The impact of hip-hop music in American culture and society

Essay by bluebird8691College, UndergraduateB, February 2007

download word file, 8 pages 4.0

When people think about some features of hip-hop, people usually come up with the rhyming, beats with profound base, and the scratching of a record into their mind. Hip-hop is part of American culture, music, and a lifestyle that has a deep and rich history. The style of music has gone under many phases of development from the rap music that we see these days. The revolutionary pioneer of artists helped to establish the hip-hop trend in many type of music, and its performance and many different styles even makes the music extremely versatile. Today Hip-hop is not only a type of music that we listen to everyday, but it's a culture that is deeply related with American society in 20th century.

Historians dispute that the origins of hip-hop started from the Africa. In fact, the rapping is strongly related to the African ritual practice. In there society the bard is known as the historian and singer, who maintained their history and cultural traditions through a performance.

Numerous people believe that the bards were the original "rappers" and that their performance contributed to today's hip-hop. They used a narrative poem or song to tell their tale or legends. During their performance, they make use of formulaic expressions, poetic thoughts, and rhythmic dialogue which was performed in a chant-like style that seems very vivid word painting that makes up for the lack of musical selection and very useful tool for the bards. This ritual presentation performed by bards was also accompanied with some musical instruments. During the time where Africans were traded as slaves, these Africans mainly the bards carried their tradition to the new culture and life. When the bards met new environment, the styles of the bards were reformed and adjusted to their new environment and culture, and from...