Lyrics in Rap Music

Lyrics in chip symphonyIn this essay I am going to discuss and charge an in-depth look at the topic of the role and importance of the lyrics in blame medicine, which be often uncivilised, sexually univocal and s make it in content. In spunky society to get wind the role these lyrics impart in whang symphony, it is requisite to consider the musical style that goes with them and steady the hip-hop culture that gave us swath music. This culture, including pat music, originated in the USA, only its appeal has become international.In the first introductory section I will analyse the impairment intercept music and blameper, and I will briefly discuss the origins of rap music music. This section will introduce any(prenominal) primary(prenominal) artists in the genre, mentioning their rear endgrounds and in particular how they started their c argonrs as rappers. Usually rappers begin singing in the streets, which might be a focusing of trying to escape from their difficult lives. N championtheless in their lyrics they describe what could be taken as the real facts of such(prenominal) lives. So one disbelief is do their lyrics consist of violence, sex and sexism because this is an accurate comment of the exemplary experiences of their feature lives? What made them sing such call options? In order to be able to answer this question, I will include some simple lyrics as examples of some typical rap songs. thusly, in the due s placeh part of the essay I will focus on the get winders and how rap music influences them. Overall, my intent is to discover exactly what is the signifi ceasece of the lyrics in rap music within the context of this musical style as a exclusively.Generally the end crown rap refers to a street poetry, using vernacular language and phrases to express the utterers regainings and show to the audience their point of view or so vivification. Rap music therefore refers to the musical style in which such poetry is practi count ond, which is rattling rhythmical chronicly without much accompaniment. The spate that per pains and usually in any case compose this poetry argon rappers. The rappers in their music usually talk about the realities of their lives and their amicable environments such realities include racial discrimination or the difference between male and female, violent events and feelings, and sexual attractive force and body process, in opposite nomenclature eitherthing that they support experienced, lived through and through and seen for themselves. But wherefore is this? Why do they emphasize such aspects of their lives and non others? This re new-fangleds to another question is rap music intended as pure entertainment or is it more a music of social protest?The reason that I chose to work on this topic is that I find music in oecumenical and especially rap music actually interesting. I myself symbolize guitar and piano. For perfor human beingsce, I the s imilar songs with clear melody that contri providede be advantageously performed and played on piano and guitar. However, I do not give care mainstream pop music, which is mostly written to formulas with clich lyrics. Rap music is something very different, something I have neer tried to perform or to explore, so in this essay I am trying to get to know it better, including its autobiography, and besides to share with readers my research.CHAPTER ONE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LYRICS OF RAP MUSICRap music became grandly cognise in the U.S.A. in the nineteen eighties, as a reaction against the disco music of the seventies. It was then and it remains today a predominantly mountain(p) or African-American style of music, in which the lyrics are very important. This can be seen in the following summary of the history of rapRap evolved from African people in general and total darkness people born in the U.S. in particular. Its origins can be t hunt downd to western Africa where tr ibesmen held men of terms in high regard. Later when slaves were brought to the New World, the captives combine American music with the draws they remembered from Africa. other origin of rap is a form of Jamaican folk stories called toasts. These are narrative poems that tell stories in rhyme. Over a hundred years posterior, rapping was a street art. skilful as doo-wop in the 1950s, rap began in inner-city schoolyards and street corners in the 1970s. primeval raps were boastful tales, and put-downs directed at other rappers. This music style was piece of tail growing in popularity among cruddy teens in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. As azoic as 1974 neighborhood block parties in New York featured archean forms of rapping. But it wasnt until the commercial success of Rappers Delight by the Sugar heap Gang in 1979 that major record labels took notice of this explosive sassy sound.However, although the lyrics are particularly important in rap, many wou ld say that the mettle of rap is in its beat. For example, William Eric Perkins says, the foundation of rap music is the beat. The beat is the expression around which the lyrics are developed, and samples of selected phrases from previously recorded music, jingles, solos, and so on play sanction fiddle. In rap vernacular, those with the dope beats produce the deffest raps.Of fertilise rap was and still is mainly a new-fangled persons type of music, and both the performers and the audience were and are youthful. Young people are often disobedient in smell, and music is one of their main ways of expressing their jumpliousnessRap music has stampeded