Gaynor 1 Megan Gaynor ENGL 1103 Ms.

Caruso 29 September 2012 Will the Real Influence Please Stand Up?

Rap music is the art of separating content, flow, and delivery. It is a form of poetry which artists share with their fans different stories, situations, and scenarios. Rap influences other genres of music as well as society. In the 1960s, artists freely and openly used cadences in vocal communication that exhibited traits of casual speech and formal singing. The rap sensation exploded in the 1970s in South Bronx, New York. As rap progressed and evolved, it split into two divisions, old school and new school rap. Rap music has evolved greatly over the past years from the different use of instrumental beat patterns and lyrical meaning. Old school and new school rap artists each influence their fans, yet the impact is reflected in entirely different ways. Music is formed not only by the artist but also by the society that surrounds them. The influential impact is a cycle, society to music, and music to society. Old school rap artists would include N.W.A, Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z, TuPac, and Eminem. Though Eminem and Jay-Z still rap today, they associate with old school artists and hit prime during the old school generation. N.W.A.s members, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren & DJ Yella, are marked by their influence in the 80s from their distilled anger and prophesized the L.A. riots. Their music consisted of social issues, which took expressions of uncensored rage and anti-authoritarianism. The group, coming

Gaynor 2 out the Ghetto's of Compton and founders of Gangsta Rap, their music and lyrics were both shocking and influential to a whole generation of people, no matter color or creed. Biggie Smalls was the legend from the Brooklyn borough of New York City. When Biggie released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994, he became a master in the East Coast hip-hop scene and increased New York's prevalence at a time when West Coast artists were more common in the mainstream. The following year, Biggie led his close friends to tremendous success in the music world through his protg group, Junior M.A.F.I.A. Biggie was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in 1997 and his double-disc CD Life After Death released fifteen days afterwards. For Biggies funeral, his casket was taken around Brooklyn while playing his song Hypnotized, as the mass of people that admired their fallen idol. Another Brooklyn hood rat to make it to the big times came out in the 1990s. Jay-Z attended Trenton Central High School with Biggie Smalls and many other rappers, but did not graduate and entered the rap game. He is one of four children with a single mother, while his father is in jail for shooting his brother. He started out freestyling with Positive K during Big Daddy Kanes performances while he was off stage changing. As time progressed, Jay-Z made more appearances and features. He finally had his own single, I Cant Get With That in 1994. Tupac was born in Manhattan into a family participating in the Black Panther Party. He witnessed at an early age people struggling with the law, and many imprisoned. He began to be active a theatre group in Harlem at twelve years old before moving to Maryland, where rap was first introduced to him. Dana Mouse Smith worked as his

Gaynor 3 beat-box, and together they won many rap battles. In 1988 his family relocated to California, where two years later his professional entertainment career would fire off. Eminem was abandoned by his father at eighteen months and was raised solely by his mother, Deborah. They had moved several times before settling down in Detroit. We Just kept moving back and forth because my mother never had a job. We kept getting kicked out of every house we were in. I believe six months was the longest we ever lived in a house. His mother was a severe alcoholic and had a pill addiction, as he discusses in many songs. When Eminem was eleven years old, his Uncle Ronnie gave him his first rap CD, Ice-Ts single Reckless. At the age of fourteen, Eminem began competing in amateur rap battles under the pseudonym M&M. Eminems first musical appearance was in Champtowns 1992 video Do-Da-Dipity before his debut album Infinite in 1996. It was not until 1998 when Eminem released his first major studio album, The Slim Shady LP, through Aftermath Entertainment with production help from Dr. Dre. Drake was born in Toronto, Ontario, where his mother was an educator and his father was a drummer. Two of Drakes uncles also worked in the musical business. When his parents divorced, he and his mother moved to the wealthy Forest Hill, where he participated in a minor hockey league. He attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he began acting, but later dropped out. He then attended Vaughn Road Academy for high school, which he also dropped out. He recently went back and graduated in 2012. At the age of fifteen, Drakes friend, whose father was an agent, gave him a role in Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake self-released his first mix tape, Room for Improvement, with Trey Songz and Lupe Fiasco in February 2006.

