Hip Hop/ Rap In The 90’S

Leaders to start hip-hop culture

Cornell West, a philosopher who studied African Americans described hip hop as postural semantics. Dancing and deejaying formed the components of rapping. New York is the main source from originating hip-hop.

Struggles of Rap and Hip-Hop

Radio play was the first problem that rap ran into. The Black radio refused to play explicit lyrics to the viewers. “The only thing these advertisers are going to pay me to do is to bring them black, older females. My gut tells me that older black women don’t like hip-hop.” Older females were going to back away from radios if rap music was starting to play all over.

Serious Artists

Jay Z and his album, “Reasonable Doubt,” dropped in 1996. His album tells a story in the middle of the summer dealing with power and determination. He has a song titled, “Dead Presidents II,” where he talks about street life where a drug dealer is getting shot and starts off his verse with the best rhymes anyone has ever heard. “The kick he gets from rhyming seems to replace the thrill of the hustle.” Jay-Z was known as a hustler in his day, so he has a gift for rhyming and the audience can appreciate what he is talking about a whole lot better.

Nas was a New York artist who dropped song after song including one of his best songs, “I Gave you Power.”

The main source of the song is violence and how he cannot take it anymore. He talks about himself as if he was a gun.

Nas states, “I didn’t budge, sick of the blood, sick of the thugs, sick of the wrath of the next man’s grudge.” Nas raps about being a handgun and the carriers who mistreat him with abusing the power of owning or stealing a gun.

90’s Grammys

The Grammys never recognized hip-hop as a serious genre in the early 90’s. Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff were the first artist in rap to win a Grammy. There was a boycott for rap music at the Grammys in the years 1989 and 1999 because hip-hop doesn’t get the recognition it deserves with all the hits that were put out. Will Smith was against winning the trophy and decided to take a stand along with other fellow artists because rap wasn’t going to be televised along with the other awards. Will Smith stated, “You go to school for 12 years, they give you your diploma, and they deny you that walk down the aisle.” He was comparing it to all the hard work we do in school but don’t get credit and nobody can see us walk down the stage.

Real Life Rap Meaning

Tupac is an artist who rapped out his struggles of life and moving from city to city in his rhymes. He told the life of his mother and how they could not afford many things. Many say Tupac spoke the truth and many hated him for it. Tupac has a song where he talks about women and it is pro-feminist song. He is supporting pro-choice in his song and what it is like being a black male. “It's an autobiographical song about being a young black male growing up in inner-city America. And that was Pac's uniqueness: his ability to weave in different scenarios and to paint this full picture of a community, over and over again.” He had a great ability to create a scene we can picture in our minds and easily switch up his story without his realizing.

N.W.A was a black rap group that was always dealing with senseless police abuse in their hometown, Compton. The 4 black members was the first rap group ever to put a diss track out on the police and telling the world what they do which is unlawful and wrong. Ice Cube stated, “It was more of an anthem for people to be able to fight back and to have a song they can all rally around that feels the same way they feel. We wanted to show that our music had an impact on the community as a whole.” The group wanted to give the people a voice and a chance to stand out through their music so the police brutality can stop and peace can come back.

Conclusion

Rap music originally came from New York and became popular real fast. Many artists talk about real life hustle and problems of everyday life. Music artists like to create pictures of scenes and let us picture the story they are trying to tell. Hip-Hop went through many struggles before it came out on top.