Shift of Smooth to Vulgar, is it the Culture?

I am focusing on the shift in rap music from the late 80's-90's to what it is currently. There has been a noticeable shift if music regarding all genres but my focus will be on just the hip/hop rap genre. Rap first emerged with the group NWA in the late 80's. They are credited with "creating" this-hop/rap. So I will discuss the reason behind why it first started then continue to explain how it evolved. The music gained popularity after criticism and more rappers emerged like Tupac and Snoop Dogg. Their music can almost be depicted as smooth rap. As the popularity grew more and more sub genres started to show. People like Ludacris, 50 cent and Lil Wayne are the bridge between the smooth rap and what hear now. Currently the most popular rap artists have a lot more electronic rap music which is also a lot more vulgar. I will be incorporating not only the change of emotion in the music but the topics rapped about, the rhythm and the language differences. The African American culture and equality can also be attributed to the shift that we see within the genre. 

In my thesis statement I hope to incorporate these differences which can be partially attributed to the technological advances, as well the people who are connected to them. 

There is a noticeable shift of smooth rap music, starting with Tupac that slowly changes to a more upbeat, vulgar feel like Lil Wayne which are due to technological advances and cultural changes. The noticeable changes that we can hear include the emotion in the music, the topics discussed, the rhythms and the language used. 

Works Cited

Adamu, Mosheh. "A HipHop Paradigm Shift." Scribd. Scribd, n.d. Web. 

Baraka, Rhonda. "Gettin' Back To Basics." Penn State WebAccess Secure Login:. Billboard, 6 Apr. 2001. Web. 

Clayton, Mahogany. "A Shift in Hip Hop: What Kendrick's Verse Didn't Do." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Aug. 2014. Web. 

Hess, Mickey. Is Hip Hop Dead?: The Past, Present, and Future of America's Most Wanted Music. N.p.: Praeger, 2007. Print. 

Johnson, Maurice L. A Historical Analysis: The Evolution of Commercial Rap Music. Florida State University Libraries. Jonathon Adams, 2011. Web. 

King, Brandon. "The Beef Between 90s Hip Hop & Millennium Hip Hop." Hip Hop Golden Age. N.p., 05 Oct. 2016. Web. 

McNulty-Finn, Clara. "The Evolution of Rap." Harvard Political Review. Harvard Political Review, 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 

Soerensen, Maria. "Hip-hop and Rap Music in the 21st Century." Storify. N.p., n.d. Web.

There's Always Something Changing!

It is interesting how paradigm shifts happen in our society. All of a sudden one fad turns to another. One example of a paradigm shift is the marriage rate significantly decreasing for young people. Marriage was an essential part of life for women in the 20th century. For men, it was more of a "I'm completing life tasks" type of thing. Many couples would meet and soon after be married before they even turned 21. But in our current society it would almost be unusual if a couple were to meet then quickly marry before they even graduated college yet. Settling down, marriage, and having kids are all being pushed until after adults have their life in a solid place with a good job. This most likely has to do with the fact that women have a more respect and more privileges. They are expected to attend college and get a well paying job which allows them to support themselves instead of relying on a man. In my opinion, it is for the better. Allowing people to focus on themselves before they have to rely or take care of another in the midst of their busy lives.

Another example of paradigm shift is the evolution of music from the 20th century into the 21st century. Our parent's generation (20th century) loved their rock and roll, the bands and all the fashion that came with it. Our generation in the 21st century tends to love their R&B and hip-hop. There has been an explosion of the rap and hip-hop genre. So as an example, our parent's Grateful Dead is our Kanye West. With the help of all the new technology, electronic beats and dance music is incorporated in a lot of rap/hip-hiop songs which widens the interest of more listeners. Even though there are still plenty of bands still popular (mostly from the 90's), rappers have taken over the industry. It still makes me laugh that our parents are constantly surprised by the vulgarity of this new profound style of music we all tend to be playing in our homes and cars.

Make it one They'll Remember

A speech is just a spoken essay, which seems pretty simple and easy. But speeches require a lot more components than just any normal typed essay. You need to have a specifically clear outline, distinct transitions, both of which need the help of the tones and volumes in your voice. Enthusiasm seems to be the distinguishing point between a good speech and a great speech. Two different people could read the same outline for a speech but have two entirely different outcomes depending on their voices and how they change and project them.

There were a number of great speeches that I have heard in the past week from all my classmates. A lot of which had superb content, facts and a solid thesis. But the people that stuck out were the people who were genuinely enthusiastic about their topic; whether it was true enthusiasm or not, it made the difference. The differing tones in their voices made it that much easier to follow along with their speech because it held my attention. They also strategically changed their voices when transitioning into their next points which allowed me to almost make a mental diagram of their outline.



This speech was interesting all throughout. The speaker constantly engages in the audience by relating real life situations and allowing students and even parents to relate to what he's speaking about. He adds music and humor to his speech which makes a significant difference in keeping his audience listening. One specific thing he talked about was proposing to a girl. He was building up the tension within his voice by speaking quickly in addition to the fast guitar tempo. This whole scenario of a girlfriend was actually a metaphor to applying, being accepted and choosing a college. The metaphor kept me particularly interested because I questioned why this girl was so important to him in high school. Great speeches involve emotion and enthusiasm, differing tone and a solid layout so that your audience can follow along; all of which this high school valedictorian did a great job of showing.