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The world we currently live in is not a perfect one in any sense. There are ongoing wars over issues that should not even exist and certain individuals treat others a lesser than them because of the color of their skin or where they are from.  For this reason, people of all different backgrounds have spoken out against these injustices in a variety of different forms.  Some have tried silence, violence, marches, or as it pertains more to our class, using rap to spread their message.

Amir, a Syrian student from the town of Idlib, has chosen to create rap songs to deal with the scenarios occurring around him. He uses his music to protest the airstrikes by extremist groups and the suffering of the civilians that are currently in the rebel-held region. He hopes that his music will bring some uplifting spirits to the people who are affected by the war around them, in addition to speaking out against the oppression on their behalf – reminiscent of groups such as NWA.

NWA, a group that stands for N****z with Attitude, was a West Coast rap group that focused much of their energy on the glorification of the Los Angeles gang scene, ultimately developing what is known as Gansta Rap. Gangsta Rap, as it may appear to be all about drugs, sex, and murder, is about truth telling and opposing the political correctness that has been misdirected. Their album “Straight Outta Compton,” like that of Amir’s rap song, is about empowering others as well as yourself.  They worked towards trying to remove common myths about what was occurring.

There are many pressures and consequences that both NWA has faced and Amir will that come along with speaking out against organizations that are larger then oneself. However, for change to occur a strong figure needs to come out and face the issue at hand. With his music, Amir is not only sending a message to the wrongdoers out there but comforting and empowering others in his scenario to work towards a change and not stand for a sub-par living situation.

The way the world works, there are leaders and there are followers.  One can choose to be whichever they please, but it is up to the leaders to empower the rest. In this scenario, Amir is taking the role of the leader and speaking out against the injustices that surround him in hopes of a better future to come. People like him must come out and aid the community otherwise hope begins to diminish, which is seldom an ideal outcome.

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Most of the time people are not inherently inspired to do something they end up enjoying. It often takes someone to come and step in as a role model figure for that individual to truly realize that a specific course is the journey they want to embark on. This doesn’t solely have to relate to a job, but can also take the form of a hobby as can be seen in the 8-year-old Harry Bell from Hull.

There is a stereotype that when one grows up in a low socioeconomic and downtrodden neighborhood, they tend to get stuck into a systemic circle which doesn’t allow them to escape and better themselves. This may be true for many individuals as they are forced to make decisions based on survival rather than pursue their desires.  It is a truly sad scenario that many people have to face daily; however, with the right person making an impact on that other individual, their life could change forever.

This concept is explicitly expressed in the movie Rize (2005). This film takes place in the streets of a neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles and takes aim at showing the evolution of hip hop dance and how it has impacted many individuals.

Within this film, Tommy “The Clown” Johnson creates a Clown crew who take to the streets to dance, teach, and entertain people. Additionally, his art form is aimed to try to get troubled kids off the streets and out of the gangbanging and drug life. Tommy noticed a kid, little Tommy, who was getting into trouble and decided to take him in as a “son,” teaching him the ways of clownin’ while simultaneously trying to enforce the idea of using this as an escape from vices and a motivation to work towards putting one’s life on a positive path.

Harry Bell is an 8-year-old boy from a city in London called Hull. What has astounded people about him is how fast and well he has picked up “urban music." Unlike many of the individuals from Rize, Harry isn’t necessary a troubled kid trying to escape the consequences of his area code; however, similar to them he was inspired by another figure to help project him on a path that he likes. Initially, he wasn’t into rap at all, but after visiting an open music day put on by the city, his talents were seen and he was offered a year of free lessons where he has learned to rap, mix, and scratch proficiently.  

Harry was a kid who didn’t initially embrace the Hip Hop culture, but now thanks to a positive role model and city funding he is completely immersed and in love.

The idea that something as simple as an open music day can change the course of one’s life and drive them to pursue something they may be passionate about, shows that as a community we should strive more to lend aid to others and try to be positive figures. If we express kindness and open our smaller communities to others, we can change lives like Tommy the clown and the City of Hull did.

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Hip Hop is a culture that has been gaining much more popular ground in recent years. Rap has taken over Rock as the US top listened to genre, and Jay-Z has become raps first billionaire. It is becoming evident that hip hop is beginning to become integral to many people’s lives and may become even more exposed due to a recent endeavor that might add break dancing to the Olympics. 

