The Hip-Hop Culture’s Struggle for Respect

By February 5, 2018BlogPost

Rappers and the hip-hop culture have a huge influence on Black culture but at first, with no surprise, it got pushback from all corners of America’s society. For an example, earning the right to be recognized at the academy awards, a.k.a. the Grammys. At first, it was a real struggle to get rappers to be seen on the stage with a gold trophy in their hands. For an example, “DJ Jazzy and The Fresh Prince won the first rap Grammy in 1989…the rap award wasn’t televised”(cycle). The amount of disrespect that these artists, who had poured their hearts and souls into their masterpieces, is ludicrous. This is just a fraction of how people use to treat the hip-hop industry/culture. In turn, those who openly listen to and/or practice this form of music is demonized to this day by news media outlets. For an example, on Fox News in a segment called The Five. Correspondents were criticizing Kendrick Lamar for his 2015 Grammy performance of his song ‘Alright’ and the most offensive statement was made by Gerald Rivera, who had openly stated, “This is why I say hip-hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism in recent years”(Rivera). This statement, along with other ignorant comments left by the reporters, twist Kendrick’s message and then spreads that misconception to the mass. This becomes one of the main reasons why rap is portrayed as a threat instead of an art.

 

Please watch these two short videos to get some kind of sense of what I’m talking about.