through America standardised no other form of music since the creation of carry music in the 1960s. Like other popular styles, it has a history that is closely aligned with the rebellious emplacement of its young creators youth who rejected the contemporary music prevalent during the late 1970s (disco).However, rap is not only a rebellion against first forms of music and the lifestyles associated with them. Some judgment of convictions it is also music of social protest. At to the lowest degree, it is very realistic and the opposite of escapist. Mostly rap music is a federal agency of expression. It is music of the street. In their lyrics rappers express their fears for their community, the reality of their lives, and they describe both the substantiating and negative sides of everyday life.Some artists come from environments that are impoverished and unhealthy, so music gives them a way of coping with reality, their violent and life-threatening life. In this way they find a affable of shelter in their songs even though these songs describe their life and how sullen it is. Thus they express their feelings through their music.Rap music differs from the other multifariousnesss of music, because of the great emphasis it puts on the words and lyrics. As said above, it is a kind of street poetry. This em phasis on words is because the songs are about real life. The rappers delivery is more wish rhythmical speech than actual singing, although there is also a kind of very simple melody. The lyrics are not simple love songs, notwithstanding reflect the complexity of reality.Eminem, the famous white rapper, who has had quite a hard life, is a good example of the way rappers make their actual lives the seminal fluid of their songs. Shortly after he was born, his don abandoned him and until age 12 he and his mother lived in public housing. As a teenager he became interested in rap music, something that caused him to abandon school in the ninth grade and start performing with groups. The lyrics of Eminem have been criticized for being violent and offensive towards other celebrities. For exampleSome judgment of convictions I tumefy(p) feel like my father, I hate to be botheredWith all of this bunkum its constantAnd, Oh, its his lyrical content the song Guilty Conscience has gotten such rotten responsesAnd all of this controversy circles meAnd it seems like the media immediatelyPoints a flick at me (finger at me)..So I point one back at em, and not the index or pinkieOr the ring or the thumb, its the one you put upWhen you dont give a fuck, when you wont just put upWith the bullshit they pull, cause they replete(p) of shit tooWhen a dudes gettin bullied and shoots up his schoolAnd they blame it on Marilyn (on Marilyn) and the heroinWhere were the parents at? And look where its atMiddle America, now its a tragedy this instant its so sad to see, an upper class ci-tyHavin this happenin (this happenin)..Then attack Eminem cause I rap this way (rap this way)..But Im merry cause they feed me the fuel that I expect for the fireTo burn and its burnin and I have returnedThere is a kind of aggression behind these lyrics which also allows the audience to identify with the anti-establishment attitude. They are also typical in the way they relate many different thin gs together, including events in the news such as high school shootings, drug use, the media, middle America, and so on.Another famous rapper is a twenty-six year- honest-to-goodness, Curtis James Jackson III, known as 50 cent. 50 cent is an American rapper who has lived a hard life. Curtis James Jackson III grew up without a father and was raised by his mother. His mother was only fifteen years old when she gave birth to him. He was born in South Jamaica. His mother who was a drug dealer died at twenty-lead years old, leaving an eight year old boy who was raised by his grandparents. In betimes teenage he was dealing drugs, until he was arrested. He continued sell and hiding drugs, a fact that brought many problems and he was arrested a second time. However when he stopped he devoted himself to his career as a rap singer. Something that increased his popularity was his collaboration with Eminem.It is common and quite usual that rappers use violence and sexism in their lyrics. As m entioned above, violence is a agency of expression of physical force either against ourselves or others and especially the weaker ones, tour sexism is an attitude and belief of a person, usually male, that he is superior to or stronger that others, usually female. Sometimes a sexist attitude is communicated in lyrics that are sexually explicit. It is possible that the rapper did not deliberately intend to be sexist in the defined sense, solely this is just part of his assumptions and his intention to be as realistic as possible. For example, the song called Candy snoop by 50 cent is all about sexual activity and is apparently addressed to a girl, at least at the beginning, kind of than to the audience itself (as in Eminems song above). However a little later the pronoun you is dropped and replaced by she as though 50 cent is now share-out his sexual experiences with his audience.Give it to me baby, nice and slowClimb on top, slang like you in the rodeoYou aint never heard a sou nd like this before lay down I aint never put it down like this beforeSoon as I come through the verge she get to pulling on my zipperIts like its a race who can get undressed quickerIsnt it ironic how erotic it is to stop em in thongsHad me thinking bout that ass after Im deceasedI touch the right spot at the