Dance Music: Hip-Hop - Research Paper Example

?Hip-Hop Introduction Hip-hop music is one of the most celebrated music genres in the modern music industry. Although hip pop has not been in existence for a long time, it has acquired many followers than any other music genre of equivalent class. The music is widely played in America although it has many followers all over the world including African states. The music is believed to have started in the early 1970s by African American communities living in New York. Most hip-hop fans consider the music to have existed long before this period. It is believed that the music was in existence during the time of slavery. Hip-hop followers claim that their music had thrived before it started to be produced commercially in the 1970s. Due to the long existence of a compact union of followers, hip-hop is more of a lifestyle than music. This essay will therefore, give an investigation of hip-hop as one of the most popular dancehall music. Rise of Hip-hop Commercial production of the music started with the rise of disk jockeys where DJ’s created rhythmic beats through breaking of loops (DST Web). Other forms of rhythmical chanting and poetry that has greatly influenced the trend of the music followed this. Hip-hop is also accompanied by other work of art such as graffiti painting. Hip-hop followers claim that the music and graffiti printing are used as tools to pass hip-hop culture and message to the people. Early pioneers of the music intended to unite the community against widespread racial oppression. Although the early music did not send direct message against oppressors and racists, it had indirect message meant enlighten the people. The black American communities are among the first pioneers of the music. This indicates that the first message that was spread through the music was to empower the communities particularly the youths to rise above social ills such as racism and oppression. Hip-hop was also meant to help the people out of poverty through creation of welfare association. The East Coast and West Coast are some of the associations that were meant to change people’s living standards. This indicates that hip-hop is not only involved with production of music and entertainment but the need to create a sustainable society. Hip-hop aims to create a society that is established on the hip-hop culture to enlighten the people and save them from their suffering. The music was also started with the intention of uniting the people. Early hip-hop pioneers believed that social problems within the American communities could only be solved through a combined effort. Hip-hop Culture Hip-hop music has become a major entertainment tool in the dynamic entertainment and music industry. Although most hip-hop fans listen to the music with view of being entertained, some look beyond the music. Looking beyond the music involves practicing the music and, this symbolizes the rise of hip-hop culture. Culture is the overall patterns of human beliefs behaviors and way of life that characterize a society. The hip-hop society share common beliefs that play a vital role in hip hop culture. Firstly, hip-hop followers believe people can only rise against oppression if they are united (Alexander Web). The music is therefore, considered as a factor that unites their common interests. Hip-hop followers also share common beliefs about hip-hop legends such as a Tupac Shakur commonly known as Machiavelli. Tupac died in a shooting incidence in 1994. However, most of his fans still believe that the star is still in existence. There are several theories that have been put forward to explain the disappearance of the music star. Some fans claim that the alleged death and shooting incident was an intentional fabricated story that was intended to protect the artist from his immediate problems within the law. The theory also claims that the hip-hop superstar went to exile immediately after the incidence where he exists as a fugitive. In addition the follower of the artist claim that he continuously produce his music despite having been dead. Hip-hop fans not only share common beliefs about legends and artists but they also have common on the authority particularly the police force. Most hip-hop followers consider the police force to be oppressive and against them (djemi Web). The stereotype that hip-hop fans are drug users and peddlers is closely associated with the views of hip-hop fans towards the police force. Hip-hop followers believe that the law is oppressive and discriminative on racial basis. In addition, they believe that American police conduct their arrest based on racial discrimination. Their unique form of dressing that form part of the hip-hop culture also characterizes hip-hop fans. Most fans prefer wearing oversize clothing that has labels of hip-hop legends. Hip-hop is also closely associated with basketball and, therefore most fans prefer wearing designed basketball clothing. In addition to the unique clothing, hip-hop fans have a unique language and communication style. Slang is commonly spoken in America and it has its roots from the hip-hop culture (Rickford Web). Although slang is considered as a language of defiance, it has proved to have a great influence among the Americans. Slang is also becoming increasingly popular in other parts of the world where hip-hop music has followers. Finally, hip-hop followers associate the music with prison life. This has made most fans to admire serving prison sentence as a way of showing loyalty to the hip-hop community. Hip-hop followers claim that the music was developed from prison since most hip-hop pioneers like Tupac, Dr. Dre, and Bad Boy having served prison sentence. Most of hip-hop music and inspiration to write the music