Hip Hop planet

                  Hip Hop Planet

In the article “Hip Hop Planet” by James McBride, James recalls the first time he heard hip hop at a party. McBride at first hated hip-hop however, as he discovers more and more about the genre of hip-hop music, McBride has learned to embrace this type of music for what it truly is. Unlike genres of music that came before it, hip hop was something different. Hip-hop served as the identity for those who were black and those who wanted to better their lives. As a result of these causes, James Bride could no longer ignore the hip-hop culture.

Hip-hop was not just about a MC rapping but about the African history that went along with it. In today’s society we see many people “spitting out rhymes” and saying they’re the best but it wasn’t always like that. The first MC’s were in fact West Africans who would tell the stories of the painful journeys slaves’ experienced using song and dance (Burning Man Paragraph 5 McBride). This was called “Speech-song” something that the black culture had to empower themselves. As the years went on, no matter what you may called it jazz, rap, or whatever, still had an overwhelming force of black culture supporting it.

The hip-hop genre was not just for blacks but for those who wanted to better their lives. As one listens to hip-hop lyrics today almost every MC will say he started from the bottom and now he’s on the top. You know from being poor to being filthy rich. As the success of many famous MC like Biggie Smalls and Tupac who were nothing and now something inspired others to get into hip- hop and hope for a better tomorrow. For instance, Assane a young adult living in Senegal who wishes to get out of poverty through hip-hop. Assane states “Rap doesn’t belong to American culture. It has always existed here, because of our pain and our hardships.” Assane practices all day by writing down lyrics about poverty and about people who die at sea trying to provide for their families to someday make it big like 50 cent or Kanye West.

James McBride after knowing all of this changes his perception on hip-hop. At first McBride though hip-hop all about vulgar words, disgracing women, and about drugs and alcohol but after discovering the rich history of hip-hop he could not escape it. Hip-hop was a part of who he was, it was his identity.