Week 5: Music and Society

As a cultural expression, music develops as a reflect of social experiences. Looking at the history of American popular music, it is a story of the rebellious against the norm until the rebellious is absorbed into the mainstream. The rise of the hip hop culture in the United States is very representative of this process. Although hip hop had various influences from African and other forms of American music, like funk and disco, its rise was heavily associated with the social consciousness that developed among many blacks in urban centers. This music and dance culture was an art form unique to American urban blacks and contributed to the growing sense of the black community within the ghettos. Hip hop spread as a grassroots movement that stood as a form of counter culture against the mainstream American music. But as hip hop gained popularity, it was more and more accepted into the mainstream. Hip hop is now even considered a part of the pop music in America.

Hip hop began as an expression of the experiences of blacks in the urban centers, and has now developed to a distinct culture and lifestyle on its own. The urban lifestyle became glorified through the music and now youth across the States, even the world, model their dress, speech, attitude, and overall daily life after the ones described in the music. Whether this has been a positive or negative influence on society remains a hot topic of contention, but the extent of hip hop's influence on American popular culture is indeed profound. Though the hip hop culture of today has significantly changed since its inception, there are some key components that have remained constant over time. Whether hip hop appropriately portrays the realities of life found in modern inner cities does not matter. It has grown to become a lifestyle all on its own and is now a culture that is practice both in and out of urban centers. Also, though hip hop began as an American black movement, it now has patrons of all races in and out of the United States.