Notes and quotes 1

Andreana Clay is an associate professor in the department of sociology. In the article she wants to establish the relationship between black youth and hip hop culture. She uses the idea of African American youth relying on hip hop as a form of cultural capital in everyday settings. They focused on how black youth would interact with one another at the City Youth Centre and the article examines how this particular form of cultural capital may be used to authenticate a black identity. Bourdiue’s theory of cultural capital which discusses the conflicts which take place in each social field have specific characteristics arising from those fields and that involve many social relationships which are not economic.  It is relied on to investigate how black youth construct legitimate racial boundaries. 

‘Hip hop music exploded onto the music scene in the late 70’s which marked a time when both the black middle and working classes had been moving out of poor, segregated black communities for two decades. As blacks moved out of the inner city, drugs such as heroin and crack moved in’ - Page 1347. 1.

This quote above from the article heavily links the ghetto of now and the struggles black people face living there. There seems to be a correlation between when rap was introduced and when black people were improving living conditions. It suggests that in the 70’s black people were blessed with the opportunity of being able to emerge into another genre of music other than Mowtown which would help see them out of the deprived areas in America. Hip hop was that genre from as late as the 70’s we can see the association the genre of music has with black people and so the automatic association of the two would be forever linked. This is why representations and stereotypes hip hop vibes off to audiences would instantly be generalised back to black people because it seems part of their culture now. Also, we could assume the stereotypes of now and possibly ones of a few decades ago would suggest black people are the main group of people that promote drug use. This would be because of the self-representations they have constructed in hip hop music videos where they are shown either rapping about rap, selling it or using it. Despite this, the journal says that as the number of black moved out the city an obvious substitution had taken place with different types of drugs being imported in. Therefore, the stereotype is subverted because less black people lived in the inner city yet there was an increase in drugs coming in. However, I don’t believe this would change most people’s ideologies of black people and drugs because of the influences around them like the news. For example, the news would be less likely to report that drugs is increasing in the inner city as black people move out because it would not sit right with preferred readings of white middle and upper class citizens. The hypodermic needle model can be applied to suggest media is feeding its audience with news they want people to believe and to construct views and values based on what these news institutes report. So when news channels inform people of drug use they would be most likely to associate it with a hip hop news story or linking drugs with a famous rapper or black musician. In addition, the two step flow model can be applied with this quote because if people aren’t being informed on specific news like negativity amongst white people and drugs. So opinion leaders like news institutes would be able to control what values they share.

‘Rap music’s evolution in cities such as New York spoke to black and Latino youth who were being channelled into vocationally trained and subsequently obsolete jobs, giving them both hope and recognition by telling their stories.’ – page 1348. 2.

This quote reinforces the stereotype of the ghetto and the struggle ethnic minority groups’ face when trying to better their lives. Most audiences assume these hip hop artists derive from deprived areas where education isn’t a vocal point for improvement and jobs won’t be converted into careers. If we consider the ideologies white people mainly have/had of immigrants, we would assume they don’t respect or value them because they may feel they don’t provide help for the country. However, black and Latinos are more willing to do blue collar jobs which white people may be reluctant to do because it won’t lead to promotions or a better life. In relation with hip hop, some of the immigrants and foreigners decided to choose the path of music. They would then work hard and grind to become successful in the music industry which subverts the ideologies and values of constructed about them (e.g. being lazy, not helping economy). Moral panics are created because of opinion leaders like news institutes exaggerating news stories about ethnic minorities in rap. For example, right wing newspaper (The Daily Mail) was very critical about Plan B’s film and album ‘Ill Manors’ because of the genre of the media content. They wanted its audience to have a preferred reading of the story so negatively criticised the news story and the hip hop genre. Furthermore, the moral panic was formed with the newspaper discussing the influence the content would have on young people especially because the music video and film included many young people and of ethnic minority groups (black, eastern European). 

‘Exactly how hip hop culture maps out these real and imagined relations between people and the tools used to bring people together is an important question to explore in the discussion of black youth identity, cultural capital and hip hop culture’. – Page 1349. 3.

