The study of the hip-hop culture - Essay Example

Submitted: HIP-HOP Introduction In the past, the study of the hip-hop culture was to contempt. However, the study of hip-hop culture among the modern scholars is gaining momentum making the hip-hop culture less marginalized than it was a decade ago. Numerous scholars specializing in other academic and professional disciplines recognize that the hip-hop culture is a subject that is worth academic and professional attention. As a result, many modern day scholars are engaging in research activities in an attempt to understand the origin and the characteristics of the hip-hop culture. Some of the professional fields concerned with the study of the hip-hop culture include musicology, literature, African-American studies, linguistics, and so forth (Leach, 9; Alridge and Stewart, 190). In academic and professional conferences, hip-hop culture topics are receiving a wider attention as people strive to understand this culture. Equally, hip-hop materials are currently being sought after by research institutions (including Harvard and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture) to provide researchers with adequate materials in the analysis of the hip-hop culture (Leach, 9). This essay compares Eminem’s video for “The Real Slim Shady” with N.W.A.’s video for “Straight Outta Compton”. In the analysis of these different rap videos, the essay constructs an argument about how hip-hop has changed since its formation in the 1970s. Defining and Understanding Hip-hop and Rap Numerous people (including knowledgeable hip-hop writers and listeners) do not understand the meanings of rap and hip-hop; particularly, many of these individuals think that the two are interchangeable. Nonetheless, hip-hop is a cultural movement originating from South Bronx, New York. It has four main/primary elements that include rap, graffiti, DJing (also known as turntablism), and break dancing. Other elements that are also part of the hip-hop culture include language, beat boxing, and fashion. Among these elements, rap is the most popular and the most celebrated element of the hip-hop culture. This is the case because it is relatively easy to market rap to any mass audience. The popularity of rap is the main reason as to why numerous individuals interchange the meanings of rap and hip-hop (Leach, 10). Rapping is also known as emceeing. In this hip-hop element, the rapper or the performer speaks rhythmically to a musical beat; his/her words rhyme from one sentence to the other. In the modern hip-hop perspective, an MC is different from a rapper. An MC is an individual with superior lyrical ability; on the other hand, a rapper focuses less on lyrical prowess. Particularly, this characteristic is evident in many of the mainstream rappers today (Aces and Eighths). Although it originated in New York, hip-hop has its roots in African-American and West African music. Griots are a group of West African singers and poets whose musical style is similar to that of the hip-hop culture. They have an oral tradition similar to the one in rap music; however, theirs dates back to hundreds of years. In the City of New York, griot-like musical performances from artists such as Mansur Nuriddin and The Last Poets influenced the post-civil rights era culture in the 1960s. In the 1970s, block parties became common creating the humble beginnings of the hip-hop culture (Aces and Eighths). “The Real Slim Shady” by Eminem “The Real Slim Shady” is a hip-hop song done by Marshall Bruce Mathers III who is popular by the name Eminem. In the process of writing this song, Eminem sought assistance from Andre Romelle Young (popular by the name Dr. Dre) and Thomas Joseph Coster Junior (popular by the name Tommy Coster Jr). Eminem was writing this song for his third studio album “The Marshall Mathers LP” released on 23 May 2000. This song was the lead single in this album. The song was highly successful as it reached number one in UK (United Kingdom) and number four on the “Billboard Hot 100”. Eminem released this song again later in 2005 as part of his greatest hits album “Curtain Call: The Hits”. In this song, Eminem brings out one of his alter egos (slim shady); his other alter egos include Marshall Mathers (his real/birth identity) and Eminem (his stage identity). He attacks his critics and incorporates pop culture and celebrity references to pass his message to the listeners. Analysts view this song as a parody of the stereotypical Pop songs; however, many of Eminem’s listeners did not get the irony in his lyrics and the video. When writing this song, Eminem was under pressure, from his producer Dr. Dre, to produce a hit track that would market his album. In the midst of this pressure, Eminem got inspiration from his fans who were dressing and acting like him and decided to compose his lyrics based on this inspiration. This song features a group of young men with blonde hair dressed like Eminem in what