The Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization - Term Paper Example

Reflection Essay Cultural anthropology is a mirror that reflects on the variations in the human society. By virtue of the human creation, cultural variation existed. It shows the diversity of creation and particularly in the humans. People are products of particular races and ethnicity. Their origin defines their lives and controls what they do. Due to the cultural variations, some people tend to do things differently from the others. The diversity is a guarantee that humans cannot be homogenous.

Therefore, the variations in culture remain despite the human interaction with people of different cultures. Evidently, civilization has seen the exchange in cultural practices and activities. Best practices have always been exchanged ever since the realization of the cultural diversity. People from different cultures tend to learn the practices of the other cultures and utilize the lessons for personal and societal benefits. However, the cultural diversity does not mean that cultures are different.

Indeed, the variation attributes to the presence of similarities and differences in the human culture. This paper will use the anthropology lens in demonstrating the cultural variations using two-course books. It will elaborate the cultural variations between the American hip hop group and a Japanese hip hop group The author elaborates on the diversity between the Japanese society and American society in regards to their perception to hip hop music. In the process, it explains how a culture and music that originates halfway around the world is appropriated and remade within the Tokyo clubs and the recording studios.

In the process, the Japanese cultural diversity and the rest of the world are demonstrated. The book depicts hip hop as an accepted genre of music in the American society while it is still finding its ground in Japan. Evidently, the hip hop scene in Japan is vibrant. Therefore, the many of the Japanese are grappling with the music genre to come relevant in the music industry and clubs in Tokyo. As a mimicked cultural practice, the Japanese is not able to reshape hip hop into a Japanese product.

Rather, they try to mimic the whole package of the American rappers. This includes the use of derogatory terms, rhythm (Condry 137). This shows that the Japanese language does not correspond to the hip hop nature of music. The hip hop genre requires the rappers to flow with the beats and make sense out of a particular rhythm. Therefore, the two cultures vary in language, and that influences their music industry. From the recording shows, Condry provides an engrossing account that highlights crafting “flow.

” He also points out the broader linguistic consequence of hip hop word play for nationalistic discourse. This elaborates the difference in “language creativity” in the hip hop circles (Condry 151). The variation in the culture can cause content distortion because of lack of originality. Hip hop is not an indigenous Japanese genre of music. Therefore, it is fetched from a different culture. Therefore, orienting the words to make sense may become a problem. The Japanese rappers are illuminated with the American attributes in order to rap effectively.

Naturally, the American rappers do not struggle in rapping because it is within their natural abilities and culture. They are identified with the rap because it is their cultural practice. However; the Japanese do not have that attribute and hence must struggle to make sense of the genre. Unfortunately, they tend to deviate and corrupt their language to make sense and find the flow. This is done by manipulating the Japanese language. In other cases, the emcees use derogatory terms to bring a sense of the gangster attribute in the hip hop.

Hip hop is associated with the African Americans and also use the derogatory terms such as “nigger” in their music (Bourgois 23). They are associated with having the gangster connotation in the genre. The American culture allows and accommodates these practices wholly. Furthermore, hip hop depicts a sense of rivalry between the underground artist and the pop icons. Unfortunately, the Japanese culture does not have these elements in the hip hop genre. Therefore, they always combine the samurai figure in order to draw a parallel with the African American gangsters.

It does not augur well with the Japanese as gangsters are not associated with music in their culture. Therefore, the cultural variation is evident between the two cultures. Despite the variations exhibited by the book, it is evident that the two cultures also have a level of similarities. This is evident with the perception of women in the society. Originally, hip hop was a male dominated music genre in America. Women were sidelined when it came to hip hop. Over time, however, the American women ventured into the music industry and managed to conquer.

Currently, they are doing exceptionally well in hip hop. In the same way, the female rappers in Japan have not been embraced fully. They struggle in this male-dominated genre (Condry 170,180). Moreover, hip hop in both of the cultures contains the same content. In America, hip hop addressed the societal and political challenges facing the community. In the same way, the Japanese rappers have a similar continent in their hip hop music as it addresses societal issues such as education, teenage bullying and sex among other issues.

Works Cited Bourgois, Philippe. In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Cambridge University Press, 1996. Condry, Ian. Hip-Hop Japan: The Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalizatio. The University of Chicago Press, 2006.