Hip hop is a cultural representation, not only in the generation and music, but also young people and its ideas. And never before has been analyzed as it is today.
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Hip hop’s young identity
1. Hip Hop’s young identity
Author: Luke Thomsen
Hip hop is a cultural representation; not only of the generation and the music,
but also of the youth and its thoughts. And never before has the impact been
analyzed like it is today. In an observation that Dr. S. Craig Watkins made,
professor at the University of Texas-Austin, he stated that hip-hop scholarship
focuses on interpreting content and culture.
It’s just that the scholars, who do these researches, need to examine the effect of
hip hop and rap songs and entertainment media like hip-hop culture and
understand what effect it has on the youth. Whether it is just a mirror of what the
youth think or whether it even influences their social identity, is what really needs
to be understood.
From where I look at it, it is pretty evident that these questions are inter-
dependent. Something like, a wheel or a cycle. Gone are the days when “books
were man’s best friends”. Today, in this i-pod-addicted, music-channel-viewing
and disillusioned world, it is more of these new hip hop songs that influence and
connect with the youth. Ask a young boy on the street, “What do you do if you
are bored? Or even lonely?” he will most spontaneously reply “I listen to MY
music”.
What is this “My” music?
The music that one listens to is most often a refection of ones own identity or
perhaps what one wishes to be. So, in simple words, it varies form person to
person. For a naïve-uninterested-aspiring-to-be-cool young man/woman, it’s only
the “kick ass” music that will work. But for many others, it’s also about those
lyrics that make you wake up and take things in your hand.
Looking at it from the perspective of an outsider, an observer; you can note that
so much of this music can be detrimental – can influence negatively. But there
still is so much more that can make a difference. Like in any social group or
community or class; there is always good and bad and so it is here as well!
2. If you remember the Chiddy bang song – “Nothing on we“that inspires us to
dream on and move on, you will understand what I mean. When we have
thoughts like these, why should the Young with Hip Hop music relationship end
at just that? We’ll let’s just look beyond, and go beyond.
“And if you dream that you could grab it
When obstacles arrive you drive past it
I learned there’s more to life when we had a smash hit
And the only thing guaranteed in life is a casket
That’s why I live it up
They try to rob me of my dreams, they told me give it up
Uh, I said I refuse this journey I pursue
And what I do to haters, I made them my own muse”