This quote is trying to explore how hip hop has constructed particular representations of black people and the influence it has had on this group of people. It also is used to interpret how rap has improved black culture and the image it has given black people. Something significant from the quote is ‘how hip hop culture maps out these real and imagined relations between people and tools’ because it suggests some of the representations made in rap may be fiction just like a films narrative would be. This means that some of the lyrics used and actor’s behaviour in hip hop music videos may be utilised just to show off and create images of them which aren’t true. This is where some stereotypes of rappers can be subverted because a rapper who claims to be a ‘killer’ may actually not have committed a significant crime like that or on that scale in their lives. Therefore, negative stereotypes and ideologies are formed based on what audiences see which links back to the hypodermic needle model because audiences believe what they see through the media. So, ‘tools’ like guns, drugs and other illegal or suspicious assets these artists like to show off with in music videos will forever be associated with hip hop and black people.  

Furthermore, it brings the black community together because they may feel they are connected with something that has healthy numbers and it’s of their interest.  Especially for black youth and the ones who live in deprived areas like council flats or ghetto and gang affiliated places. Young people want to be part of communities because social life is important to them and hip hop is a way of connecting with others because it is associated with being ‘cool’ which young people aspire to be. This could be one of the reasons why news institutions create moral panic amongst youth and hip hop because they fear they are being influenced by the content rap artists are producing. As black people are heavily linked with hip hop, audiences watching the news would be more likely to generalise the representations of hip hop with black people. 

Study was carried out by Clay with young African Americans who were put in a room to socialise and play games. Informal interviews were carried out based out whether they listen to hip hop, here are responses (page 1352):

16 year old male Corey, ‘I listen to hip hop music at home, at school, I go to sleep with it’

16 year old female Linda, ‘They ain’t ‘bout it if they don’t listen to it’

15 year old male Lavelle, ‘I don’t know who don’t listen to it, my Grandma listens to that Church rap’

16 year old Michelle, ‘the Mexican people in my class listen to it’

‘There also was constant pressure to perform: to have the right clothes, listen to the right music and speak the right language – all of which were based on hip hop’ – Page 1351. 4.

This finding shows the major influence hip hop is having on youth because they are copying what they see in the genre. This can be dangerous because these artists mainly express the methods of making money, finding pleasure or dealing with people they dislike. All of which are illegal or immoral which could increase the crime rate if more people become more gullible.  Linda’s response is alternative to the one I thought a female would give. Her response is basically stating that if people aren’t interested in hip hop then they aren’t a real gangster. My question to her would be, how do you know this is true? It just shows the significance hip hop has on people because she’s suggesting if a person hasn’t been indulged their self in this type of music then they aren’t masculine and can’t live a life of criminality. Therefore, the influence of hip hop is powerful. 

Uses and Gratification theory can be applied to the song because audiences may use the song for any of the four factors: diversion, personal identity, personal relationship and surveillance. 

People use music to block themselves out from the real world. This is where pleasure is used by the audience and it’s called diversion as they attempt to escape into a imaginary life. 

Personal identity in this context is when audiences are be able to see their lifestyle being reflected through the lyrics or the music video itself. Seen as the target audience for the song is black males, some people's ideologies would suggest that all the audience of the song are criminals and would be able to relate to the artists but only on a smaller scale (maybe not as wealthy). 

Finally, surveillance is when people educate themselves through media content. This may be more relevant to people of younger ages as they aspire to be as rich as their favourite rapper and would try to 'hustle' like the artists highlight in the song.  Tessa Perkins' theory can be applied to suggest some of the stereotypes of black people are true because it’s being reinforced in the music video. The rappers are smoking and acting in an anti-social manor so would reinforce some of the ideologies created by the media and people from upper classes. The hypodermic needle is when media influences people's thinking; media content is given to recipient and they are left to believe what they see. So this can be applied to the song as the artists are stressing the amount of money, garments and women they have which may seem realistic in the eyes of youngsters. This would influence them to become criminals and try to sell drugs and earn money fast like these artists when it probably isn't as easy as they say it is in their songs. Furthermore, the ghetto is heavily linked with hip hop and the people who come from it are usually people black from lower classes with a low disposable income. This could be the main reason why they turn to crime and hip hop. They would fit under strugglers in the psychographic table because they don't have much wealth or hope and standard of living is poor.

