Think

This blog post is going to be a bit different from what I intended it to be. I would like to begin by saying that this post is going to be sporadic and possibly a bit confusing. This is because I am going to write an unfiltered piece. I am writing to learn about myself and to come to a new understanding on all these topics we’ve been studying this past trimester. I hope everyone enjoys and please leave comments and question that will challenge me to conceptualize everything.

Being a Latin American male has both opened my eyes and shut them. I can’t be apart of the female or the white experience, because of my background. What I can do is be humble to the fact that I am not apart of them. There are things that I may not recognize in my writing and I want those things to be pointed out. I have learned and I keep learning this is what I can do or least what I think I can do. I’ve been trying to come to a conclusion on what makes an authentic artist. The main things that come to mind are one, the artist is coming from a personal experience this means you can’t portray a subject that you yourself have never experienced. You will see artist try to embody a culture that they themselves are not apart of. Two, Race does not decide weather you can be considered an authentic rapper. Three, social class is what decides your authenticity, but it also depends on if you keep 100% with what you say. Now before I start painting broad strokes I want to be clear on where rap comes from. My understanding is that rap is a subcategory of Hip-hop. Hip-hip is built on five component. You have the MC the one that facilitates the event, the DJ this is guy mixing beats live, the Rappers, the Dancers and the Art. All of these are apart of what Hip-hop is. It was a way for hispanic and black individuals to express themselves. Before the music was brought onto pop radio stations it was only played on urban radio station. It was picked up and altered. No longer being a apart of Hip-hop culture, but its own genre just under the title rap. When you compare what these artist were saying back when Hip-hop was first invented to what rap is today you can see that the times have changed. It is more about the money and less about the power of their music. We do see blips of authentic rappers today, but they are rare. Kendrick lamar won many grammys this past year. Amazing. His music is powerful and sounds amazing. The majority of music though has turned into sounds not lyrics. These catchy tunes make people happy. The bangers that rile people up before events like the song “life style” sound good sure, but what the fuck is Young Thug saying! I just don’t understand. He makes money because its sounds goods, but what is positive about his music. Hip-hop was used to express oneself. Rappers like Grandmaster Flash who would share his story through rhythm and poetry, not bass and squeaks. It really feels like I’m trying to make a point, but I don’t know what the point is. With more artist coming from many different backgrounds it is important to understand one’s place in the game. if you’re going to spit serious bars like the beastie boys then stick to your background. These guys kept it real. They spoke about they past and connected to modern day music. They knew they were from the suburbs and kept there music associated with their background.

While studying these topics I began having conversations with many of my colleagues around campus. They questioned the claims I was making and helped me understand that I really do not know enough about these topics to give a clear answer. Social class, race, gender and age have been bouncing around my mind these past couple days. More so than usually I have begun questioning myself and everything I am surrounded by. The things people around me say and even the things I say or have said should be questioned. When does humor turn into reality. “Check your privilege!” Has been yelled by me and at me. I’m over it. When people tell me to check my privilege, I do. I have done thought about my privilege many times. This joke that my friends have looped themselves around is just humor to fill in empty space. It is about making people angry to have fun. That is all there is to it. They yell at me and others and I do not understand why they’ve become so aggressive. It makes me especially angry when white males yell this at me. They are the target consumer. I am not. They think it is something to joke about. They are privileged, yes. Now they are using the awareness of their privilege to gloat about it. Glorifying it in a joking manor.  I’m waiting for this wave to pass. Until the next comedic trend starts.

I would like to point out that I am not above any of this. I have joked around with the same concepts as them before, but once I began thinking about it didn’t make sense to me anymore.

Sorry, my thought pattern shifted so much. Back to what it means to be taken seriously in the game of rap. I believe that more violence has come into rap culture pushing out love. The music that was made back when hip-hop first came out was a form of expression. Expressing emotions through the art. It made you feel for their experience. Now the game is glorifying violence. We will see artist like kendrick lamar that are breaking the norm. Changing the game with new sounds and emotion. I do not think that I have come to any conclusive point, but this is what i’ve been thinking about. Please help my try to understand what I’m thinking about.