When one initially thinks of hip hop the first thing to jolt into their mind is most likely rap and artists like Jay-Z, Drake, Kanye, or Kendrick Lamar. Associating hip hop with such artists is not incorrect as they are leading figures in the hip hop world; however, music is not the only aspect that defines hip hop. When going back to the roots of hip hop in the 1970s, in the boroughs of New York, people like Afrika Bambaataa and Dj Kool Herc would tell you that hip hop is truly made of 4 elements: a DJ, an MC, B-boys/B-girls, and graffiti.  Without these elements, there is no true hip hop. 

In addition to breakdancing being seen as an integral part of hip hop, it is also something that can coincide with religion quite well. As seen in the film Rize (2005), the dancers claimed that breakdancing and krumping movements are very similar to that of some seen in church, as there is a spirit in the dance.  The art of dance is something that brings people together and away from violence, creating a community of likeminded individuals that have a place to go for hope and joy – much like a church. 

Recently, there have been debates occurring on whether or not to add certain new sports to the Olympic games. Among the sports being talked about is break dancing. Break dancing or breaking was recently an event in the past years’ youth Olympics, and now is potentially one in the Paris 2024 Olympic games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is becoming fond of events like breaking as it is a more urban and gender-balanced competition that can appeal to the younger generations as well. 

The decision if breaking will be in the Olympics is set to be made final in December of 2020. If the IOC decides to pass the vote, it will be a major win for the hip hop community and culture as a whole. Hip hop has already been gaining mainstream appeal in other countries like the UK, Korea, and Japan. Thus, if it is added into the Olympics it could widen the scope of its reach. With this addition, one might expect to see a lot more breaking being added back as a more prominent role in modern-day hip hop, making it wholesome again. 

Whether or not the vote for break dancing to join the Olympic circuit as a sport passes, hip hop has already obtained a massive win with the consideration of it. As the culture becomes more prominent in society only time will tell when it will be added in. Nonetheless, break dancing will continue to remain a community of likeminded individuals continuing to hone their craft and providing a sense of enjoyment and hope to one another. 

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Throughout this course, religion and hip hop have been the main focus. In particular, the ability to intertwine and create a culture that argues how hip hop can be seen as a religion.  However, when many think of mainstream hip hop it is doubtful that they will find religious aspects coming from it.

To many people, intermingling religion and hip hop is something that they believe should be avoided, which is why the drop of Kanye’s new album “Jesus is King” got hit with many criticisms and confusion by his fans. Something that many individuals fail to see, is how in everyday life these two are found together. When I go to church on Sundays, it is hard to miss the music that comes from the piano and sometimes drums or guitar. This music creates a beat upon which a member of the choir will begin to sing as a way of preaching to the audience. This is its purest essence is a form of hip hop. Although it does not often talking about the harsh life on the street or sexual endeavors of individuals, that is not what truly creates hip hop. Hip hop is a way for people to express themselves and preach to the community what they believe in a fun and positive way.

If one is well versed in the history of hip hop culture, their knowledge of earlier rappers and their music is much more vast; as opposed to many people nowadays who solely listen to the top charts. Many popular rappers such as KSR-One, Tupac, Nas, and Talib Kweli have brought up some sort of religious aspects in their music. Although they may not all be discussing the same things, songs of theirs have some sort of pertinence to a spirituality. This aspect many times being some sort of version of the afterlife or a message asking a higher being for aid.

In this article, Christian rapper Lecrae was asked to react to Kanye’s new album. His response was one that showed excitement and encouragement as he said that he believed Kanye to be expressing excitement about his newfound relationship with Jesus. Additionally, he saw it as a positive for himself and many other Christian rappers, since Kanye’s new album is putting the spotlight on Jesus in a setting that it hasn’t been seen much before.

In its essence, Kanye’s new album can be opening up a platform for many gospel rappers, who are much more underground than someone like himself, to have their music be seen by more individuals and possibly help further change what hip hop is seen as. Whether many see it or not, religion and hip hop have a relationship that has remained together for quite some time, but now this relationship has been expressed more vividly.

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Celebrities are often the face of many commercials and seen as idols to tons of people worldwide. People of all ages imitate them, dress like them for Halloween, or can quote their movie scenes or sing their songs verbatim. What this is telling us, is that these celebrates hold a lot of power which I assume they already know.  And as a quote from Spiderman says, “with great power comes great responsibility.” This is a saying most people have heard but not all have taken to heart.  Celebrities need to understand the pros and cons that come along with their job, and using influential platforms beyond themselves is one. 

