Chapter 2 Hip Hop Wars Hip Hop Reflects Black Dysfunctional Ghetto Culture

Chapter two is entitled "Hip Hop Reflects Black Dysfunctional Ghetto Culture". The chapter talks about how Hip Hop might be influencing or promoting a dysfunctional black culture. Rose states that Hip Hop is perceived to be the contemporary promoter of this black underclass urban culture of dysfunction. She says that the criticism of the so-called dysfunction was created by the poor urban black community and it revolves around three pillars violence, sexual deviance/excess, and illiteracy. Rose says it's a disturbing claim that Hip Hop and what is said in songs reflects the black urban underclass dysfunction.  Even though it's hard to defend these claims because of what is said in some songs.  Rose says that there are four major problems with the simplistic idea of the poor black people as culturally dysfunctional; contemporary claims about black cultural dysfunction are not new, newly created black cultural expressions have always been seen as a threat to a larger society, fictitious self-generating cultural patterns, distortions that undermine research efforts to prove the value of black cultural expressions. Rose states that the myths about the black culture are explanations for the racial inequality that occurred throughout most of the 20th century. They were said to have no cultural traditions in the 19th and 20th centuries. The music and poetry of black cultures were seen as threats to a larger society during the early years. Rose says that blues music was considered 'devils music' by others in the 1920s. However once this music was not viewed as the sound of the youthful generation it was accepted and was no longer seen as a threat. Rose states that viewing new black expression as dangerous while embracing old forms, like jazz, is a pillar of contemporary racism. She says also that black culture is influenced by many societal factors such as politics and economy. The Black community is not the only culture influenced by these factors. She also talks about black females being the heads of the households, this is said to cause dysfunction, because it is not "normal" in society. Rose talks about how for long periods of time black culture was seen as dysfunctional but now, it is accepted as valuable and distinct. This acceptance did not come easy it took a lot of political, social and intellectual effort to make this happen. The environment in these black communities gives the culture a dysfunctional perception. The dysfunction is environmentally induced. Rap songs talk about these environments and these words are encouraging young people to emulate the practices and activities that are described in these songs. The commercial hip hop artists promote this behavior in their songs, but this is what sells so many people support it and thus advertise it. This as a result does not help the situation even though they are pro-hip hop they are promoting it wrongly. The only way to combat these issues, Rose states is to reject self-destructive paths and create real opportunities for the youth in these black communities.

Imitation #6 2000s Rap Dylan Owen "Ghost"

"So if your getting sick of leaving
Or even repeating weaving a seam to the people who seem to be cold
Yeah I know that you have fevers and sleep with your secretsSeeking a seal for the ceiling right before it falls on us bothI believe in leaving demons, bereaving a reasonWe could only see those deepened seeds and that they needed to grow.Most emcees these days spit promotional rhymesIs it wrong that I’m in touch with my emotional side?As a kid I used to wonder where the ocean would dieAnd if there’s anybody like me hoping on the other side."

I chose "Ghosts" by Dylan Owen, for a rap song of the 2000s. This song is about leaving things behind that upset you and fighting your "ghosts" that follow and "haunt" in your life. Dylan uses ghosts as a metaphor for the things in life that you regret or the things that happened to you that upset you. Dylan talks about these ghosts and then about leaving them behind. The ten bars I chose are talking about these "demons" and if you are sick of leaving, friends or family, or trying to hold on to old friends. Dylan also talks about people sleeping with "fevers" and "secrets" and how people go to bed with things on their minds and thoughts in their heads about their lives. Dylan uses a metaphor when he talks about "seeking a seal for the ceiling right before it falls on us both", this is used to show how sometimes it feels like things are falling apart all around you, or you and a loved one. Either things aren't going good in your life or you are heading in a direction you didn't want to go and you are just trying to keep things from getting worse. Dylan then goes on to state how these "seeds"  a metaphor for feelings need to grow and be let out. Dylan then talks about how other rappers only "spit" promotional  songs , and that he is in touch with his emotional side and questions if it's wrong. This comments on mainstream Hip Hop and Rap on how all he hears is, for the most part, rappers rapping for promotional reasons.  He as a result questions his own raps and asks if its wrong that he doesn't do this, that he raps about meaningful topics and emotions. The last two lines he talks about how he dreams and wonders about things and he wondered if there was anybody else who thought the way he did. Dylan wonders if people think and feel the same things he does as he is growing up. In the tecond and third lines Dylan uses alliteration, using the "s" sound, he uses this same sound again in line seven. Lines two and three also use assonance with the "e" sound. In lines four and five he uses internal rhyme.  He wrote this song and album "Keep Your Friends Close" around the time he was going away to college and he went to visit old friends before he left. The album has to do with the emotions and feelings that come with growing older. 

