Films and American Popular Culture - Essay Example

This article is relevant to my topic, because it analyzes the negative effects of the mainstreaming of rap music on the goals of rappers. Blair showed concern for the commercialization of rap music, because commercialization has historically benefitted white firms more and diluted the genuineness of black rap music. He narrated the history of rap in the U.S. He argued that Marxian hegemony theory can best explain how mainstream black rap has become a tool for the elite to propagate their own interests and goals.

This is a good article, because it explores the theoretical underpinnings of commercializing black rap. It directly answers the research question also on the challenges of rap music. Blair’s findings that commercialization is not an absolute good for black rappers contradicts the implications of the findings of Hunnicutt and Andrews, because in their study, black rappers use mainstream music to broaden their prominence and audiences. Hence, for Hunnicutt and Andrews, mainstreaming black rap can also indicate the acknowledgement of the invisible voices of low-income, young, black men.

Deflem, M. (2001). Rap, rock and censorship: Popular culture and the technologies of justice. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, Chicago, May 27-30, 1993. Retrieved March 12, 2011, from http://www.cas.sc.edu/socy/faculty/deflem/zzcens97.htm The source came from a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, Chicago, May 27-30, 1993, so it is trusted as a scholarly article. This source is relevant, because it examines how popular music has been put on trial, because of its deviant messages.

Deflem reviewed literature on music censorship and its effects on the development of rap music and other forms of popular music. Findings demonstrated that the law has been used to regulate social processes and institutions, but the history of music censorship demonstrated that the law and law enforcement could not significantly impact and limit musical expressions, mainly because of the First Amendment protection. The strength of this article is that it answers both research questions. Its weakness is its focus on the legal history of music censorship.

This article has the same findings as Blair, in that dominant social institutions and tools are being used to limit or crush the social, economic, cultural, and political messages of black rap music. Hunnicutt, G. & Andrews, K. H. (2009).Tragic narratives in popular culture: Depictions of homicide in rap music. Sociological Forum, 24 (3), 611-630. The source came from a peer-reviewed journal, so it is trusted as a scholarly article. It is important to the research, because it answers the question about the goals of rap music.

They explored homicide themes in rap lyrics across the period 1989–2000 and used the framework of cultural criminology. Their sampling included 360 titles, where they took the first top 30 songs for each year. Findings showed three categories: 1) exaltation of killing, 2) moralizing tales about the destruction of violent death and the need for change in society, and ? or 3) homicide used as a figure of speech for being a “bigger” or more popular rapper. Some songs cautioned about the consequences of leading a criminal life, while others remarked on the power structure, and situations of preserving respect, zero tolerance, and vengeance.

Homicide is also surprisingly gendered, with men killing men. The