right timeLights on or lights off, she like it from behindSo seductive, you should see the way she windHer hips in slow-mo on the floor when we grindAs coarse as she aint stopping, homie I aint stoppingDripping wet with sweat man its on and poppingAll my champagne campaign, storeful after bottle its onAnd we gon sip til every bubble in every bottle is goneHere we can easily view the sexual innuendo. Whether it is actually sexist or not is a matter of opinion, probably the singer believes that it is just about the two sexes that want to have a turn of fun.Niggaz With Attitude (N.W.A), a five member band whose lyrics are openly violent (and refer to guns), are much more p olitically motivated. They have attacked even the police and FBI. Moreover the N.W.A has given to rap music its vicious image and raises the whole question of authenticity. This band has captured the essence of young ignominious male rage.You dont really think youre gonna get away do you?We havent espy them yetBut theyre somewhere in the immediate vicinity.A hundred Miles and Runnin.MC Ren I hold the gun andYou want me to kill a mutherfucker and its done in.Since Im stereotyped to kill and destructIs one of the main reasons I dont give a fuck.Chances are usually not goodCause I freeze with my hands on a hot hood.And gettin jacked by the you-know-who.When in a faint and white the capacity is two.Were not alone, were three more brothers, I mean street-brothers.Now wearin my dyes, cause Im not stupid, mutherfuckers.Theyre out to take our heads for what we said in the past.Point blank They can kizz my blacken azz.I didnt stutter when I said hunch over Tha Police.Cause its hard f or a nigga to get peace.Now its broken and cant be fixed.Cause police and little black niggers dont mix soNow Im creepin through the fall.Runnin like a team. Well, see, I might have slayed yall.So for now pack the gun andHold it in the air.Cause MC Ren has a 100 Miles of RunninThese lyrics express not only a separate of violence and rebelliousness, exactly also they use a typical kind of black slang. This is an expression of identity. As the song continues, it brings in the FBI as a way of proudly suggesting that N.W.A. is really important, or dangerous. The lyrics even comment sardonically on how some of the enemies of black people are wearin our T-shirtsRunnin like a nigga I hate to lose.Show me on the news but I hate to be abused.I know it was a set-up.So now Im gonna get up.Even if the FBI wants me to shut up.But Ive got 10 000 niggas strong.They got everybody singin my Fuck Tha Police song.And mend they treat my group like dirt,Their whole fuckin family is wearin our T-shir ts.So Imma run til I cant run no more.Cause its time for MC Ren to settle the score.I got a urge to kick down doors.(The complete lyrics of this song are included in the Appendix.)This band is considered as one of the most violent bands in the decade of the eighties. Their lyrics were showing and describing a criminal life and a strong opposition to the police. Even the abduce of this band is openly aggressive using the N-word (which is taboo for white people) and the word attitude in a sense which means aggressive or rebellious. This allows young black people in the audience to identify strongly with the band, because it seems to represent black people standing up for themselves and asserting their power. Although this is not political in the sense that the Black Power act was, still it is openly rebellious, and extremely realistic.CHAPTER TWO HOW RAP AFFECTS ITS AUDIENCE rose hip-hop the term for the youth culture that includes rap music is and will always be a culture of the African-American minority. But it has become an international language. So who are typical listeners to rap? Although rap is liked and appreciated by many people, it seems mainly intended for young black males. So do black females like it for the same kinds of reason? What about young white people (male and female)? What about older people? To what extent does the appeal of rap transfigure from group to group?It is obviously difficult to answer these questions without carrying out wide research. However, the last question above matters because, as was seen in the last chapter, rap lyrics are important and express the experiences of rappers quite realistically, and it is possible that listeners with the same kinds of social experience will respond to rap more completely. For example, if we imagine a rich forty-five year old white woman animated in St. Petersburg, the typical rap lyrics may not be so important to her as to a black eighteen year-old living in Harlem, New York. But he re we have to remember an important point that was made by W. E. Perkins quoted in Chapter One in rap, he says, The beat is the structure around which the lyrics are developed, and samples of selected phrases from previously recorded music, jingles, solos, and so on play second fiddle (see note 2, page 5 above). in all probability it is this beat and also the possibilities of expressive bounce that go with it that makes rap so widely popular.However, rap cannot be really rap without the lyrics playing a big part. So we can ask when people choose to listen to rap music, what exactly is it that they identify with rap? Is it simply the musical style, ready rhythmical speaking with a very basic melody, or is it something else, the spirit of this kind of music? Someone who likes rap might turn on the TV and hear a rap song advertising, for example, breakfast cereal, but certainly they would not consider this to be real rap. For a song to be real