... the mountains always in the horizon, a never ending stream of people going in and out of the front door and her life, a great place to live. Gwen remembers sleeping on a small green Army cot in her parent's bedroom, at the age of four. She remembers being terrified of the skeletons in the closet, ... from them. Her father routinely sprayed the house with "Skeleton Spray" that smelled uncannily like Glade Country Fresh air freshener. Even to this day neither Gwen nor her older sister can stand the smell of that. On the not so rare occasion that the cute little four year old stayed up all...

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... by her hair, smacked her up/Thinking fuck it, mug her while you"re there, jack her up..."(www.ohhla.com) Grammy award winner LL Cool J says that although he does not demean women in his music he can understand the rappers who do. He sais that the only power a lot ... , 4o percent of Black males in their 20's are under criminal supervision. "There is a natural inclination of young people to imitate what they perceive as cool" says Tucker (Waldron 1996). On the other hand Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who is a long time supporter of rap music feels that it is "foolhardy" ... the most freque...

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... taught them about a whole other world that they could never conceive. Compton. With this came the movement of gangsta rap, with its hard-hitting lyrics, and truthful story telling. In the height of this period, it was evident that the white population bought into it. A statistic done in 1992 ... Rick Ruben, Def Jam CEO's, started a small independent record group. They helped represent some of New York's finest rappers and introduced such acts as LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, and Davy D. Now, Polygram owns 60 percent of Def Jam. Tommy Boy, another label that launched other Hip Hop...

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... etc. Rap during this time was rebellious, yet socially conscious Most of rap's pioneers originated from New York City. Run DMC, Afrika Baambaata, DJ Cool Herc were amongst the first rappers. The 1980s and early 90's is considered the Golden Age of Hip Hop. During this period rap was becoming ... moving away from the more socially conscious themes, to more superficial themes such as flashy cars, expensive clothes and jewelry, degrading women and explicit lyrics became more common. Braggadocio, or "bragging rap" becomes popular in this era by artists like Kanye West and Jay Z. Rap and ... ...

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... times. The negative effects of this eventually led to the fall of his marriage to Carol. The two were divorced in 1942. A year later John met and dancer/singer named, Gwen Conger and they married. The couple had two sons together. But like the first marriage, this one also fell apart and John and ... Gwen were divorced in 1948. By 1950 John had married his third wife, Elaine Scott. They did not have any kids. ("John Steinbeck Biography- , "John Steinbeck- , "Steinbeck, John (Ernst)-) John had ... ...

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... times. The negative effects of this eventually led to the fall of his marriage to Carol. The two were divorced in 1942. A year later John met and dancer/singer named, Gwen Conger and they married. The couple had two sons together. But like the first marriage, this one also fell apart and John and ... Gwen were divorced in 1948. By 1950 John had married his third wife, Elaine Scott. They did not have any kids. ("John Steinbeck Biography- , "John Steinbeck- , "Steinbeck, John (Ernst)-) John had ... ...

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... interpreted as a way of proving their existence, that by acknowledged for either good or bad, they get noticed and what they say gets heard".) (Hebdige,Hiding in the light). Rap lyrics in the hip hop sub culture are about the problems rappers have seen, such as poverty, crime, violence, racism, poor living conditions, drugs, alcoholism, corruption, and prostitution. These are serious ... 's famous swishing sound" (Small, 1992, 12). The beat can be traditional funk or heavy metal, anything goes. The most important part of rap is rapping, fans want to hear the lyrics. During every generati...

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... today. Many people have said that by listening to these types of music, it influences teens to become violent and start using illegal substances. Some adults have concerns about the lyrics in Hip-Hop and Rap, which contains explicit references to sex, drugs, and racism. However, I believe that even though these artists or performers speak openly about these harsh subjects, they ... influences of rap music as early as the 1940's but it never really started developing in the 1970's. Urban DJ's started to manipulate records to make scratching rhythms and other cool sounds. The "rapper" or ...

