Social Issues in Hip Hop and Why We Study Kemet Creative Writing

Hip-Hop & Kemet

When discussing Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes with Mike D. And Jon A. I found their reaction to the issues presented in the documentary to be very similar. Given Mike D. And Jon A. have an extensive knowledge of music, it was easier to engage them in a conversation about the social impact of hip-hop and the recurring themes of the music genre.

The first and main aspect of the documentary that was discussed was the prevalence of masculine themes in contemporary rap music. We all agreed that masculinity is a common theme given the social history of blacks in America, which can be traced back to slavery and abolition to the civil rights movement. However, Mike and Jon argued that somewhere along the line of rap and its social historical standpoint, the message conveyed by black men became lost and instead of preaching for equality and justice, focus was shifted to "money and hos," as Mike so eloquently put it. Jon added that rap music would probably be taken more seriously now if rappers did not focus on how popular the song would be and advocate resorting to criminal activities -- as many rappers boast is how they became successful -- and went back to the original intent of hip-hop and rap: social commentary.

While I continued to explain more about what Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes was about, Mike D. And Jon A. became intrigued about the limitations of the documentary and asked why hip-hop, as presented in the documentary, only focused on the most recent aspects of popular hip-hop, that is, they wondered why the documentary completely ignored the roots of hip-hop and how it is interpreted by other social groups. Being children of the 80s and 90s, Mike D. And Jon A. are huge fans of bands such as NWA, Public Enemy, and Wu-Tang Clan and were shocked to hear, through our conversation, that there was little to no mention of these founding fathers of hip-hop and instead the documentary was focused on highlighting the pitfalls of hip-hop and how it perpetuates ideas of masculinity, money, and illegal…