Hip-Hop Media Assignment

Five hip-hop songs:

1. Talib Kweli - Get By http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77zxCAfVeD8
2. K'naan - Bang Bang http://www.myspace.com/knaanmusic
3. The Sugar Hill Gang -Rapper's Delight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-MEL84yXh0&feature=PlayList&p=9D7A571FDE15B1F5&index=0&playnext=1
4. DNOAX - They See Revolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPP1spyK-_
5. Jin tha MC - Asian Freestyle 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sumQYehhSqY

Five hip-hop videos:

1. Run DMC - It's like that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoQb8vb4blA
- The entire video shows people break dancing. There isn't even a shot of Run DMC in the video.
2. DJ Kool - Let me clear my throat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqfCluBH3qY
- The focus is pretty much all about partying. It seems like the video is staged at a live show.
3. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN9-K0aZXRg
- The focus was party, flashy '80's clothes and dancing to the music.
4. Fatback Band - Do the bus stop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeeOPR8bxac
- Dancing was a main focus, also the musical instruments were more prevalent.
5. LL Cool J - I need love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECTv2J-S07g
- This video was more like a movie, with characters and a scene. Fashion seemed to a theme.

Two radio stations that broadcast hip-hop: 103.5 and 104.9

Hip-Hop advertising:





Influence of hip-hop in the media:

The first thing that popped into my head was the creation of UrbanDictionary.com. The fact that it exists displays how much hip-hop has become a part of the mainstream media. There is actually an online dictionary for you to look up these words because they are used so frequently. I picked a few words as examples that can be clearly defined for you on this Web site... shiznit, baller, cholo, the list goes on and on. Literally. The influence of hip hop on the media can be found anywhere. Shoot, I saw Lil' Wayne on CBS in an interview with Katie Couric.

My mother's choice of music as a youngin':

Rock N' Roll - The Rolling Stones
Classic Rock - The Beatles
Roots Rock - Eric Clapton

Reflection:

Obviously, fashion is definitly influenced by hip-hop artisits. From all of the videos that I watched for this assignment, fashion was key. From crazy, flashy '80's get up to LL Cool J's sweet sweat suit, they certainly set the trends in that particular niche of the population. However, I had never been exposed to old school hip-hop before and I'll go ahead and say that I think the way "hip-hop" is portrayed currently is not what the originators intended. I think it's fair to say that a lot of performers use deragatory language and promote unmoral practices; however I am still a listener so I'm not complaining. I'm just trying to make the point that hip hop has made these practices more mainstream in the media, thus making it more societally acceptable. I think some hip hop artists are comparable to, say Elvis back in the day, in the sense that they are able to promote a product for a company and have tremendous success. Maybe it's just me, but the first thing that pops into my head when I hear the word hip hop is "Regulators! Mount up! It was a clear black night, a clear white moon, Warren G was on the streets, trying to consume, Some skirts for the eve, so I can get some funk....." What a classic.

Is it in the pictures?

Blog assignment & Reflection 5

1) 2009 University of Oklahoma Visitor Guide, magazine.
- The advertisements included in the visitor guide were generally aimed at college students who are considering attending OU. There is an ad for the OU IT store on campus. The only black student is a black man dressed in a collared shirt sitting next to a group of white men all dressed the same. There are no other ethnicities portrayed on the page besides all white people.

2) Glamour, magazine.
- The cover is of an attactive white female. Throughout the publication, there are various ads for the Candie's brand. The white woman in the middle of the picture with roller skates on is the first thing you see. As you look in the background, you can see that she is accomapanied by one hispanic friend and one African American friend. Their faces are less noticable and almost blurry-like.

3) The Bachelor, television.
- As I was watching re-runs online, the only African American woman that was included as a bachelorette was a woman that had straight hair, light skin and had all the traits of a white woman.

4) Ebony, magazine.
- The majority of ads in this magazine featured African American men and women. The majority of the women portrayed didn't look like the typical black woman. They all had straight hair and lighter skin. Hispanic women were the other race in these ads.

5) Better Homes and Gardens, magazine.
-Throughout the entire 21 pages of this magazine, I only came across one ad with an African American person in it. This magazine is typically aimed at families and no minority families are in the ads. The one ad that had a black person in it is of an African American child for ADHD. He is in a baseball uniform with other white players surrounding him.

6) Church's Chicken, commerical.
-The commercial showed all African American women employees with all white female customers.

7) Lucky, magazine.
- An ad for Lucky Brand Jeans was a collage of different people's faces. Only around the edges, surround the rest of the faces, were the colored faces. They basically made up a border for the white faces. As if to minimize the appearance of the minority faces.

8) People, magazine.
-A CoverGirl ad with Halle Berry. Light-skinned, white-featured African American woman selling make-up.

9) NCAA basketball events, television.
-I was paying close attention to all of the African American cheerleaders. All seemed to have straight, white-like hair.

10) Project Runway, television.
-The African American and Asian models that have on the show all have white features.


Reflection--

The short paragraph from Coltrane was very enlightening to me in regards to the way media essentially sells things. Things that make up our economy, everyone's economy. The first thing ad that popped into my head, and subsequently one that I found in a magazine, was the Halle Berry ad for CoverGirl. I can only imagine how young African American girls were shaped after being exposed to that ad. Halle Berry has everything "white" that you could imagine, she's just got darker skin than a white woman. Not only was the ad telling you that the image of a beautiful African American woman is light-skinned, but is also drilled into women's heads that they must wear make-up in order to be beautiful.

Another ad, the ad that I found in Better Homes and Gardens of the young black boy. Throughout the ENTIRE magazine, and believe me I flipped through every page hoping that I wasn't actually coming to this realization, there was only ONE advertisement with a black person in it. I wouldn't have included the ad into this assignment if it weren't for this... the young black boy was wearing a baseball uniform with the matching hat. This portrayed to me that A) yes, this magazine is willing to put ONE ad with a black person in it but 2) the black kid had to be portrayed as an "all American boy" (as any white kid may be portrayed)" You all might take it another way, but that's the way the ad translated in my head.

If you take, for example, the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders you will notice something. I'm only able to pick out seven African American cheerleaders. This gets hard becuase if you were able to zoom in on this picture, it's hard to distinguish a few of them. They all portray the "white standard of beauty," none of them stand out in their diverse ways. I just thought this was interesting.

After this assignment, I will no longer be able to flip through a magazine or watch a television commerical without realizing how much products and services are directed at white people and how the standard of white beauty is drilled into our minds unconsciously.