Where we are & where we need to be : Tricia Rose

Tricia Rose : The Hip-Hop Wars

In this article by Tricia Rose, I think some thoughts she's trying to convey is that hip hop as seen today is seen as an economic means to attain an end.

She writes " It was mostly for fun and for play. It wasn't primarily an economic industry, where people got involved more for money than for creativity"

I think by that she means that many artists in the hip hop industry today see hip hop as an opportunity to attain a better lifestyle. She also mentions that African Americans weren't always living in ghettos, or in urban neighborhoods. Hip hop used to be almost like a tool used as a political movement, something used to tell a story of hard ships, and knowledge. Fact is people living in urban slum's and hoods have more of an opportunity to be incarcerated and to tell about their hardships faced through that experience, than they do to have upward mobility and access to higher education.

Today when you turn on the radio, hip hop, or what we now perceive to be hip hop, talks about getting drunk, partying in clubs, and meeting "hoes". Tricia Rose believes that hip hop is in a metaphorical ICU. By this she means that she knows that people are in deep distress, but talking about your .45, or how many hoes your "banging" wont necessarily improve your situation. Hip hop today has simply been commodified. People are so busy consuming that they don't take real effort to notice what the hidden languages are which hip hop speaks.

Somethings I dont understand about hip hop culture is the lack of transcending. It seems like for so long it's been stuck in this trance where artists such as Jay - Z & Kayne West seem to talk more about themselves, as opposed to about situations that most Americans face such as Economic hardships, or lack of access to education.

This article reminds me of Hines article on understanding the messages of the media which we're fed on a daily basis. Overall, I really enjoyed this article.