Subculture

As time progressed and the industry of entertainment understood the lifestyle of hip-hop, it was brought to mainstream America, a America that that did not want it, but through trials, tribulation, death, exploitation, and political attacks hip-hop still stood under this extreme pressure and is now one of the most popular subcultures within the world. Many years later, like the late 70’s and early 80’s hip-hop was on its way, evolving from innocent to a more brutal and aggressive force within many communities, which brought out angry leaders and political outrage from the white house, congress and the media. Evolving into a more aggressive phase, hip-hop was under attack from within and without. A new group called “N.W.A.”(Niggaz Wit Attitudes), rap was targeted towards the government and young angry men was reminding and speaking out their anger through music of violence. In the turn of the century since its arrival to mainstream, the hip-hop nation has lost a lot of good artists and has had a lot of negative feedback due to the reaction of the public and the misrepresentation of the youth in general.

It’s very relevant to say that the hip-hop nation did bring along with it much destruction and negativity, being a tool of influence towards the youth and a message to the world. Many lives were lost from these violent lyrics of rebellion and disrespect for the law and government, but in retrospect to this effect, hip-hop was not in a matured phase and did not have any direction. When asked of the overall opinion of the hip-hop nation from my peers, their point of view was that, “The hip-hop nation is a bunch of young stubborn kids with no respect blaring out violence and destruction”. Facts are known on both sides and it has been very positive and even considerably favorable to society as a whole. Today the hip-hop nation is one of the biggest subcultures in the world and has even been taken in by other cultures throughout the globe, ranging from Japan all the way to Africa. Giving its guidance to fashion, film, and social arena’s, hip-hop has made an enormous impact on the world and has brought a lot of positive ways of life to society.

Through the hip-hop generation, there is now classes that can be taken to learn the language of the streets which is called “Ebonics”, a slang of words that is cut short as shorthand and coded to be understood by street people. This practice has been used within the government for law enforcement agencies to understand what is being said and communicated through the streets. The hip-hop community has donated much of itself in being understood and has flourished itself in many arts and forms of expression. Many has taken this expression and incorporated it in their business as advertisements, some have even used it in their religious life, and even political leaders have manipulated the world in the fashion of hip-hop towards the young generation.

This is an argument that shows both the good and bad of a subculture that was thought to be some kind of phase, yet has turned out to be a great attribute to the American culture and way of life. Even with its withstanding of attacks, the hip-hop culture is stronger than any other; hip-hop is here now as it was back then. What seemed to be something brought about by young African-Americans for themselves, has turned out to be a global venture entertaining the world and has been adopted by other cultures and not just the American way of life. Hip-hop is not just a subculture to African-Americans; it’s a subculture to the world.