How Hip Hop Holds Black Back - Research Paper Example

Today, however, its message has changed. In his article, “How Hip Hop holds Blacks back”, John McWhorter expresses his concern at the more primal effects of the present day Hip Hop music. McWhorter starts his article by detailing an experience he had at a restaurant in Harlem where he witnessed teenage African American boys behaving in an unsocial manner. Not only do the boys play loud music, shout and hurl food about, they also disregard the female manager of the restaurant who asks them to leave.

They only move out of the restaurant when a male security guard asks them sternly to leave. McWhorter points out that this attitude is the product of the music that is favored by the teenagers. Hip Hop today is filled with messages that denigrate women and encourage the scorning of authority figures. It has in the past been dubbed as an “angry” type of music (McWhorter 9). This is because its artists are never calm when performing it. There are no ‘calm’ Hip Hop songs. Hip Hop artists are characterized by the fact that they shout their music and make angry or antisocial gestures that in another era would have been viewed as encouraging social strife.

This music is popular with teenagers because they find a place where they can express their inwardly-held angst at changes they are experiencing that are uncomfortable without being judged. However, McWhorter’s point of contention is that whereas the youth of other ethnicities move on and leave Hip Hop behind as they become surer of themselves, African Americans, particularly the men, embrace Hip Hop as a lifestyle. This has resulted in the infantilization of African American men and the near collapse of the entire community.

Today, there are 30 and 40 year old men such as Jay Z and P Diddy, who are glorified by the Black American community for refusing to grow up and become responsible citizens (McWhorter 9). According to McWhorter, when young Black teenagers see how these