A Research Paper on Rap Music

[jay_jizle]

Whats up, y'all.

I'm in the process of writing a research paper for my English class, and the topic that I have chosen is on rap music.

More specifically: How the message of rap music has changed from when it first started gaining popularity in the late 70's, to where it is today.

I already have most of the basics:

Late 70's & Early 80's - mostly political messages, rebelling against the disco craze, and talking about the struggles of inner-city black communities.

Mid to Late 80's - "Gangsta" rap starts coming about, crack addiction reaches epidemic proportions, violence and the discrimination of women become accepted in the music.

Early to mid 90's - Gangsta rap takes over with the emergence of Death Row, and Dre and Snoop's first albums. East vs. west mentality starts after Pac & Biggie are killed.

Late 90's - Gang affiliation dies down some, but "thug" mentality is still accepted. Money and materialism become major topics in music.

Early 2000's - Materialism and women make a large part of the music. "Thug" mentality still around, but losing its hold on the music.

I know these are really basic descriptions, but the paper is going to be 6-10 pages long, so I'm not going to go into great detail in this one post.

If anyone has some suggestions, or something I may have missed or mistaken, please feel free to comment.

Thanks.

BTW, this is due Thursday, December 16th. So I only have a couple days to make changes.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[kenworth]

you might need to talk about different countries take on rap and emphasise that the thing you are talking about there are mainly confined to "mainstream" rap.

 

[jay_jizle]

you might need to talk about different countries take on rap and emphasise that the thing you are talking about there are mainly confined to "mainstream" rap.

True.

I also forgot to mention that I am writing this paper with the assumption that the reader doesn't really know jack about the subject.

 

[Bigg Mac]

Damn man, I'd love to have a assignment like this.

 

[atl48]

Late 70's & Early 80's - mostly political messages, rebelling against the disco craze, and talking about the struggles of inner-city black communities.

Mid to Late 80's - "Gangsta" rap starts coming about, crack addiction reaches epidemic proportions, violence and the discrimination of women become accepted in the music.

I think that in the late 70's to early 80's rap music was primarily fun music to dance to rather than being political. Rap didn't start getting real political until the late 80's to early 90's with groups like Public Enemy, BDP, Brand Nubian, X-Clan, and Poor Righteous Teachers. It was then when rappers got real big on Islamic stuff. Even Ice Cube claimed to be in the NOI back then.

 

[gaz nevada]

I think that in the late 70's to early 80's rap music was primarily fun music to dance to rather than being political. Rap didn't start getting real political until the late 80's to early 90's with groups like Public Enemy, BDP, Brand Nubian, X-Clan, and Poor Righteous Teachers. It was then when rappers got real big on Islamic stuff. Even Ice Cube claimed to be in the NOI back then.

i'd go with that. most of the early stuff from what i've read eg sugarhill were straight up fun party tracks, eg rappers delight, which uses a disco group (chic). I think a lot of parties back in the old school rocked both hip hop and disco (plus some reggea) in unity, and later on a division occured (early eighties??). I believe the Message was one of the first big political/social tunes.

this is not from experience, jus what i read on the subject so it's all IMHO.

what is NOI?

 

[jay_jizle]

i'd go with that. most of the early stuff from what i've read eg sugarhill were straight up fun party tracks, eg rappers delight, which uses a disco group (chic). I think a lot of parties back in the old school rocked both hip hop and disco (plus some reggea) in unity, and later on a division occured (early eighties??). I believe the Message was one of the first big political/social tunes.

this is not from experience, jus what i read on the subject so it's all IMHO.

what is NOI?

NOI = Nation Of Islam.

And I believe you guys are correct, I got mixed up with that part. I was thinking around the time of Public Enemy, but they weren't around til the late 80's.

Oops.

Thanks for the input.

 

[jayzgodmc]

Make sure to include a synchronic analysis of the different time periods. In other words, discuss the political climate of America in the 1970's, then the 1980's, etc. Perhaps other developments in entertainment such as movies like Flashdance, WildStyle, etc. All of these things tie in. Music is a reflection of self, and self is a reflection of the times and the culture you are living in. Peace.

