Representin’: the rise of the hip-hop generation.
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Derek Shealey (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Noelle Morrissette
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to define and document some of the issues and identifications commonly linked to the hip-hop generation. This particular faction of the African-American population is classified in the introduction as a group with unique values and cultural perspectives, as well as a host of generational mentalities (productive and pernicious) firmly embedded in the primary cultural movement of their era: hip-hop. Rap music is the greatest artistic achievement of this generation. Its popularity transcends economic, racial, and geographic boundaries. The lyrics of rap artists, from select periods of the hip-hop era, will be the major objects of critical analysis in this thesis.
The hip-hop generation is alternately referred to as the post civil rights generation. Thus, the latter term provides a framework for locating the cultural and socioeconomic experiences of these African-Americans. The aftermath of the civil rights/ black power movement was characterized by many visible signs of social progress: desegregated public facilities, an increase in black elected officials, and a steadily growing black middle class. However the onset of globalization and the steep decline of American manufacturing jobs throughout the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the presence of a troubled urban minority underclass. Despite its crucial role in defining and producing contemporary hip-hop culture, this same minority underclass has been substantially disenfranchised and marginalized in the broader national sphere. The implications of this cultural paradox are at the heart of “Representin’.”
Representin’: the rise of the hip-hop generation.
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Created on 5/1/2010
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2010
- Keywords
- black nationalism, cultural studies, feminism, hip-hop, urban communities, youth culture
- Subjects
- Rap (Music) $x Social aspects.
- African Americans $x Social conditions $x History.
- Urban African Americans $x History.
- Hip-hop $z United States $x Influence.
- Clothing and dress $x Social aspects.