Panel Discussion - Martine Schroeder
The panel discussion on hip-hop and rap was quite informative and spoke to many of the issues that face rap today. As time has gone on, hip-hop and rap have not necessarily lost all of their ability to artistically express political and societal issues, but it has become more of a rarity. As one of the panelists said, rap in America has started to be made more for entertainment value. Yet, in many other countries hip-hop has truly turned into a form of political expression. Because rap in America is made primarily with the intention of providing entertainment, some of the artistic expression of this music form has been hidden.
Hip-hop and rap both mean different things to different people. As in any form of expression (art, music, film, theater, etc.) there are different stories and morals expressed and all people decipher these messages differently. The mainstream tends to take rap and hip-hop at more of a surface level. If the music and the beat are good it will get listened to. Whereas the minority tend to look at the deeper message conveyed through this type of music and can relate to a lot of what is being said in these songs.