Creation #1 Spoken Word

Somedays I wake up with a question
Why? Whats the purpose?
Always looking for something.
Will this make me miss others?
I hope and pray and maybe
one day will come and
It will seem like all the others just the same
but then she will whisper in my ear
she'll say I will always be here
hold my hand we'll make toasts
and there'll be cheers
We will make it through the years
And she'll make it clear
through all the tears and fears
she'll be here.
Me my and mine
thoughts I compile
I write them down
place them like kitchen tiles
and then I will know
its all been worthwhile!

Imitation #5 1990s poem David Henderson "Evergreen (A Chant For The Tropical Rain Forest"

"the death of deciduous broad-leafed evergreen
for pastureland to graze diseased beef for export
for sleep named housing hamlets bowling alleys 7-Elevens
hamburgers as far as the eye can see evergreen evergreen

tidy clusters of new england style homes parcels and lanes
along the pan-american highway from amazonia to surfeit
economies of the norther mainlands
the same route as the slave ships"

 The poem I chose to write about for poetry written in the 1990s is a poem called  "Evergreen (A Chant For The Tropical Rain Forest"by David Henderson. The poem talks about how the rain forests of the world are being destroyed because of greed. The people and civilizations of the world, and in this poem especially America, are destroying the rain forests for many uses. Henderson states some of they uses in the first four bars. He does not think that these reasons are valid based on the way he states the uses. He sates they use the land as "pastureland to graze diseased beef", not only countries cutting down the rain forest but they are using it to raise unhealthy cattle which are used for their meat. This in turn makes the beef people consume unsafe. These vital habitats and forests are being used for houses, 7-Elevens. The countries are greedy, at the end of the poem he changes the word he repeats, "evergreen" to "evergreed", which shows his feelings toward the countries that destroy these "broad-leafed evergreen" forests. In the second part of the poem I chose, the last four bars, also talk about some of things that the wood is for. It also mentions that the same routes the trees are being used to create and are taken from are the same as the slaves. He uses simile to compare the trees to slaves. The trees cannot stop what is being done to them, just like slaves really had no say in how they lived their lives. The trees and slaves alike were both taken from their homes and used to do tasks. This poem is a confession, Henderson is stating how he feels about the destruction that is taking place in the Earths rain forests.

Imitation #4 1980s Rap Run DMC "Its like that"

"When you feel you fail sometimes it hurts 
For a meaning in life is why you search 
Take the bus or the train, drive to school or the church 
It's like that, and that's the way it is 

Here's another point in life you should not miss 
Do not be a fool who's prejudiced
Because we're all written down on the same list 
It's like that (what?) and that's the way it is 
Huh!"

        The rap song I chose to imitate for the 1980s is RUN-DMC's "It's Like That". This song is a confession. In the song they talk about life and the ways things are in life, "It's like that, and that's the way it is".They talk about failure and how it hurts when you fail. In the first four bars they talk about finding a meaning in your life. However they say you need to go out and "search" for the meaning of life. In order to find what it is you want to do and like to do you must go out and find it. It will not come to you, you can go out and try and find it by driving "to school or the church". If you get an education your life will most likely be better, you can get a better job and become educated. School gives a person a purpose, meaning a goal to work towards. The same thing for church, no matter the religion, it can give you a sense of worth and hope. The next five lines add another "point" to how life is. They say you should not judge people, because we all go through problems. We are all trying to figure out what we want to do with and in our lives. "We're all written down on the same list" they use figurative language here, they're saying we are all are looking and going through similar, if not, the same things in life. So they say do not form prejudice ideas or judge people because you don't know what they are going through or have been through. Throughout the 8 bars and the two separate verses, they use end rhyme. Some of these end rhymes incorporate slant rhyme, "miss" "prejudiced" "List" "it is". Also in the first verse "hurts", "search", "church".

