History of Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop music also known as rap came into existence in the middle of the 1970s. The four main components of Hip-Hop being rapping (MCing), DJing (production and scratching) along with hip hop dance (break dancing) and urban inspired art, graffiti. Hip-Hop is a cultural movement to the African American and Latino cultures.

Hip-Hop is popularly known for its rhyming lyrics and punch lines. Some of the first major rap artists were Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation, Big Daddy Kane, The Sugarhill Gang, and Run DMC. As the years went on the music started to change. In the early 90s gangsta rap was created. Artists such as Tupac, Notorious B.I.G. and Snoop Dog, Bones Thugs-N-Harmony started this new movement. Gangsta rap is most known for its controversial lyrics promoting violence, promiscuity, drug use and misogyny (degrading of women). The new era of hip-hop had a lot of animosity towards it. Music artist was look down upon because of their choice of words, but wouldn’t the government be violating their right of freedom of speech if they weren’t allowed to express themselves the way the wanted to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music

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Freedom of Speech

The First Amendment is apart of the Bill of Rights which is apart of the United States of America Constitution. This amendment guarantees the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, the free exercise of religion, the freedom to petition, the people's right to keep and bear arms, and the rights to be free of unreasonable search and seizure, cruel and unusual punishment, and compelled self-incrimination.

The Constitution was ratified, on March 4, 1789, but United States knew that it wasn’t finish setting up the structure of the government. The Bill of Rights came into effect on December 15, 1791. It was created by James Madison. The Bill of Rights was created because the original text of the Constitution generated some opposition on the ground that it did not include adequate guarantees of civil liberties. United States was founded on the concept of liberty and justice for all. Unfortunately, it has come to be liberty and justice for some.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Background

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Hip-Hop & Freedom of Speech

The First Amendment of The Bill of Rights for the Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech. Over time the freedom of speech has been fought for and debated. By the U.S. guaranteeing the freedom of speech you would believe that we are allowed to express ourselves in anyway that we would want but that is not the case. Hip-Hop has always been a target for being the scapegoat for things that are going on in the world. “Hip-Hop is corrupting the minds of the youth,” as many adults and government officials say time and time again. Artists are just speaking as they once felt as they were growing up or on their own life experiences. Teenagers can relate because we are already at that state or already experienced some of things that they are rapping about. I’m not saying that every artist and the songs they write are appropriate but you can not blame that on the whole community. Artists are just as any other people in the world, there are some good and bad but everyone always seems to put the bad first and let them represent the whole community.

http://www.riaa.com/issues/freedom/history.asp
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Parental Advisory

In 2001 the government stated that record companies had to put parental advisory labels on all marketing materials such as recorded material, promotional items, CD covers and web sites. The government feels that the parental advisory provides enough information for the parents. The Recording Industry already voluntarily places labels on CDs it considers inappropriate for children. Russell Simmons organized a Hip-Hop Summit after the parental advisory laws were put in effect. At the Hip-Hop Summit he discussed freedom of speech, racial profiling and other topics that were affecting the community. The Federal Trade Commission now fines entertainment companies that market explicit material to children.

In my opinion placing parental advisory on CDs isn’t a bad idea because only certain age groups should be listening to explicit hip-hop music. The age that they allow you to buy the parental advisory CDs is too high. You shouldn’t have to wait to buy a CD without your parent being present until your 17. I think about 14 is a good idea. I think they should take into consideration what type of environment you live in because if you grow up hearing explicit things, music isn’t going to really have an affect on you.

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=14192

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Misogyny in Hip-Hop

In the lyrics and videos of today’s hip-hop music many of them degraded women. In the lyrics many disrespectable terms are used towards women. It betrays an image as it being okay for a guy to talk to a female anyway that he wants. In videos the females’ majority of the times have tight clothes on or barely anything at all. Younger females may think that by dressing like the same way or going with the flow for everything for everything that a guy may say even if you disagree with it, are the only ways to get a guys attention. Some females even think that it is funny or cool to be called a bird or a whore. Some guys think they live a life style of a pimp and some females may think it is okay to be apart of it as long as they are getting material things.

I feel the way young men as well as young woman are brought up determines if they feed into the hype of everything. I know many of guys that listen to hip-hop and don’t refer to all females as the derogatory terms that are used in the music. It all depends on how a female carries herself and the standard she sets for herself. If a guy would call me a hoe I wouldn’t care because I’m not one. Hip-Hop does play a role in the mind set of some people but it can’t just be blamed as the only thing that does because there are many other factors.

http://www.mysistahs.org/features/hiphop.htm

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Ban of the N-word

Recently, the State of New York along with other states was discussing to ban the N-word from being used. They want to stop the word from being used so casually. It is seen by many African Americans to be one of the most offensive words in the English language. Many rap artists and young New Yorkers toss the word around as a term of endearment or as a substitute for black. It angers some of the black leaders who consider those who use it as ignorant of the word's hate-filled history in slavery and segregation. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are two of the big supporters of the banning.

I personally never really use the N-word but it is very common used among other teenagers. Hip-Hop artist still continue to use it and I have heard some of them say that they would still use it because it’s apart of whom they are. I think with out artist using the N-word music would be very different. In my opinion I see nothing wrong with hip-hop artists not using the n-word because they will just create another word to substitute for it and if they stop using it first then other people will follow after.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070228/tv_nm/newyork_word_dc_2

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