Representation in HipHop or the Lack There Of

B-boy by Banksy, photo taken from 

wallkandy.net  

“Hip-hop says, “Come as you are”. We are a family. It ain’t about security. It ain’t about bling-bling. It ain’t about how much your gun can shoot. It ain’t about $200 sneakers. It is not about me being better than you or you being better than me. It’s about you and me, connecting one on one.” (Chang, 2005) As Hip-hop is presently very common in our everyday language this wasn’t always the case. The term of Hip-hop and the fusion that composes the genre were first born in the early 1970’s. Even though it is debatable to where the genre initiated from the most suitable theory it’s from the South Bronx, New York however what we do know is the great impact it has on our present day society. Hip-hop has had a great and rapid emerged into our society’s mainstream culture. First emerging from New York City, making its way known nation wide and now globally. In the media hip-hop is portrait not only has a genre of music but also a subculture, which is stereotyped by numerous factors. When the Hip-hop movement first started it was African American dominated and even though that has changed still until this day it gets portrayed that way. “Certainly the commercialization of rap music expanded the definition of hip-hop culture beyond the four elements (graffiti, break dancing, dj-ing, rap music) to include verbal language, body language, attitude, style and fashion.” (Kitwana, 2002). As previously described the hip-hop culture starting shifting and focusing more on the material aspect and not the musical aspect, now it’s more about the fashion trends, a façade and the embedded language. The media often flaws and downplays this subculture making it seem like hip-hop is only about crime, violence, abundance of money, latest cars, alcohol, vulgarity, degrading and exploding women, and ever so important drugs. Hip-hop now is an African American male dominated industry, which means that is rarely when we see a female rapper dominating the charts in abundance or when we, as consumers, popularize Caucasian rappers. In class we previously came across the task of naming ten female rappers or MC’s and the list didn’t surpass three. Then I quickly implemented the question to myself with the difference that I asked how many of those can I name of Caucasian descent? To be honest I came up with roughly about four that is if you can even count Iggy Azalea. Both, female and Caucasian categories need to broaden in order to represent the change in audience that is now consuming hip-hop. Females and Caucasian rappers are not being represented in hip-hop music. The only academy really acknowledging Caucasian rappers is the Grammy’s meanwhile other networks like BET also hold yearly awards just recently started including ‘Best Female Hip-Hop Artist’ as one of their award winning categories. There’s a lot of substance to be recognized and to emerge into this genre that also forms a subculture. As to be understood and expressed, the genre of hip-hop is not to be compared to any other; it holds own history and feeds its own culture. Hip-hop is the fusion created in the streets of New York in which the world can identify with, that includes people from different gender, socioeconomic class, race and age groups among many.

1.     Chang, J. (2005). Can't stop, won't stop: A history of the hip-hop generation. New York: St. Martin's Press.

2.     Kitwana, B. (2002). The hip hop generation: Young Blacks and the crisis in African American culture. New York: Basic Civitas Books.