Tom Lulic - Rap and Hip-Hop Discussion
In this week’s discussion, unfortunately I was not able to have either of my questions answered. However, my question can be related and answered using one of the discussions we had.
Sister Souljah, referring to rap music, states, “When you look at the dances you don’t see it and when you listen to the music and you don’t hear a call, then you missed the jam.� And Rose refers to the music as “volume, looped drum beats and bass frequencies.�
• What type of musical and social power does rap music have?
I refer to Alexs visualization of what rap really is. Rap is a sort of thing that you have on your street corner or in your neighborhood and how true or real the music’s meaning really is, is measured by the extent to which people from outside of the original group can understand and relate to the literature being expressed. An example of a socially weak music is the commercialized rap being broadcasted and force fed from the local, self-proclaimed hip-hop stations. This type of music has a widespread “understanding� and is seemingly applicable to just general scenarios like “In Da Club�. A socially powerful music is that of Mos Def who generally represents his hometown of Brooklyn and upholds that street corner shine. The social power seems to be greater the more unique and confined the music is.