the West Coast-based Watts Prophets and New York area Gil Scott Heron (whom I worked for at my senior experience internship at TVT Records) and the Last Poets in the early 1970s, the current configuration of rap emerged out of Sugar Hill Gangs 1979 Rappers Delight and Grandmaster Flashs 1982 hit The Message. Hip hop culture began developing its style and sound in New York party scenes in the Bronx, Brooklyn and other ghetto areas in the late 1970s. By the 1980s, a whole cycle of New York-based hip hop and rap artists emerged to public attention, including Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Run DMC, Eric B and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-ONE, Tone Loc, Salt nShow MoreRelatedRap and Moral character1407 Words   |  6 PagesIn the article Rap and Moral Character by Susan Dwyer, the subject of concern is the consequences of listening to rap music and the effect it has on moral character. The author argues that rap music contribute to the corruption of moral character, it is misogynistic, promotes violence and street crime. In this paper I will examine the author’s claims, use of key concepts, and her reasoning. By doing so, I will be able to demonstrate that Dwyer’s thesis is unjust and unsupported. In what follows,Read MoreEssay about Rap and Moral Character1844 Words   |  8 PagesRap and Moral Character In the article Rap and Moral Character by Wesley Cragg and Christine Koggel, the subject of concern is the consequences of listening to rap music and the effects on moral behaviour. The author suggests that rap and moral character are linked and that due to the natural context of rap, it promotes violence, crass materialism, crime, and is misogynistic and therefore corrupts a person’s moral character. Based on their claims, the authors take the position that rap shouldRead MoreHip-hop was a cultural movement. It emerged in the early 1970s from the South Bronx. Hip-hop came1300 Words   |  6 PagesThis is not to say that there are not artists in the hip-hop community that talk about things that need to change such as racism, exploitation of the poor, police brutality, and the lack of education for the black and the poor. 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