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20 comments:
Throughout Jeff Chang's book, there were a couple of themes that were consisted in Hip Hop's evolution. One was the idea that older people and people of authority continued to suppress the expression of black youth identity. Whether it be the police, government, or elder black people, they all felt that there simply wasn't room for a strong youth presence in the community. This was a constant notion spanning over 30 years. Since the 70s, police have taken it upon themselves to keep a "special" watch on black and minority youths. They constantly tried to instill fear into the black youth to keep them off the streets and expressing themselves. A particularly memorable instance Chang notes is in Chapter 10 when he talks about Michael Stewart. As you may recall, he was the young man who was putting up graffiti when police officers chased after him, beat him, took him back to the station where he was hog tied and beat some more, then on the way to dropping him off at the hospital where he later died, he was beat some more.
The government consistently tried to keep youth off the street. The Reagan and Bush administrations were the most determined to do so. They helped to implement programs that instead of trying to guide our youth to a good education and a better, happy life, they put together programs to punish our youth. They found any excuse to jail young black people. They called it the "War on Gangs." However, Chang wrote about young activists calling it the "War on Youth."
Even elder black people were looking to suppress youth culture. A woman most known for this is C. Delores Tucker. She was an activist for they civil rights movement who later worked with the government to aid with the War on Youth by trying to make a case for the War on Hip Hop. All of these instances did have an impact on today's youth. Many are currently hip hop activists and others are part of the fight for Justice for Youth.
The consistent themes that emerge from the book are gender, idenitity and politic. These three things continue to resurface throughout the entire book.
Throughout the years of hip hop authority figures have always seem to come into place wether its politicans, parents or the police. Polticians and older people always seem to hinder or oppress the youth from expressing themseleves creatively through hip hop. In chapter Ice Cube is discussed and how things were going in his career. later on he decides to have an interview with Angela Davis .They discuss the older generation and he give his view on them. "When I look at the older generation I don't think they feel they can learn from the younger genertation. I tell my mohter things that she just dont want to hear". He goes on to discuss how older people were all abou the war on gangs. He says how there would be meeting in the neighborhood and how the older peopoe would always clap whent they woulds say they were going to crack down on gangs. But he says that during that time period gang memebers were people who wore baseball caps and t-shirts. which was basically everyone so in a sense they were in favor for declaring war on their own children. This still goes on today, as youth we have to prove ourselves because we are seen as a group of people who are up to no good because of the people who do wrong. And we may dress like them and sometimes talk like them but esentially we are not the same as them. Identity is so important to the youth and hip hop.
There were several themes that were consisted in Hip Hop's evolution which impacts today's youth. One common theme throughout Chang's book was that the government was set up for the young Hip Hop generation to fail. An example of this is the War on Youth as described by Chang in chapter 17. According to Chang, spending on prisons and corrections exceeded spending on higher education in 1996. The government was more concerned about putting more young people in the Hip Hop community in prisons instead of providing effective programs to help the young people in the Hip Hop community. A proposal was forced by Connerly and Governor Pete Wilson through the Board of Regents to end affirmative action in hiring and admissions. The government was keeping the youth in the Hip Hop community from attending college and getting a job. This caused the young people in the Hip Hop community to engage in illegal activities in order to survive. Most of these young people ended up in prison due to their illegal activities. 800,000 black males were in prison, while 600,000 were in college across the country according to Chang. The government today is similar or worse compared to the government in the 1990's. More young males are ending up in prison than college in today's government because the government is investing more money in prisons as oppossed to higher education or programs to help the youth in the Hip Hop community.
