essay

Kina Albert
12/5/07
Digital Portfolio


The culture of rap

Hip Hop has come to seen as a unique fusion of local music, language and cultural values arranged on a tableau of hip-hop music and cultural. Rap has grown to become a popular music around the world, but since the 1970s it has change tremendously, and many cultures has adopted and adapted aspects of hip hop to make it their own.

Rap music or hip-hop genre was originated in the mid 1970s among black and Hispanic performers in New York. Rap music officially came from the west Bronx. It was first associated with an athletic style of dancing known as break dancing. The word rap derived from a 1960s slang word for conservation, generally consists of chanted, often-improvised street poetry accompanied by a montage of well-know recordings, usually disco or funk. Rappers today sample most of their music. Sampling is one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or element of a new recording. It can be a piece of hardware or computer program on a digital computer. Other ‘’samples’’ consist of one part of a song, such as a break used in another. To well known examples include the sample of Rick James ‘’ Super Freak and Mc Hammer ‘’ U Can’t touch this.
The four elements of rap are Emceeing, Dj.ing, break dancing and graffiti art. The term rap music, it is also used to refer specific all to the practice of rapping. The roots of rap gre found in African American and west African music, The griots of west Africa are a group of traveling singers and poets, who’s musical style is reminiscent of hip hop. Early rap groups included Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa and the Beastie Boys, and unlike today the new rappers are 50cent T.i, Jay .Z and more. Those rappers bought a new meaning.

Rap has influenced many forms of popular culture, film and has incorporated into pop music. Rap started out good but over the years it has change rapidly. Back in the day rap was all about the art, which include the clothing and the freestyles. Rap now has more violence, and the lyrics change. Rap is about the art, but generations has come and showed their own vision of rap. Today rap is more about making money, power and getting with women, you look at rap videos today and all you see is women using the body as art, but back then it was all about the gold.

Today when you look at a rap video it is more about men show that they have control over women because of the money they are making. Rap videos are being watched today by teenagers and even younger. Rappers today goes to the extreme with rap videos, and kids watch it and act it out because they look up to them and also they think it is cool. For me personally I do not watch rap videos most of the time, but when I do watch rap videos and I see women doing the things they are doing the first thing that comes to my mind is that they could do better.