Hip hop is and has always caused controversy because of the influence it is having on people. It glorifies all types of crimes which have had an impact on some people and gangsters use hip hop as a form of communicating with their enemies. This is why the genre has bad smoke surrounding its because people who don't like the genre scare themselves away from it and the media (news institutions aren't helping). News institutions like the Daily Mail (right wing) want to cause a moral panic when it comes to the rise of hip hop and the ethnic minority who promote it. In addition, 'Black Lives Matter' is a campaign that has been generated over the past year because of the increasing numbers of injustice killings by police (mainly in America) on African Americans. It was created to create awareness and because black people of America were frustrated with the killings inflicted on their people. Hip hop has also attempted to make itself recognised through the artists recording songs stressing theirs and other people's pain. Artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole are the rap artists who try to be influential and display the perspective of inferior ideologies which has given black people a voice. The methods of distribution of songs have altered in the past decade for sure because of the rise in new and digital media. This has led to easier and free ways of audiences being able to obtain music they want through illegal downloading websites which has meant these artists aren't making as much money as they would in the past. However, it could play into the artist's hands because their fan base could increase significantly because audiences would be able to listen to their music for free and if they enjoy it may attend the artist's concerts or buy albums. Furthermore, I don't believe it would affect these musicians that much because some could suggest they make their biggest profits through their illegal activities rather than the music industry. It is probably used a source for recognition and extra money.

Rapper ASAP Rocky talks about how people who are for the black lives matter movement aren’t looking in the mirror at themselves

He wants black people specifically to question whether they are against white people killing black people or if they want to abolish killing as a whole

For example, when a police officer kills a black person there is a protest and ‘mixtapes’ are formed. But when its one black person killing another black person its a way of life (gangster/ghetto lifestyle)

These rappers are the ones talking about killing others and glorify it but want to make songs about justice

Specific rappers can only protest in a song without audiences questioning the artists

If rappers aren’t reciting a party line like ‘F*** COPS’ or ‘Black Lives Matter’, then people may not respect the artists. They may feel the artist is betraying the black community or siding with the police. Also occurred with Kendrick Lamar 5

I side both with the people for the campaign and ASAP Rocky to an extent. I do believe these gangsters need to understand constantly killing people isn’t reflecting positively on black people as a whole. This is because these people are the ones reported in the news on a weekly basis trying to create a moral panic and reinforce white people of middle and upper class’ ideologies and beliefs on black people. Therefore, some of them form stereotypes of the ethnic minority in the US or UK and generalise it amongst all black people. So ASAP Rocky is right in a sense because black people need to show the World that they shouldn’t be feared because they have done nothing wrong. However, the fact that some black people are letting down the black community shouldn’t result in all black people being treated as criminals by the police and justice system. It’s not right that police abuse their authority and are killing these innocent people. Therefore, some rappers feel the need to express their and the community’s emotion on the matter through songs. Artists like Kendrick Lamar and J Cole are known for giving black people a voice because they all feel the same on the injustice behaviour by the police. Also, I don’t believe artists like these two are being hypocritical because they don’t promote gun violence or glorify killing like most rappers do. 

 ‘Among males aged 12 -18, the rates of sexual activity and sexually transmitted diseases are highest among African American, followed by Latinos and Euro-Americans’.  – Page 1/2. 6.

This finding may not have been created because of the influence hip hop has on youth but the culture amongst black people could be the reason for this. This means that I believe hip hop has an impact on the way black people and its audience act and it has directly affected the young males this way. For example, hip hop is well known for explicit music videos and lyrics which objectify women and express the pleasures the artists have out of having these women all over them. These young black males could have easily be influenced by this if that’s part of their interest and may begin to copy the artists in music videos in the way they treat women.  This would then reinforce the stereotype created by audiences of hip hop artists and black people in general objectifying women because the young people believe they should be getting involved in sexual activity like their favourite artists gloat about.

