Lauren Kolsum
The rap and hip hop discussion was great. It was obvious that Alexs Pate, his TA, and Melisa Rivere were deeply passionate about the topic at hand. They provided an insight and redefined what I had never given much of a thought to before, rap and hip hop. Although my questions were not specifically answered, what was discussed during the panel opposed one of the things Jeff Change said from the interview with Thill Scott. Scott says that hip hop never really said "I am hip hop, and this is why?� I believe it was Pate who said "Hip hop is a culture guided by its opposition to mainstream." One of the main points of the discussion was to define hip hop and how and why it became what it was. Hip hop does address and define itself with its confrontational style.
There is so much to the hip hop culture that I was unaware of before the panel discussion, most likely because groups like public enemy aren't around to say something of substance today. I agreed whole heartedly with the point the speakers made about mainstream rap and hip hop and how their political messages have disappeared. The rap on the radio is not about defining ourselves or our generation, or really anything. Today music is extremely limited in order to comply with the clear channel bullshit, no on is acting out. I liked how Aleks Rate uses rap poetry and rap poets to define rap lyrics and rap artists. I like it because its how he looks at their work, as meaningful art. That's why he said the rap and hip hop on the radio are not good, you definitely can not call that poetry.