Today, the hip-hop culture has gained a lot of popularity across the world with many nations embracing it as a style of music. Hip-hop musicians, especially in the United States have come out as some of the wealthiest individuals in the world with some of them emerging from the industry to become successful entrepreneurs. Initially, rap music was a way of speaking the issues that were relevant on the society and was used to pass certain messages to the public. It also created a pathway to creating job opportunities for most of the young people who were living unemployed. Producers, musicians, deejays, and marketers all emerged as a result of this trend. Today, it is largely criticized for the onset of violence amongst the young people in the U.S. Criticists have argued that hip-hop has affected the way of living for most young people as the modern artists have become more vulgar and sexist in their composition 1 . This paper looks at the hip-hop culture in the U.S. and how women have influenced the culture in the present day.
Brief History
Hip-hop came into existence in the year 1973 in New York. Kool DJ Herc, a Jamaican –born and American bred deejay, is said to be the pioneer of hip-hop 2 . It was during the Halloween season when his sister had thrown a party when he innovatively stretched the drum break of a song by consecutively playing two identical records consecutively. Through this innovation, the breakdancing style, which is most commonly associated with hip-hop was born 3 . Later on, he was joined by a bandwagon of other deejays and they popularized the newly invented style. However, the first biggest hip-hop song was not recorded until 1979 when Sugarhill Gang releases the first ever hit “Rapper’s Delight.” Most of the music at this time was based on their personal experiences and real life happenings. They could blend this stories with artistic rhyme that easily captivated the public and they got fans. Today hip-hop music is characterized by four distinctive elements: graffiti, rap, breakdancing, and disc jockeying.
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The culture of rap, however, began as an all-black affair. It was common amongst the young black people, especially the working class. They developed this new style of music as they felt that it was a representation of their way of life in the New York City 4 . It was in itself influenced by other previously created forms African-American music like reggae, jazz, soul and gospel, a factor that made it to solidify its ground. Though having been used primarily as a form of entertainment, rap has the potential of bringing to attention societal issues such as politics, social issues, and the economy too.
The Influence that Women have on the Culture
During the onset of hip-hop, not many women took up positions in the opportunities that it created. It was primarily an all-man undertaking with MCs, deejays and break dancers being of the male sex. However, as the art developed, women started becoming part of it and managed to launch successful careers in field of production and performing 5 . The entry of women into the scene changed the scope of the industry as it developed into a more influential movement.
One of the ways that women have strongly influenced hip-hop today is when it comes to song composition and music videos. Most of the hip-hop songs being made today are primarily based on the woman in the society. Artists focus on descriptions of the features that these women have and then build a kind of fantasy around it for their audience. The music videos they do today also expose the sexuality of women as most of them get used as performers, models, or video vixens. This attribute in modern rap music has been highly criticised by individuals from all quarters as they site that it disrupts the moral content of the songs made. This trend has been so rampant today to the extent where women are used in the videos while nude.
Significantly, a lot of the black women performers have also used the platforms they have as a way to present their sexuality to the world 6 . They expose themselves in their videos and let the world to see them as objects of desire which is viewed as a way of gaining a following, a critical aspect in the entertainment industry. However, their way of living and dressing has influenced a lot of the young people who follow them. For instance, the increased sense of fashion amongst the ladies in the world today is as a result of this culture. If a celebrated icon today is seen wearing a certain clothing design, it quickly gets embraced by the society. This explains why the style of dressing amongst women is slowly transitioning to nudity. From watching the women from the music videos, they slowly embrace whatever culture that comes with it.
Conclusion
Hip-hop today is no longer the strong societal medium of expression that it once was 7 . Modern day artists have turned it to become explicit in nature as they compose violent songs, portray a gangster way of living, and use the woman’s uniqueness for wrongful gains. Nonetheless, it is the women who have contributed largely to this new trend as they sought to find a place in the industry. If positive progress is to be noted, the roots of hip-hop and its role in the society need to be reviewed.
References
Alexander, B. (2017). Hip-hop’s musical evolution of rap. Oneonta . Retrieved 25April 2017, from http://webserver1.oneonta.edu/faculty/bealt/alexander.htm.
Blanchard, B. (2017). The social significance of rap and hip-hop culture. Stanford . Retrieved on 25 April 2017 from https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/socialsignificance.htm.
Bodroghkozy, A. (2002). Reel revolutionaries: an examination of Hollywood’s cycle of 1960s youth rebellion films. Cinema Journal, 41 (3), 38-58.
Emerson, R. (2002). “Where my girls at? Negotiating black womanhood in music videos. Gender and Society , 16(1), 115-135.
1 Blanchard, B. (2017). The social significance of rap and hip-hop culture. Stanford. Retrieved on 25 April 2017 from https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/socialsignificance.htm.
2 Alexander, B. (2017). Hip-hop’s musical evolution of rap. Oneonta. Retrieved on 25 April 2017, from http://webserver1.oneonta.edu/faculty/bealt/alexander.htm.
3 Ibid.
4 Alexander, B. (2017). Hip-hop’s musical evolution of rap.
5 Emerson, R. (2002). Where my girls at? Negotiating black womanhood in music videos. Gender and Society , 16(1), 115.
6 Emerson, R. (2002), “Where my girls at?
7 Bodroghkozy, A. (2002). Reel revolutionaries: an examination of Hollywood’s cycle of 1960s youth rebellion films. Cinema Journal, 41 (3), 38.