 ‘Hip Hop culture influences styles of behaviour and dress: from sagging pants to oversized tees, hip hop style is important business venture for the not only the recording industry, but also clothing, fashion, accessories and beauty industries worldwide. For example, the fashion of droopy, oversized pants, baseball caps and Nike sneakers are leading style for teenage boys in the United States, Tokyo’.  – Page 1/2. 7. 

This quote is a positive reflection of hip hop and the opportunities it provides businesses can be profitable. From the business’ perspective their products are being promoted free of charge at times because of these artists showing them off in music videos or social media. For example, specific clothing brands which are of the luxurious range and cars which are niche like Rolls Royce. Despite this, some artists see this as a chance to gain more revenue themselves off of these businesses and so would endorse the products for money (Meek Mill –rapper- associated with Puma). However, there always seems to be something unattractive coming out of hip hop which in this case is the influence the artist’s behaviour is having on young people. The sagging of the jeans had been transferred onto the audience of the genre because they are obviously copying what they see in music videos which would negatively impact the views and ideologies white people of middle and upper class have on people wearing their clothes in this way (ethnic minority – black people). 

In addition, the artist's appearance in the song reinforces the stereotype of the way most young black males wear their bottoms (jeans). The stereotype would be along the lines of assuming youngsters believe its 'cool' to lower the height of their jeans revealing their boxers. This has been associated with young black males for many years now and its not anything they wish to hide as proven in this song. For example, one of the artists sits on a car bonnet with his draws showing which suggests he knows about people's view of this style of fashion but he doesn't seem to care. This implies his character is very laid back as he does what he wants and because he is a rapper we would assume he disregards the law also. 

‘In addition to serving as a form of entertainment, some musicians used hip hop to “channel the anger of young people in the South Bronx away from gang fighting’. – Page 3. 8.

This quote explains how hip hop was used in New York to decrease crime and positively influence youth. In contrast with what hip hop is now, it is completely the opposite because these artists encourage others to find ways to become successful no matter and show off their success as a way of brainwashing their young audiences. The hypodermic needle model can be applied here because these young audiences would be more interested in acquiring money even if it’s an illegal route and this is evident because the young people of the 80’s and 90’s didn’t listen to rappers advice of stopping gang warfare. The representation in this music video varies and it depends on the viewer of the content. An audience who wouldn't be too familiar with hip hop currently may not know certain items, phrases, places, people associated with the genre so would miss the opportunity to discover some representations and stereotypes in the music video. An example of this would be the representation of rappers now compared to the ones of the 90's and 80's. In this era of hip hop, artists are portrayed to be less masculine in the eyes of hip hop fans mainly because of their appearance. Some of these artists have caused controversy in the industry with their wild dress sense or false claims in lyrics. It has fans wondering whether these rappers are really 'gangsters' or if they are just actors. However, an oppositional reader would assume hip hop artists are the same and there should be a moral panic about them. In the music video 'Plug' the artists are displayed in a masculine way which is still familiar with the genre but the definition has slightly changed from being menacing to more of a hype feeling. 

Veteran rapper, Luz Reality, gets unnerved by the constant threat of assaults in Ecatepec’s clandestine concert venues

Woman was found burned on an empty patch of grass, was still alive and told the police but died shortly after through injuries

Neighbourhood has become Mexico’s ‘capital of violence against women’- since 2012 on average, one woman has been killed every week

In one of the concerts, the rappers began expressing their feelings about the crimes taking place of women so frequently - people were recording it with their phones

Luz first heard about rap in the early 1990’s which helped her connect with her family 9

Rap gives a voice to all kinds of people. The main group of people that would come to mind is black people. We have seen through the years the number of hip hop artists trying to tell a story, a real to life story about the mistreatment of black people – police brutality. But this article shows rap being used from a slightly alternative perspective. This is because it is women doing the portraying and the audience in Mexico are the ones who would be the ones to accept this change or not. The women just want equality in the dangerous neighbourhood where women go missing on weekly bases which doesn’t seem like much to ask for. I believe a political debate about this would not really influence the people who are committing these crimes on the vulnerable women because the article says police stay out of their way which suggests these people are invincible. Therefore, rap allows these women to present their feelings in a song and especially because they are big icons in Mexico it could influence some of the people. In addition, Tessa Perkins’ can be applied to infer that some stereotypes are true and the one being displayed in Mexico is that it is an uncivilised country (some parts) and it could be the reason why some of them decide to immigrate to the US.   

