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To use rap music as a means for sparking conversations on contemporary issues such as violence, drug use and abuse, sex, and education.

To use rap music as a means for sparking conversations on contemporary issues such as violence, drug use and abuse, sex, and education.

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RAP MUSIC RESOURCES

 

RAP MUSIC  RESOURCES

 

 

ORGANIZATIONS

 

Answers.com

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Krumping

 

Borgman, Dean. (2005)  “Krumping,”  S. Hamilton, MA: Center for Youth Studies.  

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Prominent Hip Hop Themes

Simmons, J., D. McDaniels, et al. (1993). "Niggas with Beatitude." Transition 62: 176-187.


(Download this review as a PDF)

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Hip Hop's enemy: G. Craige Lewis

Hyde, Jesse, “Hip-hop’s Public Enemy: G. Craige Lewis has one goal: Get hip-hop out of the church. Forever,” Dallas Observer, 8 Dec 2005.

 

OVERVIEW

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Rap on rap

Sexton, A. (ed.). (1995). Rap on rap: Straight-up talk on hip-hop culture. New York City: Delta.

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Born-again rap

Born-again rap: A new medium for the message. (1991, April 9). The Wall Street Journal.

OVERVIEW

Rap music today is clearly one of the most powerful vessels communicating to kids today. This style of music is no longer reserved for inner city kids; it is even more popular among suburban youth. When the subject of music emerges, rap quickly becomes one of the most popular topics.

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Hip-hop lyrics seem to be getting raunchier

 

Jones, Vanessa E., “Hip-hop lyrics and videos seem to be getting raunchier by the rhyme. But many critics, tired of the artist’s getting rich at the expense of black women, want the record industry to… STEP OFF.”  The Boston Globe, 22 March 2005, pp. D1, D5 (from Atlanta).

 

 

OVERVIEW

 

This writer’s introductory paragraphs are too good merely to summarize:

 

Watch hip-hop videos today and you’ll probably be blown away by the amount of skin on display. Breasts bursting out of bikini tops. Bottoms “covered” by thongs.

 

Maybe it’s caused by the success of crunk, the hard-core hip-hop sound from the South that’s dominating the charts. Or could it be the effect of hip-hop’s enduring obsession with pimp and stripper culture? Whatever the reason, the objectification of black women—both visually and lyrically—is all the rage.

 

You hear it in the Ying Yang Twins’ controversial hit “Wait,” a song so raunchy that only three lines of its uncensored version can be reproduced in this newspaper (or website):  “Switch the positions and ready to get down to business/ So you can see what you’ve been missin’/ You might had some but you never had none like this.” You see it in the latest videos released by 50 Cent in support of his best-selling sophomore CD, “the Massacre.”

 

But, as anyone following hip-hop knows, there is a rising opposition to this easy way to sell and sensationalize.

 

One example comes from a letter to the Editor of Vibe (March, 2005):

 

How can our black men, a lot of whom are influenced by magazines such as yours, learn to respect and honor their sisters? How can a young lady learn to respect and honor herself when all the messages thrown at her by the media tell her that she must become an inanimate sexual object in order to get any recognition? (from Djenaba Kelly)

 

In the spring of 2004 students from Atlanta’s SpellmanCollege organized a protest to a campus fund raiser by Nelly. It was in particular response to his video in which he swipes his credit card through a black woman’s bottom. Nelly was forced to cancel his planned campus appearance.

 

In January, 2005, Essence magazine began a year’s “Take Back the Music” campaign. Now editor, Diane Weathers says it may “go on (longer) until we see change.” Essence has begun a letter writing movement to programming directors at BET, MTV, and Fuse. In February, 2005, they held a panel at Spellman, including reps from BET and TVT Records to protest Atlanta-based crunk acts of Ying Yang and Lil Jon.

 

The University of Chicago plans a scholarly event, “bringing in more than a thousand to a three-day conference, in April, 2005, to discuss “feminism’s place in hip-hop.”

 

Vanessa Jones clarifies:

 

 

 These are not indecency campaigns. It’s not civil rights activist C. DeLores Tucker railing against impropriety of rap lyrics. Michaela Angela Davis, an editor of Essence prefers to think of the magazine’s efforts as an intervention by loving family members.

 

Davis goes on to explain that white stars like Britany Spears may be seen in the same compromising attire and actions, but they have other images as well. What Davis and others are complaining about is that black women don’t have the flexibility of such choices; they’re finding themselves locked into a stereotype.

 

Cathy Cohen, director of the University of Chicago’s Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, rejects a typical response of hip-hop artists and producers, that it’s all the responsibility of parents and that our society is sexist across the board.