Gaynor 4 Lil Wayne grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, with his mother and father before his father abandoned them when he was two years old. He enrolled in a gifted program of Lafayette Elementary School to participate in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School. When he was eight years old he wrote his first rap song. In the summer of 1991, he was introduced to Bryan Williams, rapper and owner of Cash Money Records, where he recorded Lil Wayne freestyling raps on Williamss answering machine. He then included him in Cash Money-distributed songs. He recorded his first collaboration album, True Story, when he was eleven years old with B.G., fourteen. At age fifteen, he was the youngest member of the Hot Boys, his first rap group. Rap music is stereotyped of having a negative influence over its young fan base. Whether they are involved in gangs, drug bases, or promoting sex, these characteristics seemed harmless to the people profiting from the sales, but the impact on society was growing rapidly (Giovacchini, 14). Giovacchini claims the old school rap artists Dr. Dre and Eazy- E through Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records are similar to rival gangs and advertise and condone negative actions through their music since they included death threats and even gunshots. Though rap artists highlight violence and gang elated actions, they do not advise the youth to aspire to be like them. In fact, many old school advice the opposite. Dont do drugs, dont have unprotected sex, dont be violent. Leave that to me, Eminem stated. Old school rappers referred to the moments in their live that they had to face where they had to pull themselves out of dirt to make it to where they are now. They grew up in poverty where violence was second nature and gang life was the cliques in school. Rap was an escape for them. As Biggie sang, If I wasnt in the rap game/Id probably have a key knee deep in the crack game/ Because the

Gaynor 5 streets is a short stop/Either youre slingin crack rock or you got a wicked jumpshot (Biggie, 33-36), referring to if they cannot escape the hardships of poverty through a skill to make money, selling drugs is the next thing they know. They need it to feed their families, and theyll do anything necessary to do so. For many teenagers today, a favorite rap artist would be Eminem. People will judge rappers based on the surface of their words and not the actual significance of their poetry. Eminem states his true emotions and opinions in his music, no matter the harshness that is within them. Nowadays, kids and adults are in search of authenticity and Eminem gives them what many artists completely lack: a great artistic integrity (Gavin, 3). Eminems music emphasizes his personal history, even through his humorous music. He expresses how success was his one option to escape from the life he grew up in. He was judged for his crude, offensive lyrics but he stated you could not take the extremes of his lyrics so seriously, anybody who takes it literally is ten times sicker than I am. Eminems life influences the music he creates, he grew up in a poor home with several different abuses, which each songs lyrics tells a story and how it has impacted him today. He is stereotyped disrespectful towards women, which many do not look past his words to see meaning for why he is saying them. His mother abused him and was an alcoholic and drug user. His wife, Kim, was also an alcoholic and mentally and emotionally abused him. He was psychologically scarred from the women who impacted his life. He will claim his saving grace would be his daughter Hailie, which he is one of the few rappers that has multiple songs dedicated to a child. Many listeners do not see

Gaynor 6 past the words spoken and seek the hidden meanings, those that do enrich from the words Eminem speaks. N.W.A.s members came together in 1986 from Comptons based Eazy-E with Dr. Dre. As the group gathered the other members they released their debut album, Straight out of Compton, in 1988, which stirred the greatest controversies of social issues calling it, reality rap. Their distilled anger and prophesizing the L.A. riots sanctioned police brutality, a grim job market, gang life, a decimated school system, the toll of crack on poor neighborhoods and racial tensions were all being documented by West Coast rappers (Hardy, 3). The tensions between black urban youth and the police was evident and N.W.A. voiced these incidents through their music, especially their single, Fuck tha Police. Which in Ice-Cubes section he states, Fuck tha police comin straight from the underground/Young nigga got it bad cause Im brown/And not the other color so police think/They have the authority to kill a minority/ (Ice-Cube, 8-12). The widespread resentment towards the police exploded in the 1992 L.A. riots following the Rodney King incident, where seven police officers did not follow safety guidelines regarding offender resistance and beat the man. A near by resident recorded the whole incident with his at-home camera and released it for all to see. Their lyrics were both shocking and influential to all with their music embedding the inner truth of a bitter reality for the people of Los Angeles. Rap music has evolved and transformed over the years due to the changes in society. Many old school artists were looked down upon due to their angry look on society. As the popularity of hip hop grew lyrics were replaced by a more positive undertone from many artists who were finally feeling the support from their