‘Understanding the new crises in African American culture that have come about in my generation’s lifetime high rates of suicide and imprisonment, police brutality, the generation gap, the war of sexes, blacks selling black self-hatred as entertainment, among others I often wonder what life will be like for the generation of African Americans that follows .’ 10.

This discusses the self-representation black people have made of themselves which is impacting their image. These representations will be taken on by others and applied to black people now because they have formed them their selves. For example, rappers who claim to be killers are creating negative stereotypes of black people as a whole because people would then generalise what these artists are saying. So black people will be find it hard to escape from these representations if they are being reinforced or supported by black people. 

Covers all kind of poetry 

Tom Chivers ‘There is this energy and aggression and speed in a city that lends itself to poetry – cities are built with poetry’

Inua Ellams ‘poems are 3D portraits of the World using a few words as possible’

Hip hop – urban kind of poetry that has exploded I the past 30 years; expresses the experience of black Americans 

Ellam believes there urban poetry can relate to other poetry with the example of ‘8 Mile’ 11

Currently ‘Rhythm And Poetry’ is dominated through hip hop which has developed its own stereotypes and representations it has on people over the years. The typical ones would be that rap is violent, abusive, racist etc. Poetry wasn’t always like this as it says in the article it used to be an attraction for locals as it would discuss issues and images in society. Furthermore, because the internet was a mere shadow of other platforms like print and broadcast the poems were probably be for locals distributed in newspapers and radios.

Daily Mail

The hip hop cop shop: Police opened fake rap music store and snared 30 gangsters for drugs and gun offences

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036437/The-hip-hop-cop-shop-Police-opened-fake-rap-music-store-snared-30-gangsters-drugs-gun-offences.html

Police opened fake rap music store and snared 30 gangsters for drugs and gun offences

Total of 37 armed criminals and drug dealers have been jailed for a total of more than 400 years 

Private back room of a hip hop store

Shop operated for more than 12 months with officers who were trained in the music they were selling

Criminals aged between 16 and 41 were charged with various offences

The shop has a sound booth for people to record music usually hip hop

19 of the 27 men were black 12

The fact that the police decided to use a ‘hip hop shop’ and not anything else obviously highlights the association the genre has with crime. These artists who rap about criminal activity have had an influence on these people as they are criminals now or possibly were criminals before listening to rap and are now able to relate with the artists (Uses and Gratification theory – personal identity). Also, ideologies of black people being criminals and negatively impacting the UK would be reinforced because of this investigation because 19 of the 27 pictured men are black. Despite the men holding firearms or drugs, we could argue that hip hop was used to keep them off the streets so would be less likely to use them. They weren’t harming anyone and no one’s life was in danger so this could suggest they were being passive. 

Music able to bring people together whilst simultaneously segregating us

Evident in social networking World of harsh tweets or hash tags 

There is an obvious generation gap between the kids and the adults 

Popular songs today have more power than before as they dictate social circles, fashion trends, clubs people visit, new memes, slang etc.

Prepubescent children being influenced because mainstream music is branded as ‘brainwashing’ 

Music today lacks structure, taste and feeling

Basic interpretation comes from ‘How does this (song) make me feel?’