The theme of identity and belonging, bridging the voice of the main street to the mainstream has been a consistant theme in Chang's book. Unifying the people and the voice of the street to further justice for all youths. Through the troubling 90s, the protests, the riots, a community in distress due to the prejudice and institutionalize racism and glass ceilings, the hip hop generation has had to endure the burdens of these manifestations. It seems that in the past there was more of an eagerness to be aware of what was going on in the community and across the country through activism. The way people stood up for Sanchez, was a beacon of hope, but there has been a consistant struggle for unity among the people. We have been unifying, but in the wrong way. Instead of positive forces we have gangs. The hip hop youths of today do not have the proper role models and leadership to stir them into the right direction, there is a lack of identity among the youths. The people with the strongest voices in the community, are the people who are leading by the wrong examples and play it off as "pure entertainment" and this is a struggle that we will have to endure for years. Hip hop is so lucrative and a billion dollar enterprise that people are willing to sacrifice the little people, to make a gain for the bigger people. Thus, blacks and minorities lose out while the CEOs of a few companies pile in the bank rolls and our present day rappers become the Minstrels and Bojangles of the 21st century, leaving our youths more dazed and confused. For this reason our kids are so materialistic and believe in the quick buck by all means, rather being trap stars than legitimate wage earners, masogyny is so prevelant among our young people, young girls don't know the least of self respect and black male masculinity deteriorates even more upholding the awful stereotypes of the past of the "black buck" . These are all burdens that have envolved overtime. We have a voice, a strong voice, but its up to us to decide how to use that voice to speak to todays youth, if we continue on the past we are own, America's youths will continue to be Amerikkka's most wanted.
http://www.cantstopwontstop.com/-Chang's website.
Consistent themes in Hip-Hop's evolution are oppression, rebellion, voice and searching for a cultural identity. The makers of and fans of hip-hop are constantly being oppressed by authority. Whether it be Congress, bosses, police or simply someone who has more power, hip-hop has always been looked down upon.
Rebellion against the norm is a theme in hip-hop evolution because the founders of hip-hop rebelled against current standards and evolved with the artform. New listeners to the genre are also rebelling, although less so today, from the mainstream media.
Hip-Hop is the voice of the black community, "CNN for blacks." However, it is also the voice of the new generations. Kids and young adults use hip-hop to express their thoughts and reams.
Finally, hip-hop has become a cultural identity for blacks, whites,and everyone in the world. Hip-Hop is global and its effects can be seen in the type of music and marketing of the genre.
Based upon my takes on what I read, the most occurrent theme was economic, political, and social restraints towards the African-American communities. As for the social aspects language is affected. Slang has been a way to express the "words" people used to describe their struggles and relate to one another on all scales. With such success nationally this language began to assimilate across the board in the Americas. For example, oncemendings such as the izzle. The usage of this ending in videos and on the mic makes words recognizable and distinctive to the African American communities. Though dating all the way back to Africa. Hip-Hop has been socially influenced based on the way people dress, talk, and formed a distinguishable identity.
As for the economical status, blacks along with other minorities were placed in slum houses, low-income communities, and away from the "better" parts of the world. Therefore, youth were not exposed to better educational backgrounds, had a lack of resources, because of the non-education around life beyond what is known by the community. Youth are not priveleged to experience field trips, know about college outside those in the neighborhood, as well as venecular besides the slang and improper "subject-verb" agreement placed in the mouths of the youth. Another common thing was turning to the streets as a "home"(which is very recurrent as of right now) Bringing in drugs and other illments did not make it any better. However, to cover this downfall programs to help the youth and pull themm in with instruments unique to their culture while obtaining an educational and "crime-free" world to instill some values as a way to escape their everyday struggles. The programs created punished the youth because it took them from their homes, tried take away a distingusihing identity, as well as truth inside life opposed to it being a sweet fantasy. Not only were they looked on as nothingness by others but, by their own. Older activists would make the youth feel as if the contribution of youth were minimal or nothing at all.
So to overcome such notions the younger generations began formming groups for civil rights and fairness everywhere! Chang has embraced and taken the Hip-Hop era and showed how no matter what others said or did to the oppress them,still came a great RISE causing a move in a direction of greatness!!!!
