Gangsta Rap Music

Paper Summary:

In this article the writer notes that the term gangsta rap began its rise to popularity when the controversial single "Gangsta, Gangsta" by N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitude) hit the Billboard's Hot Rap Singles chart. The writer explains that rap music is an expression of minorities' frustration with poverty, drugs, and sexual harassment, yet some includes explicit lyrics about violence and sexual abuse that many critics believe can easily mislead impressionable teens who are the main patrons of this type of music The writer maintains that gangsta rap music is essentially the vocalization of sentiments that have lived long within the political environment of the African-American community. The writer concludes that to feel empowered, African- American males attempt to keep women subordinate.

From the Paper:

"African American men have historically enabled themselves with the power and authority to determine the black political agenda, and have consistently abused that power and defined the boundaries of the imagined black nation in terms of a sexual politics that institutionalized male domination and the subordination of the feminine. For example, Alexander Crummell suggested that one of African American women's main political duties was to protect their virtue and maintain sexual purity, and Stokely Carmichael asserted that the only position for women in his movement was prone."
"Ice Cube held women and gay men in contempt in "Amerikkka's Most Wanted," and in particular the fictional violence against women, with lyics such as "bitch-killah" in "The Nigga Ya Love to Hate," and the misogynistic "You Can't Fade Me," which is a venomous mother's -baby-father's-maybe tale that concludes with a murderous fantasy."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cheney, Charise. (2005 June 22). In search of the "revolutionary generation": (en)gendering the golden age of rap nationalism. The Journal of African American History. Retrieved December 17 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Crossley, Scott. (2005 December 22). Metaphorical conceptions in hip-hop music. African American Review. Retrieved December 17 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Gangsta rap: should it be censored? (1994 October 01). The Black Collegian. Retrieved December 17 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Pinn, Anthony B. (1999 March 22). "How Ya Livin'?": Notes on Rap Music and Social Transformation. The Western Journal of Black Studies. Retrieved December 17 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Quinn, Eithne. (2000 September 22). Black British cultural studies and the rap on gangsta. Black Music Research Journal. Retrieved December 17 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

More papers on Gangsta Rap Music:

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• Essay # 70136 : "Rap Music and Violence"

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