Hip Hop Shaped American Culture

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The Hip Hop culture emerged in the 1970s and served as a way for individuals to flee their misfortunes. With the influence of American culture, politics, and economics from the 1960s to the 1990s, Hip Hop was shaped into a tool for social commentary instead of entertainment. Thus, the complicated truths in the world began to unfold through Hip Hop music. Today, Hip Hop is an artistic and cultural movement that has the power to influence American culture, politics, and economics. This essay will examine how Hip Hop was shaped by and in return shaped America.
Due to white flight and socioeconomic changes, the South Bronx started to decay in the 1960s, while African Americans and Puerto Ricans migrated to the area. By the 1970s, drugs, violence, …show more content…
In the film, Straight Outta Compton, the Hip Hop group, N.W.A., ushered a movement in society that spoke the truth about oppressed people living in the ghetto. Their music, like many other artists in the late 1980s and 1990s, did not let the public ignore social issues, such as the Rodney King beating and the L.A. riots. Although the Civil Rights Movement was supposed to pave a path for African Americans, racism continues to survive in American culture. Artists, like Tupac, N.W.A., and Biggie Smalls, were the activists of their generation due to them tackling Civil Rights issues like past generations. Hip Hop in the late 1980s and 1990s became a reality rather than an entertaining genre due to it serving as a tool for social commentary and connecting to a global audience. Therefore, American culture, politics, and economics in the 1960s to the 1990s shaped Hip Hop into an artistic and cultural movement that expressed complicated truths in the world, especially in poverty-ridden …show more content…
Due to young individuals idolizing popular culture and the media, artists have the ability to impact the listeners’ minds. In the book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, DJ Cool Herc acknowledges the power Hip Hop contains. He says, “The hip-hop generation can take a stand collectively and make a statement…They are reaching young people, showing them what the world could be- people living together and having fun” (Herc, xii). This shows how Hip Hop artists can stand up for social and political issues, form organizations to make a change, encourage the Hip Hop generation to vote and live healthy lifestyles, and more (Herc, xiii). All in all, Hip Hop contains the ability to shape American culture, politics, and economics with just one song due to its powerful
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