Can’t stop won’t stop delivered not only a story of struggle and liberation, but it examined the likely hood of a culture from a passed to a modernized world. Chang spoke about many important themes and topics such as youth (particularly black youth) and their destination, racism, gangs and their effects, the government’s involvement in the hip-hop world, even how everyone blamed artist for every issue that went on in the world, but in particular the positions and power many give hip-hop artist. In chapter 13, Chang spoke about how Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and many other civil rights leaders, but he made his focus on leadership. After the passing of many of our great leaders, who would we stand or follow? Who was willing to step forward and be willing to give their life for the cause? We quickly turned from a tribe to an “every man for themselves affiliation” and this is the same mentality we follow today. During the 80’s and 90’s rappers were using their voices for reasoning, rationalizing, and getting that word out, but since they were speaking the truth, they were looked upon as leaders; kids praised them and adults opted for their style.
The major theme of Chang’s novel is the resilience and development of the Hip-Hop community. In addition, this broke down into a reoccurring showcase of the fight for the members of the hip-hop culture to develop an identity while enduring the oppressions imposed by the American society. Although the answer to the question pertaining to the definition of Hip-Hop continues to change, the essential elements have remained as the foundation for a movement centered around the talent within the lower class communities.
Since the beginning of the Hip-Hop era, there has always been an emphasis on developing an identity. Therefore, the foundation of hip-hop allowed members to fall into the four categories, which were through MCing, DJing, B-boying, and Graffiting. Throughout the history provided by Chang, there was an emphasis on the identity of the Hip-Hop community as individuals, gangs, organizations, communities, and as a whole. Following the Civil Rights Movement, the Hip-Hop community has been forced to endure the injustices imposed by the government and actions of those who did not understand the movement at hand. Unfortunately, members of the older age minority groups group all forms of hip-hop together with an emphasis on the instances that do not represent the true form of hip-hop and its purpose, as they still do today.
Ultimately, the politics of America have further enhanced the power of the hip-hop community within society. If it were not for the number of laws, illegal acts, and policies used as a means of censoring the lower class activists, then there would not be a demand for the life stories of those within the lines of fire. The implementation of the Reaganomics developed a mentality within the ghettos of America in which the inhabitants felt as they were forced to survive amongst themselves within a land that did not care for them. As a result, the West Coast developed a mentality viewed as “Me vs. the World”, whereas the East Coast was known for providing messages through their forms of entertainment in order to enlighten the people.
Despite the last few decades of attempts to silence the hip-hop phenomenon, hip-hop has developed into an influential movement that goes beyond the streets of the impoverished living. Although many people feel as though “Hip-Hop is Dead”, I believe that the true foundations of hip-hop were forced to go underground in response to the tactics to silence those who provided our youth with a message. This is evident through the mixtape game that is currently enduring political attempts to eliminate it as a whole. In my opinion, this is a result of the political influence which imprisoned mothers and fathers of the lower class communities. In doing so, today’s youth have been forced to raise themselves and succumb to a life of violence, drugs, and poverty. Eventually, history will repeat itself, which is evident throughout the book, in the form of a person or group of people who decide to use their influence to better their community.
hip hop grew out of gangs,violence, and racism through expression of ideas. Hip hop became a global culture reinventing itself through yesterday's youth, today's youth and tommorow's youth. Politics played a big role in hip hop in creating a peephole for the rest of the world to view the struggle of poverty within the urban neighboorhoods. Most of the time information provided by politics and police was obscurred putting a negative spin on events occuring in those neighborhoods. hip hop artists fought to combat politics, police and racism with their lyrics. Throughout time hip hop has evolved with commodification, time, and a different generation but it has not died out. Hip hop is a culture.
"This is a book that should be on the shelves of every high school and college library."
LA Weekly
Hip-Hop is something that alot of people in this world cherish and Jeff Chang's book Can't Stop Won't Stop shows how political and social events affected and were affected by the progress of hip-hop it's self. Hip-Hop has grown beyond futuristic terms, it's worldwide. The story about DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Ice Cube, Ice T, NWA and more help show the different and the window through which Jeff Chang wrote to understand the history of the U.s from different time periods when hip-hop was being born and came to life.
