Funny thing is last year a friend of mines told me to watch Roxanne Roxanne because its a good watch on Netflix. I thought they were trying to be funny because of my name, I always get asked “Have you heard the song Roxanne?” My response is always if its about the hooker, NO. lol… Continue reading
Video I had the opportunity to see Grandmaster Flash perform live at the Upac Center. It was amazing the way he had a crowd of all ages on their feet either dancing around or singing along as he switched up the turntables. In the youtube video they take time to show us how… Continue reading
Roxy Quote Collection For my semester quote selection I wanted to tie it into sexuality,race, body image and the power it has in the hip hop culture. I put together my 10 quotes from the readings, videos and class discussions. One artist we discussed a few times was Cardi B and how much we… Continue reading
What do we all know?..Sex Sells! Which is why we love Cardi B honesty. As a society we are obsessed with getting answers on an artist sexuality. Do I solely blame hip hop for this? NO. The same way I would not blame jazz or rock and roll. On p.158 of the Hip Hop Wars, “Surely hip hop didn’t create sexism, but far too much of it glorifies and encourages its growth and maintenance.” Yes, they play a part on pushing sex but like the reading states Hip Hop is not responsible for sexism. Early in the reading there’s a quote from Russell Simmons, “The truth is, misogyny is not a hip hop created problem. Misogyny is a deep-seated problem that is embedded in the historical evolution of the United States as a nation.” As the saying goes nowadays “Where is the lie?”. As the reading states We chase artist for years like Queen Latifah, Will Smith, Micheal Jackson, Ne-yo, Oprah Winfrey.. to do what? Either make them more relate able or be judgemental to their every move based off of their sexual preference. This is nothing new from slavery to the AIDS epidemic sex is used to control us one way or another. We see Mylene struggle with what she has been taught and what she is being told. Everything that is being thrown at her is if she does not promote sex she will not be a star. As the Hip Hop War notes “Sexism has been described as the practice of domination of women.” We see Dizzee trying to figure himself out, imagine his character being played today? He would be considered “suspect” for hanging out with blondie, probably end up on one of the blogs mentioned in Rumor Has It. Suspect of what? Minding his own damn business lol. I think the best phrase to sum up these episodes and readings is what Mylene said trying to “BREAK FREE”. We see Ezekiel deal with racial context like “puerto ricans wear pointy shoes to kill the roached in the corner”, Shaolin making ends meet the best way he knows how, Dizzee with his sexuality, RaRa as the level headed mastermind behind it all and BooBoo fighting poverty. One way or the other I feel like we are all trying to break free from those check boxes society has placed on us.
The Boogie Down Bronx! The Get Down gets to the nitty gritty of it all. Latins, blacks, art, politics. “We have every right to celebrate the ways that hip hop has served as a form of protest, voice, and counter storytelling for marginalized and oppressed communities.” states the Organic Gloabalizer. A great way to sum… Continue reading
The beginning of “The Crunk” states it best. “Black feminism taught us to love ourselves, to fight for our revolution and to prioritize our own freedom. Hip Hop gave us something to bop our heads to and shake our hips to.” Feminism allows women to express themselves anyway they damn well please with no restrictions.… Continue reading
The Deconstructing Gender and Sexuality section almost makes me feel like I’m playing both sides of the fence. In one of the beginning pages from “The Real HIP HOP” the author states, “I spell feminism as pheminism with ph in order to emphasize the notion that presenting a young woman’s perspective requires a high level… Continue reading
I remember hanging out in my room and my older sister came in saying “We like 2pac over here”. I was like “um okay”. Growing up in a Spanish home I was not really sure who 2pac was. Elvis Crespo, Marc Anthony, Celia Cruz were more likely to take over my mothers speaker during saturday morning clean ups. Fast forward to Biggie vs. 2pac beef and everyone had to choose a side, well my sister told me we rock with Tupac so thats who I like better (having never listened to Biggie aside from his mainstream songs). This made no sense to my friends with comments like “how could you??!! you’re from New York!”……Dimitriadis touches on the epic hip hop beef in his article and it brought me right back to all those emotions of feeling like whoa going forward before I pick a side I need the history on whats even going on! I’ve been loving the history and background of hip hop, learning what the first mainstream song was, reading up on the last poets and how influenced others became. I’d have to say the most difficult article to comprehend was “Space matters” but as we began to break it down in class it began to piece together. “All abroad the Night Train” brings me back to being in the city isn’t it ironic how we can still find so many similarities to whats going on STILL and the way hip hop is still a breath of fresh air and escape.
Oh and BTW…..Tupac is ALIVE…You’re welcome.
