Americans love to stereotype. Whether is it social class, gender, music, we love to do it. We want to have a basic definition of everyone and everything, and we begin to live the stereotype that is connected to each of us. But what happens when we let that hit the music? Can we really put basic definitions on people based on their music tastes?
Much of the generalizations of music genres derives from its origins and communal values. Listeners may assume that the genre, rap resonates to the majority of people from poor, urban communities who desire to rise above their impoverished state and become successful. It might be no surprise that the type of culture and meaning rap has created is rooted back thousands of years ago in Africa. Through those thousands of years, a copious number of Africans were taken to the United States as slaves. To cope with their hardship, they African community gathered together, telling stories of their families or present events along with simple handmade instruments (Mize, History of Rap-The True Origins of Rap Music, 2014). This style of music and its similar values and messages are still present in the rapping world. Rappers such as 50 Cent, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Young Jeezy and many more, grew up in poor living conditions and talked about their rough lives and how they achieved their desires through rap (Sanderson, My Favorite# Winning Rappers Who Started At The Bottom, 2014). 50 Cent’s If I Can’t is a perfect example of this theme, in which he informs listeners of his need to fight to the top since residing in Queens has nothing good to provide for him and he doesn’t want settle for that life of poverty (PopularusicDJ, If I Can’t [HD] [Lyrics on Screen], YouTube). With rap’s roots, musicians backgrounds, and meanings in their music, it definitely shows why many people assimilate rap music to a specific group of people, since they resided in urban areas of poor conditions and the traditional function of rap throughout history. The issue with this is that listeners only receive a glimpse of rap as an art itself and how it can function in any person’s walk of life. Therefore, is it possible music, such as rap, has a bigger influence and function than in just one type of community?
There’s an album that was released recently titled ‘The Chopin Project’ with its aim to record Chopin’s music in some new way, and the result is incredible. Here is a video trailer for the album, where Olafur Arnalds & Alice Sara Ott talk a little bit about it. Here is a short sampler video of some of the pieces on the album. This classical music is reimagined in a sense, for a contemporary audience. One would not typically imagine classical music has a music video to go with it, as with many pop songs, rock songs, etc., but here is one. Styles and tastes change with time, and often music needs to adapt to fit the likes of every new generation. Whether that means creating a new genre, like Dubstep, or to simply record and showcase the music of days long ago in a way that appeals to the modern audience.
In America we also love to throw the phrase “Think of the children”, especially when we look at famous people. Kids area assumed to always copy what they see because they think they will also become as well known as some people are, such as music stars. But when discussion comes up, we assumed poorer kids are the ones “damaged” by pop musician’s actions. There is almost an air around that we honestly believe a 14 year old boy that has money is going to understand that a pop star's actions are wrong whereas the 14 year old boy that doesn’t have a penny to his name isn’t going to understand moral values. Why does this happen? There is often associated music to different economic classes. Middle class is associated with the top 40 hits, usually pop/electronic dance songs, with about every genre mixed around as well. When we think of upper class, usually Mozart and other symphonic works comes to mind. Lower class? Either country or rap are the main two thought of. This could be due to racial stereotypes due to prejudice of race (ex. “African Americans that are poor and are thugs” and “White Americans are rednecks and racist”) and what race ends up making those
But remember: It doesn’t matter what class you are in, you can like any type of music. Music is there for the consumption of all, for political protest, for easing the pain, for making someone smile. When we want to think of the children, we should think of making sure they get to freely express their love of a type of music, no matter which type it should be. People make music useful and meaningful in their lives, so let them choose their own definitions of how to achieve that.
Citations:
Mize, Cole. “History of Rap - The True Origins of Rap Music”. 23 Sep. 2014. Retrieved from: http://colemizestudios.com/how-did-rap-start/
Sanderson, Phil. “My Favorite# Winning Rappers Who Started At The Bottom”. SanFranciscoVC. 5 Jun. 2014. Retrieved from: http://sfvc.com/2014/06/05/6-winning-raps-for-pursuing-the-big-dream/
PopularmusicDJ. “50Cent- If I Can’t [HD Sound] [Lyrics on Screen]”. YouTube. 17 Mar. 2014. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/W5jyHY65M_0
Credits
Holly Winter: 1st Body Paragraph, citations, editing, pictures, videos
Nick De Los Santos: 2nd Body Paragraph, editing, pictures, videos
Erika Query : Introduction, 3rd and 4th Body Paragraphs, Conclusion, editing
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