For those who haven’t already, please read “Part One” before you read the rest of this article.

For those unaware, Minstrel Shows were racist comedy shows that ran during the mid 1800’s that depicted how black people “supposedly” acted; which was generally done in degrading ways. Minstrel Shows lead to the white population assuming that this is how Black people acted, and once a black person deterred from how the “black face” performers portrayed them they were treated unkindly. So you’re probably wondering: “How does this fit into what you’re talking about?” Modern media and some of the rap it supports has twisted black performers into puppets, and in turn is still giving the same negative impressions that Minstrel Shows had been giving years ago.

The psychology is like this: We see the media perpetuate black figures as “gangsters” and “drug dealers” and instead of promoting this as a “sector” of the Hip Hop we see now, it’s a main focus; this spawns stereotypes such as “all black people are gangster” or “all black people are drug dealers”. In turn people who aren’t accustomed to the Hip Hop culture (this is for the older audience of course) and those who aren’t in racially diverse areas (younger audience) perpetuate these same stereotypes because they haven’t really been exposed to another ethnicity, a black person in this case.

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Posted by LostMoniker on October 13th, 2008 :: Filed under Through The Telescope: Hip Hop and Society
Tags :: 50 cent, boys, gang, gangster, girls, minstrel shows, racism, rnb, thug, trends

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As someone who considers himself “overly observant“, I’ve always been quick to notice the rising Hip-Hop trends… and the fading ones. Now, I COULD write about several other music-related “social trends”, but It seems like Hip-Hop trends generally come off more ignorant. At least “Scene” and even the now-dying “Emo” cultures revolved around some logic to make their trends somewhat appealing. And while I do consider other “social-trends” to give negative impressions, seems like Hip Hop’s not only the target for this but an actual contributor. Before you get your pitchfork ready and say how what I’m speaking is “blasphemy”, please read the next few paragraphs.

Now lets look at the “Ignorant” aspect. Hip Hop has always been a “product of it’s environment”; working from it’s roots as an “urban culture” and further reflecting anything from social woes to crime and poverty. Now, somewhere down the line listeners became effected to the point that they’ve imitated the music. I can’t say that I haven’t adopted a swagger or mindset while listening, because I have. However, there is a point where it becomes too much.

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Posted by LostMoniker on October 8th, 2008 :: Filed under Through The Telescope: Hip Hop and Society
Tags :: confidence, hip hop, minstrel show, social, trends

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