Hip Hop Oppression and Inequality

Question: Discuss many aspects related to this theme. Applying lyrical content to your analysis and incorporating readings, discuss the power of hiphop in discussing oppression and inequality as it relates to police. Answer: In the words of Martin Luther King Jnr, the theme of oppression with regard to race and its application to the Negros in connection to the Montgomery bus sanctions. There are ways, according Martin Luther King Jnr that oppression can be dealt with: through acquiescence, physical violence or through non-violent resistance. In the contemporary world, fireworks have been lit up on dark blue skies with the Hip Hop stars celebrating the holidays through songs in a bid to speak up their minds on free speech and its freedom. These songs cut across socio-political issues. As a matter of fact, Hip Hop is a term that is used to describe the urban youth in the United States of America. In the words of Hazzard-Donald (1996), hip hop is an expression of culture that was chiefly associated with the marginalized American youths of African descent. At its most elemental level, hip hop is considered to be a product of the post-civil rights movement as well as the cultural norms that were primarily driven by the African Americans, Caribbean Americans and the Latin American youths. Some of the notable masterpieces that have been crafted by the hip hop artistes include Talib Kweli The Proud, Public Enemy 911 is a Joke, J Cole Be Free, Bob Marley Get up Stand Up, Kendrick Lamar Blacker the Berry, KRS-One Sound of da police, Ice-T Cop Killer, Immortal Technique - The Other white meat, Eminem We as Americans, Jay Z 99 problems, The Pharcyde Officer, Dead Prez - Police State, Immortal Technique Bin Laden and 2Pacs A Crooked Nigga. These rap aspects of hip hop voice frustrations, alienation and rebellion among the African American youths and this is prompted by their recognition of the fact that they are vulnerable and are marginalized in the postindustrial America. Tupac, known as 2pac, is known for his loyalty for the black people. He is also known to play the rude or bad boy image so as to get what he wanted. When Eminem cites that hed rather see the president dead, he blatantly expresses his frustrations as an American citizen who doesnt take pride in being one. Dead Prez, in his song - Police State, he depicts a society that is deeply rooted into propaganda and civil rights violations. To him, things are not as they seem. Works Cited Collins, Patricia Hill. From black power to hip hop: Racism, nationalism, and feminism. Temple University Press, 2006. Kitwana, Bakari. The hip hop generation: Young Blacks and the crisis in African American culture. Basic Books, 2002. Potter, Russell A. Spectacular vernaculars: Hip-hop and the politics of postmodernism. Suny Press, 1995.