Is Hip-Hop Dead - Assignment Example

As the paper outlines, since its genesis in New York City in the mid-1970s, rap has spread to other parts of the world. A lot of research on rap has focused on chronicling its emergence and rise as a social movement. Listeners of rap have conspicuously been left out in prior research on the area. In the beginning, rap listeners were largely Latino and Black but Whites joined in later. Rap has criticized politics and racism since its emergence. However, though, rap has invited criticism from political and religious circles.

These criticisms have not put down rap fans (Sullivan 232). Surveys showed that Blacks were leading in the impact of rap on its listeners. White supporters of reported that their racial views had been changed by rap. African Americans have a wider knowledge of rap than whites do. There are racial and gender dimensions in the preference for rap. Rap listeners differ in terms of the reasons as to why they listen to it. African American adolescents may listen to rap as an element that helps in identity formation while white adolescents listen to it as a source of entertainment.

Rap may not act as an effective interracial socializer because it might give White adolescents a skewed perception of the African American culture, diversity and it may entrench stereotypes. Many aspects need researching in regards to rap. These include urbanicity, age, class and listeners’ impacts on hip-hop. Listeners’ interpretation of rap and its message has not been researched adequately, through inquiry into this aspect can help unearth the basis of the differences between the various ways in which rap listeners of different races appreciate the genre (Sullivan 236).

This article underscores the importance of listeners when considering rap. Considering the reasons why different rap listeners embrace the genre is insightful because it helps demystify the conception that there is homogeneity in the appreciation of rap. It is helpful to note that rap alone might serve as a multiracial socialize and though one would have thought that the music suffices to instill an accurate view of African American culture, it is enlightening to know that the knowledge that the music imparts is not complete.

The article has instrumentally shown that the racial difference in regards to the preference for rap music is reducing.