Hip-hop scholarly notes Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hip-hop scholarly notes - Case Study Example ssay I will try to find out if sexism has anything to do with hip hop at all, analyze what things hip hop artists tend to accentuate in their lyrics and, finally, touch upon the issues of responsibility of hip hop artists for what they do. There is no doubt that sexism, which is typically more of a discrimination against women, is degrading. Unfortunately, there is ample evidence that sexist ideas are being exploited by hip hop artists to a certain extent. The harsh truth is that hip hop is mainly focused on sexist ideas because it sells well. And this, in turn, involves another issue, namely, the things that mainstream culture tolerates and things it rejects. The question is whether disruptive content is a problem of hip hop per se or simply a part of a highly commercialized music industry that is willing to accept things that may demean women, for instance (Rose 122). On the other hand, one may assume that honest narrative of hip hop lyrics, which may turn to sexist motifs from time to time, is actually about freedom of expression that allows reflecting a real state of things within our society. In fact, hip hop relies heavily on sexism as one of its topics. Yet at the same time, it might as well help young people f ocus on the problem and realize how to deal with it in reality. According to Rose, it is much easier to fight sexist ideas in hip hop than tackling sexist culture as a whole (150). In order to solve a problem one needs to identify it first, and hip hop serves this educative function pretty well. Obviously, hip hop is rather a consequence than a source of the problem here. Hip hop is, probably, the only popular music genre where autobiographical nature of lyrics prevails and is valued for (137). In their lyrics hip hop artists try to touch upon things they have been through themselves; in fact, hip hop is often perceived as an opportunity to speak up about the aspects of urban life that other music genres traditionally pay little attention to or none