Hip Hop free essay sample

Hip hop has permeated popular culture in an unprecedented fashion. Because of its crossover appeal, it is a great unifier of diverse populations. Although created by black youth on the streets, hip hops influence has become well received by a number of different races In this country. A large number of the rap and hip hop audience Is non-black. It has gone from the fringes, to the suburbs, and into the corporate boardrooms. Because it has become the fastest growing music genre in the U. S. , companies and corporate giants have used its appeal to capitalize on it.Although artists of rap music and hip hop seem to be fixated on the messages of sex, violence, and harsh language, this genre offers a new paradigm of what can be (Lewis, 1998. ) The potential of this art form to mend ethnic relations is substantial. Hip hop has challenged the system in ways that have unified individuals across a rich ethnic spectrum. Hughes goes on to wonder why she wont get a boyfriend, and he questions why she Isnt spending her time with a decent man. Another narrator comes into the poem, which we assume is a female, and she says to the speaker that a woman does the best she can. Finally, an unknown third voice comes into the poem saying, comment on stoop, which makes the readers think that Harlem Is a place where people gossip because the third voice Is Interrupting the conversation that was occurring between the previous two narrators. Kindlier Llamas Opposites Attract illustrates a woman that is unique to Kindlier because she is faithful, trustworthy, and strong, which is unlike any other woman Kindlier has been with. Kindlier thinks that she must have a secret motive because shes too good to be true. The content of this song relates to Sister because in the poem, Marie is attracted to someone with an opposite lifestyle than her. The man she spends her time with is married with a child, and she is a young woman without a family of her own.In Opposites Attract, Kindlier Is with a woman that Is nothing Like he Is used to because his relationships in the past have been an unfaithful mess. In the song, Kindlier writes, Sometimes l, sometimes I feel we share/ Nothing in common, it anti fair. Kindlier begins to second guess his ability to hold a relationship with this woman because it seems to him that they dont have enough In common, which Is what similarly happens In Sister when Hughes questions Mares relationship wit h the married man because the two dont hold many commonalities. It seems as though both Marie and the female in Opposites Attract are looking for a man that is different than what theyre used to; however, their choice In men ends up not working out because the men dont treat the women how they want to be treated. This statement is explored in the line We hurt people hat love us/ Love people that hurt us because these women still want to be with the men in both the poem and the song even though the men are hurting them by being unfaithful.Another poem from A Montage of a Dream Deferred that shares themes with a hip-hop song is Question, which can be compared to Pleasure As song Boyfriend 1 OFF unlike any other that she has been with because she hasnt been able to find one that treats her right. Not only is the woman in the poem asking for love and affection, but also she wants basic needs such as food. In Boyfriend Number 2, the woman is avian a hard time deciding which of her two boyfriends she should be with because they both give her different things.Boyfriend number 2 seems to only be interested in the sexual part of the relationship because he tells his woman to call her when she wants to get freaky, and he talks about sex throughout the song. In both Question and Boyfriend Number 2, I think that the women are acting out toward their men because they desire a stable relationship, but they are having trouble finding one so they settle with something else. Not only does Boyfriend Number 2 and Question match in content, but in form s well.Pleasure As uses perfect rhyme in the first verse where he rhymes steady and ready and navel and table. Similarly, Hughes uses perfect rhyme in the words do and too. Another type of rhyme used by both artists is end rhyme. Hughes uses it between the words lady and daddy and Pleasure P uses it in about and out. A third way the form is similar between the poem and the song is the use of assonance because Hughes shows assonance between the words man and cant and Pleasure P uses it in the words out and shower. Airplanes Part 2 by Mine and B. O. B connects to Longboats Hughes poem Advice because both the song and the poem talk about how life may have struggles, but we have to persevere and live life to the fullest. Advice describes how we go through natural struggles in life, which are as simple as birthing and dying. This poem could also mean that we stress out about so many things in our life, and we worry about all the negatives when we should Just be enjoying the time that we do have by being optimistic. In Airplanes Apt. , Halley Williams, Paramour band member, wants to make a wish on an airplane because they are far more common Han shooting stars, and she has a better chance of her wish actually coming true this way. Then, B. O. B. Goes on to say how he is trying to become one of the greatest rappers of all time, but he has to go through many struggles to make it to the top. For example, he expected his first album dropped to be a lot more successful than it was, but he still didnt let this hold him back from achieving his dream.Mine ends the song by telling his listeners all the troubles he went through growing up, but look where those challenges got him today. He then says that we shouldnt depend on hooting stars or airplanes, but we need to go out and take matters into our own hands. Airplanes Part 2 mirrors Advice because Williams is being optimistic about things in her life, and she is doing what she can to make herself happy because most people would dwell on the fact that there arent any shooting stars, but she thinks of another solution. In