Punk and Hip-Hop

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the influences that the "Slam" movement and musical artists Saul Williams and Sage Francis have had on the future of rap music and slam poetry. The paper looks at how these two artist have influenced the merging of hip-hop and slam poetry as art forms and how this art form has become a sort of musical expression of political and social ideologies that transcend racial and cultural boundaries. The paper also presents biographical information on each of the artists and explains how their backgrounds influenced their music and their philosophies about the hip-hop movement. Additionally, the paper examines the philosophy behind the merging of slam poetry and hip-hop and explains that Saul Williams and Sage Francis represent a return to the purest form of hip hop soul -- a soul which was open to the radical anti-establishment and pro-earth, pro-human ideology of punk music, the democratic influences of community, and the power of music from all directions.

Outline
Identification: Who is Saul Williams?
Identification: Who is Sage Francis?
Francis, Williams, and the The Emergence of SLAM
The Hip Hop Evolution: Saul Williams and Sage Francis as Hip Hop
Innovators
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Most of the mainstream today, and even most of the youth in the subcultural underground, have never known that punk and hip-hop were once upon a time in a fertile de-segregating dialog. The early ethos of punk and hip hop alike arose in a violent anti-establishmentarian fury, dedicated to a higher ethos than that of their own situations. "Between the years 1979-1984, you saw the musical walls of segregation come down as artists from both genres would become familiar to both audiences. In... the early 80s you would hear Thomas Dolby's 'Blinded Me With Science', David Bowie's 'Let's Dance,' [& etc]... not only being played on urban radio, but also at popular Hip Hop night spots where playing them would help set off the party." (Davey D.) However, in the intervening years this situation changed. The interchange of ideas across racial and genre lines decayed, so that today most of the musical-scene descendants of new wave (such as the goth and new-punk scene) and hip-hop are often mutually intolerant or share in a rather guilty fashion. However, recently underground elements of these two scenes are increasingly coming together once more."

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