B. Number from one to six the importance and relevance of these musical artists, one being the most important and six being the most dispensable in today’s society and your life.

II. (Gather and present results to the audience)

A. Margo Whitmire, a writer from the prominent music industry magazine “Billboard, stated that in this year Grammy Awards “Pharrell Williams, who along with Outkast, Jay-Z and Beyonce, leads the nominations with six….” All of these artists are hip-hop artists such as the Notorious B.I.G.

B. On the 13 of February of 2004 Billboard also reported on their web site, the top 10 songs being heard in America are all Hip-Hop and R & B songs.

C. This evidence proves that although you may or may not think that Hip-Hop is important or relevant in today’s society and in your life, the rest of the country does.

III. Should this be an alarming concern? Does Hip-Hop hold credibility as a good, important, form of music? Is the majority of this country supporting music that is leading society on a downward, evolutionary spiral? Today I will in

2. The 2004 Grammy awards were inundated with only the most popular hip-hop artists not paying any attention to other critically acclaimed hip-hop acts of the past year.

I. Society is settling for mediocrity

(Hand out copy of the lyrics to “Moment of Truth” and play the song for the audience)

(Transition: I will begin my speech exploring the side that dismisses hip-hop as dispensable)

A. The National hip-hop summit, organized by Russel Simmons, founder of Def Jam Records who distribute and produce such artists as Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, addresses the challenges and responsibilities of the hip-hop industry.

Some topics in this essay:
America Hip-Hop, Rawcus Records, Beastie Boys, Gerald Kreyche, II Hip-hop, English Ebonics, Da Club”, Truth” GangStarr, Hand MTV, Oxford Dictionary, today’s society, form music, hip-hop artists, hip hop, majority country supporting, downward evolutionary, society downward, evolutionary spiral, hidden beach, grammy awards, american society, music majority country, country supporting music, supporting music leading, music leading society,