Themes the were consistent in "Can't Stop Won't Stop" were politics and policies. Politics played and still to this very day plays a major role in the hip-hop game. From the movements in New York, the Reagan Administration and to the West Coast. Politics and policies have something to do with every aspect of hip-hop. People back in the day wanted to be heard, they wanted people to know what was going on in their communities, they wanted the world to know how gangs were affecting their streets and taking over. For example Chang writes about in chapter 19 Hip-hop activist and how they gather in Los Angeles to talk peacefully about their causes which were women's issues, immigrant rights, sweatshop labor, educational access and transportation policy. It was all about being heard.
Another theme can be how hip-hop ideas become the biggest deals and money making things of it's culture. Hip-Hop was born somewhere in New York City and alot of people forgot about how important New York is to hip-hop. Even today the evolution of hip-hop has changed alot from the 60's and 70's. Clothes, cars, dances and more....hip-hop is a billion dollar industry and everyone wants to be apart of it because they all have stories to tell.
Chang's book spotlights the creative and political views that molded hip hop throughout time in society. He examines the turmoil and resulting output from the 60s to today. Neighborhoods of the Bronx, Kingston and Los Angeles figure prominently in the rise of hip-hop making.
Throughout the book he is tracing all the different ways the hip hop generation came of age through the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Many factors played a political role as well as creative spin on things to create hip hop today. Rather it being artists, political movements, dances, clubs, djaying, or riots; they all contributed to the formation of a new generation of hip hop, rap, and r&b. His chapters range from artists of all time periods from Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa to Ice Cube and NWA. There's also a lot about the gangs of the Bronx, Jamaica and Los Angeles also. When the gang treaties unfolded, creativity and an art form appeared leading to the creation of hip-hop/gangsta rap and eventually a worldwide youth culture. Hip-hop began with the creative powers of oppress people and from the margins; the gangs and black community as a whole are the most marginalized people in society. Also, the political happenings like the Regan administration or the activist of change like Minister Louis Farrakhan. He exposed light on the new generation of hip hop to form their own identity from these people and events that occurred throughout history.
Chang represents the main strands and trends in his book that have expanded the rise of our generation through politics, culture, music, graffiti art, gang peace treaties, activism and more. His book is like a narrative or diary that puts certain events on spotlight and then analyzes its influence on hip hop to expand knowledge to the people.
With the conclusion of Jeff Chang's book as well as thinking about hip-hop in general, there are many themes that were consistent in the book, in relation to hip-hop. A consistent theme that I found is that hip-hop was always in response to the oppresstion that urban youth felt by police,authorities and older black adults. Hip-hop was an outlet for these youths to express themselves and have an identity in a society that did not want them to. Their lyrics, words, grafitti, etc, were all ways they used to make their voice heard. I also realized that hip-hop reacted to the problems that urban youth were facing and it catered to their emotions, fears, struggles,etc.
There are many consistent themes in Jeff Chang's book. Racism, gangs, and government regulation are the main ones. They all influenced the impact of hip hop's evolution and today's youth. Racism was really bad when hip hop was originating. People outside the hip hop culture didn't really understand the point of it. They thought of it as more of a negative thing than it doing some good for the people. It really was a way to get their voices heard since that was the only way they could. This point leads into the gang portion. The initial intent of developing gangs were for a more optimistic reason. The community living in poverty had a way to come together but that purpose has changed from then to now. Gangs have taken the adverse motive which is not so positive. The government had always been trying to get involved for the worse when it came to the hip hop community. All they cared about was making sure those people didn't cause any trouble. They didn't try to help them for the better which is why all these negative things occurred and are looked down upon. No one tried to give them a higher education or provide them with decent jobs so the youth only had hip hop to turn to. They weren't too worried about being in school or helping out their society since society didn't do anything for them. Their daily lives alone made music, hip hop.