 

While there is sexism out there in society, we have to be especially concerned with the media images of black women because, in fact, that’s how most people understand and interact with black communities. We live in a segregated society. People generally don’t interact. They may work with someone of a different race, but they don’t socialize or go to church with people of a different race. So the way you get introduced to other racial groups is often through the media.”

 

Anyone who has looked into this subject, studied American stereotypes, seen a video such as “Ethnic Notions,” knows that there have been, since the beginning of our history the stereotypes of the safe, overweight loving black momma and the sexually hungry prostitute.

 

It’s important to note that hip-hop made a dramatic transition into gratuitous violence and sexual images around 1992 and 1993. That’s when the industry started to pitch its sales especially toward young white boys.

 

Vanessa Jones has charted the way hip-hop artists and producers have flirted with soft porn.

 

50-Cent, “The Massacre”  Bare bottoms in “Disco Inferno” and women as decoration in “Candy Shop.”  (Sells 1.1 million copies in four days in Mar. ’05)

 

Kayne West, “The College Dropout,” A prostitute in tight dress seeks religious redemption in “Jesus Walks.” One tastefully dressed woman in “All Fall Down.” (sells 2.6 million copies in a year)

 

Lil John & the East Side Boyz, “Crunk Juice,” In “Lovers and Friends,” lyrics, “A man never ever dreamed to be? Up in here kissin’, fuggin’, squeezin’ touchin’? Up in the bathtub, rub-a-dubbin” (sales: 2 million copies in three and half months)

 

Ludacris, “The Red Light District,” Austin Powers spook, “Number One Spot,” emphasis on skin; attention to over-weight chicks (sales: 1.4 million in a couple of months)

 

Mos Def, “The New Danger,” Gritty images of people in the hood in “Ghetto Rock,” and attempt to humanize strippers (making money to raise their kids) in “Sex, Love, & Money.” (sales: 377,000 copies in couple of months)

 

In a panel discussion on this subject, vice president of A&R and TVT Records, Bryan Leach, said: “There are a lot of artists who think this is just a song. I know Lil John and Ying Yang Twins, a lot of these artists, personally, and they don’t walk around every day thinking, ‘I hate women.’”

 

To which MC Lyte, a respected female rapper herself responded: “So, they’re just selling us out, they’re just putting on an act to sell a record,” to which women and a few men in the audience responded with applause. Lyte went deeper:

 

There’s some law: They say after 500,000 CDs, you’re selling to a whole different realm. Now you are selling records to young white boys. I think the corporations understand their time to come in and take control of it. Once the control was taken away, then came all the nonsense.

 

Davis added: “We know that men love skin and cars and gadgets, and that’s what these videos have.”  Record company and artists respond:  “If it’s wrong for you or your kids, then, turn the channel and talk about it.”

 

Kevin Powell, a writer for Vibe magazine retorts: “All these words are easy for middle-class men to say. A lot of people who are affected by this are in the ‘hood…. A lot opf people don’t got parents who are going to tell them right from wrong. Some parents are working three jobs.”

 

Tricia Rose, who has studied black women’s sexuality and written Longing to Tell, challenges a deeper discussion. She says it goes much deeper than producing nicer images of black women.

 

Our language for talking about all this is not only antagonistic, it’s not terribly sophisticated. It just becomes, “Say nice things.” “Have pretty images of us, it’s nicer,” rather than talking more substantially about the power of human relationships. What do white men and other races and cultures get out of this representation? Why is the power of black masculinity wrapped up in the physical and sexual control of women? That’s what we need to talk about.

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

 

1.  What is your relationship to hip-hop music and culture?  How do you respond to this article? What feelings come out?  What opinions do you have?

2.   Specifically, what most impressed you here?  With what do you take issue? What points need to be more widely heard or disputed?

3.   Where do you want to take this discussion: with friends? With children and young people? With parents?

 

IMPLICATIONS

 

1.   Hip-hop is huge; it has defied the prophecy that it would soon pass or fade.

2.   The images of hip-hop are pervasive and powerful. They affect children, young adults, and all of us.

3.   The processing and effect of hip-hop goes on in all of us, but differently if we love it, like it, tolerate it, or hate it. It’s bound to have a different on the very young and older listeners. It affects African Americans differently than it affects whites and other ethnicities. All these factors need attention and analysis.

4.   Underlying issues of media influence, there are always issues of consumerism. How we deal with our consumerist identities and tendencies must enter any discussion of media and hip-hop—as is pointed out in this article.

 

Dean Borgman  c. CYS


HIP HOP RESOURCES

HIP HOP RESOURCES

ARTICLES

 

See the extensive and helpful article on Hip-Hop in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

 

Blake, Reynard, Jr. (Feb2003) "Beyond the Bling: A Look at Hip-Hop, African-American Leadership & The Black Church: Implications to African-American Youth Development," Journal of Urban Youth Culture. Available online. www.juyc.org  

 

Brown, William and Benson Frazer, “Hip-Hop Kingdom Come: It’s more than rap; it’s language, art, and attitude—a subculture with no ethnic or geographical boundaries,” Christianity Today, 8 January 01

 

Byassee, J. (2007). Gangs and God. Christian Century. 124.19.