Advice, Hughes tells his readers to make time for a little loving in between. I interpreted this as we cant sit down and let life pass us by because we are going to face a lot of difficulties in life, but it is our responsibility to not let this robbers consume us. Hughes even states in the poem that we all face similar challenges, death being one of them, and this is represented in Airplanes Part 2 because B. O. B. And Mine both tells us that rough childhoods or failed attempts at reaching our goals are onto good enough reason to give up on life.The form of rhyme in Advice where Hughes rhymes mean and between, and then B. O. B. Uses end rhyme in the words pain and insane. Another technique shared between the two is the use of consonance in Hughes poem with the words telling, loving, birthing, and dying. Likewise, B. O. B. Sees consonance in the words eating, trying, and hoping. A third technique used is alliteration where Hughes uses the phrase little loving and B. O. B. Uses the phrase the things that. T. L. ND Justine Timberlands Dead and Gone can be related to Longboats Hughes Blues at Dawn because both are talking about death whether it be literal or figurative. In Blues at Dawn Hughes speaks of a death that occurred in the previous poem Night Funeral in Harlem. Blues at Dawn is paying tribute to the deceased because it is hard for them to cope with their loss of a loved one, and they try to deal tit this loss by simply not thinking about the person, and this is exemplified in the line l dont dare start thinking in the morning. In Dead and Gone T. L. Explains that the old him is dead and gone, and he is starting fresh with a new version of himself because the old him was too wild and often up to no good. T. L. Speaks in the song how he was shot and one of the bullets was stuck in him leaving him paralyzed. This is when T. L. Realizes that he must change his life because the way he is living now is too dangerous, and he needs to forget his old self and not remember him, much like he narrator in Blues at Dawn doesnt want to remember the death they had to deal with. Blues at Dawn matches the form of the song Dead and Gone by T. L. ND Justine Timberline. Blues at Dawn uses a form of repetition called anaphora throughout the poem by repeating the lines l dont dare start thinking in the morning and l dont dare remember in the morning. This is much like Dead and Gone because the lines the old me is dead and gone and tyranny find my way back home are repeated multiple times as well. Not only do Hughes and T. L. Use repetition, but they use perfect rhyme as well. Hughes exemplifies it in the words bed and head and before and more while T. L. Uses it in the words take and sake and today and say.Also, the forms of Blues at Dawn and Dead and Gone are similar because they both use alliteration. In Blues at Dawn the phrases dont dare and thought thoughts are used, and in Dead and Gone the phrases time to think and make mistakes. Ultimatum discusses the struggles that were going on in Harlem back in the day. A woman was with her man paying his bills, but she couldnt stay with him anymore because she thought he was being unfaithful. She wanted to know why her man didnt recognize all the things that she did for him, yet he still wasnt treating her right. She had no choice but to give him an ultimatum, which was to stay with her and be faithful to her, or he would be cut off and would have to find someone else to pay his bills. Ultimatum relates well to No More Drama by Mary J. Bilge in content because Bilge is a strong woman who doesnt need to depend on a man to be successful. The woman in the poem was able to take care of herself as well, and she had a man that was dependent on her. No More Drama begins with the lines, So red, tired of this drama/ You go your way, I go my way/ No more, no more/ I want be free.This relates perfectly to Ultimatum because the woman is ready for a change because she doesnt want to be treated unfairly by her man anymore. Be independent without him. Longboats Hughes poem Mellow could be associated with Cant Believe it by T- Pain. In the poem, Hughes is trying to get the point across that it is more thrilling for black celebrities to hook-up with white women than black women. It could be more thrilling because at this time in history it was dangerous and breaking all kinds of social rules.A racist society built a high tension wall between blacks and whites, especially when it comes to relationships. Getting over this wall makes it even more thrilling for black men because they want the plums falling from the trees, which could be known as the forbidden fruit. This forbidden fruit, which relates all the way back to Adam and Eve, is a metaphor comparing the white women to the plums falling from the trees. T-Pain relates to Mellow because it is Just as thrilling for him to have all this women want him as it thrilling for the black celebrities in Mellow. T-Pain isnt used to getting all of this attention from women because once he became a celebrity a lot more women became interested in him. However, T-Pains relationships arent breaking any social norms like they are in the poem. Mellow and Cant Believe It are similar in form because they both use end rhyme. Hughes rhymes the words wall and fall and thrilling and killing and T- Pain rhymes the words out and bout and persuasion and Another shared technique is the use of similes where Hughes uses the line white girls fall like pale plums from a tree and T-Pain uses the line Shasta like a model out thePenthouse sheets. Through form and content Longboats Hughes poems in A Montage of a Dream Deferred relate to modern hip-hop songs through the themes and techniques that they share. A Montage of a Dream Deferred describes the American dream that African Americans were struggling to reach despite unstable relationships, poverty, and racism. Hughes is able to correlate his poetry to hip-hop m usic because many hip-hop artists write about the same struggles that both they as individuals experienced and the people in Harlem experienced in the late sasss.