Growing up in a social digital era, there has been a development of online presence through the use of social media. This allows for many people to be left open for scrutiny by the public, something many hip hop artists have to face. Due to the fact that fans tend to idolize and mimic these stars, the celebrity need to be alert of what they are putting out there. If they want to criticize someone or something, they need to have the understanding that they will be subliminally having an impact on their fans to think similarly. This in turn, can result in leading fans down the wrong path and potentially harming the artist’s career. 

Lisa Persaud claims that everything they do wrong will most likely come up on the internet and create a scandal; however, they can showcase other sides of themselves such as their humane, charitable, and entrepreneurial sides as well. This can leave them open to countless possibilities of how to ultimately exploit their success. This large evolution of the industry has opened up the option to create ones own brand, endorse others, or even collaborate. 

If an artist is smart, they will take lessons from people like Jay-Z and Kanye. These two moguls have created their own brands and have made an immense amount of money from them. Jay-Z, being a large hip hop success, decided to create his own line of headphones which have developed into a brand that millions of people use, including numerous famous athletes (free publicity).  Kanye, on the other hand, decided to create a higher class clothing brand. Kanye’s brand, developing more in the social digital era, did not even need much advertising as he simply needed to wear his clothes and preform simple tasks such as posting it on social media himself or have other celebrities like his wife Kim Kardashian do so. 

Hip hop artists and celebrities, in general, need to realize the great opportunity that they are currently in, being popular during the age where social media tends to run the world. Their voice has so much power in every sect of life that they have the ability to persuade the nation positively. They can choose to be like Beyoncé pushing the Black Lives Matter movement or Miley Cyrus who spoke in support of the LGBTQ community. Or they can even decide to become a mogul for a specific industry like Dr. Dre.  The power is in their hands, but it is up to them to choose how to use it. 

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“Hero’s get remembered, but legends never die.” This is a quote from Babe Ruth that I remember from the movie “Sandlot.” It is one that I find to be quite true and can pertain to many aspects of life including the hip hop world. When one thinks of a hip hop legend, I would find it hard to believe that the name Tupac Amaru Shakur or 2Pac wouldn’t come about. Tupac was a legend in his industry and has helped to shape the culture of rap, so much so that one could argue that he be considered an urban prophet.   

To consider one a prophet, many factors need to be considered. Did he have a God conscience? Was he a holistic person in regards to social change? Did he fill a leadership vacuum? These and many other questions are necessary to think about before giving someone a title as powerful as a Prophet.  When examining the life of Tupac, one can not only see how well he has filled the roles of these questions asked, but also see the incredible amounts of postmortem honors; something not many artists receive.   

Pac has received numerous amounts of postmortem honors. One very prominent example being the Coachella hologram, which had people believing he was alive again. Nevertheless, the list of postmortem honors continues to stack up to this very day. 

Upon skimming through the source magazine, I came across an article giving further honor to him as it is 23 years after his release of “Don Killuninati: The 7 Day Theory.” This album itself if Tupac’s 1st postmortem honor as it was released 2 months after he was shot to death. The album was not only very controversial but also made people believe he was still alive. 

For an artist to be deceased for 23 years and still be receiving recognition and honor by the Hip hop community is a great feat and evidence of an urban prophet.  Tupac was the angry voice of urban America and rapped to the world about the harsh reality on the streets, while simultaneously was not afraid of bringing religion into his music.  This can be seen in many of his songs in this album and others such as “Blasphemy,” “Hail Mary,” or “Thugz Mansion.” Although Tupac never claimed to follow a particular religion his relationship with God is made evident. One can argue that it was this mix of religious aspects and his harsh yet truthful voice that was the key in getting people to believe and follow him, creating this prophet figure he eventually has fallen into. Tupac is truly a hip hop legend whose voice will never die. He has had such an immense impact of the hip hop community that it would almost be blasphemous to disregard him as an urban prophet and legend of the industry.

For the past 23 years, he has rightfully been receiving various different types of postmortem honors and it would be wrong to assume that these honors are bound to stop anytime soon. 

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With Kanye West’s new album “Jesus is King,” Kanye once again shows his audience his ability to transcend the barriers of rap music. “Jesus is King” is a very spiritual themed album that has a wide variety of music within. Though this album, Kanye discussed many aspects of life and society with relation to a religious aspect, something that is not seen often in rap music. Because of this album, Kanye has received a lot of criticism in regards to what is wrong with him and what he is doing with his music/career. Nevertheless, Kanye proceeds to stand out and preach what he likes.

