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Rap Music Advancement
Rap music is one of the prominent and influential genres in the entertainment field. Throughout its evolution, many changes have been inherent as the artist tend to move out from the gangster’s style to more ethical and romance way occupying all the everyday lifestyles in today’s world. Change is inevitable and has to be adopted in the music sector as well as in any other field as the technology advances. The hip-hop music in the 1990s was distinct and significantly different from the rap today. The genre today is to a greater extent not what it used to be those years when rappers were depicted to portray the hood politics as the central theme. It is easy to distinguish the rap music produced by the early 2000s as all the artists had a typical style as they all talked about the hard life they undergo through, hood and gangster livelihood where most were associated with drug dealing. Their persona was similar which is different from the rap artists who have evolved during the last ten years which shows diversification in the art (Vincent, page 12). In this discussion, the rap music evolution is elaborated into a profound extent with regards to the vast songs that influence the public, how they dealt with police brutality during the early years and how the hip-hop music affects the listeners as well as the civilians.
The rap music has been very influential to the peoples’ lives today as well as during the early era when it commonly consisted of hood style. Among the famous rap artist who was prominent in the 90s include N.W.A, in the early 2000s Lil Wayne, B.I.G and Jay-Z were on the top producing most popular music in the music industry. The common thing during this era being composing lyrics based on the gangster and hard livelihood around the ghetto street in the state depicted poverty as the way towards thuggery. The society has adopted their way of doing the art even though many portrayed the rap music as immoral and not the right thing especially for the young people as it could have significant effects in their lives. For instance, people involved in the rap music had a distinct character of gangster that in reality depicted their persona. Jay-Z and B.I.G are good examples of the famous rap music that was well-known drug dealers. Therefore, in many instances, they faced police brutality that made their livelihood in the society hard and challenging (Washington, page 97). There was a notion that even the close audience and fans of the genre had the same characteristics and would at the end up being subjects of such lifestyle.
Over the past decade, the previous messages composed of the most successful rap music are not evident as the artists’ work enhanced diversification in the genre as they come from range backgrounds. In today’s hip-hop genre the musician has proven that nothing relates rap to thug life as they do it differently and still hits in the sector and significantly attracting an enormous audience even that during the 90s. Drake is a perfect example of the artists that show diversity in the hip-hop rate as he is described as the furthest thing from the hood. Everything has evolved in the hip-hop industry starting with the record labels and artists themselves. However, some of the former rap artists such as Lil Wayne tries to keep the reality of original genre by having their production system and composing music that depicts the hood style. The change in the hip-hop mainstream has revealed music and social development enhancing positive change in many peoples’ lives. The young generation is significantly growing with the mentality that it is not a must the one be a thug or undergo the hard life condition to succeed in the rap field. Despite the hip-hop genre having earned relation with violence and drug dealing, it has significantly enhanced cultural development as it accommodates all kind of personality apart from the notorious way of living.
Lyrics appear to be the significant difference that between the modern hip-hop and that of the 1990s tracks (Mauch, page 17). During the early decade, the rap tracks were narrowly focused and were only considerate of the artist’s success story and the hardship he or she has undergone through in the process of achieving it. The thing was common that even the most successful artists adopted the same way as they also wrote about hard life in living in poverty, violence, drugs, and crime. This was the persona during that time that the artist believed that they must adapt to succeed in the field. The rap was significantly the gangsters’ anthem and was the story of the ghetto life that restrained hip-hop from joining other genres such as rock. However, during the 1990s decade, there was an honest bit in all the rap lyrics that portrayed the characters of the artists. It was the reality that these artists involved in violence and drug dealing forcing the audience to understand that their actions were behind survivability (Miller, page 21). They postulated that it was the only means to survive in the ghetto areas mostly related poverty and crime. It affected the community negatively as the same picture builds in their mind through the genre induced fear in their lives to never been associated with such experience. For instance, in his music Styles P appealed after childhood poverty and abuse, the only option was getting into the rap crew as he could get all the things that he required from the industry.
For instance, let us consider that gangster rap genre by N.W.A during the 1990s which significantly influenced the publics’ notion regarding the hip-hop music. Straight Outta Compton is the first album that they released during their initial stages. In the music, Compton is depicted as the hell full of violence and the N.W.As as the mighty lords of the region. In the music, Ice Cube states that it is a murder dance that keeps audience dancing. All through the N.W.A’s gangster lyrics, they depicted criminality in the nation as well as the drug dealing. In the normal living standard, these elements are referred as the social evils in the society, and no one would like to be involved in such crews. 50 cents was also a big and influential rap star I the early 2000s. His hip-hop genre was prominent and had lots of audiences which made him popular not only in the nation but also worldwide. Good examples of the 50 cents’ rap genre that depicted “hood lifestyle” include Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and The Massacre. They portray the same styles as the other hip-hop lyrics in the early decades that represents the ghetto life harshness, drug peddling, and violence. However, 50 cent back drawn in his artist work due to dishonesty that was detected in his work by the audience.
