Hip-Hop: Defense and Prosecution

I am a huge supporter of the Hip Hop Culture. Not the culture of the so called "Gangsta Rappers" or the booty I can easily catch on my television. I am a supporter of the true Hip Hop Movement. I am a fan of the true essence which consists of Dj-ing, B-Boy, MC-ing, and Graffiti. These four elements are the foundation to the true culture that first provided an alternative to the life of gang violence, of the degradation of women, and of oppression for all people considered minority. Hip Hop is a culture that should bring people together into a global family unit, only now it's being twisted in order to advertise adult entertainment and crude behavior within the community of the youth. When Hip Hop was born around the late 70's early 80's, it was embraced as something positive and also used as a culture of rebellion against the harsh living conditions of the streets which were infected with violence and poverty. It started with the Dj (disc jockey), who played the hottest tunes people loved and related to. Secondly, there came the B-boy which is short for break boy. When the disc jockey played a tune that went into a break down, mostly consisting of instrumental funk and pop jazz music, b-boys would dance on these breaks and along with the beat.The next two aspects of Hip Hop came separately. Mc-ing was born when an individual made a rhyme to a mixed tune the Dj created. It was called spittin, flowing, or rapping. The MC element became important because the people needed their voice to be heard and the MC could get a message across through rhythm and words. Graffiti is the last element that allowed for the message of the people to be heard through truly artistic measures. Murals would be spray painted on the wall with images that resembled what the people felt or of the tag name of the individual who tagged it. Knowing this information is crucial to when one compares the Hip Hop of today to the Hip Hop of yesterday. Two articles were written about the current affects of the Hip Hop Culture. The first article, “In Defence of Hip Hop,” written by Cathleen Rountree, supports Hip Hop and gives valid points on why the culture is falsely accused of being the cause of the many negative aspects of society. “…hip-hop music frequently assumes the central role of scapegoat when violent words and deeds erupt among the young—and sometimes the old, as we saw with the Don Imus escapade in April.”(Rountree 245). Rountree used this example to show the audience of recent events that relate to her argument. By doing this she creates the first argument that could be refuted by the opposition.
The opposition takes place within the second article. “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women,” written by Jennifer McLune, figuratively beats the entire culture to a pulp while explaining how Hip-Hop degrades women and exploits the sexist and homophobic tensions of the men involved in the life-style. McLune wasn’t afraid to state that hip hop is the main reason why society as a whole still has not embraced the idea of a successful black woman.
Rountree’s article defends hip hop and shows that it should not be used as a scapegoat for the behavior of a community, while McLune’s article emotionally claims that Hip Hop should be crucified and exposed for its sexist content. What both articles failed to do was give me facts or statistics. I felt that both articles were running off of emotion and their personal studies just happened to contradict each other. My own personal involvement allows me to disagree with both articles on what the intent of Hip Hop really is. As stated before, Hip Hop was an alternative to an oppressive lifestyle. It valued the creativity and experience of both men and women equally. It also wasn’t created to try to please anyone who repelled against it.
What is worse, the content or the person who chooses to listen to the content? The Don Imus incident is brought to the table. In my opinion, hip hop is still a young art form and Don Imus is just too old to be including himself in it. The excuse that “Hip Hop made me do it,” is not acceptable. The man’s radio talk show is known to have some vulgar material in it. Rountree believes there is no excuse when one spills out a racial slur on national radio; he should blame it on hip hop.
Mclune on the other hand refutes this argument and shows the audience what problems hip hop has caused. When speaking about female hip hop artist Eve and her involvement in a video titled “Pigeons,” she states,”Her appearance displays her unity not with the women branded “pigeons,” but with the men who label them.”(McLune 249). She later explains how in hip hop, female artist familiarize themselves as masculine figures so they can further degrade other women.
I clearly believe that neither author truly knows what the intent of Hip Hop was. Both articles were written to prove that hip hop is either innocent or guilty of the accusations placed on it by society, but they never pinpoint what hip hop used to be or what it is now. In fact, this debate is almost pointless. I am sorry I couldn’t write an article based on this topic because if I did I would have made a complete comparison between the Hip Hop of today and of yesterday.

to be continued..