seems to be a hospital waiting room. Kathy Griffin announces, “Will the real slim shady please stand up?” and at this point, Eminem’s impersonators stand while Eminem begins to rap. The lyrics are offensive as Eminem goes out of his way to create controversy in this song so that it can be popular and lead to massive album sales. In my opinion, Eminem is trying to tell his fans that everyone should find his/her own identity and embrace it without considering what other people say about it. He is against the idea of imitating others. “Straight Outta Compton” by N. W. A “Straight Outta Compton” is a hip-hop rap song done by American hip-hop group N.W.A in their first album titled “Straight Outta Completion”. N.W.A (Niggaz with Attitude) is an American hip-hop group from Compton, California. Its membership includes Mik Lezan (popular by the name Arabian Prince), Antoine Carraby (popular by the name DJ Yella), Andre Romelle Young (popular by the name Dr. Dre), Eric Lynn Wright (popular by the name Eazy-E), O’Shea Jackson (popular by the name Ice Cube), and Lorenzo Jerald Patterson (popular by the name MC Ren). This track also features in an extended mix by N.W.A and in “The Best of N.W.A”. Over the years, the song has been successful as it was among the top 20 hip-hop songs in About.com’s Top 100 Rap Songs. In the same vein, it was sixth on VH1’s 100 greatest hip-hop songs. The song, together with the other tracks from the “Straight Outta Compton” album, pioneered the recording of gangsta rap. The lyrics are violent, sexual and full of profanity. This nature made the N.W.A members popular among the law enforcing agencies (including the Los Angeles Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation). The video of the track presents different parts of Compton city, the home city of the N.W.A members. In Ice Cube and MC Ren’s verses, the video depicts the police as violent as they chase Ice Cube and MC Ren and later rough them up as they put them in a holding van. The song also illustrates the perception and reception of the residents of Compton towards the police. In the video, Eazy-E rides a convertible car chasing the police van that holds Cube and MC Ren; he tries to yell at the driver who in turn ignores him. The local residents get angry and throw stones at the police van as it leaves the neighborhood. The beat of the song is hooky and uncompromisingly hard to match its lyrics. Apart from being anti-police, the lyrics of this song are full of gun violence and criticisms against devious women in the society. All these features blend to bring out a perfect picture of the harsh realities of life in the streets of Compton city. Comparison of the Two Videos in Relation to Hip-hop Evolution Focusing on civil rights and hip-hop, Boyd (152) argues that the hip-hop culture needs to evolve since it cannot live in the past forever. In the same light, Taylor and Taylor (211) point out that the hip-hop culture has undergone tremendous changes especially within the last 20 years. Initially, the hip-hop culture related exclusively to rap music; nonetheless, the hip-hop culture is currently a lifestyle followed by hip-hop artists and fans all over the world. In line with these arguments, N.W.A’s video for “Straight Outta Compton” and Eminem’s video for “The Real Slim Shady” have significant differences based on the difference in their time of production and release. Between 1988 and 2000, the hip-hop culture has undergone tremendous changes. Double O (a member of the group Kidz in the Hall) argued, “I think hip-hop culture has helped a younger generation see race in a slightly different perspective” (Hale, 64). In the same vein, Persaud (626) points out that numerous scholars associate the origin of rap music and the bigger hip-hop culture to the African tradition especially from West Africa. Persaud (626) further asserts that African-Americans contributed positively and creatively to the American society and as such should be subject to analysis as creative agents and not as victims. Based on race and hip-hop identity, N.W.A’s video for “Straight Outta Compton” is a song released in the 1980s when rap music belonged to the African-Americans. It was their way of expressing the harsh realities of life in the black neighborhoods. By the year 2000, the hip-hop culture had evolved in terms of racial identity and individuals, in American and other parts of the world, had a different perspective about the hip-hop culture and race. To many, rap was a means of livelihood and the black Americans, whites, and the Hispanics engaged in rap music (as rappers, music producers, music distributors, video directors and so forth) to generate income. By this time, Eminem had overcome strict criticism from popular African-American figures in the American hip-hop industry (including Ray Benzimo and Dave Mays) who thought of hip-hop culture as an African-American affair. These changes in racial identity within the hip-hop culture