Alexander Sanchez

Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015
Influence of hip hop on society
Hip hop is not about race; it is about attitude. Hip Hop has always been viewed from a
negative stand point. To this day, there is still a lot of negativity surrounding it. People saying
that it corrupts the mind and influences us to be doing things that really shouldnt be done. For
example, the main topics of discussions are drugs and violence. What these people dont
understand is that its a way these artists choose to express themselves. Hip hop is the most
influential genre of music. It doesnt matter if youre white, black, Hispanic, Asian, or other. Hip
hop is listened to around the world and has influenced every part of the world from right here in
the United States to across the world in Hong Kong. Hip hop was an invitation to everyone to
come together and unite and simply enjoy music. It was a culture that wasnt forced. No longer
did your ethnicity pre determine your cultural values.
It all started in the 1970s when an underground urban movement known as hip hop
started to develop in the Bronx in New York city. It was first looked at as poetry and speech over
music. With the music came DJing and graffiti art. This was causing street gangs to be prevalent.
The graffiti, rapping, and b-boying at parties were artistic variations on the competition and was
used a competition for street gangs. Mr. Afrika Bambaataa founded the Zulu nation. The Zulu
nation was a loose confederation of street-dance crews, graffiti artists, and rap musicians. The
New York city blackout allowed hip hop to expand its culture even more. The blackout had
widespread looting, arson, and other city wide disorders. During the blackout, a bunch of looters

Alexander Sanchez
Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015
ended up stealing DJ equipment from electronic stores. From 1977 onward; Hip hop grew at an
astounding rate.
The appearance of music videos changed entertainment. After that many hip hop films
began to come out such as Wild Style, Beat street and more. These films expanded the appeal of
hip hop beyond New York and into places such as Europe. This also began to influence women
to join the culture.

The golden age of hip hop is a name given to hip hop music that is usually cited as the
late 1980s to around the early 1990s. This is an era that included groups like RunD.M.C., public enemy, beastie boys and where Gangsta rap become more popular with
groups such as N.W.A. This was a very important time period for hip hop and showed the

Alexander Sanchez
Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015
world how influential it really was. Public Enemys most influential song fight the
power came out at the time of urban party. The song basically speaks up to the
government, claiming that people in the ghetto have freedom of speech and rights like
every other American and they were not any different from other people. This song
grabbed listeners and encouraged them to speak out for themselves. N.W.A. is considered
to be one of the most influential music groups of all time. The group reflected the rising
anger of the urban youth. People liked to refer to them as gangsta rap but they liked to
call it reality rap. They were not afraid to project their voice at any cost. They ended up
on the FBIs list and fell into major trouble with law enforcement agencies. Straight outta
Compton was one of the first albums to adhere the new parental advisory label scheme.
Although the group disbanded in 1991, to say the least they left a lasting legacy on hip
hop music in the following decades. N.W.A. caused major riots as they were known for
their deep hatred for the police system, which sparked much controversy over the years.
They were a significant reason on why people were building up the courage to voice their
opinion.

Alexander Sanchez
Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015
Hip hop even helped out with advertisement. One example of that is when Run D.M.C.
had a sold out concert at Madison square garden. He gets on stage and takes off his sneaker and
holds it onto his air. Adidas was always more of a soccer company. They had a designer that
went to the garden that night. He says that something drew him there that night. After he sees
that everyone is taking their shoe off and holding it up in the air he decides to give Run D.M.C. a
deal with adidas. That was the tipping point where hip hop got a partnership with a German
company. He found comfort in a discomfort he said and it ended up helping adidas tremendously.
Thats what led to Run D.M.C. making the song My Adidas and the face of adidas would
change from there on.
The 90s were a time that we had legends like Wu tang clan, Tupac, Outkast, Biggie, Big
L, Common, Nelly, Eminem and many other hip hop legends emerge. This era influenced society
much like the 80s did and that was by speaking your mind. This was also a time were artist like
for example Tupac were not afraid to voice their opinion and were getting in trouble for it. This
era also brought in baggy clothes and more ghetto apparel. Getting back to Tupac, he was
arguably one of the most influential hip hop icons the world has yet to see. Instead of rapping
about the Thug life he chose to speak on issues that pertained more to the modern say civilian.
He was a educated and intelligent. Always spoke out on an issue if he felt it needed to be
addressed. He was a symbol in rap. He would advocate for many things like womens rights,
teenage pregnancy, and the love for a mother. Not only did he change peoples views in the 90s
but he also set a bar in the rap game and influenced it as well.