Out of the 10 total tracks, audiences seem to like one track in particular.  This track is “Follow God.” The reasoning behind the fondness around this specific song is that it is reminiscent of the old Kanye style of rap, which people have been begging for. None the less, the song still has many religious aspects tied to it. The song is similar to “Fishin’ 4 Religion” by Arrested Development, in the sense that the artist is preaching about a search for God and help with issues that they are having, yet the concept of religion isn’t pounded in the audiences face.  

The song begins with the lyrics, “Father I stretch, I stretch my hands to you,” reminiscent of his song “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” from his 2016 ‘Life is Pablo’ album. The act of stretching one’s hands is a call for help to God used in many biblical references. This whole song is ultimately about Kanye’s struggles and how he is searching for help.

Some of the lyrics even address many of the issues that come along with being a famous figure. He raps, “People really know you, push your buttons like typewrite. This is like a movie, but it’s really very lifelike.  Every single night, right, every single fight, right? I was looking at the ‘Gram and I don’t even like likes.” Within this verse, Kanye is describing how many people view his life as a movie, while for him it’s very real. They like to push his buttons and judge him but ultimately it takes a toll. Secondly, he brings up the issue with “likes” and how social media has created the idea that the amount of likes one receives is correlated to the approval of them. This is an issue that harms many people and has possibly lead to some of Kanye’s mental issues.

Additionally, throughout the song, he brings up issues he has had with his Father. He says, “Wrestlin’ with God, I don’t really want to wrestle. Man, it’s really lifelike, everything in my life (Stretch my hands to You).  Arguing with my dad, and he said, “It ain’t Christ-like.” Kanye is expressing that he has struggled with his relationship with his father and how he wants to help, but keeps getting denied.  He doesn’t want these issues to remain which is why he continues to use the verse “Stretch my hands to You,” using the capital “Y” signifying that “You” pertains to God.

Aside from looking at all the criticism Kanye has been receiving from his newly dropped album, he has hit #1 on Billboards top 100 artists and #1 on Billboards top 200 albums. In addition to this, he was glorified with the #1 album for both Christian and Gospel albums. This not only proves that his album is still doing well, but that there is also another path that he can take his music if he truly desires to continue on this spiritual track.

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The summer of 2019 was deemed Hot Girl Summer, and for the longest time I couldn’t figure out why all these girls would caption their Instagram pictures with that statement. Turns out the reasoning behind the movement was due to a song by Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj, and Ty Dolla Sign. These three artists joined forces to create the song “Hot Girl Summer,” which ultimately started this movement. The main driving forces were the two female artists as they take on the archetype of Fly’ Girls. The archetype is greatly exemplified in the music video as well as the lyrics.

The archetype of a fly girl is one that stresses the empowerment of women by women, in addition to the fact that they control the sexual power. This can also be seen from the archetype of a Queen mother; however, what truly characterizes a Fly’ Girl is how they are confident and independent. They aim to deconstruct the idea that males are dominant by accentuating the ideology of what’s expected of them. Because of this, they are often found showing their erotic selves’ by wearing tight sexy clothes that highlight the curves of the female body.

The music video starts with one of Megan’s friends nervous about her look for the party and trying to shake off that feeling in the mirror. It then turns to her coming in hot and one can see many females at a pool party with a select few male rappers. The girls show their confidence by dressing in booty shorts or bikinis, showing all of their curves. They are having fun saying it’s the best party of the summer, aka the hot girl summer’s party. Additionally, in the video, the girls are further flaunting their bodies and accentuating their erotic selves’ by twerking to the music for a majority of the video. The video portrays the idea of female empowerment and encourages them to not feel nervous, like the depiction Megan’s friend at the beginning.

When diving deeper into the lyrics of the song, one can see that the basis of the song is strongly surrounding the empowerment of females. The artists use lyrics such as, “Handle me? (Huh) Who gon' handle me? (Who?) Thinkin' he's a player, he's a member on the team” and “He put in all that work, he wanna be the MVP (boy, bye) I told him ain't no taming me, I love my n****s equally.” Megan Thee Stallion is flipping the stereotype that the man is the player, while really she is the one who’s playing men. She expresses that women are in charge of their sexuality and that they can’t be tamed because they are strong and independent.

As the female rapper is still one who is greatly outnumbered by males, Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj set the theme of summer for many girls this year with their song. As these female rappers gain greater power in their genre, they embraced the archetype of a fly girl with their song and outfit, empowering female listeners to embrace their bodies and take the summer as their own. They want women to be confident and sexy, which is exactly how their song makes people feel.