What is McBride’s central argument? What are some of his main claims? Use evidence from the text to support your interpretation.
McBride’s central argument on his article is that Hip-Hop has a meaningful message that has evolved over time from the 70’s. You can tell that McBride is somewhat old-school in some sense, of his distaste of Hip-Hop itself; although it is not his forte, he tries to get accustomed to ever changing music. However, he mentions that Hip-Hop comes from the roots of African American ancestry that were brought from its native land of Africa, through its storytelling, folktales and whatnot. “Ethnomusicologists trace hip-hop’s roots to the dance, drum, and song of West African griots, or storytellers, its pairing of word and music the manifestation of the painful journey of slaves who survived the middle passage” (McBride, 2).
In the opening paragraph how does McBride establish his persona and forecast some themes he will explore later in the essay?
He establishes his persona as a father-figure at the moment when he mentioned that his daughter was getting married and somewhat happened to be a Rapper and was well his distaste in music. As it shows that he’s old-school, social conserative to a certain extent; where in hi mindset he’d want his children the best out of everything, or even their daughter marry a much more educated person and whatnot. As in the last paragraph, he describes his strong distaste of hip-hop and his avoidance of music itself. As it’s a music genre that he didn’t grow up in, as Jazz and Blue were the most common genre during his early adulthood as he somewhat mentioned on page 2. “That is why, after 26 years, I have come to embrace this music I tried so hard to ignore. Hip-hop culture is not mine. Yet I own it. Much of it I hate. Yet I
love it, the good of it” (McBride, 5).
Discuss an element of you found most interesting or that related to your own experience.
Rapper Davey D has said, “When brothers start flexing their verbal skillz, it always reflects what’s going on politically, socially, and economically.” McBride seems to agree. Discuss one way McBride thinks rap reflects a cultural or social issue.
McBride discusses how each rapper discusses the social norms through the lyrics of their own songs and/or music itself, where a particular social issue within the citizens in the U.S., life experience that they went through, explicit wordings of the lyrics and whatnot. “the genre has become dominated by rappers who brag about their lives of crime. 50 Cent, the hip-hop star of the moment, trumpets his sexual exploits and boasts that he has been shot nine times” (McBride, 3).
At the end of the article McBride presents his own personal, conflicted relationship to rap music. Give an account of your own feelings/relationship to rap music.
When it comes to music in general, I am reserved to what I’m hearing. It’s not just that I try to avoid songs that use curse words and whatnot. But I am still trying to find my taste in music and expand myself in the life of music itself; as I always listen to radio music, what’s being played and whatnot. However, I’d say that I have neutral feelings towards rap music, as every genre, songs and whatnot, music has a meaning within itself and its lyrics based on what the artist is trying to say.
Share some lyrics from a rap song, or a song from another genre. Talk about one of the following:
The Nights by Avicii
“He said, “One day you’ll leave this world behind
So live a life you will remember.”
My father told me when I was just a child
These are the nights that never die
My father told me”
a) why it is meaningful to you:
This song is written and composed by Avicii who happened to be a well-known artist within Electronic music and I feel that his music and among other artists within the genre, he’s in is meaningful. Especially in contemporary culture, there are known electronic festivals that are always being held such as EDC, Coachella and whatnot. However, his song The Nights is quite fascinating, especially the lyrics that I’ve posted. Where I felt that within his lyrics, he’s trying to say that to live life to the fullest and those days will be memories that will be cherished and remembered to oneself and those who were part of it. And that’s something I found meaningful because that’s something I’d like to live by everyday, even if it’s nothing big such as traveling and whatnot, but also cherish the moment with those I consider close.
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