User:Bdenson7718/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Hip hop music

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I am choosing to evaluate this article because I am a huge fan of Hip Hop music and I have been very passionate about the impact of hip hop culture. This article talks in detail about this topic.

Evaluate the article
I have my own opinions on hip hop and it's influence on western culture that have developed through research. I want to address Hip Hop culture and how this influences the gender and sexual constructs formed in African American communities. To understand my topic the audience needs to have some general knowledge of hip hop and its roots. Hip hop is a type of music created by youth in the late 1970’s consisting of rhythmic beats and rapping. Hip hop became popular for being able to infuse the grittiness of the urban lifestyle within political and racial discourse. With the development of hip hop into a mainstream music genre from the 1980s-2000s, the once raw and righteous artform slowly progresses into white-washed entertainment that is continuously being exploited by people “not a part of the culture;” however, the art form remains true to its people. The importance of hip hop to its audience is that it has created an idea of what it means to be a man or woman based on the personalities of the popular artist in hip hop and the image they are pushing to the public. These are all issues that are addressed in this article. This article also does so with a neutral tone that is not biased and provides evidence for the claims made in the article.

What is at stake is how people identify themselves. Because hip hop has become so deeply woven into American culture today, its audience builds their personalities and ways of thinking from the culture. The only problem is, the culture and idea of hip hop is no longer authentic. It’s similar to something made in a lab that is bad for the soul but appealing to the eyes. This is where the resistance is met from the audience. The listeners of hip hop, like most American culture, are drawn to the fringe edgy outsider image that hip hop provides; everyone likes the “bad boy.” Just like James Dean, Elvis Presley, and the greaser culture from movies like The Outsiders, hip hop provides to the modern youth a look into the outsider bad boy of modern times.

There does not seem to be a discussion for this article. Overall this is a very strong article that provides lots of history and discussion of the topics influence on society. I think this article is well developed. If I were to change anything it would be to continue to add more obscure artist that are part of the sub genres of hip hop that also contribute to hip hop and the culture.