Debate Topic:
Hip-Hop: True & Lasting Form of Expression vs. Corporate Sell-Out
The 1980s gave birth to hip-hop as a novel, new music genre that did more than
just entertain. It informed. It engaged. But mostly, it challenged and spoke out
about age-old oppressive establishments that negatively impacted urban
societies. Through the lyrical rhyming of rap, this music was infused with a
political agenda that spoke about the criminalization of urban youth, the poor
quality of public education in urban areas, and other such injustices.
While hip-hop was born out of shunning mainstream culture, many now argue the
music has “sold out” to mainstream influences. Gone are socially responsible
messages meant to publicize the plight of people living in urban settings.
Forgotten are the activist intentions meant to inspire social change. Now we see
hip-hop artists and their labels paying more attention to record sales than
urban issues.
As Entertainment Weekly’s Evan Serpick writes in an article entitled “Bad Rap,”
“hip-hop, a once vibrant and creative force, has largely been dulled into a
bland mainstream juggernaut that drives corporate profits at the expense of true
art.” Clearly, media enterprises have attempted to capitalize on or exploit “the
urban market” in an effort to make money. The question is whether their
influence is so great that they’ve succeeded in stripping hip-hop of its
substance and soul.
Instructions:
Pick a side to debate: Argue either in support of hip-hop as a lasting,
uncorrupted form of expression OR in support of hip-hop as a genre that
has sold out to corporate influences and is no longer a true artform. Both sides
should review the following web links, as well as any other research, that helps
them build a credible argument in support of their position.
Hip-Hop Commentary:
http://www.daveyd.com/commentarytheend.html
Davey D’s Hip-Hop Site:
http://www.daveyd.com/
Hip-Hop Commentary: “The Hip-Hop Generation”
http://www.daveyd.com/commentarysharpton.html
Entertainment Weekly’s “Bad Rap” Article:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/commentary/0,6115,394772~4~0~hownaslosthis,00.html
Mediachannel.org (click on these & all other hip-hop-related links on the site):
“New-Style Communication”
http://www.mediachannel.org/atissue/hiphop/index.shtml
“Soul for Sale”
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/interviews/urbanmedia.shtml
Is hip-hop a lasting phenomenon & the true expression of a generation or merely the latest marketing flavor-of-the-month? Is it “Soul for sale” or the “CNN of black youth”?
Intro to the issue:
http://www.mediachannel.org/atissue/hiphop/index.shtml
Soul for Sale?
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/interviews/urbanmedia.shtml
Corporate Connection:
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/interviews/urban-one.shtml
Do Corporations call the shots for urban media?
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/interviews/urban-two.shtml
Anything positive about reaching urban youth?
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/interviews/urban-three.shtml
Rhyme and Resist:
Grandmaster Flash:
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20020708.fa.03.ram