He believes people wouldn’t be able to enjoy hip hop songs if it’s hard to understand what the artists is saying 

He believes majority of hip hop fans don’t even understand the lyrics and he thought they just looked like chickens on a farm bopping their heads

Elder generation have a tendency to blame rap for the violence amongst youngsters 

Is it the media that creates and reinforce violent stereotypes or is it the media producers simply constructing a reflection of society 13

This article demonstrates the way audiences in hip hop enjoy their music. In some cases, which is similar to 80’s and 90’s rap, people listen to rap songs for the lyrics and the feelings they build from what the artists are saying. Considering that these rap songs were mostly associated with violence, drugs and sex it could be the reason why people were influenced into the criminal lifestyle. I can apply the Uses and Gratification theory to infer that a few people constructed a personal relationship and/or personal identification. This could be because those people probably lived similar lives (in the ghetto) and have gone through the same struggles as their favourite artists so may regard them as a role model performing the acts the rapper glorifies in their song. Therefore, this could reinforce the stereotypes of rap being a huge influence on people especially those without much hope (lacking education) which could be black people as they are associated with this representation in society mainly because of the link between them and the ghetto – run down areas. 

50 is sexist, misogynistic, materialistic, arrogant and proponent of violence as a solution to the many problems he comes across in the ghetto. Shocking role model but he still has a healthy fan base

He stars in films, shows, computer game. Most of these are successful and his audience seemed to enjoy the content he created

Need to view 50 Cent’s media texts in a different perspective; consider the socio economic reality of black America

50 Cent’s behaviour is music videos is typical of a black rapper and it reinforces the stereotypes people have formed on hip hop and the black community – objectifying women

Article says, ‘no one would seriously confuse the stage performance of most music stars with what goes on in their private life’

The hustling, pimping and hoeing are all part of a carefully controlled image designed to sell as many records as possible

His fans respect his grind and the work he put in to escape the ghetto 14

This article shows a balanced viewing of the famous hip hop artists, 50 Cent. It begins with the content he creates and the reaction from his fan base to some of the discriminating and immoral scenes in his music videos or computer game. I believe his audience wouldn’t be too fussed with the explicit images on display because they like 50 unconditionally and it’s common in the industry of gaming and music. For example, the way women are portrayed in these videos can be disturbing to some people as he objectifies them lyrically and physically. In addition to this, the audience are pleasured with the women barely dressed in the videos (diversification) 

Bibliography

Book

Becoming Black http://www.jstor.org/stable/3587669?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Kitwana, B. (ed.) (2002). The hip hop generation: young blacks and the crisis in African American culture. Bakari Kitwana 

Journals

Clay, A. (2003). Keepin’ it real. Keepin’ it real: black youth, hip hop culture and black identity. No.46, June, 1346 – 1352.

Carol, M. (2008). The global hip hop Diaspora Understanding the culture. 243 – 246.

Dionne, P. (2007). Hip hop honey or video ho African American preadolescents’ understanding of female sexual scripts in hip hop culture. No.10, October, 1 – 2.

World Wide Web
Aidoo, D. (2013).  Reading Rap: how do people interpret music? [Internet]. David Aidoo, English Media Centre. https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16933

Akademiks D.J. (2015). ASAP Rocky under fire for “let’s talk about black on black crime” comments. [Internet]. DJ Akademiks, YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc8BeRI1tbY

Edwards, A. (2016). The hip hop cop shop: Police opened fake rap music store and snared 30 gangsters for drugs and gun offences [Internet]. Anna Edwards, Daily Mail website. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036437/The-hip-hop-cop-shop-Police-opened-fake-rap-music-store-snared-30-gangsters-drugs-gun-offences.html

Johnson, L. (2016). Representation in Rap - 50 Cent [Internet]. Lucy Johnson, English Media Centre. https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16057


Parish, N. (2016). Female rappers take a stand in Mexico’s capital of violence against women[Internet]. Nathaniel Parish, The Guardian website. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/sep/22/female-rappers-mexico-city-violence-against-women

Spinks, R. (2003). ‘Cities are built with language’: how poetry feeds on urban life [Internet]. Roise Spinks, The Guardian website. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/oct/06/cities-poetry-urban-language-national-poetry-day

https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/socialsignificance.htm

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwjU9PHWoLDQAhXsAMAKHUJIBzIQFgg9MAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fharvardpolitics.com%2Fbooks-arts%2Fpolitics-race-rap%2F&usg=AFQjCNFTVllba9z-vf60vcrkkgfWzcMGvQ&sig2=Av7JKO_qj7YAMdgDKGXrfQ&cad=rja

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