were significant determiners of positive reception of “The Real Slim Shady” by Eminem. According to Motley and Henderson (243), there has been a huge transformation in the hip-hop culture. Initially, hip-hop was a marginalized culture identified with the African-Americans. Rap music hardly received airplay in television and radio stations. This made the commercialization of hip-hop a non-viable idea. Nonetheless, this perspective has changed. Motley and Henderson (243) note, “more than 50 million hip-hop fans in the US and 100 million worldwide consume some form of hip-hop, making hip-hop consumers a lucrative market to understand”. N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton” was highly successful majorly because of addressing the concerns of the African-Americans. The album “Straight Outta Compton” reached double platinum sales status with no airplay from television and radio stations. On the other hand, Eminem released his track “The Real Slim Shady” in a time when commercialization of hip-hop was viable. His producers, including Dr. Dre, pressured him to write controversial lyrics to increase the popularity of the track and boost the sales of his album. During the first week, the album sold over 1.7 million copies in the United States. To date, the album sales are over 11 million copies in the US and over 30 million copies worldwide. The modern day hip-hop artists are less violent in their lyrics and their music videos. Hip-hop videos where individuals are fighting with the police or killing each other are not common. Today, the whites and the blacks in the US are equal and are subject to fair treatment especially in the access of opportunities. The harsh realities of life in the US streets, as addressed by the early African-American hip-hop artists, are no more. N.W.A’s video for “Straight Outta Compton” has violent scenes where the rappers collide with the police in addition to the public throwing stones to the police van. That aspect, the gangsta violent appeal, is lacking in Eminem’s video for “The Real Slim Shady”. This clearly indicates one of the changes that the hip-hop culture has undergone from 1988 to 2000. As much as many aspects of the hip-hop culture have been changing since its formation in the 1970s, some aspects of this culture remain constant despite the forces of change. For instance, the use of vulgarity in hip-hop has been constant. Taylor and Taylor (212) affirm that modern day hip-hop artists still use vulgar language used by the early hip-hop artists when composing their lyrics. This aspect of the hip-hop culture will take centuries to change. Taylor and Taylor (212) further note that vulgarity in the hip-hop culture represents disregard for the established societal norms and rules of decency. In this case, vulgarity is acceptable in the hip-hop culture solely because it is offensive to individuals who do not conform to the hip-hop culture. N.W.A’s use vulgar language in the song “Straight Outta Compton” is similar to the use of vulgarity by Eminem in his song “The Real Slim Shady”. While N.W.A use words such as “motherfucker”, “fuck”, and “ass” Eminem uses “fuck”, “shit”, “bitch” and so forth. Conclusion This essay sought to compare Eminem’s video for “The Real Slim Shady” with N.W.A.’s video for “Straight Outta Compton” constructing an argument about how hip-hop has changed since its formation in the 1970s. It established that initially, hip-hop was an African-American affair, there was no commercialization of hip-hop, hip-hop was marginal, and hip-hop videos were full of violence. However, all that is different today. Even the whites and Latinos subscribe to the hip-hop culture, hip-hop is commercial, hip-hop has a worldwide recognition, and the modern day hip-hop videos have minimal or no violence. Nonetheless, vulgarity remains a constant aspect of the hip-hop culture that has outlived evolution. Works Cited Aces and Eighths. History of Hip-hop. Web. 29 November 2013. http://www.acesandeighths.com/hip_hop.html. Alridge, Derrick, and Stewart, James. “Introduction: Hip Hop in History: Past, Present, and Future.” The Journal of African American History 90.3 (2005): 190-195. Boyd, Todd. The New H.N.I.C.: The Death of the Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip-Hop. New York: New York University Press, 2002. Hale, Andreas. “Strength in Numbers.” The Source 8 (2008): 62–66. Leach, Andrew. "One Day it’ll all Make Sense": Hip-Hop and Rap Resources for Music Librarians." Notes 65.1 (2008): 9-37. Motley, Carol, and Henderson, Geraldine. “The Global Hip Hop Diaspora: Understanding the Culture”. Journal of Business Research 61 (2008): 243-253. Persaud, Jerry. “The Signature of Hip Hop: A Sociological Perspective”. International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory 4.1 (2011): 625-647. Taylor, Carl, and Taylor Virgil. “Hip Hop is now: An Evolving Youth Culture”. Reclaiming Children and Youth 15.4 (2007): 210-213. Read More