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... today. Many people have said that by listening to these types of music, it influences teens to become violent and start using illegal substances. Some adults have concerns about the lyrics in Hip-Hop and Rap, which contains explicit references to sex, drugs, and racism. However, I believe that even though these artists or performers speak openly about these harsh subjects, they ... influences of rap music as early as the 1940's but it never really started developing in the 1970's. Urban DJ's started to manipulate records to make scratching rhythms and other cool sounds. The "rapper" or ...

• Word Count: 984
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... today. Many people have said that by listening to these types of music, it influences teens to become violent and start using illegal substances. Some adults have concerns about the lyrics in Hip-Hop and Rap, which contains explicit references to sex, drugs, and racism. However, I believe that even though these artists or performers speak openly about these harsh subjects, they ... influences of rap music as early as the 1940's but it never really started developing in the 1970's. Urban DJ's started to manipulate records to make scratching rhythms and other cool sounds. The "rapper" or ...

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... worn. As rap music has emerged from ghettos, it too has played an extremely important role in the lives of American youth today. Large numbers of "parental-advisory" and "explicit lyrics" CD's releases from disco-graphic companies are causing tremendous parental concerns because of their violent ethics. Parents are very apprehensive about their children's principles, and the behavior they learn from ... one that was negatively rewarded. (Pedersen, 2000, p. 181-184). There is a higher probability that youth and others will remember and follow the wrongly rewarded actions such as with gan...

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... " and not to community or religious groups. Community and Religious have been on popular music's tail for years, carrying out campaigns and banning music they consider offensive or contains "questionable lyrics". A commonly held myth is that people have the right to NOT be offended. Some people believe that anything THEY find offensive should be legally censored. It's like a law theyve ... April, Chicago radio stations receive 15,000 complaint letters protesting their broadcast of rock music. Æ'x Variety runs a three-part series on what they term "leer-ics," or R&B songs with obscene ly...

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... had a bad reputation over the last decade from the gangsta era of N.W.A to a more present-tense 50 Cent. Some believe that thug rappers and their gangsta lyrics should be the gun-activists main focus. Jay Nordlinger states: "It must be, in part, a fear of uncoolness "of fogeydom "that keeps many ... kill you,"" anger the average person that knows nothing about hip-hop culture, but to the regular rap listener, those words are nothing but another set of lyrics being heard over a track of music. "When Eartha Kitt salaciously sings "Santa Baby,"" does that really mean that she wants to sle...

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... began, it was just a battle on records and no one was getting, however, as soon as the fans became involved it became a serious issue. It looked as if the violent lyrics in songs cause the fans to react violently. Then the media had a way of portraying rap music as all violent and negative. They never showed the positive side of the ... done in his community, such as start youth programs and help build playgrounds. It is safe to say hat some rap music has violent lyrics, but at the same time, it also has a large number of conscience lyrics as well. When newspapers would quote a lyric fr...

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... to do with society problems through the eyes of a teenager. At the show, the first song they played was one of my favorite's, "Teenage Politics". Some of the lyrics to this song are, "No I'm not mad but I think they forget what it's like and how hard it is to be a teenager. This is a new day ... about love. The fifth song they sang was "Do you feet hurt". This song is about love and reading poems to his girlfriend through her window. A few of the lyrics are, "Can I see you after you get out of school? I won't even mind it, if you treat me cruel. Take a ride on my Vespa, I'll ... you a ...

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... his life. Afeni and Tupac would live with Ray Luv and his family in downtown Marin City, known as the "Jungle." This is when Tupac first started writing rhymes and lyrics and started thinking more seriously about rapping. Tupac and Ray started to want nice cars, jewelry and a better lifestyle and realized they could have the opportunity for that through rapping ... together by reading many books on many different topics, ranging from Zen to Buddha, to astrology, medicines, and Cultural Literacy. He would attack the point of these books in his lyrics, questioning which perspective they w...

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... teens (artandculture). One would think Billie's tragic childhood would leave her in poverty for the rest of her life, but luckily her amazing voice and intense lyrics would boost her to fame. When Billie was eighteen she moved to New York to live with her mother. . She admired musicians like Louis Armstrong and ... leaves and blood at the root/ Black bodies swaying in the Southern breeze/ Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees (pbs.org)." At the time these lyrics were shocking to America and I"m sure made a lot of white southerners very angry. Billie Holiday is a true American hero ...

