...often arose. Informal competitions started when a few truly exceptional dancers were noticed on the dance floor; the rest of the people would back off and allow the leaders to duke it out. As these informal competitions became increasingly common and popular, announced competitions became part of a night out at hip hop clubs. Whether they arose organically or they were advertised in advance, this competitive nature helped hip hop retain the "battle" culture that has existed since the beginning. This type of competition can also be seen in other dance forms, perhaps most notably in tap dancing of the early 20th century. *The Hammer Dance (Mc Hammer) MC Hammer brought rap music to the mainstream audience with his album Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, the biggest-selling rap album of all time. Born into poverty in Oakland, California, in 1962, MC Hammer began his performing career as a young boy dancing outside the Oakland Coliseum during Oakland A's games. He launched himself into full-fledged stardom with the 1990 release Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, the first...
Words: 1318 - Pages: 6
...colonialism, slavery, or their aftermath as they are lived out in many parts of the world today”(Pratt 34) by Mary Louise Pratt in her writing titled “Arts of the contact zone”. This song has been helpful and caused huge issues within the communities. The song shows the struggle that people of color go through in society and how different races portray each other based on stereotypes. NWA, which stands for Niggas With Attitude, wrote this song as a parody. I believe that they presented themselves with such vulgar because they felt like everyone saw them in a negative way. They became what the public thought they were. In doing so they caused a lot of commotion with the FBI and police. The song is from the view point of the 3 attorneys; MC Ren, Ice Cube, Eazy-E and the judge Dr. Dre. Each attorney shares their story about the struggle of being a person of color living in Compton. The first verse is by Ice Cube who mentions “and not the other color so police think/ they have the authority to kill a minority”(NWA 5). What Ice Cube is saying is that cops think because they are white, they are superior to people of color. The cops assume they have the right to kill them and abusing the authority they have. Instead of protecting the civilians,they are harming them. Later on Cube says “searching my car,looking for the product/thinking every nigga is selling narcotics/ you'd rather see, me in the pen/ than me and Lorenzo rolling in a Benz-o”(NWA 6) The police will stop these young...
Words: 454 - Pages: 2
...Mic Check, One-Two Suzanne Fields, the author of “Bad Raps: Music Rebels Revel in Their Thug Life” wrote her article on May 21, 2001 for insight on the news. In her article, Fields talks about how rap music has negative effects on our younger generation. She personally believes that the lyrics in these songs have a harsh effect on our youth and that it is the worst genre of music out right now. While reading, I found her opinion to be extremely biased and unfair. I also found myself disagreeing with almost every bad thing she stated about the rap genre since many other genres can have the same types of effects on younger people when they listen to them. Fields starts out her article by saying that rap music “expresses the worst kind of images” and is harmful to our younger generations. She thinks that the lyrics “employ vulgar street idioms” and are too harsh. She also states that she believes their lyrics come from “a world of broken families, absent fathers, illegitimate children and matriarchal dominance, often subsidized by welfare.” (Fields) Fields continues her argument against rap music by saying that the reason for the harsh lyrics is because language and experience of poetry and romance are absent from the lives of the rappers and their audiences. Fields personally does not know the true lives of the rappers, so she shouldn't be judging them just off of their lyrical content. Fields continues her article against rap music by using a couple facts about other singers...
Words: 769 - Pages: 4