Gaynor 7 communities (Alex, 4). New school rap artists do not address the same outlook on life; yet do not proclaim a brighter message. Rap has evolved over the past years from different use of instrumentals, beat patterns, and lyrical meaning. Both generations hold influences over the fans, but they voice different values and meanings. Old school rappers voiced their lives and the world that surrounded them and how it affected their lives. Many new school rap artists have morphed rap about teenage society today: drinking, partying and sex. Both generations do include the many of the same situations, but they hold them under different circumstances. Music is different lyrically. Old school rappers faced violence every day and held the rap games, which rap overcame their lives to a great extent. The rival gangs dissed each other through raps and wrote about what they faced. Many rappers even went to the extent of violence that killings occurred. The rappers of old school were joined together as more as family than just rap artists. The new school rappers are now from money and are not under the family tightness. When rappers such as Biggie, Tupac, Proof, and others were killed, many rappers dedicated songs to them. Jay-Z wrote, The City is Mine for Biggie, Eminem dedicated Toy Soldiers to Biggie, Tupac, Proof, and Bugz. New school rap promotes the party scene by holding different light to the scenarios, Young, Wild, and Free and the term YOLO, where they say you only live once, so go out and party. Rap artists take a great deal of criticism and blame for the influence it holds over society. For many, music is an escape for society. When people listen, it takes them to their own world. Rap music takes blame for many of the negative things that happen in society: drug and alcohol use, sex and teenage pregnancy, and violence. In 1988, Ice-T

Gaynor 8 who was a well-known rapper was all over the media because of his song Cop Killa (Kandi, 5). In reality, music cannot cause people to do anything. They cannot take control of the fans life solely based upon their words. Rappers write about their lives, what is going on in their worlds, and what is going on with society at the moment. It contains political, social, and personal issues. Rappers can write about violence and promote it, but they cannot take control of the fans life through that, and if they do, then it is a greater issue than the music and more of a psychological issue with that fan. They say music can alter moods and talk to you/Well can it load a gun up for you, and cock it too?/Well if it can, then the next time you assault a dude/Just tell the judge it was my fault and Ill get sued/See what these kids do is hear about us totin pistols/And they want to get one cause they think the shits cool/Not knowin we really just protectin ourselves, we entertainers/ (Eminem, 53-59). Old school rap set the foundation for new school for new school rap. As time progressed it evolved and transformed due to the changes in society. No matter the harshness and hatred was evident from the lack of support of the fan base. Both declare values and meanings, they just give it a different significance. Though old school and new school rap write about it differently, overall their words did not change how teenagers act. Society has to change before the music does. Rap music generated from those hood rats that rapped about the hardships is a part of life, and their living and thriving grew from rap music. The only way they knew to escape from the poverty life, they only life they knew that aspired this talent. Their actions and the actions of those around them influenced the music they created. The actions of a suburban life style would do the same. New school rap has conformed rap based upon what they grew up with, what inspired their music. In teenage society today,

Gaynor 9 the party scene surrounds the youth, and to stick with the times, music conformed around that. Both stake a claim for influential phases over their fans, they simply have different forms of influences. By rapping about negative actions from old school raps, it can be scene as a bad thing, yet it helps those going through similar situations. They rapped about actual life experiences that had a greater meaning then just those actions. New school raps illuminate them as a party life, a time of fun. Its a cycle, society influences the musicians, musicians will reflect it back, and thus influences society.

Gaynor 10 Works Cited Alex Ogg, David. The Hip Hop Years A History of Rap. Yahoo! Contributor. Web. 2 November 2011. Gavin. Eminems Impact of Society WordPress Entries. Web. July 2002 Giovacchini, Anthony M. The Negative Influence of Gangster Rap and What Can Be Done About It Poverty & Prejudice and Race. Web. 4 June 1999. Hardy, Ernest and Brown, August. Los Angeles Riots: Gangsta Rap Foretold Them and Grew After Them Los Angeles Times. Web. 2 May 2012. Kandi. Effects of Music Music and the Influence on Society: Hubpages. Web. 29 April 2009.