Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes - Essay Example

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes due: Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes After viewing Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes by Byron hurt, I highlight a statement by Jackson Katz, an anti-sexist activist. Jackson says, if you are a young man growing in the culture of hip-hop which tells you that that being a man means being powerful, being in control and having the respect of your peers (14:48).According to the Hip hop culture masculinity, is shown by physical power and successful people can show this by other means such as using their money.

Since rappers do not have the real power, they show this by throwing money to the screen and show big houses and expensive cars in their videos. Some rappers use violence to show their power, control and how they have respect from their peers. This is well accepted in the public since violence is well accepted in the American culture as shown in the movie industry. As Miles White (2011) puts it in his book From Jim Crow to Jay-z: Race, Rap and the Performance of Masculinity Book, “The black body and the representations of masculinity in hardcore styles of hip hop performance are socially constructed forms of racial and gender performance (p. 23)”.Sexism is depicted in hip hop by the rappers emasculating other rappers by calling them names to question their manhood and to use their lyrics and music videos to show women as sex objects.

Having many women sometimes half naked in the videos is also viewed as a sign of respect, power and attraction. Through this sexism, homophobia is also shown as a big issue in hip hop yet it is ironical as the rappers have also been seen half naked showing off their tattoos.All in all, hip hop begun as a tool to raise issues by the poor Black and Latino Americans against the "white power structure". Since then, it has changed to the stereotyped gangster rap that even the current players in the game cannot explain why they behave the way they do since it has been made to be part of the society.

It has evolved to be accepted by all race, culture and class that connect with the masculinity and definition of manhood as depicted in the American society.ReferencesByron hurt (n.d.). Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes Retrieved November 3, 2014, fromhttp://distanceed.fullerton.edu/bbpresentations/bonnie_massey/hip_hop_beyond_beats_and_rhymes/player.htmlWhite, M. (2011). From Jim Crow to Jay-Z race, rap, and the performance of masculinity.Urbana: University of Illinois Press.