Ladies of Hip Hop

With all the issues discussed about race in hip hop, there have been similar talks about female rappers. it's such a rough crude industry, its hard to think about how women can survive in this world. While it was difficult for tem in the beginning, women have become staples of hip hop in todays day. Whether be rapping or producing, they've made their impact felt.

A lot of female hip hop has been mixed more with R & B which is generally a more feminine genre of music, there are still women who are strictly rappers and not singers.  Beyonce is someone who is mainly R & B but can have similarities with Hip Hop while women like Lil' Kim are strictly hip hop. They've literally changed the game for female rappers.

Are We Colorblind

Why is race so important in music? It's something I've thought about often when i think about who the artists I listen to are. Why is specifying what ethnicity a musician is matter? Why can't we just call them American, or British, or Canadian, or Colombian? Does it really matter.

In general, suc a strong emphasis is placed on race in general. beyond music. In all arts, who the person is is almost as important as what they've done. The 2002 Academy Awards stick out in my memory, not just because Denzel Washington won best actor and Halle Berry won best actress, but because it was pointed out that it was the first time two African Americans won the best actor/actress awards. Did their race make an impact in the voting, I think so. Race is something we use to judge and make decisions by constantly, whether we like it or not.

As pointed out in my last post about the white rapper, race is just as relevant in rap music, if not more. There are a number of African American rock n' roll musicians I know of but their names and other important information I simply don't remember. yet there is so much more about famous white rappers which do stick out and I do remember. Whether be Eminem, Beastie Boys, Snow, Machine Gun Kelly, the color of these rappers stick out. Daddy Yankee and Pitbull are two rappers who stick out to me for being Latina rappers.

No matter how hard we try, race matters. We are not actually colorblind, we see a black person there are certain things we assume. Same goes for White, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, or whatever. We can try however hard we want, but we all see color.

The White Rapper

When I think of various genres of music there are types of people we associate. When I think of Salsa music, I associate Hispanic people. Or when I think of heavy metal music I think of white people with long hair and make up, and so on. When I first hear the beat to a rap song drop I am usually expecting to hear the voice of a black person start flowin'. Over the past couple of decades that stereotype of only a black person rapper has changed. Some of hp hop greatest artists are white, or even other ethnicities.

When thinking of white rappers, anyone who lived somewhere near the 80's thinks of Vanilla Ice. His song "Ice Ice Baby" which came out in 1989 tok over, making Vanilla a huge superstar. Sadly the song was too big for vanilla and he was never able to match its success.

Eminem on the other hand,  who was the white rapper who became the face of white rappers first became popular in 1997 with his album The Slim Shady LP. minem has continued on his career for over 15 years, being one of the best selling artists ever. The movie 8 Mile which came out in '02 told a story very similar to Em's growing up in the streets of Detroit.

The last white rapper I want to talk about is someone who is only achieving critical success now. Macklemore and his producer Ryan lewis currently have one of the top songs in America, Thrift Shop which is player all over the world. Macklemore is different from Eminem in that he doesn't have a similar relatable story to many black artists, Macklemore grew up in seattle, not much of a "hood" life over there. Macklemore though uses his gift as a way to talk about real issues and important topics on a public stage. Rather than just talking about girls and money, he discusses homophobia, addiction along with other real life issues.

Going from the days of Vanilla Ice where he was pretty much a novelty act, to current day with Macklemore and many other white rappers who are looked at on just as equal as black rappers.

    

Gangster Rap

When looking at rap music, one of the most significant sub-genres within rap is "gangster rap". This form of hip hop stems from the west coast of America with rappers such as Ice-T and Schooly D who pioneered it in the mid 80's and was popularized in the late 80's by groups like N.W.A. After initial success reached Ice T and N.W.A., Gangster rap became the most commercially successful form of hip hop. In the early 90's Gangster Rap become the forefront of the genre and arguably for popular music as a whole. Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. are the faces for this shift of success and fame.

Not only were these artists and their "crews" made famous in the early 90's, many of them have maintained great critical acclaim. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre who were with Tupac and Death Row Records in California are still current today. As well with Diddy from NY and Bad Boy Records who found B.I.G and helped made him  so successful.

Gangster Rap is even around in modern day. Eminem, Dmx, 50 Cent and other have continued carrying on the genre. A main emphasis of the style of music is representing the streets, hard times and difficulties which have been overcome. Talking about murder and theft are commonplace on these songs. It's a reality in which has been lived by these musicians.

Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap is a 2012 documentary directed by Rap legend Ice-T which through various interviews of rappers and those connected to hip-hop show what it is like for those in the rap game. Interviewing the likes of Kanye West, Common, Rakim, Eminem and so many more the viewer gets a real understanding of what it's like for rap artists.