 

Clay, Adriana. (2003) "Keeping it real: Black youth, hip hop culture and black identity." Online article. Sage Publications. 

 

Faw, Bob. (18Feb2005) "Church Hip Hop," Religion & Ethics News Weekly, Episode #825, Online story.

 

Martinez, T. A. (1997). "Popular Culture as Oppositional Culture:  Rap as Resistance." Sociological Perspectives 40(2): 265-286.

 

Muhammad, David. (06Mar06) "Oscar winning Hip Hop song promotes 'culture of death,'" New America Media, Online article at Pacific News Service.

 

Nelson, A. M. S. (1992). "The Persistence of Ethnicity in African-American Popular Music:  A Theology of Rap Music." Explorations in Ethic Studies 15.n1(January): 47.

 

Nelson, A. M. S. (2005). “’God's Smiling on You and He’s Frowning Too’: Rap and the Problem of Evil.” "Call Me the Seeker":  Listening to Religion on Popular Music.

M. J. Gilmour. New York: Continuum: 175-188.

 

Nelson, A. M. S. (2005) Rap Music and the Stagolee Mythoform. Americana:  The Journal of American Popular Culture (1900 to Present) (electronic version)

 

Pinn, A. B. (2007). "Bling and Blessings:  Thoughts on the Intersections of Rap Music and Religious Meaning." Cross Currents 57(Summer 2007): 289-295.

 

Simmons, J., D. McDaniels, et al. (1993). "Niggas with Beatitude." Transition 62: 176-187.

 

Smith, Efrem, “’Holy’ Hip-Hop,” YouthWorker Journal, September/October 2004. A nationally known speaker and writer describes hip-hop’s spirit, history and effectiveness in urban, multiethnic churches, of one such, The Sanctuary Covenant Church of Minneapolis, MN, Smith is the senior pastor.

 

 

BOOKS

 

Asante, M. K. (2008). It's Bigger than Hip-Hop:  The Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin's Press.

 

Ayazi-Hashjin, S. (1999). Rap and Hip-Hop:  The Voice of a Generation. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

 

Basu, D. and S. J. Lemelle, Eds. (2006). The Vinyl Ain't Final:  Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture. London, Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto.

 

Boyd, T. (2002). The New H.H.I.C. (Head Niggas in Charge):  The Death of Civil RIghts and the Reign of Hip Hop. New York: New York University Press.

 

Campbell, K. E. (2005). Gettin' Our Groove On:  Rhetoric, Language, and Literacy for the Hip Hop Generation. Detroit, Wayne State University Press.

 

Chang, J. (2005). Can't Stop, Won't Stop:  A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: Picador.

 

Forman, M. and M. A. Neal, Eds. (2004). That's the Joint!:  The Hip-hop Studies Reader. New York: Routledge.

 

Gee, Alex & John Teter (2003) Jesus and the Hip-Hop Prophets: Spiritual Insights from Lauryn Hill & Tupac Shakur, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 116 pp.  Some will object to linking Lauryn and Tupac with Jesus, but this is a provocative little book that interprets lyrics in light of urban streets and spiritual thoughts that can rise from those streets and from hip-hop. Alex Gee is pastor of Life Family Worship Center, Madison, WI and John Teter is area director for InterVarsity for the Metro South Bay in LA.

 

George, Nelson (1998) Hip-Hop America, Penguin, 240pp. Rolling Stone describes Nelson George as “the most insightful hip hop writer on the planet.” Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times adds (he is) “knowledgeable, opinionated, fascinating… animated by a passion for the music.” George is not only committed to this movement and music; he is able to criticize it.

 

Ginwright, S. A. (2004). Black in School:  Afrocentric Reform, Urban Youth & the Promise of Hip-Hop Culture. New York: Teachers College Press.

 

Goff, K. (2008). Party Crashing:  How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence. New York: Basic Books.

 

Green, Jairus and David Bramwell (2003) Breakdance: Hip Hop Handbook, Street Style Publisher, 128 pp.  A brief history and manual of moves.

 

Hager, Steven (1984) Hip Hop: The Illustrated History of Break Dancing, Rap Music and Graffiti, St. Martins Press. A fine book at an extraordinary price ($349.99).

 

Holman, Michael (1984) Breaking and the New York City Breakers, Freundlich Books, 176pp. This fine, well-illustrated book is still steep in price ($175).

