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Hip Hop Will Never Die! Our program is designed to help music artists that reside in poverty stricken areas reach and obtain their goals. Word Life Production is located in the heart of Downtown Suffolk, Virginia. Suffolk has the highest Poverty rate in the Hampton Roads Area. That poverty has been consistent for four decades. We are building this organization with hopes that we will provide long term careers as well as on the job training for young adults that are trying to paint a positive image for their kids. Hip hop seems to have reached a place where it has never been before. Although the millionaire economic status in the younger generation has increased, some artists tend to paint a negative image for the African American culture. African Americans have the highest rate of poverty throughout the United States. The pictures that are painted through rap music and videos have given our teen and young adults false information of what success really is. Record labels invest a lot of money into the stereotypical image of the African American culture that society sees when they look at hip hop and rap videos. Some people do not understand the reality of the pain that most African American artists had to endure in order for them to achieve the amount of success they have today. Word Life Production is dedicated to creating a new Hip Hop Movement. This movement will increase the selection of Artists real Hip Hop fans will have to choose from.This movement will paint a more positive image for the African American race.This movement will create a network for those that have a passion/love for hip hop.
For the Record...
United we stand, and divided we fall!
What has actually worked against us in the past is that we have not been united. We’ve seen rap artists die behind poetic lyrics. Our women are exploited every day. What keeps us headed towards that direction is that the black race has grown because we are able to do some of the things that we were not able to do 100 years ago. It is true that the African American race has grown financially, but mentally we have a lot of work ahead of us. We have more African American college students/graduates than ever before. However, according to researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 5,570 people (ages 10-24) were murdered in 2003. 82% were killed by firearms. In 2004 more than 750,000 young people ages 10-24 were treated in the emergency departments for injuries sustained due to violence. (CDC) According to researchers at the Bureau of Justice Statistics, through the years 1976-2005 94% of black victims were killed by black people. The struggles that we face are within ourselves. The division between us has caused us to fall. Nationally homicide is the leading cause of death for black men and the second leading cause of death for black women. (Center for Healing Hearts and Spirits)
Does Hip Hop/Rap have anything to do with the violence in the African American race?
I would not say that Hip Hop or Rap has caused such negative violence in our race. Rappers clearly rap about what they see daily. What they see is gang violence, drugs, poverty, and so forth. Word life is dedicated to the stop the violence movement that KRS One started in 1988/1989. We support people that have suffered the loss of a loved one due to violence. We support people of all races and gender that are victims of violence. Through our music, we hope to reach audiences that need to hear some of the things that we poetically speak about. We plan to be a major asset to the Spoken Word community and Hip Hop Culture. We are a voice in this world and we deserve to be heard.
The great KRS One once said, “Hip Hop is something you live, Rap is something you do. According to Henry Adaso, Hip Hop is made up of four elements. Those four elements included Emceeing (Master of Ceremony/hype man), deejays, graffiti, and break dancing. Hip Hop introduced a sound that changed the sound of music especially in the African American community. Rap originated in the South Bronx,New York City. Before there were Fancy cars, lots of money, and expensive jewelry, there was just one microphone with a bunch of MC’s that proved themselves through their lyrics. Record labels were not quick to sign on to something that had not been proven fit into their wonderful world of music. The first commercial rap artists were introduced in the mid seventies. They are known today as Fatback band and the Sugar Hill Gang. King Tim II Personality Jock (Fatback band), and Rappers Delight (Sugar Hill Gang) both made the Billboard charts introducing the world to the new underground sound that African Americans created. Afrika Bambaataa, Grand Master Flash and DJ Kool Herc would later become legends in the Hip Hop industry.
RAP VS. HIP HOP
Afrika Bambaataa said that rap is part of the Hip Hop Culture, along with break dancing, clothes, slang, and hot gear. For generations, rap and Hip Hop has paved its way through society together. There was never one without the other. Rap is metaphors that are produced by those that consider themselves MC’s. MC’s like KRS One paved the way for artist such as Nelli, Lil Wayne, TI, etc… Rap started in areas that were poverty stricken. Those areas include African American communities and Spanish communities. It gave people in those communities something to do while decreasing the violence during that time. Since then, record labels have taken over what was started in those communities and diversified it causing Hip Hop to fall dramatically. According to Ta-Nehisi Coats of Time Magazine, there are more people in today’s generation than ever before telling rappers to kill that noise. According to the Music Trade publication Billboard, in 2002 rap sales were down 44% and in 2007 it dropped 13% from that number. This year sales are down 33%. Hip Hop is still alive! It’s just not on commercial radio. Many radio listeners have gone to underground, college or internet radio. Those that don’t listen to the radio turn to digital resources or recorded CD’s. Resources such as those keep artists like KRS One on the Bill Board chart. According to the political palace, radio stations that use to be in the top 10 are not even in the top five today. Researchers at the political palace believe that people are turning away from the radio to find Hip Hop somewhere else giving real hip hoppers the opportunity to embrace the real essence of Hip Hop while creating a network of good artists that record labels often overlook.
Works Cited
Afrika Bambaataa’s Definition of Hip Hop September 23, 1996
<http://www.doved.com/whatisbam.html
Henry Adaso A Brief History of Hip Hop and Rap 2008 <http://rap.about.com/od/rootssofraphiphop/p/rootsofrap.html
Ta Nehisi Coates Hip Hop’s Down Beat Time in Partnership with CNN Friday August 17, 2007 <http://www.time.com/time/printout/o,8816,1653639,00.html
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