MC Question #5 pg 99

Tupac Shakur, is the legendary example of the ultimate hip hop artists portrayed negatively in the mainstream media. He was in fact, the definition of drama throughout his career. Evidently Tupac in many ways did impact the hip hop community with a forceful negative approach. It is my personal opinion that Tupac identified with the potential celebrity the press and media could produce with any form of coverage, let alone negative coverage. It is not very difficult to understand that American culture thirsts and obsesses for news, particularly bad news. I believe it was Tupac’s strategy that lead him to success in a short amount of time. Tupac created the East Coast versus West Coast War which plagued the music industry for years to come, even after his murder. It was a very smart move, to some degree, to use the media outlet at his own disposal. His fallout though, was obviously, his brutal and early death. When the media harassed him, he harassed them back. If he was targeted then he used it as an opportunity to be on the nine o’ clock news. He initiated controversy in his lyrics. Tupac called out specific artists, provoking them to respond. One huge example of the extent Tupac Shakur went to, was when he used the Notorious BIG’s wife, Faith as a part of a plot. She was pretty much naïve to the conflict at the time but she met Tupac Shakur one night and I believe there was a photo taken or she sang some lyrics for one of his songs. Tupac orchestrated the entire experience as an affair and plotted it out to the media and in his music in order to humiliate the Notorious Big. His was very successful of this account. Tupac Shakur was a very troubled individual but is a prime example of how the media played a huge role in his negative exposure. He was a great artist and now that he has passed he is legendary. The only downside of Tupac Shakur’s career is that he is not really recognized for the positive influence he had or the genius music he created. He had tracks like “Dear Momma”, and “Brenda”, that were iconic. He also had some very fun and energetic creations that were masterpieces in the hip hop community. I even remember Tupac rapping about politics and the community. He did not always degrade women, he lifted them up and idolized them too. Tupac Shakur was a beautiful artist but in this specific situation it was not only the media but it was the artist himself that created the negative vibe in which to categorize him in. We all seem to forget where this man came from. He was a drama student in high school. He never even was involved in gangs growing up until he surfaced in the music industry. Tupac Shakur was a very sensitive, passionate, and intelligent young man. He ultimately used the media at his discretion but unfortunately he lost control and the overwhelming intensity of the responsibility that came about led to his destruction.

The Misunderstood

The other day I was channel surfing and came across an interesting program, it was on one of the music channels, I can’t remember which one. One of the group members from Cypress Hill was giving an interview that was taking place in the neighborhood where he was raised. For those of you who aren’t familiar; Cypress Hill’s genre is somewhat the gangster/hood mentality. I caught the show towards the end. He was riding around the streets, while a camera was filming him talk. He passed the block where he had been shot years ago. He was telling his story and how it happened. He then tied in how he eventually had to choose between making music or gang banging. He said he couldn’t be going to the studio, shows, etc. hitting up everyone he saw (something gang members do). He decided to do music. After his explanation of how he made the difficult choice he went on to speak in a positive, role model type of way. It seems like the intent of the program was to show good examples for the youth. Cypress Hill has some very vulgar music, very disrespectful, and violent music. I believe one of their tracks is “I could just kill a man”, and another “Insane in the Membrane”. They also have multiple songs about doing and selling drugs. These guys are legends in the hip hop world, but the youth tend to be very naïve when idolizing artist such as these. Youth lack life experience which gives them a disadvantage when their judgment comes into play. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with music and expressing oneself in any way they desire. The problem arises when the youth take much of the music literally. Here we have the artist years and years later after his music is released, promoting the opposite lifestyle of what he was almost instigating in his music.  When a teen can relate to music that’s just a wonderful thing, no matter how dim the situation may be. It’s a way for kid not to feel alone.  The kid can feel connected and understand that there are others who have gone through the same type of life (for example: the gang life). It’s a good thing to be able to relate but when a child doesn’t understand that music is created as a form of expression and creativity they sometimes get lost in the lyrics. If cypress Hill is rapping about “I could just kill a man”, a naïve kid could think that this type of thing is acceptable. All the while, the goal of this artist was to use the environment that he was in as a means to change his life in a positive way, to make music. The kid doesn’t realize that Gangs get you know where in life and the actual band member came to that realization as soon as he started doing music and dropped the gang he was associated with.  

