...Introduction American culture, being traditionally perceived as quite liberal and democratic, is in fact paralyzed by the overwhelming power of stereotypes which shape the current image of culture at large and its industries, including music, in particular. Even the most innovative and advanced movements’ turn to be submitted to the canons of the ideology that dominates in American culture. Unfortunately, such a situation does not contribute to the development of really free, liberal and focused on spiritual, moral and intellectual progress of the consumers of the culture. Probably one of the most interesting, new and, unfortunately, typical example of the domination of stereotypes in American culture is the development of female black rap music, which has become particularly intensive in 1980s and is still quite dynamically developing. At first glance black female rap music should be free from traditional stereotypes, it should be innovative and contributing to black female emancipation and increasing the role of black females in the society at large but, in actuality, the situation is absolutely different. Despite the fact that many female rappers pretend to be unique at developing the new image of a free and independent black female, it turns to be that practically all of them, or at least the most popular of them, are ideologically dependent on the male dominance in proper and figurative sense of this word. It means that as a rule black female rappers tend to create an...
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...The Game Shall Always Remain the Same: Hip-Hop from a Protagonist’s Point of View The Hip-Hop culture and all it stands for has saturated a generation in an unprecedented way. It has begun to shape and unify a diverse population of people. Hip-Hop, for many, provides an outlet to express your thoughts and for others, Hip-Hop is a lifestyle. The influence of Hip-Hop has become universal. It has transcended from a cultural genre to having a larger audience not made up of solely African Americans. It has gone from the slums, to the suburbs, and into larger corporate rooms. McDonald’s, Addidas, Nike, Coca Cola, Sprite, and other corporate giants have capitalized on this phenomenon. Although critics of Rap music and the Hip-Hop culture seemed to be fixated on the messages of sex, violence, and harsh language Hip- Hop has potential to unify individuals and promote change. This genre of music has transformed generations across the country. Hip- Hop possesses a level of maturity and a sense of cultural belongingness that has become a protest form for people all over the world. The art form, now simply known as Hip- Hop, began with three New Yorkers: Busy Bee Starski, DJ Hollywood, and DJ Afrika Bambaataa; they are credited for creating the term Hip-Hop. It all began in the early 1970’s with house parties and basement beat shaking music in upstate New York. The beats were very melodic, Africanized, and soulful. Hip-Hop is music for...
Words: 3392 - Pages: 14
