“I wonder how people starve to death
When God bless the land that lacks the harvest
The stone’s equality, but they homes are
poverty
And the whole world ignores
the robbery”
-Nas,
“Shine On ‘Em”
Hip-Hop emerged during the postindustrial
Bronx in 1970s by young Black and Latino folks. Scholars have argued that the
emergence of hip-hop has a correlation to post-industrialism and the great
number of Black and Latino families left with high levels of unemployment, and
in essence left in poverty. Mark Anthony Neal argues that Hip-Hop became the
voice of poor and working class blacks that were left behind by the emerging
middle class. In an era like the 1980s, where social mobility was possible for
some, there was a false representation of the lives of blacks. Hip-hop served
as a platform to discuss the issues of poverty among other social inequalities
lived by blacks in the inner cities of the United States.
Much debate surrounds hip hop as its commodification
has led to an exaggerated image of the black ghetto, as well as consumerist
culture that advertises guns, luxury brands, drugs, violence and money. Critics
have suggested that hip-hop mirrors black dysfunctional culture. (Rose, 2008) The
notion that blacks choose to be poor because of their poor decisions. Critics of the genre have asserted that hip-hop
is moving blacks backwards, and disrupting the image of black people. They have
also come to suggest that hip-hop perpetuates poverty and repeats the cycle of
poverty. Here is a blog that highlights this view Hip-hop's contribution to Poverty.
I argue against this notion that suggests hip-hop perpetuates poverty. This rhetoric takes away from the structural
and social factors that evidently set the atmosphere for criminal and
self-limiting behaviors. (Rose, 2008). Furthermore, I suggest that hip-hop
music and their lyrics are not the problem with black youth like the linked
blog suggests, but the lack of opportunities and structural ways in which
policies are set to keep blacks in poverty is what in essence is maintaining a
great number of black folks in poverty.
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| https://flic.kr/p/e7Xncq |
There exists this misconception that poor
blacks are poor because they do not try hard enough. That the conditions of
poor blacks in the inner cities of the U.S are due to lack of effort, and are
only themselves to blame. Social scientists have labeled the black culture as
dysfunctional or pathological. (Rose, 2008) Trecia Rose suggests that hip-hop
critics that label hip-hop as a reflection of black culture dysfunction only
proves right to this tradition of seeing black culture as something separate
from America or self-propelling. (Rose, 2008) But the truth is that the history
of urban areas such as deindustrialization, Urban renewal, lack of educational
funding among other social economic policies have been in place prevent or make
it harder for people from poor ghetto neighborhoods to achieve economic
stability. Hip-hop artists such as Jay Z
in his song Say Hello. have spoken about the conditions that drive crimes and
self-limiting behaviors in poor urban neighborhoods. We have to move away from the doctrine fed to us that suggest one has the
ability to make it if we work hard enough. It is the same rhetoric that is used
to blame poor urban youths for their “failures”. Working hard goes a long way,
but so does support from your teachers, economic status, and opportunities to
help one succeed.
Furthermore, I am not suggesting that the
violence or drugs is okay in poor or any other neighborhoods. What I want to
emphasize is that the lyrics presented in many hip-hop songs are part of a
larger problem. And before we can accuse of hip-hop being the reason for the
cultural “dysfunction” of poor blacks we have to look at the structural ways in
which the conditions of poor ghetto communities are what drive crime and
violence in these neighborhoods.
References
(2013,
November 15). 10 Hip-Hop Lyrics on Poverty [The Borgen Project]. Retrieved from
http://borgenproject.org/10-hip-hop-lyrics-poverty/
Forman, M. & Neal, M. (2012).
“Postindustrial Soul: Black Popular Music at the Crossroads. M. Forman & M.
Neal (ed.), That’s that Joint! (Pp.
476-500). New York:
Rose, T. (2008) The Hip Hop Wars: What we talk about when we talk about Hip Hop and why
it matters. New York : Basic Books.
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