In Cant Stop Wont Stop, a consistent theme that I noticed was the systematic disenfranchisement of the United States government. A theme that has been prevalent throughout history, but highlighted in the book throughout the civil rights movement, the economic down town of the Reagan era and the change in the drug laws during the Clinton administration. Even when youth would effectively try to change their community through "good" gang activity and neighborhood organizations that worked with reformed criminals, the government administrations would try to suppress their activism. Examples of this can be seen in the deportation of individuals and convicts who were actively trying to better their communities in the mid 80’s to late 90’s. The government also attempted to curb the activism of youth in America by actively arresting, harassing and jailing them. They coined the phrase “war on drugs” when inactuality it was a “war on youth”. The smallest examples of activism, such as tagging, were considered extremely offensive. Such as the case with Michael Stewart who lost his life over “graffiti”. Furthermore, besides oppressing the Hip Hop generation the government failed to successful implement programs and policies that would help the younger, “colored”, generations. Instead they were content to jail and oppress them.
Feeling as if their voices were unheard, a new generation of youth that was motivated by Hip-Hop began to speak out. This creates another theme of "old vs. young", where progressives in the civil rights movement completely disowned new activist. Discrediting, and disassociating themselves from their movement, regardless of the fact that both parties were inherently trying to fix the same problem. This is evident in the Jesse Jackson presidential campaign, when he refused to use Hip-Hop as vehicle for empowerment, instead he called rappers thugs.
Another theme the book introduced was the idea of hip hop artist being political figures. Historically, most entertainment figures were never called upon to lead a social/racial revolution. With the onset of the hip hop culture, as a result of a disillusioned population, people like Queen Latifah, KRS-One and groups such as NWA were able to actively voice their views in an arena that they never had access to before.
In Chang's book he touched on a lot of different things that dealt with the hip hop community and like my peers I feel that one of the most important ones was the black community wanting to belong and eventually possess their own identity. I feel that blacks had been treated unfairly for a long time and hip hop was just their way to retaliate and develop their own identity or peace of mind. It was as if Hip Hop became their comfort zone and thats how it is today, many people are content with the state of hip hop and how it is effecting the lives of all people and not always in a positive manner. While reading the comments of my peers I read that Erik feels that makers of hip hop and fans of hip hop are being oppressed by authority but personally I feel that people of hip hop are oppressing themselves and that we try to blame it on authority and the government but in all actuality it is us oppressing one another and not trying to lift each other up and that goes for even the hip hop lyrics that we listen to everyday. I think that people of hip hop have pulled away from some of the original themes of hip hop and those being building our cultures up and forming cultural identities that are positive. Now-a-days people do not care how they act, wat they put on the radio, or the examples that they are seting for our youth of today. I have began reading Simmons book and I like how he sees hip hop that being, like the new American Mainstream: We don't change for you; you adapt to us. I feel that the generations of hip hop have adapted to things but its time for us to get back on track and go back to how things used to be when people rapped with a purpose and people were involved in their communities for a reason and that was to better the lives of the African American people or should I say the People of Hip Hop.
The consistent themes that I would highlight in Jeff Chang’s book would have to be: “Rebellion of the disenfranchised and oppressed,” and “America, the land of opportunity, mirages, and camouflages.”
Jeff Chang focused on making sure readers understood throughout his book that hip-hop was created out of social, political, and economical rebellion from the disenfranchised and oppressed. Chang, gave key examples of this when he called attention to the song “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 and the impact that the West Coast Hip-Hop artists (N.W.A and Ice Cube) had on the Hip-Hop culture. This particular theme was important to stress, so people can put in perspective where hip-hop is at now, and how far it digressed from it’s natural state and purpose of what it was originally attended for.
The other major theme that I noticed all through this book was “America, the land of opportunity, mirages, and camouflages.” To me, this theme was the most important aspect of this book because it emphasized the negative-contradictory role the U.S. government played in getting society to turn its back on the disenfranchised and oppressed youth. The mirage that the U.S. government created, was very deceptive by claiming the “War on Drugs” and using that initiative to target and criminalize Black and Latino youth. Also, Chang continually highlighted ways that Hip-Hop provided certain opportunities afforded to those that normally would not have had the chance. He definitely made it apparent how Hip-Hop turned into a multi-billion dollar industry through the commercializing and advertising of products, creations of companies that market Hip-Hop products (clothes, shoes, etc.). The camouflage piece is present because the media showcases the riches that Hip-Hop created, but does not equally showcase how these artists are being exploited and used to create even more money for white supremacist/capitalist/patriarchy businessmen.
