Hip-Hop

If you could dream it, you can do it.

-Walt Disney

I mostly agree with Chang’s statement that hip-hop has become a way for a generation to view the world. I grew up in an urban inner-city and hip-hop was my way of life. Sure I was a young Latina who spoke Spanish at home, but outside of my house, it was all about the hip-hop lifestyle. I heard the music, I dressed like the singers, and I practiced what they preached in the songs. It was the way I viewed life because I was a minority and I felt like a minority. I could relate to lyrics about racism. I could relate to hearing about someone getting shot. I could relate to the struggle of being poor. Simply stated, hip-hop made me feel like I was part of a group and that is why I think this generation sees the world through hip-hop goggles. The teenage years are a time of self-discovery where a lot of young people are looking to fit in. Here is hip-hop offering to give that young person a voice. Whether it is a young African-American kid from the projects or a wealthy Caucasian kid from the suburbs, hip hop is a representation of that young person’s struggle. To the African-American kid; the struggle may be society, while to the white kid; the struggle might be his parents. No matter what it is, hip hop is the voice that speaks to them.

I enjoyed how Chang went through the history of hip hop by including the different genre’s of rap and its rappers. He demonstrated how hip hop has evolved through the years. Hip hop is no longer an underground culture. Hip hop is main stream with the ability to be in the top 10 on the music charts and sell out arenas throughout the world. Basically, hip-hop is the modern day equivalent of rock n’ roll. The younger generation loves it, while parents hate it. Most of this generation is mimicking what they see and hear through hip hop. How often do we see a young person blasting hip hop music from a car and wearing his pants slightly above the knees? This is how most of today’s generation lives, but it’s not the way this whole generation views the world. There are still some people that would rather listen and imitate the country music lifestyle or the Christian music lifestyle. To say that hip hop is the lens for which this generation sees the world is an overgeneralization. Hip hop is probably the most popular, but it is not the only lens in a field of many.