rap it is not enough to imitate the mu sical style, but the lyrics must also be about the kinds of things that rappers sing about. These lyrics need to be realistic and unsentimental.This implies that people who are drawn to real rap are interested in the picture of life that it communicates and not just in the beat, even if they do not share that kind of life themselves. Of course they also enjoy the musical style, but this is most belike because that musical style is very effective in communicating what the lyrics say. It is also very energetic, and in performance is tended to(p) by a certain style of movement.Young people love to express themselves through dancing. However, dancing itself is not a socially meaningless kind of expression. Typical rap dancing is both masculine and African in spirit. Katrina Hazzard-Donald says,I was unsure about the hip hop phenomenon which includes rap until I noticed the dancing that accompanied the rapping It was energetic, athletic, and noticeably male dominated, using a very Af rican movement vocabulary. Like most African dance styles, these styles exhibit angularity, asymmetry, polyrhythmic sensitivity, ridicule themes, segmentation and delineation of body parts, earth-centeredness and percussive performance.Thus this kind of dancing is also an expression of the culture of the intended rap audience, young black males, not of their poverty or of crime or drug use, but their African roots. For them this dancing is a way to celebrate their identity. Other kinds of audiences can try to imitate this style of dancing but it will never mean the same thing to them, even if they really love it.What in my opinion makes rap widely popular, especially amongst young people, is its aught. For some types of audience, this energy is a kind of social rebellion. Rebellion is usually not explicit in the lyrics, but in the attitude of the performers (as the name of N.W.A, Niggas With Attitude, says). Through this, black listeners gain a sense of confidence, even power, and of pride in their identity. epitomeRap, as was said above, is part of hip hop culture. accord to Katrina Hazzard-Donald,Hip hop appears at the crucial juncture of postindustrial stagnation, increased family dissolution, and a weakened struggle for black economic and political rights. Might one expect the pressures of mutually antagonistic social forces such as high unemployment, heightened job competition, and expectations of conspicuous consumption to influence both the popular expressive culture and the culture-creating apparatus of the community? I say yes. It is no accompaniment that many youth of the hip hop generation have never known the relative security that some of their parents and even grandparents knew.This quotation says that the general economic and social situation affects a cultural expression like rap music. Therefore we can also assume that rap music reflects the general economic and social situation. It was shown in Chapter One that the lyrics of rap are often about violence or poverty, trouble with the police, and so on the kind of the things the rappers and their main intended audience meet in their every day lives. In Chapter Two it was seen that the style of dance is also an important part of the appeal of rap. Probably this dance style also expresses the socio-economic situation, but in a much more indirect way than the lyrics do.It can be argued that it is the rap dance style that makes rap more unconditional and optimistic in spirit than the lyrics on their own suggest it would be. Therefore, while it is true that rap lyrics, consisting of violence, sex and sexism, are an accurate reflection of the typical experiences of the rappers own lives, the audience experiences this realism in relation to a whole musical style that expresses energy and a sense of identity, especially African roots. It is both these elements together that make up the great appeal of rap.According to Anthony Bozza,Hip-hop, in comparison to other African-Amer ican musical traditions blues, jazz and rock and roll has remained truest to its roots for the thirty years it has existed. It is possibly the most potent, least altered African-American cultural expression in history. Hip-hop has evolved technically, but its basic theme has survived self-improvement with style. The earliest rap records, like those released a week ago, were about getting money, living better, having a party, having sex, defying mainstream society, and looking really good while you do it. Rap broadcast inner-city realities and established rebel stance that no hardship would keep the minorities who pioneered hip-hop from living, to the fullest, on their own terms.While this message of rap is probably strongest and most meaningful for young black people, and perhaps also for the youth of other relatively short(p) minority groups such as Hispanics in the USA, it is also easy to see how it makes rap music attractive to young people in general. cultivationIn conclusio n, we have seen that violence, sexism and sexually explicit language do exist in the lyrics of rap music, and that this is part of the realistic use of inner-city realities, as Bozza calls them. However, to understand the role these lyrics play in rap music it has been necessary to understand their context, especially rap dancing and the wider hip-hop culture. In this context such lyrics are part of what Bozza calls the rebel stance. What attracts young people to rap is not the lyrics in themselves but the whole image that rap creates, as well as its sense of energy and identity.