Themes in Hip Hop Culture - Essay Example

Themes in Hip Hop Culture It is a fact that the Hip Hop culture happens to be a socially conscious way of life that does happen to pose a bold and discernable challenge to the salient cultural, social, economic, philosophical and political norms, values and consensuses (George 35). The hip hop culture does happen to be imbued with a tinge of rebelliousness in the sense that it intends and tends to inform and convey to the masses the emphatic social and political issues facing them in a very subtle yet persuasive and noticeable manner.

The movie Boyz n the Hood does tend to unravel a series of social and cultural issues wrapped in a highly personalized and moving story, depicting an array of salient themes predominant in the Hip Hop culture. In tandem with the salient issues and themes touched upon by the textual sources under consideration, the movie Boyz n the Hood does bring to fore many political, social and cultural issues that are conveniently bypassed by the popular media and cinema. The Hip Hop culture as evident in the movie does touch upon the important social justice issues, primarily coming out as the emphatic registration of a protest against the mainstream culture that does happen to ignore and look down upon the life in the hood (Hess 21).

It tends to push the focus around a lifestyle and culture that is as much an outcome of social marginalization pushing the communities into a life marred by crime and violence, as an emphatic protest against a dominant culture that is unconcerned about the life in the hood. For instance in the climax of the movie where Doughboy gets dejected and disheartened by a life imbued with violence and revenge, he puts forward the query as to why people “don’t know, don’t show, or don’t care about what’s going on in the hood (Singleton 1).

” The Hip Hop culture evident in the movie does intertwine with the glaring political and social issues like economic and social marginalization and racism faced by the communities (Hess 21). The whole objective is to usher in a measure of education, awareness and concern through a medium that is highly creative, subtle and insightful. The gang violence covered by the movie and the salient social, familial and academic influences which on one side make Doughboy fall a victim to the vicious and unsparing gang violence and which on the other side does convince Tre to renounce a life of violence does show as to how the flares of hope do shimmer in an otherwise violent and crime ridden life in the hood.

The book by Nelson George, Durand’s Lecture, the forward in the Anthology of Rap, and discussions in the class do envelop this society altering collision between the salient and dominant culture that is pervasive and powerful and the marginalized black culture thriving in the hood. Thereby, the movie Boyz n the Hood does represent an effective and moving outlet for an array of racial, cultural and political themes that are so strongly embraced and expressed by the larger Hip Hop culture. Works CitedBoyz n the Hood. Dir. John Singleton.

Columbia Pictures, 1991. Film. Bradley, Adam, & DuBois, Andrew, ed. The Anthology of Rap. New York: Yale University Press, 2011. Print. George, Nelson. Hip Hop America. New York: Penguin Books, 2005. PrintHess, Mickey. Icons of Hip Hop. New York: Greenwood Press, 2007. Print.