2008 Woodie Awards
On its way back up
You are invited to the ressurection of hip-hop
Dennis Landry
Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Opinions
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It's evident that music plays a significant role in many peoples' lives. Music is used for ceremonial purposes such as weddings or graduations, or listened to for leisure with the numerous genres for numerous cultures. One thing is for sure, it has certainly affected our lives in one way or another.
When you're content can make you happy; if you're miserable music holds the power to uplift those weak spirits. Music is so big that it can place an image on a specific culture through a specific genre.
Hip-Hop, though fairly new, has paved its way through the hearts of different people all over the world. But should this really be celebrated? Of course it should, but there is a yang to the yin of this world-wide popularity. There are many misconceptions of the genre which leads to misconceptions of a whole culture.
Is it not apparent when people receive a false perception of American's with African descent through misogynist views, violent behavior, and materialistic ways that gangster rap presents not only to that rapper, but to the culture as a whole.
Also, do rappers really have to create a dance with a catchy, watered-down hook to sell? Well for the past couple of years this was known to be true, convincing hip-hop fans that the genre was dead. That's right, dead!
Just ask the older heads in the rap game and they will tell you the same. Rap moguls like Jay-Z, Nas, Ludacris and more have stated it themselves.
In fact, Jay-z came out of retirement for two reasons; to show the young rappers in the game today that you can make real, likeable music that also sells and to resurrect the genre of Hip-Hop. Both of which he achieved. However, in order to understand the meaning behind resurrecting this already prosperous genre, we must understand where it came from.
They year 1979 brought with it a new type of music, one like no other in terms of how it's presented. As a matter of fact, the term rapper derived from the very first rap song ever "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang. The 80's created a strong foundation, and par, for rappers to follow and evolve from with artists like Run D.M.C. and LL Cool J leading the way.
When you're content can make you happy; if you're miserable music holds the power to uplift those weak spirits. Music is so big that it can place an image on a specific culture through a specific genre.
Hip-Hop, though fairly new, has paved its way through the hearts of different people all over the world. But should this really be celebrated? Of course it should, but there is a yang to the yin of this world-wide popularity. There are many misconceptions of the genre which leads to misconceptions of a whole culture.
Is it not apparent when people receive a false perception of American's with African descent through misogynist views, violent behavior, and materialistic ways that gangster rap presents not only to that rapper, but to the culture as a whole.
Also, do rappers really have to create a dance with a catchy, watered-down hook to sell? Well for the past couple of years this was known to be true, convincing hip-hop fans that the genre was dead. That's right, dead!
Just ask the older heads in the rap game and they will tell you the same. Rap moguls like Jay-Z, Nas, Ludacris and more have stated it themselves.
In fact, Jay-z came out of retirement for two reasons; to show the young rappers in the game today that you can make real, likeable music that also sells and to resurrect the genre of Hip-Hop. Both of which he achieved. However, in order to understand the meaning behind resurrecting this already prosperous genre, we must understand where it came from.
They year 1979 brought with it a new type of music, one like no other in terms of how it's presented. As a matter of fact, the term rapper derived from the very first rap song ever "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang. The 80's created a strong foundation, and par, for rappers to follow and evolve from with artists like Run D.M.C. and LL Cool J leading the way.
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