Rap and Hip Hop music is usually consumed by teens and young adults. It is thought to be a more urban genre due to its content, which often describes living in poverty, gang activity, violence, drug use, and often also refers to rising above these things and achieving financial power and respect. The energy and [...]
7. December 2009.
The Categorical Side of Hip Hop
7. December 2009.
Love Me or Hate Me, Still an Obsession? Race in Female Hip-Hop
I will be considering Lady Sovereign and Lil’ Mama’s overall presentation of race in hip-hop and rap music. This will be done by critiquing their style, musical lyrics, and comparing them to a theory of “discursive practices.” In the Storey text, Herman Gray mentions three discursive practices of contemporary television representations of Blackness. These three [...]
6. December 2009.
Will the Real Slim Shady Please Sit Down?
Just a few years ago, the world was introduced to the music sensation that was Eminem. Not only were people shocked to see a white man attempting to succeed in a genre of music that was generally reserved as a place for African-American success, but people were also appalled by the violent, anti-female content of [...]
6. December 2009.
…I’m Gonna Let You Finish, Kanye
Imma Let You Finish….
When considering popular rap artists of our time, it is hard not to consider the infamous but widely popular career of Kanye West. Although West could be considered to be one of the top music artists of our generation, his career has also been marked by controversy after controversy. Many would argue [...]
30. October 2009.
Critical Race Theory
The assimilation and the discourse of invisibility treat the black race as invisible and unimportant. This is shown commonly in older television shows and historical past times. The environment between the white and black race is shown as mostly white with black characters/people as the support system, the help, or even the laborers. The pluralist [...]
30. October 2009.
Guess Who & Gray’s Discursive Practices!
In looking at The Critical Race Theory, and what Storey calls “Postmodern Blackness”, we see many representations within our current popular culture. In the article, The Politics of Representation in Network Television by Herman Gray we are offered three different terms regarding “discursive practices”. These practices are the assimilationist, pluralist, and multiculturalists. Each of these [...]
30. October 2009.
Living Single…with Critical Race Theory
According to Gray, there are three different discursive practices through which to view television representations of blackness. The first is the assimilationist approach. In this discursive practice, issues of race are treated as problems of individual experience and the idea of color blindness is privileged. In these programs, the racist history of the United States [...]
30. October 2009.
Critical race theory spin-off
The three discursive practices of contemporary television representations of blackness described by Gray, assimilationist, pluralist, and multiculturalist, represent the ways different programs use signification to portray issues of race, and its presence in American society today (p. 294). Gray explains assimilationist television as showing merit in racial invisibility or “color blindness”. This practice ignores structured [...]
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