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... originated? Salsa is believed to come from various different sources. It's been said that Salsa is the music of Puerto Rico. Others talk of its roots in African rhythms, Spanish lyrics, Cuban street bands, Caribbean song and dance styles and Latin American jazz. The roots of Salsa take us back to Cuba. Cuba was the home of diverse styles like son ... as Joe Cuba, Willie Colon, Rubén Blades, Ricardo Ray and Eddie Palmieri began to accept the commercial term Salsa to describe their musical concept. In the beginning years salsa lyrics mainly were about the problems that moved the people l...

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... in society. It has shown it's self to be a cultural mirror, reflecting the society of the time and changing with it. One can often listen to the lyrics of a number of songs from a certain era and get a feel of some of the major issues of time. The opposite can also be true, many ... popularity was mostly a symptom of the generation gap, but many parents put the full blame on rock and roll. Many saw rock with its rebellious tone, sexual lyrics, energy and faster and harder beat as subversive and a threat to the suburban way of life. It was often thought "evil", "garbage" and was sometime...

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... include Nirvana, Beck, John Mellencamp and the list goes on. The message is, censor obscene music and censor "pro-drug lyrics". These censors announced their plan to pressure major record companies to discontinue production of what they called "obscene" music and music which contains " blatantly pro- ... drug lyrics. All of the CDs targeted as "obscene" already carry Parental Advisory Labels. Parents are already provided with the information they need if they ... music takes the freedom of expression away form everyone, musicians and fans of every age. The increasing controversy surroundi...

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... they continually argue when Tom receives "a call from New York", but shortly after, they carry on as if no conflict had arisen between them. The song lyrics, Weeping in the Forest, by Archie Roach, are about the stolen generation. These lyrics reveal what life was like for the Aborigines before and after the aboriginal children were taken unfairly from their families. The ... lyrics speak of what changes the area, including the trees, have undergone as a result of this experience. When the child says, "Let me see the things you see", it expresses her ... ...

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... , who is played by Vince Vaughn. Trent, a wannabe actor, who with his "slang-spouting"(Turan 2) personality like "you are so money" (meaning how cool somebody is or how good they look) and "beautiful baby" (describing women) seems to be the leader of the group. Furthermore, with his constant bar-hopping ... and woman chasing techniques try to get Mike out of his drought. Overall, he is a cool modern day lounge lizard, who thinks a trip to Vegas and a quick one night stand is all his friend Mike needs. Furthermore, the movie 'Swingers ... ' attracts its audience with creative humor. The m...

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... about the reality of the black societies. Tupac said the album "was his practice to introduce a center character through whom he could develop a narrative". The album was bursting with militant lyrics, illustrating violence between the police and young black males. Most stories in which violence encounters, often leads to death and imprisonment. (http://www.alleyezonme.com) One of the most popular ... like a drug for me. It makes me feel so good and forget about my hardships. I felt like Pac's songs were written just for me. I could identify with a lot of his lyrics. I figured if Pac ma...

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... major cause of racial stereotypes in the African-American community is rap music. Rap artists such as Snoop Dogg, Nas, DMX, and the late Christopher Wallace (Notorious B.I.G) & Tupac often use lyrics riddled with incidents such as the dealing and use of narcotics, promiscuity, robbery and homicide. The large exposure of rap music, currently one of the biggest selling music genre in ... people live that same exact dangerous lifestyle often glamorized by irresponsible rap artists. However, there are rap artists such as Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Outkast, and The Roots that write lyrics about t...

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... Hollis, Queens in New York, a middle class neighborhood. Run DMC's first single was "It's Like That" in 1983. Run DMC started "New Age" hip-hop with powerful beat and innovative lyrics. They were the inspiration for the next wave of hip-hop artists. Their first record was "King of Rock," in 1985, it was the first hip-hop album to achieve ... Now." The album went gold with his first single called "Brenda's Got a Baby." The album was criticized by many people including Vice President Dan Quayle for having vulgar and explicit lyrics. Up until then, Tupac's criminal record was non existent ...

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