Some consistent themes I noticed was how Hip-Hop was seen as rebellion, ghetto, the hood, blacks, whats new on the sence, and most importantly it is pop-culture. No matter how some of the people in higher up places like the government or popular activist denounced hip-hop if it be graffiti, music, clothes, etc. all the young of all races were in tune to the hip-hop culture. It was and still kind of like Black innovation White imitation. Imitation, though, was and still is done by every race.
Throughout Jeff Chang's book "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" The repeative themes in the book consisted of politics, opression, and identity. These things effect today youth in many ways because most these are still issue that exist today. Today's youth are constantly dealing with opression from the society and from there own home. When it comes to being opressed, most youth are opressed by what they identity with. For example youth being identified with hip hop and an urban life style. But due to society and politics they are some what limited to it. There for not only are their individuality but their cultrual is opressed. Politics are constantly limiting our youth as time passes. To the things that youth can hear or say on tv or in public. To things that can be worn in certain establishment to what can be worn on the streets. Chang also covers things such as racial profiling that leads to out breaks that help influence the hip hop clutral and the movement.
I feel like alot of undertones that Chang used in his books are just different versions of what we have today. Gangs originated as a way to better the community and became this violent structure that's tearing down the same community it was meant ot uplift. There was a time when gangs could co-exist and now it's at a point of survival of the fittest. Kids look up to the gang members as a support system physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. When black men are missing in the household, young boys look up to the leaders who are unfortunately gang memebers the majority of the time. Form the outside looking in it appears as though black people just can't get it together. We're lazy, good for nothings who don't want to do better when in reality we've been put into a system where we have no choice, but to fail or work twice as hard to make it. In correlation of music now versus then, the music is watered down, but artists have expanded into clothing, shoes, jewelry, acting, energy drinks...the list oges on. The good stuff like principles have faded while the number of dead bodies is increasing all the time.
There were a lot of themes that continued to reemerge in the Chang’s book, probably too many to list here. The broad themes were identity, respect, and social movement. I noticed a pattern in the book. The quality of Hip-Hop music reflected the attitudes of people in Black communities. Whenever the music is really good, when classics are made, it is a precursor positive change in the Black Community. When the music becomes gimmicky and doesn’t really have a point, the Black Community is struggling again. It’s a cyclic system. The whole purpose of Hip-Hip, the reason it was founded was for Blacks to have a voice when they are otherwise ignored. Before reading this book, I did not know how badly ignored. The book starts off by describing an event in New York when a Black neighborhood was destroyed when some rich white architect decided the build a big street system right through and over a Black neighborhood. The people in that neighborhood weren’t asked their opinion, they weren’t even warned. They were just overstepped. This really ticked me off. The same kind of things were happening in Jamaica. They were facing civil upheaval and war. They got their point and political views and standpoints across through music, however. This idea spread around to America in the late 70’s early 80’s through people like Afrika Bambaataa. This finally provided a medium through which Blacks could identify themselves, gain respect, and form social movements. Blacks found identity through a urban style of dress, rapping, djing, and dancing. Eventually this unique identity would make itself to the mainstream and gain respect. At this point the Hip-Hop revolution got the opportunity to form national social movements and could have become one of the most powerful forces in America. However like everything else in this country, it is prevented from reaching that level through capitalist exploitation. Themes of identity and respect are still things that youth today still grapple with. Black youth still doesn’t have a voice. Our parents aren’t around to hear what we believe and teachers can’t help us because they can teach what they are paid too. Our parents are working all the time or strung out on drugs. Our teachers get paid almost nothing to teach us out of crappy out of date books. So we turn to hip-hop culture to find that identity and voice. We express ourselves through writing, dancing, and now sports more than ever before. Others of us don’t get the respect element that we need from these activities so we turn to gang violence, misbehaving, and selling drugs to get much needed and deserved attention. I would say that youth today is lacking in the social movement element but I saw a change in this trend during the presidential campaign and I hope to see it continue through the four years of having a Black president.
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