Imitation #3 (1970s) Gil Scott Heron "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

"The revolution will not be televised. 

The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox 

In 4 parts without commercial interruptions. 

The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon 

blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John 

Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat 

hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary. 

The revolution will not be televised."

               This poem written by Gil Scott Heron is called "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". It is written during the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, which was happening during the time period when this poem was written, the 1970s. Heron states the revolution will not be televised, so it is not accepted by everyone otherwise it would get the recognition it deserved and would be televised. He states that the revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox, which is a photocopying manufacturer. So by saying this Heron is saying that you will not be brought any change, you will need to go out and make a change. He also states by saying this that you can not just follow everyone else, if you want to make a change you can not simply be a "photocopy" you need to be an "original". You will have to think and stand up for what you want, not what anyone else says or thinks. Heron then states that Nixon, referring to president Nixon who was president of the United States from 1969-1974, will not be shown as the leader of this revolution. And he will neither be followed by John Mitchell, U.S Attorney General, or General Creighton Abrams, who was one of the commanders of the U.S army during the Vietnam War. The vice president, Spiro Agnew, will not lead the charge either who was Nixon's vice president. Heron then refers to hog maws which is a traditional African American food. I think this reference of the hog maws getting "confiscated" from the "Harlem sanctuary" refers to the African Americans getting mistreated just because of their skin color. There is no rhyme scheme in this poem, there is repetition of the word revolution. This poem represents lyrical poetry.

Chapter 1 Hip-Hop Causes Violence

The first chapter of The Hip Hop Wars, by Tricia Rose, is about violence caused by hip hop. Critics have said that hip hop glorifies and encourages violence. In the 1990s gangsta rap was prevalent in hip hop. These rappers told stories of violence, and young listeners were hearing these stories told by the artists they looked up to. It is said that when you listen about or see violence, such as in hip-hop and video games, it encourages these same acts of violence. There are five major elements that contributed to the dismantling of stable communities. These elements are, high levels of chronic joblessness, loss of affordable housing and urban renewal, drug-trade expansion, access to automatic weapons, and incarceration over rehabilitation. We supported destruction of low income african american communities which led to homelessness. Corporations used to hire african americans last over whites, and the african americans were also the ones who got fired first, which contributed to homelessness. The lack of jobs for african american teens led to increased drug use and trade. The increased drug trade led to the use of readily available automatic weapons and the drug use led to increased african american prison populations. We try to correct the violence with more violence and incarceration. Then we associate these young african american males with violence, because they react to the violence they experience from police and others with more violence which in-turn repeats this cycle. This creates the connection between violence and african americans, which is untrue. The violence that is spoken about in these artists songs are ridiculed and seen as a bad influence on the young listeners. However the violence and discrimination that was used to combat these violent acts, in these low-income neighborhoods, was accepted. This process needs to be changed. Rehabilitation and community projects need to be implemented in order to combat these violent tendencies in low-income communities. There needs to be programs that turn teens away from violence and towards peaceful resolution. We have to understand that these rap artists are influenced and are products of where they grew up. They might be rapping about violence because that is what they see/saw on a daily basis, it might be a way for them to release their feelings they have about these situations. We also need to look at how much these rap artists are talking about violent actions, because they might represent the actions that have taken place in the communities recently, and if so then policies need to be made, or re-addressed in order to limit these violent actions/tendencies. The chapter correlates violent rap lyrics with the violence in communities. The experiences these rap artists have/had and write about, raise the question,  are they really influencing young listeners? The chapter also explains why violence occurred in these communities and that policies must be made to stop the violence in these neighborhoods.