 

Kitwana, Bakari (1994) The Rap on Gangsta Rap: Who Run It?: Gangsta Rap and Visions of Black Violence, Chicago, IL: Third World Press, 75pp. One of the first black criticisms of rap gone thug, this courageous little book is praised by Bell Hooks and Useni Perkins.

 

Kitwana, Bakari (2002) The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture, New York: BasicCivitasBooks, 230 pp. This book looks at the forces behind the phenomenon of hip-hop and in particular the situation of blacks born between 1965 and 1984. It provides a greater understanding of black generations, the evolution of hip-hop and the ways rap and hip-hop can be detrimental and highly beneficial to African-Americans and our whole society.

 

Kitwana, B. (2005). Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop:  Wanksta, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America. New York: Basic Civitas Books.

 

Macdonald, Nancy (2001) The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity, and Identity in London and New York, London and New York: Palgrave of Macmillan, 256pp. This comprehensive ethnographic research provides first hand declarations from the sources of graffiti writing and solid sociological analysis of the phenomenon and its cultural implications.

 

Mitchell, M. (2005). WORD: For Everybody Who Thought Christianity Was for Suckas.  New American Library.

 

Neate, Patrick (2004) Where You’re At: Notes from the Frontline of a Hip-Hop Planet, New York: Riverhead Books of Penguin, 274pp. A hip-hop aficionado and participant describe the hip-hop scene from the South Bronx in New York, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Rio De Janeiro. Focusing primarily on rap music, this is written from the standpoint of some of its artists and fans.

 

Nelson, Havelock & Michael A. Gonzalez (1991) Bring the Noise: A Guide to Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture, New York: Harmony Books, 298 pp. Plenty of facts here for the hardcore aficionado or interested new fan. “Here you will learn about the importance of Public Enemy, the meaning of KRS-One’s name, M.C. Hammer’s place in the rap universe, the rise of gangsta rap and much more. Applauded by Nelson George.

 

Perkins, W. E. (1996). Droppin' Science:  Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

 

Pinn, A. B. (2003)  Noise and Spirit: The Religious and Spiritual Sensibilities of Rap Music.  New York: New York University Press.

 

Price III, E. G. (2006). Hip hop Culture. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

 

Reynolds, S. (2007). Bring the Noise:  20 Years of Writing about Hip Rock and Hip-Hop. London: Faber.

 

Sexton, Adam, ed. (1995) Rap On Rap: Straight-Up Talk on Hip-Hop Culture, New York: Dell Publishing, 270pp. These provocative and insightful essays provide another bold black exploration and critique of rap and hip-hop. This book will really help someone understand its form and meaning.

 

Smith, E. (2005). The Hip-Hop Church:  Connecting with the Movement Shaping Our Culture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

 

Usher, C. A. (2006). A Rhyme is A Terrible Thing to Waste:  Hip Hop and the Creation of a Political Philosophy. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

 

Watkins, S. C. (2005). Hip Hop Matters:  Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement. Boston: Beacon Press.

 

 

VIDEOS

 

Charlie Ahearn’s “Wild Style” (1982) will introduce you to Grand Master Flash, The Cold Crush Brothers, The Rock Steady Crew, graffiti legend Zoro (Lee Quiones) and more.

 

Henry Chalfant’s (and Tony Silver) “Style Wars” (1983) was a prize winning PBS documentary. It gets to the heart of graffiti and its clash with the mayor of NYC and parents of some of the artists. A fine documentary catching the spirit of early hip-hop.


“Lost Soul—The Movie” A Christian Hip-Hop film. The Streets, The Life, The Consequences. “Two up and coming celebrities, Mr. D-Note and Brotha-E as Street and Game find that street live ain’t no joke.” Soundtrack features music of Mr. D-Note, Enock of Cross Movement, Brotha-E, Mark-J and more.

 

 

MEDIA MATERIALS

 

Answers.com

Just that: an extensive categorization of rap music and links.

 

Black Entertainment Television (BET)

A popular music television network and web community that spotlights hip-hop, rap, R&B music, and other forms of Black entertainment.

(http://www.bet.com)  (Channel varies depending on market)

 

Cross Movement

Urban Ministry to a Hip-Hop Generation. Cross Movement Ministries and Cross Movement Records now two separate organizations.

 

Edgar, W. (2005). Rapping the Gospel, European Leadership Forum. http://euroleadershipresources.org/Media/Audio/William_Edgar-Rapping_the_gospel-2005.mp3

 

HipHopDX (CHERI MUSIC GROUP)

A hip-hop, rap, R&B music lifestyle magazine

http://www.hiphopdx.com

 

The Source

A print magazine covering hip-hop music, culture, and politics.  (http://www.thesource.com)

 

 The Urban Web Link

Resources for Urban Christians in Philadelphia and around the world.

 

 

Tamecia Jones cCYS

Dean Borgman, cCYS