Profanity and Rap

So, rap has that quality, for youth anyway; it's a kind of blues element. It's physical, almost gymnastic. It speaks to you organically. Rap grows out of what young people really are today, not only black youth, but white - everybody.inverted quotes2
-Archie Shepp

WHY DO YOU CURSE? WHY IS THERE PROFANITY IN RAP? To add drama, to express more emotion, certain things can be expressed more so through vulgarity.

Rap music isn’t just a genre in itself, it combines many other genres of music, like gospel, jazz, Motown, R&B and soul music. What makes rap, hip hop music super controversial is all the speculation that surrounds it. Everybody has an opinion on what it is and what it is not. Music like Rap changes with every generation. New beats and new artists shape the entire scene as they go along only to be changed again.

Rap can be seen as a lifestyle; it means different things to different people. The beauty and that unique twist that rap has is the fact of relating it with oneself. However to some people the aggression and anger that is portrayed within the lyrics of most rap songs can be misconstrued as vulgar and demeaning instead of being seen as an art, and expression of pain, anger, love, loss and loneliness. Rappers, and hip hop artists portray the troubled times in peoples lives, the music they create is supposed to help them vent, and help others heal.

But Rap music isn’t only about expressing the difficulties and hardships in peoples lives, its also about creating a feel-good factor, giving people an opportunity to laugh and be sarcastic! Its also about rapping about champagne, expensive cars, and partying. Music isn’t esoteric and is there for the taking!

The Top 10 Pervy Rhymes by Bad Rap Bitches

"When it comes to hip hop, women are usually the ones who have to deal with the bullshit sex rhymes spat by men. According to them, we're always taking nuts in our mouths like Payday candy bars. But some of hip hop's baddest bitches can be just as brazen as their male counterparts—if not more so. Whether they've packed a perverted punchline or simply suggested some sick shit, a few female rappers have taken it way past the point of plain ol' kink. Here are ten shameless rhymes from some of the boldest ladies in rap".

http://www.vice.com/read/the-top-10-perverted-rhymes-by-bad-rap-bitches

 

Lesson 4: Dissecting Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture

Rap's greatest practitioners are not simply performers but they are poets, shaping language through rhythm, rhyme, and wordplay. In this weeks lecture we discussed how the characters within rap music have a literature point of view to their music. The essence of rap's poetic identity lies in its artful use of rhythm, rhyme, and creative wordplay; it lies in its emphasis on concision and emotive expression. The artists themselves express various subliminal messages through there music. They use slang to hide the true meaning of their stories and through their storytelling.
Since its emergence in the late 1970's, rap has always sparked controversy and created cultural norms that evolve from generation to generation. The lyrics to a song, and lyric poetry share a common lineage through one word: LYRIC. Lyric stems from the Greek term used to describe verse set to the music of the lyre. Rap music simply replace the lyre with twists and turns, with two turntables and a digital sampler.
One might assume that to study rap music and its lyrics can preclude the pleasure of the sound its performance. I believe the contrary, understanding the inner workings of the language of the lyrics can actually cultivate greater appreciation for the aesthetic pleasures embodied in the song as a whole. Rap music richly reward the attention we convey to their patterns of rhythm, rhyme, and figurative language.

The Anthology of Rap, is a publication that gathers nearly 300 lyrics by dozens of artists across rap's four decades. It was written by Andrew DuBois who tries to convey the message that rap is indeed poetry. In a recent online review of The Anthology, the poet Kevin Young made several observations to the book and rap music in general: "Hip-hop’s pleasure is often its Whitmanesque contradictions, embodied in the delicate dance between the beats and the bars that the rappers spit; unlike Whitman, the form and the feeling don’t often fit. It is a music of breaks, after all: A big part of hip-hop’s poetry results from the tensions and changes in these jarring shifts, as well as the jibing between the lyrics and the music.” Many of those tensions and changes are apparent in the lyrics alone; others only reveal themselves when one reads the lyrics along with the song. What is unmistakable, though, is that rap’s “delicate dance between the beats and the bars” has produced a poetry that commands attention and demands response.
 

Rappers have been referring to themselves as poets since rap began. JDL from the Cold Crush Brothers rhymed these lines back in 1982:
“Well, I’m here to be known and I’m known to be / As an electrified prince of poetry.”


