Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Everybody wants to be hard
Out of all the chapters in Hip Hop beyond beats and rhymes the one titled everybody wants to be hard caught my attention the most. The reasoning behind this is because this subject is one of the most important topics in rap music. Many of the themes in hip hop revolve around violence and men proving themselves to be better than others. This concept not only has a deep rooting in hip hop but in male nature as well. Ever since the beggining of time early males have been trying to prove themselves better than other males. Its in our nature to try and be the alpha male and act all macho. So its not unexpected that this shows up in rap music and many rappers spend a lot of time talking about how they are harder than the next guy. The rappers achieve this in many ways by talking about where they came from and what gangs they may have pertained to. They talk about their guns and how many people their willing to kill. Everybody wants to be hard is not just a them in rap but it has been in an important theme in the neighborhoods which have produced these rappers so it comes as no surprise that this theme is now one of the most leading themes in rap.
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I agree with bakari. This is much deeper than hip hop it starts from how they grew up. Which in detail makes this more personal than just a show.
ReplyDeleteBakari mentions the desire for a lot of rappers/hip-hop artists to want to be the "alpha male". He discusses that this top dog persona is often rooted from the neighborhood's these rappers grow up in. The chapter in the film implied that there is a direct correlation between being "hard" and being on top. I think that it's important for people to express themselves, and in the case of the rappers, I think, to rap the truth about their lives. If their lives happen to revolve around being the "hardest" then that is what they should rap about. However, I worry that this obsession with being the toughest is dangerous, and with the idea of being hard in rap music, it will not stop at the generation writing and rapping the raps, but continue into the generation listening. I agree with Bakari that the neighborhood's many of these rappers grew up in influenced them to "want to be hard"; however, their raps are influencing other people and really shifting the idea of manhood.
ReplyDeleteI think Bakari made a good point and the movie agreed with this point, basically saying the same thing as he did. The phrase "everybody wants to be hard" and how males want to prove that they are the strongest and toughest of them all, did not start with hip hop but started at the creation of man. Every since their has been life on earth, usually, the male in a species fights or intimidates other males to show his authority. If he is successful, then he becomes the alpha male ("top dog") and no one messes with him. This is the same in hip hop today. Rappers put on a front to seem mean and tough so that other rappers want mess with them. It is the same concept, and this not only occurs in Hip Hip but in all the other industries in the media.
ReplyDeleteBakari makes a point that trying to be "hard" has been a prominent theme throughout the history of man. I agree with this statement. Human civilization roots itself in power struggles, and power displays itself in a variety of different ways. Power can symbolize money to some or even a position of importance to others. In the hip-hop culture, though, power is demonstrated by comfortably using a gun, trash talking others, and showing no "weaker" emotion. In the same way that there are positions earned in offices, leading up to one with the most power, being "hard" (or street cred) can be earned by fighting to the top.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bakari on the point that everything that has to do with a person being "hard" comes from the home and what they grew up around. If a person never learns hip hop or never learns what it is to be hard growing up, then they can never try to reach this goal or lifestyle of being hard.
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