Growing up, hip-hop was a big part of my culture and of the music industry. Specifically, back then break dancing was the thing. Unfortunately, break dancers had a lot of negativity come their way. They faced judgement and oppression based on they were all taggers, they all did graffiti and their music was not very understood.
Hip-hop became a huge part of the urban communities and their style became a thing within all the schools. You could see everybody wearing and dressing the way all the mainstream hip hop artists did. There was a lot of negative banter towards hip-hop because their lyrics were always being questioned and misunderstood. Hip-hop artists were actually using this platform as a way to express their political views and the manner in the way they faced oppression. They came to address real things such as the problem with drugs, violence, police brutality and it wasn’t easily accepted by all.
Also, one of the things that I find interesting about hip-hop is that people need to relax a little bit. For example, when Cooper mentions that it bothers her that Iggy Azalea sounded like a “downhome Atlanta girl” and that it was offensive because she actually was from the South, I think it’s bullshit. We are in an era where everything is supposed to be politically correct and all that garbage but it’s getting taken to far. Just because someone sounded black but isn’t black shouldn’t make somebody cringe or be talked about through social media.
We are supposed to be in an era where women empower women. I don’t think that if you sing about something and there is a disconnection based on the fact that you didn’t actually experience that, isn’t a reason for judgment. There is nothing that says I can’t talk or sing about rape, if I’ve never been raped. I don’t know. I feel hip-hop has allowed people in diverse societies to share their poetic words in a manner that I find somewhat enjoyable, at times.
Monika's Blog 