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In one of my classes we had to discuss the music of rap and how it is postmodern. I thought that rap is postmodern because rap lyrics have a lot of hidden meanings to them. Sometimes the lyrics contain references to what’s currently happening in the world, whether it may be social or political. Postmodern rap uses a lot of different types of technology to create something new. Sometimes postmodern rap gets influence from other music from various traditions and cultures. Rap always tries to break/challenge traditions, values, ideas, and the social norm.
We also had to compare and contrast rap and hip-hop. I said that rap is different than hip-hop in many ways. Rap is more towards the musical spectrum, whereas hip-hop describes a lifestyle and culture. Hip-hop can consist of break dancing, scratching, graffiti writing, and beat-boxing. Fashion and art expression is also related to hip-hop. Hip-hop can define how someone lives his or her life. For rap, I think it is just a musical part of hip-hop. Rap focuses on lyrics as if it was like poetry that was following a specific beat. This is relevant to the current state of the art form because you can turn anything that is conventional into art such as a can of cream of tomato soup created by Andy Warhol. Anything can be a form of expression.
A part of the class was to describe the negative stereotypes that rap has on society. I believe that when we look at the issues with mass appropriation of a regional culture such as hip-hop, negative stereotypes can be formed that can be related to other negative associations, which may be due to opposing thoughts. Although graffiti is a big part of hip-hop art expression, it can be unappealing to other people’s eyes since it is technically vandalizing property. Other issues that we are confronted with is the fact that there are bad and wrong words in the music that may influence someone’s (like a child) behavior/speech and this may lead them to say those bad words when it is unnecessary.
We also had to compare and contrast rap and hip-hop. I said that rap is different than hip-hop in many ways. Rap is more towards the musical spectrum, whereas hip-hop describes a lifestyle and culture. Hip-hop can consist of break dancing, scratching, graffiti writing, and beat-boxing. Fashion and art expression is also related to hip-hop. Hip-hop can define how someone lives his or her life. For rap, I think it is just a musical part of hip-hop. Rap focuses on lyrics as if it was like poetry that was following a specific beat. This is relevant to the current state of the art form because you can turn anything that is conventional into art such as a can of cream of tomato soup created by Andy Warhol. Anything can be a form of expression.
A part of the class was to describe the negative stereotypes that rap has on society. I believe that when we look at the issues with mass appropriation of a regional culture such as hip-hop, negative stereotypes can be formed that can be related to other negative associations, which may be due to opposing thoughts. Although graffiti is a big part of hip-hop art expression, it can be unappealing to other people’s eyes since it is technically vandalizing property. Other issues that we are confronted with is the fact that there are bad and wrong words in the music that may influence someone’s (like a child) behavior/speech and this may lead them to say those bad words when it is unnecessary.