was developed in prisons. Social Impacts The fact that hip-hop is not only concerned with entertainment and production of music, makes it to have widespread impact on the society. The hip-hop culture is an immediate impact of hip-hop on the society. The hip-hop culture is a form of visible impact of the music on the society. However, there are other impacts of hip-hop that are less visible or that are of lesser value to the communities. The youths are the main beneficiaries of trends and fashion. The youth also play a significant role in determining the trend in development taken by the society. Being the greatest beneficiaries of the hip-hop culture implies that the impacts of hip-hop on the society are mainly demonstrated through the youths. The association of hip-hop with crime has contributed to the rise of crime particularly among the black American society. Black American youths form the largest percentage of people serving prison sentence in American prison (Paul Web). Hip-hop preaches defiance message and this make the youth to admire committing crime. Living a thug life is an admiration of most hip-hop youths who admire living the hip-hop culture. Most hip-hop fans are also lured to living the lives that most hip-hop artists lived and this contribute to crime among hip-hop fans. Hip-hop music also promotes rivalry between the police force and the followers; this has contributed to crime levels among hip-hop followers. Hip-hop followers consider the police force to be against the culture. This has led to an increase in conflict between the police and hip-hop fans. The antagonism between the authority and the hip-hop followers has also contributed to an increase in the number of hip-hop followers who are currently serving prison sentence within the United States. Serving a prison sentence is therefore, believed to be a rite of passage for every hip-hop fan. Abuse of illegal drugs such as heroin and marijuana has become a major challenge to the US governments and governments of other developed countries. Although most of the illegal drugs that are consumed in US enter the country through the Mexican border, the black Americans are the main drug traffickers. Hip-hop followers believe that the riches gathered by some of the legends were realized through their involvement with the sale of illegal drugs. Most hip-hop super stars are also known to be drug users. The youths tend to imitate or copy the lifestyle of such superstars and this has contributed to an increase in drug consumption among the black American society. Most hip-hop super stars also claim that the drugs are beneficial to their musical career since they cause inspiration. This has promoted the use of drug among hip-hop followers particularly among the youths. The drug problem among hip-hop followers is also linked to the rise of imprisonment among the black American society (Findadeath Web). Most hip-hop superstars trace their origin from the poor American communities. Some of the superstars were born and brought up in shantytowns before they rose to fame. This has had a major impact to the people living in slums. Hip-hop has had both negative and positive impact to people living in slum or low-income citizens. Most of the popular hip-hop artist rose from their poor states to riches due to their music (Street Web). This has had great influence to the poor population in the country. The rise of hip-hop superstars from poverty to riches demonstrates that every person has a chance to make it in life despite the nature of their upbringing and financial background. This inspiration has led to the creation of celebrities from slums in various sectors such as sports and entertainment industry. Hip-hop stars and fans are also involved in charity work aimed at improving the lives of people living in poverty. The Haitian earthquake is a clear demonstration of how hip-hop superstars are involved in charity work that is meant to improve the community. Although hip-hop has had great contribution to the lives of people living in slums, it encourages people to live in substandard lives. This is because most artists associate themselves with ghetto life and, it has negatively affected their fans. The future of Hip-hop Within the past few decades, hip-hop has not achieved much success despite having a large number of followers. This raises question concerning the future of hip-hop and necessary reforms on the music. The future of hip-hop is also dependent on whether there would be a solid separation between hip-hop music and hip-hop culture. Due to the problems associated with hip-hop culture, hip-hop needs to have a clear distinction between hip-hop culture and hip-hop music. Future hip-hop music also needs to free itself from the stereotype of crime and defiance. Conclusion Development of hip-hop music has promoted the development of hip-hop culture. The music is considered as a uniting factor among hip-hop followers and fans and, it has greatly contributed to the rise hip-hop societies. The youths are the main hip-hop fans and, therefore the impact of the music is realized through the influence of the music on the youths. Works Cited Alexander, Bey. Hip-Hop's Musical Evolution of Rap. Oneonta. 2008. Web 19, March 2012. DST. The Importance of the Hip Hop DJ by DXT formerly Grandmixer DST. Daveyd. 2009. Web 19, March 2012. np. "Live by the gun, die by the gun." Findadeath.2010. Web 19, March 2012. np. “Hip-Hop History & Culture The Four Elements of Hiphophttp” djemi. 2009. Web 19, March 2012. < www.djemir.com/hiphophistory.html> Rickford, John. “What is Ebonics (African American Vernacular English)?” 2012. Web 19, March 2012. Street, Paul. History is a weapon: Race, Prison, And Poverty. Historyisaweapon. 2010. Web 19, March 2012 Read More