Hip, Hop, Hooray...

This class is certainly exposing the difficulties of viewing media without a critical mind. It's so easy to just forget why hip-hop culture developed and see it simply as a fact of our society. I always feel torn whenever the subject comes up because I am an avid listener of hip-hop music and yet I am also quite knowledgeable about the slavery, segregation, and the ghettoization of blacks in the Americas. When I reflect on its role in maintaining stereotypical images of blacks, I feel guilty for supporting the hip-hop industry. Yet, another part of me sees this culture as a way for blacks to maintain visibility in a white-dominated society that would otherwise squash them into the background. As someone mentioned in class, some black parents see athleticism and entertainment as the only two routes to get their children out of the ghetto lifestyle. This is not a problem within African American culture so much as a sign that there are serious hang-ups built into the American Dream that limit the social mobility of minorities. It becomes, once again, a question of education. It is widely recognized that there is a lack of funding for inner-city schools in the United States. This needs to change so that more African American children can see themselves moving out of lower class living through schooling and other professions besides entertainment and sports. Hopefully, some of these changes will be realized during Obama's term. However, we cannot simply label such careers as disreputable. Singing, dancing, and shooting hoops are not the problem. The problem is WHY these are such popular careers paths for blacks. Is it strictly choice? Or is it the only way to maintain a decent lifestyle? Or at least live the life that the dominant society idolizes? So many questions, and, once again, very few concrete answers. What's important is that we keep on asking...