Assignment 10, Part 1

Tyler Diedrick

English 102

10-20-2011

Assignment 10 Part 1

·         …rap music shouldn't be seen as just deviant behavior put into words.

o   This passage is how I personally feel about the overall portrayal of rap music and is a good shortened version of why I chose this topic. Working off this statement without incorporating too much bias will be helpful in creating the overall structure of the paper.

·         "It has been argued that rap serves as a voice of protest for those left out of the “American dream”

o   A possible origin of rap music; though many of today’s rap songs are based solely on having a good time and straight-up rhythmic balance, some artists still use an old-school style as described in this quote. I think this quote creates a good argument as to the general theme(s) within rap music as a whole. Backing this quote up with balanced evidence trying to prove rap is either “garbage,” or a talented expression of thoughts will create a good argument in my own paper.

·          "...exposure to violent rap videos leads to a greater acceptance of violence and lowered academic aspirations among young African Americans”

o   What about the effect of rap on academic aspirations of young whites and other races? Can I find information to back this quote up, or even info that disproves it? This quote contrasts well with the previous one, contrasting quotes like this backed up with specific details are good content for a research paper.

·         -Materialism: Expression of one's wealth

-Misogyny: portrayal of men's dominance over women (in rap music videos)

-Colorism: prejudice based on skin tone/color

o   These three key terms are very important in both understanding the basis and content of rap, along with different viewpoints towards rap. Materialism and misogyny both are terms expressed avidly in many rap songs, whether good or bad. Colorism is referring to part of the population that forms negative opinions of rap music based on the artists’ skin color. The three of these terms could each create a section heading within my paper to separately focus on different ideas?

·         …thematic content, Afrocentric features, and gender differences.

o   How does each of these affect portrayal of rap music? Express this in my paper!

·         …misogyny emerged in rap music during the 1980s; it has remained a large component of rap in many different ways. Even songs with a title that doesn't relate to women at all sometimes fit misogynistic comments in their songs somewhere

·         negative view of rap/ positive outlook on rap music/ neutral standpoint

o   I was able to find various articles that had different perspectives of rap, this is important in order for me not to write a biased paper. Factual information was very prevalent and important in each, which is something to think about when writing my paper.

·         -new social movement theory

-political opportunity theory

-Rap-music Attitude and Perception Scale (RAP)

o   The two theories or the “push” and “pull” effects are attempts to determine the goals of rap artists when writing songs. If there are deeper lyrical meanings than what are initially seen, what are they? I’ll provide examples in my paper. I am still not sure how much I will use the RAP scale for information.

·         …rap music has changed tremendously in many ways since its beginning in the 1970s.

o   Obviously the content within rap has changed drastically since its origin in the ‘70s and has become much more explicit. How has this affected peoples’ portrayal of rap? Has it changed much, or stayed similar to what it was?

·         Violence has gradually become associated with power, wealth, glamour, etc., which has also increased acceptance of rap. Changing social conditions and increased teenage violent behavior is seen as a cause of such a change.

o   This is a very negative way in which wealth and glamour is to be achieved and is a huge cause of negative portrayals of rap. However, is this statement true? If so, should it be considered ok for artists to produce songs with content similar to this?

Grouping similar subject matter together and ordering them in a logical sense to achieve an overall goal (in my case answering the research question) is the best way to go about writing an initial draft. For example, with the content above, theoretical information will be separate from opinionated comments, etc. As the drafting and revising process continues, I’ll make the information flow better and better to make a final copy.

The focus of my paper is obviously the research question, but beyond that it seems best to focus on race, gender, age, and lyrical content and how they relate to rap music portrayal. I was able to find plenty of articles and information about each of those four things and I think they will each help answer my research question well and lead to good inquiry.