The Success of Hip-Hop in Modern Society - Essay Example

Hip-Hop Hip-Hop When one looks at the aspect of hip-hop in the society today, the only thing that comes to mind is the black community. People have different things attached to them and that makes it more difficult to detail what Hip-hop is without looking at the music and the lives that the black people live. From the 1970s, the aspect of hip-hop was associated with poor black people looking for a way of expressing themselves due to the kind of poverty they were going through. As such, the start of hip-hop was mainly associated with the use of songs as a way of detailing the poverty and hard life these people led and social neglect taking place in the society as a whole. For a long time, hip-hop was only a black person’s way of expressing the life in the ghetto. The very start of the hip-hop culture was to make sure that the world, mainly in the American society, knew and understood that the American minorities were undergoing different hurdles. The important part was to make sure, that they could reach out, use music to express themselves and tell of their views about everything taking place in the society. Ideally, hip-hop started out as music before the culture took over and began looking at the way things are taking shape. The important thing is to realize that music became the ideal way of creating awareness of a culture coming up in the society today. Every locality has created a version of hip-hop that suits the community best. It inspired resilience, violence and civil rights. It was a way of expressing the disinterest in the way African Americans were being treated, with most of the musicians being unemployed and living off handouts. From the 1970s to date, the growth of hip-hop has become an international avenue for anyone willing to use it to spread positive messages across the world. The black communities made hip-hop evolve to other societies and communities. Their aim was to spread it everywhere and catalyze the growth of a new culture across the world. It was no longer a black person’s way of expression but now common amongst Latinos, whites, and other communities. It took different versions as people began associating it with violence, flashy things as well as sex and money. The origins were in poverty, but the new version of hip-hop had a way of making some of the revered things such as violence seems glorified. Hip-hop was not only a place to use lyrics as a way of expression, but also to use them to appeal to different things. For instance, some musicians will use hip-hop as a way of showing wealth. This can be evidenced by the use of flashy cars and expensive beer to show that money is not a problem. Others rap about violence and women while others talk about the things taking place in the society. Others use hip-hop as a way of getting their minds off things that are disturbing to them such as Eminem who uses music to talk about his life, relationships and aspirations. The use of graffiti has also become a synonymous aspect amongst those using hip-hop as the main way of expressing their views to the rest of the society. The important part of the platform is dealing with the general antics that bring about the best competition that will harness the growing need for social understanding that meets the growth of the society. Music has a way of reaching out to the heart, and hip-hop yearns to have such an influence in every part of the world. The world is now able to create an influence in different communities by talking straight to the audience and cutting across the communities despite having an African-American beginning. From the humble beginnings, the use of hip-hop to display the ideals of the society has become a worldwide phenomenon, which details the growth of the genre from the poor backgrounds in ghettos. Today, hip-hop is an infusion of fashion, music and lifestyle, something that makes it one of the most vocal avenues of spreading the message to its enthusiasts. Designers and musicians from across the world are coming together to use this as a platform to bring different cultures together as well as provide a platform where different genres of hip-hop culture can unite and create a harmonious presentation of how diversity can assist in bringing people together. The many people who thought it was only for the poor can now use it to make money like Jay-Z or Dr. Dre do with their talents. They have come up with their music empires that provide them with daily bread. For instance, Apple bought the headphones that Dr. Dre designed for close to $3 billion, making him one of the richest musicians in the world. This means that hip-hop has evolved from an African-American’s way of expression to a great highway towards success and wealth. Such talent has seen so many people make it in life, and several other stars are still rising to meet the main attributes that create and enhance the ideals of hip-hop. Though new school hip-hop has veered from the original themes of expressing the social injustices in the society, it has found a home in the hearts of many people. Its lovers are spread across the world, and the catchy beats have provided a chance for people to infuse it with other genres and produce music that can cut across the age brackets. For instance, Jay-Z was able to use hip-hop infused with rock music in a song done with Linkin Park, showing that the society was accepting hip-hop as one of the mainstream genres that have a chance to recreate and regenerate interest in the societal values. It is also important to see that the society has accepted music as a way of meeting societal needs by creating new platforms that will assist people use music, art and fashion to help the society from the injustices taking place. Ideally, the goal is to generate the needed attention to assist in making the society one of the ideal places to live in for everyone. It is clear that modern hip-hop musicians are always looking for ways of creating and generating interest in the way things are done to meet their likes. They have made the society a platform where they can exercise different things to make their fans happy. The evolution is still going on. Read More