Who knew?

How do I converse with my parents, my friends? At first glance, this question seemed all too foreign to me. I couldn’t think of an example, let’s see, I eat with my family, I gossip with the friends, and well, I really couldn’t pinpoint a significant example in order to relate to the question. Then, it occurred to me, of course, the way I converse with my 7 month old daughter. She is all too new to my world and she brings to light endless changes in my life since her birth. The relationship I have with my daughter is a perfect example. I lived alone when Jewel was first born. During that time I had become accustomed to being comfortable not talking for a few days. I had the thoughts in my head and occasionally sang along to a song on the radio but that was really it. If there were no incoming phone calls then I really didn’t speak much because I wasn’t working at the time and stayed home a lot with my infant. I then found myself with this adorable bundle of joy. A little precious infant, new to my world. I found myself busy, very busy in my mind. So much “noise” going on in my mind. I was always planning, thinking, and thinking some more. The voice in my head was on overdrive. The funny thing is when I would snap out of it, I noticed if I’m spending all this time thinking, who’s talking to the baby. My mind was loud with thoughts but my home was silent. I would stop myself and take a look at my baby and notice its freakin silent in this house! I started talking to my baby more and more when I noticed this, I felt very terrible, you can imagine. It was a little weird to adjust but I managed. During the transition period, I made sure to love my baby so much. I showered her with enormous amounts of affection to make up for the lack of verbal communication. I always made sure to give her eye contact, so that she knew she was important and I noticed her. I would hug and kiss her all the time. I would sleep close to her and hardly ever leave her sight. That was our conversation for a brief time. A mother and daughter getting acquainted with each other in various ways. What a wonderful time in my life. She understood me. She knew that I love her and even though I didn’t speak to her much in the beginning, she was well aware that I communicated to her in other ways. Of course I quickly got used to speaking to her verbally but it was a special time adjusting to my new company. The hugs, the kisses, the eye contact…it was all very beautiful. Once I shut my mind off and started speaking to her more the two habits naturally combined into a great relationship.

They Are Deaf

I can’t believe that I decided on these questions versus the first one available. To be honest with you all, I believe Bloom to be a bit harsh but at the same time I felt a huge amount of truth to what he was saying.  I don’t know where to begin. Music is a wonderful thing. I happen to love music. I’m fascinated with the art of expression music can take you to or allow you to experience. I love the escape within music. With all this in mind, I have to say the generations of our time seem somewhat bland. I don’t know exactly how to explain this so I will do my very best. I think everyone may be far too shallow and very used to that being the norm. I have noticed that the youth use music as a very easy way to experience art. Ask a kid, who is your favorite band or singer/rapper, then ask who is your favorite poet or author, which do you think will get the quickest response? It’s kind of like we are raised in a generation that doesn’t necessarily value intellect. It all starts from home, we sit and watch hours of television, play video games, listen to music. Where is the thought process? Where is the parent stressing the value of intellect, vocabulary, or creative thinking? It’s easier to sit your kid in front of a TV. or radio instead of taking them out to the book store or discussing a topic that sparks some type of educational thought process. I for one, think that there are many factors that contribute to the erosion of the imagination of our young people but we have to definitely pinpoint the obvious. Maybe parents have too many pressures on their selves, with work, bills, taxes, etc. Music is a beautiful thing but the way our society idolizes it does make it so that it interferes with a young person’s development of a passionate relationship to the art and thought, which are the substance in liberal education. I agree strongly with Bloom in this are but also recognize that there are many variables that contribute to this culture of “zombies”, music is just an obvious one to point finger to. The real enemy is not music as a whole though; the real enemy is the “big picture” of the problem. For example, you can blame parents all day long for having obese children but “we” as a people, a society, a culture, have let that happen. In a sense we have made it okay to be overweight, or have a poor diet. The same with music, like TV, video games, and minimal education, we have “Okayed” it as a society to be dull. We need to support each other in driving one another to more “well rounded” a people. We need to teach and promote all things. Like they say, “too much of any one thing is bad”.  Our young people need to have a passion for reading and writing. For creating and not just idolizing the artist; becoming the artist! Not to just sit in front of the television, numb, but to value a conversation with another human being. I can understand why Bloom says “they are deaf”; the youth are missing out on so much, much that is no longer valued in our society.