Alexander Sanchez
Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015
Hip Hop isnt the same that it was 10-15 years ago but it is still influencing just as much
as it did back in the golden era. We still have artist such as Jay Z, Kanye West, J Cole, Kendrick
Lamar, Big Sean and many more that through their lyrics and actions still influence modern
society. Time magazine states that Hip Hop is the most important youth culture on the planet.
That hip hop is urban folk art. Hip Hop music is a lot more than the image it depicts shown by
how it effects the community. Hip hop gets a bad rep for the violence that is affiliated with it
when in fact its just the artist that is speaking on troubles he once had to endure and is not meant
to be taken literal or duplicated but sadly thats how some people portray it and it ends up
showing you how much influence this genre of music really has. Hip Hop is a unique and
enjoyable style of music if you just listen and try to understand the message the artist is trying to
portray. It has such an impact on our society, especially the African American community. It just
doesnt receive the credit it deserves. Hip hop music can change our moods to what we end up
wearing for a date to how we decide to project our voice.

Annotated Bibliography
Blandon, Christina. "Hip-Hop and Youth Culture In Todays Society." itzarap.
N.p., 15 May 2013. Web.

Alexander Sanchez
Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015
<https://itzarap.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/hip-hop-and-youth-culturein-todays-society/>.
Youth culture is constantly being compared to what hip-hop
culture is, because they are practically the same. Hip-hop started as an
authentic cultural expression of the African American youth trying to
survive in dying cites back in the 1970s. However, this website tells us
how hip-hop has expanded since then. The youth has used hip-hop as
a way to find their identity, the sound, style and lyrics of hip-hop has
given a voice to many. Not just African Americans but any cultural
background. This website discusses the difference between commercial
hip-hop and how it has promoted a lifestyle of materialism vs.
seventys hip-hop which was just trying to give the youth in dying cities
a reason to not give up. This articles goes on to mention how the lyrics
of hip-hop have changed. Yet again thats why I believe in underground
hip-hop rather than what power 96 is playing this morning.

Alexander Sanchez
Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015
Elkouby, Sebastian. "The Power of Hip Hop Culture." raprehab.com. N.p., 30
Sept. 2013. Web. <http://raprehab.com/rap-music-brainwashed-youth-andthe-power-of-hip-hop-culture/>.
Hip-hop can shape lives. This article mentions exactly that; hiphop can be the soundtrack of the youth in need. It can make them feel
like theyre not the only ones struggling. Hip-hop impacts young
impressionable lives. Hip-hop cant be blamed for todays social ills as
unemployment, poverty, gangs, drugs, failing school system, and
institutionalized racism is the real culprits. This article mentions a
research done with adolescents talking about commercial rap and how
it might not be interpreted correctly. However when underground rap
and back in the day hip-hop was introduced these kids responded in a
positive way. Hip-hop culture reaches young adults and comforts them.
The article mentions how hip-hop now a day is in the right hands of the
right people. And also how the impact on these kids can help save
lives.

Alexander Sanchez
Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015

Hernandez, Diana, Hannah Weinstein, and Miguel Munoz-Laboy. "Youth

Perspectives on the Intersection of Violence, Gender, and Hip-Hop." Youth &
Society (2012): 588-608. Print.
This peer-review article examines the issue of youths perception
of violence with social environments providing relevant insights into
gender based interpersonal violence epidemic in inner city
communities. This article talks about two set of narratives with young
men and women from ages 15 to 21 involved in what is hip-hop in New
York City. Their examinations told us that youth accounts of street
violence to examine connections with gender and hip hop culture. The
results reported on this article say that youth involved in hip hop
culture vary in comprehensiveness of what they considered violent and
also saw violence as entertainment or a way to gain respect. Many
didnt report their behavior as violent. The article recommended using
hip-hop as a way to reform in the process.

Alexander Sanchez
Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015

Morgan, George, and Andrew Warren. "Aboriginal Youth, Hip Hop and The
Politics Of Identification." Ethnic & Racial Studies 34.6 (2011): 925-47. Print.
This article talks about the identity around contemporary subcultural Hip-Hop among
Australian youth in two deprived urban locations and on young men who have participated in hip
hop performances or anything hip hop related. Work done before on Aboriginal Hip-Hop has
been attentive to incorporate between tradition and what is now considered modernity. This
article gives you facts about young hip-hop fans, community activists and educators. It tells you
about the cultural politics of identification and makes hip hop seem associated with a process in
which what is indigenous is crystalized as a principal reason and main connection and as offering
an account for experiences of social power. I see and hear hip hop as a form of music, same way
we might see or hear jazz, classical, country or any other genre of music.

Alexander Sanchez
Professor Massey
ENC 1101
7 December 2015

"'HipHopIstheMostImportantYouthCultureonthePlanet.'"Time22Sept.2000.Print.
Time describes hip-hop as urban folk art. Time talks about how hip-hop was
created by unique individuals and groups of people who created something out of
nothing. Hip-hop has shaped our era, by shaping our style of clothing, our language, our
attitudes, our art and most importantly our music. Hip-hop isnt about race, geography,
culture or gender. American music cant be discussed without mentioning black people
and black musical forms; this cant be discussed with out talking about its edginess and
rebelliousness. Rebellious or not, time discusses jazz, rock and roll and mentions
different artist such as Elvis Presley. This article also discusses the evolution of hip-hop
in the last 25 years. However, time still mentions hip-hop to be the most important youth
culture on the planet.