So much fo it is about struggle, and overcoming those hardships. Achieving success and getting out of the hard times is a significant driving factor which motivates the artists to push forward and achieve the success which they aree striving for. They have their difficulties along the way, overcoming those struggles is what it is all about.

Also with the fact that they LOVE rap music. That is a slight factor as well...

 

The Signifying Monkey

In The Signifying Monkey, author Henry Louis Gates  set out to identify how the 'black tradition' had theorized about itself". Gates' theory is derived from reading the actual text of African American literature.  Gates believed that The Signifying Monkey is a cunning character whose manipulation, through language, allows him to trick an elephant and a monkey into doing whatever her wants them to do. Gates argues that the black vernacular tradition celebrates the use of figurative language verses literal interpretations, that is why there is this connection between the story and te African American culture.
"Signifying" is described in several different ways. It includes a variety of abstract practices such as lying and indirect speech. Gates also explains playing "The Dozens" which is a game of exchanging insults, much similar to rap battles where one rapper goes against a fellow. 

Having gone to public school where of the 2000 students, majority of them were African American, I was able to see rap battles take place constantly. Whether be in the cafeteria, in the hallways or in the classrooms themselves, students would play "The Dozens" against each other very often. Whether it be over a the rhythm which their voices create or over a rhythm made from a pencil or their own hand,  mixing the clever lyrics into music was their goal.

Rap Rock

Throughout its history, the hip hop community has been open enough to wear it's influences proudly on their "sleeves". There has been so much intertwining hip hop with the likes of R&B, rock, blues, funk and even heavy metal. While some aspects of the community can be closed, the artists are very open as to where they take their influences from. So much of music, in general, is about learning form the past and using that to create your new product. Every rapper has their influences, the ones who helped shape their musical taste.

One direction where I dont think a lot of the original rappers would have expected hip hop to go is "rap rock". The first song which lead to this cross-genre creation was Run D.M.C.'s mashup with Aerosmith on"Walk This way". Then in the late 90's this sub-genre became more mainstream with the likes of Limp Bizkit. While since then Limp Bizkit has gone on to be thought of as a joke, as the time they were selling millions of albums along with sold out concerts. More recently there have been bands which combine hip hop with hardcore metal. I wonder what The Sugar Hill Gang thinks of them????

Lyrics? Words?

Lyrics? Words? What role do they have in hip hop? Since hip hop isn't really about singing and melody, is the music behind the voice the important part? Are the producers of the beat the real great mind while the MC's are just there to make it sound a bit better? The music is what definitely adds the pop element to the music.Hoe necessary is the the rapping in rap?

I think in some modern rap the words have lyrics have lost part of their importance. So much of it is about the beat and having something to "bump" too, while losing part of the essence of the music. There's a reason some of te greatest rappers are referred to as poets, what they speak about truly is their poetry. When I think of rappers who are poets, Tupac is the first rapper who comes to mind. Using this platform as a way to spread his message on critical, important subjects with songs like "Brenda's Got A Baby" and "Changes", he brought these topics to the international level. Which at the time may have been a bit taboo to do.

Still Not A Player

The Ghetto is the place where hip hop truly got started and became a powerful force. On street corners in the ghetto men and women would gather around creating musical beats and rhyming over those beats, often talking about their past, their struggle, or making fun of others around them. It was a tool used to express themselves, spread their message and attempt at creating a career.

This "hood" lifestyle first came to prominence in the South Bronx a bit over 50 years ago. A developer named Robert Moses who ended up doing a lot of construction in the area turned that part of the city into a ghetto. While this is not a good thing for the city, it ended up being good for Hip Hop. Some of the genre's biggest performers were from The South Bronx. Jennifer Lopez (while not a rapper) represented The Bronx proudly on her single " Jenny From The Block". With the likes of Big Pun, Fat Joe and KRS-One, the South Bronx have been rep'd well.

From "The Message" to "An Empire State of Mind"

The Message. In 1982 Grandmaster Flash took the stage and used it to spread a message to the masses. By describing the perils and anxieties of contemporary urban life he told a story of what it was like for a black man growing up in the streets in the early 1980's. It was all about the hustle, making the most of what you got and surviving. It was part of the culture to show off with clothing or accessories but it was still a struggle.

"The Message" was the first hip hop song which took on the roll as a social commentary. In the 3 decades since Grandmaster's "The Message" first made its impact felt, while a lot of the struggles sadly have stayed the same, many of hip hop's elite have shown themselves as powerful leaders rather then reliant on others. One of the faces of modern hip hop is Jay-Z who in his 17 years has worked himself up form the streets to the top of the charts. With songs such as "Empire State of Mind" we can the heights he has reached.