 

[jay_jizle]

Make sure to include a synchronic analysis of the different time periods. In other words, discuss the political climate of America in the 1970's, then the 1980's, etc. Perhaps other developments in entertainment such as movies like Flashdance, WildStyle, etc. All of these things tie in. Music is a reflection of self, and self is a reflection of the times and the culture you are living in. Peace.

Thanks for the suggestion, but this paper is solely on the message coming from the music. I have to stay focused on the one topic, or else I'll get too far away from the thesis and intent of the paper.

I also forgot to ask if anyone had any good examples of lyrics from any of those time periods, as I have to use quotations from songs in order to really get my point across.

So far, I'm including some Sugarhill Gang, Public Enemy, 2Pac, and something more current, like TI's "24's" or something to highlight the materialistic nature of rap music these days.

 

[kenworth]

the opening line from straight outta compton.that has to be in there.horrible but effective.

 

[beatmonsta]

80-85=NY party type battle rappin

85-88=became more political

88-93=Cali gangsta rap explodes

93-95=east coast gangsta comes back

95-98=glam rap;rap becomes "mainstream", in the sense that many of the biggest pop acts are rappers

98-pres.=IMO it became too big to bigin characterize as a whole.

Now, this is my off the top of the dome representation of how its gone. There are tons of exceptions, but the overall route it took is pretty accurate.

but don't make the mistake of thinking that the old stuff was all positive, or the new stuff is all ignorant.Throughout rap, most of the music has always been party stuff. The furious 5 put out 1 "the message" and tons of party jams.

Sometimes nostalgia tries to rewrite history.

 

[16bars]

but don't make the mistake of thinking that the old stuff was all positive, or the new stuff is all ignorant.Throughout rap, most of the music has always been party stuff. The furious 5 put out 1 "the message" and tons of party jams.

Sometimes nostalgia tries to rewrite history.

I agree with this.
So man don't say that rap is becoming boring, cause we wanna save the game from those boring cats like G-unit.
The game was good on 2002-2003 this where i began, and now i see some sh** but i still beleave that therse some people that ain't playin lik the neptunes....
In fact, i'm worryin' about this game. it can loose the whole audience and especially the new music listeners.
People tend to listen to rock only because those cats still being themselves, while rappers just pretend selling dope, being strong, being gangsta and more.. hey now, anybody wanna rap, so they got to do it their own way.

 

[jay_jizle]

I agree with this.
So man don't say that rap is becoming boring, cause we wanna save the game from those boring cats like G-unit.
The game was good on 2002-2003 this where i began, and now i see some sh** but i still beleave that therse some people that ain't playin lik the neptunes....
In fact, i'm worryin' about this game. it can loose the whole audience and especially the new music listeners.
People tend to listen to rock only because those cats still being themselves, while rappers just pretend selling dope, being strong, being gangsta and more.. hey now, anybody wanna rap, so they got to do it their own way.

I'm not trying to imply that rap is becoming boring. I'm trying to document the changes in the message that the lyrics are presenting. Although I do personally think that a lot of current rap IS boring, my paper is going to reflect the fact that a lot of current rappers are enitrely caught up with a materialistic mentality.

It's all about who's got the most cash, who's got the biggest spinning rims, who can afford the most houses, etc...

Of course, that and the big-booty hoes that accompany them in every video...

 

[Soulbrite7]

man jay -jizle....close this fukkin thread cuz...nobody wanna hear bout ya fukkin research paper nygga

 

[jay_jizle]

man jay -jizle....close this fukkin thread cuz...nobody wanna hear bout ya fukkin research paper nygga

Sorry, man. I ain't no "nygga".

But thanks for bumping my thread...

 

[kenworth]

man jay -jizle....close this fukkin thread cuz...nobody wanna hear bout ya fukkin research paper nygga

harsh.
i want to hear about his paper.one of the few actually interesting things on this board.

 

[jayzgodmc]

If you wanna talk about materialism in rap, look at any Cash Money song. "BLING BLING!"

 

[16bars]

Hi
So what up ya, hope you do your reserch as well as you want.
If there is some buddy that doesn't wanna heare about it, so i'm suggestin' that you post it when you finish (i think you gonna do it in a pc). When you finish, post it and tell us what was the reactions of all your guestes, ok please?