Hip-Hop Takes A Stand

Hurricane Katrina struck the south in the summer of 2006. Katrina was one the worse hurricanes to every hit United States. All of the houses in New Orleans and Mississippi were destroyed. Even parts of Georgia and Florida were destroyed. Aid was sent to Florida but very little aid was sent to New Orleans and Mississippi. The President didn’t really send aid to them, I believe because he didn’t see them as a priority and because they weren’t well off.

The conditions were horrible dead bodies were lying and deteriorating in the street full of water. You would have thought that this was a third world country instead of the United States. BET hosted a telethon, Saving Ourselves. The telethon raised millions. The performances were very uplifting. The telethon conveyed the message that we will succeed and overcome and for those who aren’t willing to help us then we must help and over come on our own.

Entrepreneurship in Hip Hop

Hip-hop was become a get way for business vendors to become successful. Many businesses and record labels were started by people that couldn’t get signed so they started their own label. Roc-a-fella one of the major record labels right now was started my Damon Dash and Jay-Z. Jay-z couldn’t get a record deal so after selling cds on his own he teamed up with Damon Dash.

Russell Simmons one of the most popular entrepreneurs started Def Jam. He later ventured into creating Phat Farm clothing line. When he married Kimora Lee Simmons she started Baby Phat a subsidiary of Phat Farm but a woman clothing line. Russell Simmons opened the way for many who couldn’t get a break from someone so they gave themselves one. Sean Combs popularly known as Diddy started his own label, clothing line, and cologne fragrance. Hip-hop has opened the door for many new and inventive ideas for people to get into the business industry.

http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/mcarticles/biggerthanhiphop.asp

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Hip Hop & Violence

In the hip-hop world there are various artists that influence the community, particularly the youth. The clothing mostly seen as gangster wear or extra baggy clothes are worn by rappers. Some of the clothing that the artists wear is very expensive. For some of the kids to afford them they feel they need to sell drugs and hustle in order for them to maintain a certain image. The kids that are hustling are getting younger and younger. They may feel the need to provide for their family.

Gangs influence the youth because it portrays the image of them having some where to belong if the don’t quite fit in at home. Artists such as Snoop Dogg, Game, and Jim Jones are involved in gangs. The videos show artist showing off their bandanas making it known that they all of apart of a “family.” It portrays the image that if they all are apart of the same gang and they hustle or sell drugs they too can get out of the hood. This is a false image because the only way for anyone to get out the hood in a legit way is to truly be successful.

http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/jhaberkorn/edpsy399ol/gangsigns.jpg

How far does freedom of speech go?

Don Imus the radio show host of Imus in the Morning took his right of freedom of speech a little too far. One morning on the radio Imus referred to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as “nappy headed ho’s” when he was discussing the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. Imus said that the Rutgers players were rough looking girls with tattoos and the girls of the opposing team, Tennessee, were cute. There were black female players on both teams but he attacked the Rutgers’ team only and claimed it to be found amusing.

Imus issued an apology after the demand for him to be fired come into play. Imus appeared on Al Sharpton show and he admitted to going to far. The players of Rutgers were very upset because Imus had stolen their moment of victory from them. NBC decided to fire Imus because this was not that the first time he was in this type of controversy. Although Imus did meet with the players of the Rutgers team after he was fired to apologize. Imus has the right of freedom of speech but when you violate someone’s rights then your rights are to be questioned. I think Imus deserved what he got because his comments were racist and uncalled for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Imus
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International Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop is one of the major successes of music nation wide. Originating in the United States it is now listen to and created all over the world. Hip-Hop in different cultures uses a range of diverse instruments, languages, tradition, and styles. Outside of the United States most of the MC’s are more political, because the mainstream artists are activists. Hip-Hop allows the activist message to get across to people especially to the future generations.

The Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival was the first major global festival. It was held at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. The festival was organized by Magee McIlvaine, DJ Magee, a senior at Trinity in International Studies. McIlvaine sees Hartford as a diverse place so it was the perfect place for the festival. Artists from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, France, Haiti, India, Israel, Iraq, along with many other counties came out to represent. They performed about different issues ranging from Israeli/Palestinian hip-hop, gay and lesbian hip-hop, African hip-hop, to graffiti in the age of terrorism. Mexican rapper, Bocafloja, reflected on the festival by saying “It showed that even when we don’t speak the same language we can communicate through rhymes, beats, flows or energy. We are oppressed by the same system in different parts of the world, so our local experiences help a lot for a global strategy looking for social and political change.”

The festival allowed others to see how important hip-hop is internationally. Many times United States does not acknowledge everyday events in other countries when it is not affecting the United States. Hip-Hop makes others aware of what maybe going on in the country by listening to their music. Hip-Hop is a message conveyer.

http://xxlmag.com/online/?p=1226

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