The hip-hop mainstream took another turn in the mid-2000s after the famous Kanye West dropped his debut album “The College Dropout.” It was a different portion of the rap genre that instead of comprising drug dealing and violence it coincidentally composed religion matters. It brought the light in the industry that it was possible to have diversity in the rap music and still the track get into the ears of an enormous number of audience in the world. Later, after the Kanye West’s hit in the year, 2004 many upcoming hip-hop artists were inspired and significantly started writing genre tracks out of the violence, crime, poverty, and drug dealing brackets. The rappers significantly diverged from the gangster rap into different ways that they could address not only their life experience but also other positive issues in the society that could lead to sound impact in the world. Since many people have found their way into the hip-hop genre as they are not traumatized of its “ghetto life” condition, but they can produce adverse tracks from any background (Mäkelä, page 74).
Nowadays, it is evident that the rappers write about everything and the songs still get popular regarding the message it depicts and the skills that the artists portray in the industry. For instance, the genre covers wide range starting from the social life to the excess lifestyle which includes the sexuality concern which has significantly spread in the world as well as a depiction of the wealthy status. Drake in his album “Take Care” depicts love as well as the social life in the society today. Drake is among the vessels that pray an essential role in shaping the future of rap genre as well as encouraging the rising artist to follow ethical based and show humanity as a way of developing the hip-hop mainstream. Today, hip-hop has emerged among the best and accepted music genre in the society that has a wide range of audience regarding the age as well as ethnicity and significantly portrays honest and straightforward lifestyle. Despite the illegality and violence depicted in the earlier rap genre, nowadays hip-hop has taken a different approach to romance and social development amidst the genres thuggery standing.
In looking at how rap music influences the listeners and public, the internet and social media will be put into consideration. Today, the social media platform as the most influential sector of the internet has become the measure and reflection of development in the society. It is among the platforms where the audience can merely access the lyrics and another rap genre at ease as well as providing their reviews with no one’s supervision. It depicts that the chances of telling the reality are higher as the listener is not put under any pressure to prefer any side. For instance, in social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, the users can easily express themselves or write blogs regarding their career or experience as a measure of portraying self-expression and personality (Perlovsky, page 185). On the other hand, the subscribers and followers will get in touch with the information and leave their reviews that significantly depicts their reaction towards the issues. In relating this information to the hip-hop genre, it is clear that all the pop stars and other artists have their fan pages where their followers and listeners globally can access their conversations and can be significantly notified about the hits and tracks released. The followers on the other side will show their position substantially by either liking or reject the artwork as well as giving their comments and points of views regarding significant rectification.
Furthermore, the online websites and the YouTube channel has emerged the efficient way of accessing artwork through the internet. Her the rappers as other artists will merely add their music to the channels, and the audience can listen and leave their reviews on the same platform. They are important sites that recruit the artists, and they do not only measure them competency but also make the musicians earn a living after their hard and smart work. These sites had made the rap artists be prominent and come from different nations of the world as the genre allows diversification and societal growth (Francis, page 11). For instance, some of the rappers such as Immortal Technique composes work that emphasizes the effects of the artistic freedom on social media and internet. In his work “The 3rd World” Immortal Technique states that the government refers to them as terrorists who are destroying the nation while they are living in urban warfare. Such artist finds the secure place to get their fans and artwork moving as through the social media and internet sites they will be able to gather their followers and share their music freely.
The social media at the early decades of the 1990s had not legalized the act of broadcasting hip hop genre as it was significantly considered to bring social boundaries and spread immorality in the society. It was right as the rappers during that error had been corrupted by the thoughts that the path towards success was through producing violence, hard life and drug dealing based music. The information negatively affected the community and significantly ruined national cohesion as the “ghetto family” was seen as an excluded as well as being viewed as immoral. In today’s hip-hop artisan things are different, and instead, the genre has spread its roots to all corners of the world, and a high percentage of the population knows about it and the prominent artists. In the social media such radio and television station the rap genre covers a significant portion of the entertainment sector, and this music is played now and then due to a high number of audience.
From the above discussion, the hip-hop genre is a leading industry that has undergone a variety of change since its invention and is significantly developing into a more advanced as well as diversified field. The rap has been there to be and will continue spreading and taking different reformation in its development process. Sound changes are significantly seen as days go in the rap industry and more efficiently accommodating all people in the society (Clayton, page 7). The music portrays societal development regarding the message passed as many artisans write about the emerging issues. The change experienced from the early era rap music to the today’s genre is critical and has put in progress high advancement rate. The hip-hop music is for the nation and the world in general as well as for the future generation. Therefore, it is vital to support the artists to enable them to keep moving in the industry.
References
Clayton, Martin. The cultural study of music: A critical introduction. Routledge, 2013.
Francis, Nariah. “Beauty, Brains, But When The Beat Drops…: An Examination Of College Ages Women’s Uses and Rationalizations of Misogynistic Rap Music.” (2016).
Perlovsky, Leonid. “Cognitive function, origin, and evolution of musical emotions.” Musicae Scientiae 16.2 (2012): 185-199.
Mäkelä, Niko, et al. “Truncated RAP-MUSIC (TRAP-MUSIC) for MEG and EEG source localization.” NeuroImage 167 (2018): 73-83.
Miller, Matt. Bounce: Rap music and local identity in New Orleans. Univ of Massachusetts Press, 2012.
Mauch, Matthias, et al. “The evolution of popular music: USA 1960–2010.” Royal Society open science 2.5 (2015): 150081.
Vincent, Rickey. Funk: The music, the people, and the rhythm of the one. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2014.
Washington, Ahmad Rashad. “Integrating Hip‐Hop Culture and Rap Music Into Social Justice Counseling With Black Males.” Journal of Counseling & Development 96.1 (2018): 97-105.
