Critique 4: We're Not Role Models

I have mixed opinions on this topic of hip hop's relationship with the notion of role models. On one hand I believe that rappers know they are being watched and looked up to by younger generations and need to be responsible for that. What rappers say goes into kid's mind like a sponge and rappers sometimes may need to censor themselves when they know their audiance. The things rappers speak about are "bad" not things a kid should be listening to at all. However, it is not the rappers job to make sure kids don't replicate what they are talking about in their songs and prevent them from doing drugs or going to jail. Rapers rap for a living, it is their career and how they put food on the table. If they censor themselves they risk losing some of that or gaining some, but it is not the rappers job to make sure the kid doesn't copy what they say. Like 50 cent says in Hip Hop Wars " Watch what I do, Not what I say"...I love this quote and I think it perfectly describes they way children should be seeing hip hop artists. In 50 cent's case, he is a very successful business man who have made a very nice life for himself by following his dreams and expressing himself through music. Kids should look up t that, not the details of the lyrics and hat his songs support. Also, it is their guardian's responsibility to censor the television if they don't like what is being hown. The parents need to step in and either not let the kids watch it or educate them on what is going on.

Imitation 7: (10's) Nicki Minaj, Fly

Nicki Minaj, Fly
Me, me, me against themMe against enemies, me against friendsSomehow they both seem to become oneA sea full of sharks and they all smell blood
They start coming and I start risingMust be surprising, I'm just surmising I win, thrive, soar, higher, higher, higherMore fire

Nicki Minaj is talking about how her friends become enemies and how everyone becomes an enemy because when you are successful like she is, everyone wants a piece of the pie and favors, loans and help. With the title, Fly, I think Nicki is talking to her family, friends, and peers about how she wants to be let free and able to do what she wants to do without them holding her back or wanting things from her.  She is also saying that as her success grows, the problems get worse. This is a confession of the way her life has changed since becoming famous and how her relationship with her friends has changed. Nicki Minaj uses literal meaning, internal rhyme, repitition and the rhyme scheme is ABCDEEFG.

Critique 3: Hip Hop Huts Black People

I believe the hip hop and gangster lifestyles portrayed in rap music hurt black people. I think there is still a lot of underlying "ground" blacks feel they need to make up for from when blacks were enslaved and this hip hop culture isn't working. I feel like blacks want to prove to white that they're just as good if not better. As time goes by I think blacks are succeeding at their goal however I think hip hop and rap are destroying the progress made to clean up their stereotypes and prove that they can be a superior race. Hip hop does not value education, a healthy lifestyle, a career, monogamy and many other social institutions valued in our society. Crime, prostitution, drugs, violence and being incarcerated are all apart of the gangster lifestyle that potentially represents black people. This makes black people look bad, as if they will never amount to anything but a rapper or drug dealer. The raper is not the image the black people want to have when they are trying to come up from under the white oppression in the past, and some might even say today. Today there is still a lot of racism and the hip hop culture just gives racist whites more to argue against. If I black I would not be happy with the way the hip hop culture reflects the black population, even though it is not fair, people do generalize. If I were a successful black lawyer, doctor, professor, ect. I would be angry that I worked so had to get where I was just to have some dumb rappers undermine my work and value to society by bringing down the value on black people in society. There is a lot of great black culture to be proud of that is left out in the hip hop community so it displays an unequal face for the black community.

Creation 1: Cruise

Me and you
We took the train
You took it all
What were we thinking?
But this was only the beginning
So young, so in love
Missing you became a physical ailment
Worth the pain
To see your face and feel at home
When you lived so far
A state away, who would have known
Two years later in the city alone.