Scape G.O.A.T

The culture of hip-hop has been taking a lot of flack and criticism in 21st century, more so than in past decades. This is due to the fact that it has taken a front seat in American pop culture and has manifested itself in many different facets in our everyday lives. "Main stream America" is becoming intimidated by the black faces and voices they can no longer avoid and suppress. This causes an animosity towards an entire culture that has done more to bring people of different backgrounds together than any other. Hip-hop is here and alive and it is not going anywhere. While there are many things we have to work on as a culture and industry we have made great strides as a community and proven that we are a marketable force backed by many valid art forms that are beginning to penetrate the once "white bread" facade of the American status quo.

Unfortunately, hip-hop does not get the credit it deserves. They look at it as the downfall of our society and many older Black people feel as if it has contributed to many derogatory stereotypes they faught so hard to do away with. In many ways they are correct; a lot of the images in hip-hop promote violence, disrespect towards women, and drug use. But, on the other hand hip-hop has done many more positive things for the community that outweigh the bad. As I mentioned before, hip-hop hs brought people of all nationalites, races, and ethnicities together in a manner that our parents' generations were unable to. It has given the once disenfranchised youth of "urban" America an opportunity to become entrepreneurs and practice many selfless acts of anthropology.

Regardless of how many positive things we accomplish, and how much we contribute to pop trends we will always be looked down upon and disrespected. This is no one else's fault than our own though. Since hip-hop speaks of reality in all forms, some of the subject matter of MC's is less than desireable and offensive to our elders. I for one, do not feel any need to change this or silence those who speak for the streets, but there needs to be more alternative images that represent the different voices within our culture. Acts such as Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and Nas show that hip-hop does not have one monolithic view on life and that even though we are downtrodden we all do not let the tragedies of the past define who we are in the present.

We have come a long way and have a long way to go. Our culture is still in its "teenage" years. When we grow more we will be an unstoppable force.