Hip Hop Is a Culture

“Hip Hop is a Culture”

The “hip hop culture” has taken over popular culture in an unprecedented fashion. Because of its enormous cross-over appeal, the hip hop culture has made a home in main-stream media. Although created by black youths on the street, hip hop's influence has become worldwide. Approximately 75% of the rap and hip hop audience is non-black. It has gone from the streets of inner-cities, to the suburbs, and into the corporate world. McDonald's, Coca Cola, Sprite, Nike, and other corporate giants have capitalized on the movement of the “hip hop culture”. Today, hip and rap is the fastest growing music genre in the U.S., accounting for more than 10 percent of the $12.3 billion music sales in 1998. 1 According to the Recording Industry Association of America, rock music accounted for 32.5 percent of the industry's $12.3 billion in sales during 1997. But this figure is down from 46.2 percent a decade ago. Meanwhile rap music's share of sales has increased 150% over the last ten years and is still rising.2Although many critics of rap music and the hip hop culture seemed to be fixated on the messages of sex, violence, and harsh language, this genre offers us a picture of what America does contain but hides.

“A trip down memory lane”

After seeing an advance print of the American Gangster, Jay-Z, the hip-hop phenomenon, found himself inspired. The movie details the story of the Vietnam-era Harlem kingpin Frank Lucas, who Jay-Z saw so many connections between Lucas's life and his own. Over the course of a few weeks, Jay-Z recorded his own lyrical epic, an album about the rise and fall of a gangster like Lucas, in his eyes, if the hip-hop game didn’t save his life from the life of drugs. American Gangster has a total of 15 tracks, which the first 13 outlines the criminal rise and fall we've seen in so many movies, which shows the connection in pop culture. The epic of a desperate youth involved in the neighborhood ways, the schemes, the crimes, and the slow hard-fought rise to earn respect and money. This leads to the ultimate celebration of that rise, buying the finer things in life and making sure no one gets in the way of this lifestyle disappearing. Then suddenly, things go sour and either you’re in a witness protection program, you’re in a prison cell, or you’re dead.

“I’m not an angel, I’m sure but every night before I lay/ I drop my knees to the floor and I pray”

Jay-Z, know as the “best rapper alive” begins the album with giving thanks to God, as he proclaims the life he lived and why. The title of the track is “Pray”. “Hey young world, wanna hear a story/Close your eyes and you can pretend you’re me/ I’m cut from the cloth of the Kennedys/ Frank Sinatra having dinner with the Genovese/This is the genesis of a nemesis.” The way he starts this album off (after the intro track) lets the listener understand his attitude this time around and why he’s involved. Rather than selecting this track in the middle or saving it for a sentimental conclusion; he starts with it. By stating “This is the genesis of a nemesis”, he saying this is the beginning of a necessary evil, being involved in the drug game.

“We need it now/We need a town/We need a place to pitch, we need a mound”

On “American Dreamin”, track 3, Jay-Z addresses the mindset as a young hustler, the eager lifestyle he wanted to live and how it be accomplished if he got out there on his grind. He understood the struggle of his single mother and he felt he had to get out there, quit school, and hustle to help put food on the table. “Mama forgive me, I should be thinking about Harvard/But that’s too far away/Ni**as is starving/Nothing wrong with my aim/Just gotta change the target.” “It seems like our plans to get a grant/To go off to college didn’t pan or even out.” In this part of the album, he lets the listener understand why he chose the life of drugs and began hustling. This track was overall very well with a sampled Marvin Gaye chorus and live drums from Mario Winans.

“You don’t even gotta bring your purses out/We the dope boys of the year; drinks is on the house”.

On "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)", track 6, which is the middle of the album; symbolize celebration dues from financial success. The music production is so capturing as it samples a sped up version of “Make the Road by Walking” performed by the Menaham Street Band. Jay-Z thanks everyone and everything that made his rise possible: