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Let’s Talk About Hip-Hop

https://www.letssingit.com/northern-cree-singers-lyrics-red-skin-girl-lvc946z#axzz4bLkTg2i0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3TpDQ0vsB4

I prefer the A Tribe Called Red mix but I’m not sure how popular the Northern Cree Singers are. I have learned that the diversity of Indigenous culture is underestimated. There’s so much that I still have to learn about Indigenous culture that it would be an injustice to say that I’ve learned anything beyond that. One thing I will say that I’ve learned is that decolonization through music is more than possible. Embracing things that make particular groups different is our strength. The second song features Indigenous throat singer Tanya Tagaq. I had no idea what throat singing was before this song. It was one of the most jarring things I’ve ever heard, and I can now truly say that I love it. Granted, when it’s mixed with A Tribe Called Red’s beats it’s significantly more digestible. However, Indigenous musical creativity, even though it is engrained in their culture is completely underestimated in the mainstream and it’s rather unfortunate.

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Let’s Talk About Hip-Hop

An exercise that my partner Victoria and I came up with in class was to have our classmates read inappropriate rap lyrics to the nearest female. It was an effective exercise that we used to explain the absurdity of misogynistic rap lyrics. I would conduct the same exercise, with the same age group (high school-university students), but with two songs. One song would be negative and one would be positive, preferably by the same artist. The point would be that Hip-Hop is not limited to violence, misogyny, sex and drugs. It can also be a very positive experience. I would choose Tupac as the artist and his songs ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ for the positive song, and ‘Hit Em Up’ for the negative. Both are extremely popular songs by Tupac. One is a song about staying positive in difficult situations, and the latter is one of the most ruthless diss tracks in Hip-Hop history. Both have their places in the genre and both are by the same artist, showing the diversity of the genre. 

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Let’s Talk About Hip-Hop

To this day, I don’t really get what happened with Tommy Hilfiger and Hip-Hop. Yes, there was a class presentation on the subject. However, seven minutes wasn’t enough for me (also, I think that the breakdown of the relationship would be better explained by people old enough to make the conscious decision to participate in the trend). How many artists spoke up about the rumours of Hilfiger being a racist? Who in the industry defended him or threw him under the bus? Why? I personally would like to hear more first hand accounts of the relationship that Tommy Hilfiger had with Hip-Hop heavyweights. There’s three sides to a story: his side, Hip-Hop’s side, and the truth. Normal people will probably never know if Hilfiger is a racist. Russell Simmons is not enough to represent Hip-Hop’s side. While she would have one of the best perspectives on the situation, Aaliyah is no longer with us. 

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Let’s Talk About Hip-Hop

Kanye West’s entire Yeezy clothing line is an example of Hip-Hop influencing design. It doesn’t get anymore Hip-Hop than one of the most prolific lyricists owning his own line. Granted, he isn’t the first. However, he is one of the more recent examples. Kanye West, from the time he became mainstream, has been considered one of the most fashionable celebrities, period. While I’m not a personal fan of his clothes or shoes, actually I hate them, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect the now obvious influence that Kanye has had on mainstream fashion. Walk into the men’s section at a store like Urban Planet and you’ll see almost exact copies of his clothes. 

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Let’s Talk About Hip-Hop

Feminism...what is that? Like for real. I know what feminism is historically. But I personally don’t see where feminism, as a term in contemporary context, fits. Equalism is, by definition, a better fit for what contemporary feminists declare themselves to be. They’re equalists. End of story. I especially don’t see how “feminism” has a place in Hip-Hop, both historically and contemporarily. In my opinion, feminism doesn’t allow for a woman to listen to Hip-Hop just because of questionable language that both men and women use in their lyrics. 

Why must a person be limited by the definition of one word while using words to express themselves through a creative outlet? When I say that, I don’t meant that things such as misogyny and patriarchy and chauvinism through a critical lens should be ignored. I mean that a person should not have to police themselves because of one particular word that a person would use to describe themselves, when the definition of such a word is limited, at best. 

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Let’s Talk About Hip-Hop

Well, according to slideshare.net, convergence through media is the combination of new media and old media within a single piece of media work-- the coming together of different media products/technology. The definition for cultural convergence is described as the audience becoming the user. Media technology has given the ‘audience’ the tools to “archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate content”. 

I’ll be honest, I had no idea what convergence culture was before this class. I still don’t think I do. But from my still shallow understanding, I would conclude that convergence is when people no longer feel limited to only consume. They produce what they consume. For example, musicians using SoundCloud to put their music into the world for other musicians to listen to. To me, convergence is being more than a mindless audience that simply regurgitates the media they consume.

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To me, Hip-Hop means enduring. Enduring through even the hardest circumstances with creativity. Creativity manifests itself in multiple ways; however, to me, Hip-Hop is something that you’re born with in your heart. 

Hip-Hop and design go hand in hand. From the very beginning Hip-Hop has been expressed through design. The most obvious examples are graffiti and fashion. Graffiti as a visual art can be found everywhere, with its base being Hip-Hop. Fashion is a physical expression of Hip-Hop culture. Everything from Slick Rick’s eye patch to Run DMC’s Adidas shell toe shoes is fashion in Hip-Hop. 

Obviously Hip-Hop has influenced design. Tommy Hilfiger endorsing multiple rappers and singers shows Hip-Hop’s influence. Kanye West showing at Paris Fashion Week is Hip-Hop influencing design. To give examples that can’t be immediately google would require a formal essay.