A few years later, KRS-One performed an entire song called “Poetry,” which included this clear self-identification:
"I am a poet, you try to show it yet blow it
It takes concentration for fresh communication
Observation, that is to see without speaking
Take off your coat, take notes, I am teaching".

Hip Hop and the Bronx Express

 “to be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth , transformation of ourselves and the world-and at the same time that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything that we are. Modern environments and experiences cut across sll boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and nationality, of religion and ideology…” 

This written piece comes from the Communist Manifesto, it describes modern culture and how its constantly changing. It can also be related to urbanization. Urbanization is when a rural environment becomes urban. When some type of destruction occurs that creates a  process of destruction and renewal. 

During our lesson on Tuesday, we learned how the Cross Bronx Express way helped create Hip Hop and was essentially the essence of Hip Hop culture. It all started with Robert Moses, the man responsible for building the expressway through the heart of the South Bronx. The result of this project forced middle class Italians, Irish, and Jewish neighborhoods to disappear practically overnight; and were quickly replaced by poor black and Hispanic families. This drastic change brought construction of co-op apartment complexes that were built near the expressway. As a result of mass vacancy rates, landlords that were considered reputable began selling out to professional slumlords-resulting in the Bronx becoming a neighborhood full of unkept and vacant buildings. 

Through the destruction within the Bronx, an "artistic" development occurred-the creation and direct development of the Graffiti aspect of hip hop culture. Street gangs and the ones who couldn't cope found an outlet that let them express their voice and their words through street art. 

I wanted to learn more about how graffiti became popularized and who was really behind the rise of this incredible and dangerous artwork. I did some digging and found that a group of seven teenage boys who began terrorizing the surrounding area of Bruckner Boulevard, in the southeast Bronx. This group of teenagers laid the groundwork for the sudden surge of street gang activity that overwhelmed the Bronx for many years. The group at first was known as the Savage Seven, however, when more members joined the group changed its name to the Black Spades. The leader, and warlord of the group, was Hip Hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa. I found on YouTube a video that captures the precursors of Hip Hop, the many members of the Black Spades and their original leader Bambaataa, also known as "Bam Bam". 

Enjoy!

Lesson 2

"Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head, ah huh-huh-hu..."

As I walked into class on Tuesday afternoon, I hoped for some kind of distraction from the horrible week I went through. That's exactly what i got! Walking in, I smiled Instantly. The music video for Grandmaster Flash, called The Message was playing on the projector, a song that i haven't heard in ages, completely lifted me from my bad mood and made me excited and happy for the lecture to begin!
What was interesting for me was to learn about the history behind this song and its meaning. The song represents the Hip Hop scene circa 1982 and how tough inner city life is for the lower class society, and from what i understood, focusing on the African American scene. Its amazing to see how with the times and the generation change, music has also shifted. I never payed attention to this shift until i saw the difference between the video for "The Message" and Jay-Z and Alicia Keys video for "Empire state of mind".
  Growing up, i was exposed to all the classics, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin, the Doors, Pink Floyd, Air Supply. At the age of 3 i was singing to Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Temptations, Aretha Franklin, and the Supremes. Music was my "savior" it was my best friend growing up, and i could really relate to the lyrics and what these amazing artists were trying to convey. That was my culture! So when i became older, i made sure not to lose my love for these artists that in my eyes, are one of a kind.
When we started to discuss culture and how its never static, it was clear that it also applies to the entertainment and music industry. With a focus on Hip Hop, rappers are clearly changing the way they express themselves and their culture. Rap music is a big deal within our generation. How our parents where once listening to the Four Tops and The Supremes we are now listening to Mary J. Blidge, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, and more! Not only has these artists changed in the way they look, but also how they perform, how they market themselves, and how they are constantly trying to appeal to a larger audience base outside of the African American margin.
This change is hegemonic. Its managed to influence every aspect of society, including how individuals live, there moral values, their customs, and even how they choose to make or spend money. The in class definition sums up the hegemonic system by "its ability to absorb non-hegemonic discourses, even when they are antagonistic to it. This system can adapt itself to change through partial reincorporation of attempts that threaten to undermine it, and through naturalizing these attempts in order to verify that they will not lead to more substantial and fundamental changes.

Its quite clear that the sentiments  behind these artists, rappers, are no longer focused within their lyrics but are now hiding within the style of what they wear and how they hold themselves while performing.

-A classic that will never get old! Gangsta Paradise by Coolio!