GUNS GUNS GUNS

This is a picture of the guns that rapper T.I. was arrested trying to buy. These are automatic rifles that you find people who plan terrorist attacks with. These are guns with drums of ammo, instead of just a clip. They are intense illegal guns, and there are a lot of them. Why would anyone outside of military members need weapons like this. A common idea of hip-hop is the need to have guns. Guns provide a sense of power, and a sense of control. If something happens with a gun you have the ability to take control of the situation. But why not just purchase a legal firearm, instead of these highly illegal unregistered weapons. Guns as a sport can be a very fun activity, but these guns don't seem at all like they are for range shooting. These guns are designed with the specific intent to kill humans. Guns give people a sense of power, but why would anyone need guns to this extent? A rapper like T.I, a person who has been arrested 32 times, said he felt that he needed the weapons for protection. In this interview, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfbjpXio0NI, T.I. stresses that he wants people to not admire him for the bad things he has done, but instead because he has become a man an admitted that he was wrong and accepted the consequences. T.I. had enough money to buy the weapons, and expressed is power in this way. Having this many weapons of that caliber really makes me question the type of person that T.I. was. I feel like there is a lot of his history that is unknown to the media, but maybe that is what makes him so popular. The idea that he could of been doing some serious damage with those guns, especially a man with his criminal history.

Pictures of hyper masculinity

The picture of Tupac is a great example of his hyper-masculinity. In his left hand there is what I'm assuming to be a blunt suggesting that he smokes weed. The posture that he presents with the finger, and his natural body language shows that he doesn't really care about what people think. He is a very physically fit man and has a great deal of tone. His gold chain shows that he has enough money to buy expensive jewelry. There is a gun in his waist suggesting that he is always ready to use it, and that he should not be messed with. His body shows tattoos that say thug life, and one has an AK-47 suggesting that he is willing to kill, and is a thug. This picture really presents Tupac as being hard, but at the same time is willing to chill and smoke a blunt.

The picture of 50 cent takes the ideas of masculinity to a whole new level. The first focal point of this picture is the gun. 50 is pointing the gun directly at the camera. A lot of 50's persona is based on violence, and he is constantly presenting it through the media. He is wearing gun straps around his shoulders suggesting that he is always strapping heat. There is a large diamond cross around his neck, suggesting that he is rich enough to afford those kinds of things. His posture almost suggests that he wants to kill people, where in comparison Tupac was ready to if need be. I think the comparison of these two pictures really shows how rap as changed over the years. Everything has just been taken to the next level of masculinity. Instead of having a gun he is pointing a gun, instead of being in good shape 50 is abnormally jacked, instead of a gold necklace 50 has a diamond necklace.

many views

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpe6_VgZIg&feature=channel

In this video there are multiple opinions expressed. In discussing the issues with hip-hop music there are multiple explanations to them. In an artists eyes there is nothing wrong with their music because they are using their freedom of expression to detail certain aspects of their lives. They feel that by calling someone a bitch or slut isn't a problem because they don't feel that all women fall under these categories, but they feel that some women are. The question to this then is why are there so many instances when women are called these degrading epithets. The argument is then brought back to the record company, and how it is there fault for promoting these ideals. It is hard to figure out who should be blamed for this, but the only thing that is for certain is that the hip-hop industry is make large sums of money, and more and more people are making it to the big screen. More wealth is being put in the hands of blacks who for the large majority of the history of the United States, and to this day still have economic inequality. Even though rap music seems to have bad effects on the community, it is a form of entertainment, and that is how it should be understand. I think the rap is being taken to seriously by its audience, especially since it has recently been over dramatized. The money that hip-hop promotes often promotes greed and other issues that stem from money.

sexism and misogyny in hip-hop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2q5zlgkKas&feature=related

In this video women in hip-hop music are objectified. In most of the videos they used just as eye candy, objects of the mans desires. When the model is asked about her experience with videos she says she treated it as a job, and because there is so much competition on the set women are willing to do anything to get the camera attention. The videos shows young women that the images that are seen are all that women can be. The women are beautiful, but that is all they are portrayed as. Some women want that attention from the rappers. They want the to get with rappers, and they want them to do the things they do. Those women don't seem to much have respect for themselves, and it could be because they have grown up in a culture that doesn't depict them as respectable, but instead as an object of men's sexual deviance. There is heavy structural and symbolic violence that has negative effects on the youth that sees these videos, and this miss treatment of women in the hip-hop community. Women's role in hip-hop has artists are few and far between and female records are becoming less common. If they are an artist they usually rap with a male counterpart, and that seems like the only way for them to be successful. Hip-Hop is dominated by men, and it is almost impossible for women to be successful without them. It is historically a very sexist industry. Women have to look good, sound good, and really try and sell themselves.

quantity over quality and its effects

In John McWhorter's article, How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back, he discusses the problems with Hip-Hop. He feels that rap "retards black success." He thinks that it reinforces stereotypes, and teaches the youth a way of life that is counter productive to success within society. He argues that the mannerisms that are adopted from the videos that are seen makes future employers wary of the person's attitude towards life. By "glamorizing life in the war zone" Hip-Hop has engrained the message in society that blacks are uncivilized, and makes it hard for people growing up there to remove themselves from that lifestyle. He makes an interesting point that black Americans had more to be frustrated about in the past, but yet the music of the time was hopeful, positive, and affirmative. As of now 5 of the top 10 highest sellers have had incidents with the law. Many of rap's superstar been murdered. Including stars like Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Big L, and many others. It seems to me that this image of being hardcore comes with the highly violent American media culture. I think that earlier in the timeline of rap the lyrics really showed the conditions of life that certain rappers had grown up in, but I feel things have over exaggerated, and created more for the aspect of making money. Now granted, some of the stories are true, but to what extent are they bedazzled, and to what extent are they all true. Rap may have once been "poetry of the streets," but now it seems like the media has taken over and turned this poetry into a industrialized type of music that creates a negative image for blacks. I love Hip-Hop and will never stop listening to it, but the direction that hip-hop is traveling makes me think less of American Society because it traps people within a type of structural violence that can't been seen by many of the people being oppressed by it. America's need to mass produce takes the quality out of everything from McDonalds burgers, to cars, to the switch from CD's to MP3's, and rap music in general.

John H. McWhorter
How Hip Hop Holds Blacks Back
Violence, Misogyny, and Lawlessness are nothing to sing about
Summer 2003
http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_3_how_hip_hop.html