Introduction
The music of the reality rap group NWA served as a vehicle for social protest in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s. It was mostly through social commentary on police violence and racism, as well as exerting power over Black American women through sexist lyrics and music, that they were able to sustain the masculinity they assumed in order to survive. It is well known that NWA used their music to gain power in a society where they would otherwise be powerless. Through their lyrics, they promoted their culture while also drawing attention to police violence against black men. NWA paved the way for their rise to prominence, notoriety, and prosperity. Music, in all genres, serves as a prism through which to examine culture and gender interactions. It is, however, extremely poignant in the context of a study of reality rap. Reality rap, also known as gangsta rap, is a subgenre of hip-hop that arose from a movement against oppression and racial injustice. NWA was one of the most influential hip hop groups in Los Angeles during the 1980s and early 1990s, occupying both the positive and negative sides of the reality rap genre. Two aspects of reality rap to consider are social activism and the propagation of inequality. In and of itself, it is frequently sardonic, hypocritical, and contradictory. These contradictions, however, stem from the same source: a revolt against institutionalized tyranny. Although it would be easier to say that the NWA gained power by oppressing black women, it is not as simple to say that the NWA were simply being sexist. It’s possible that the NWA believed they had no other option for protesting their oppression. Misogyny was used as a form of protest in this case.
Discussion
The song “Fuck Tha Police” served as the soundtrack to the Los Angeles riots of 1992. The riots were preceded by the most infamous police brutality case in American history. On March 3, 1991, four white LAPD officers brutally assaulted Rodney King, a black Los Angeles resident. A bystander videotaped the incident, which was broadcast on national television. The incident was shown twenty-seven times on three different network shows between March 5 and the end of March. 47. As a result, all four officers were exonerated. Los Angeles residents of color retaliated violently. The NWA was able to speak out about their experiences and resist the efforts of the dominant white society to eliminate them by using the medium of music. Reality rap provided an outlet for many oppressed people. The NWA made up a story about aggressively retaliating against the police, who used force against African-Americans for no apparent reason. Instead of becoming their targets, the NWA could take a symbolic stand behind the camera and rifle scope. Through NWA music, traditional roles between police officers and black men were flipped. They were able to take control of their lives in ways they had never been able to before thanks to music.
Twilight Bey, a former member of the Los Angeles Cirkle City Piru gang, photographed the spirit of revolt, resistance, and protest among Black American male teenagers in South Central Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1990s. There have been numerous examples of oppressed groups taking action against their oppressors all over the world. Reality rap, which became a vehicle for resistance for the NWA, was used by black American rappers and listeners to oppose and subvert dominant white culture. The NWA has had a significant impact on Los Angeles culture. Its songs reflected the mood of dissatisfaction and dissent in South Central Los Angeles, and their material was notorious for being controversial, aggressive, and misogynistic. Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about the group’s rise and fall, has sparked NWA’s revival. “Fuck Tha Police,” NWA’s most popular song, takes on new meaning in the context of BlackLivesMatter and the ongoing police violence against Black American men. Their music contains an intriguing paradox: they are fighting for equality for black males, but their lyrics perpetuate controlling images and stereotypes of Black women.
Reality rap is a form of protest not only in its lyrics but in its sound. Despite its roots in hip-hop, reality rap’s fundamental aesthetics defy those of other types of music. These include popular, classical and even hip-hop, which is where the genre got its start. When reality rap first emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it had a distinctive sound that set it apart from other forms of popular music. It was violent, male, and ominous. Adam Krims, a musicologist and music theorist, calls this particular rap aesthetic quality with the uncommon potential to boost masculinity through numerous sonic tactics. Academic studies of rap music tend to focus on the genre’s social, cultural, and political contexts. Despite the importance of all of these subjects, rap music has not been thoroughly investigated. Adam Krims shattered this pattern in the early 2000s. Kris Krims was one of the first musicologists to construct a framework for understanding rap music’s aesthetics through a musicological lens. 144. Until Krims’ study, there was no musicological language produced to examine the musical qualities of rap in academic contexts.
To summarize, culture has a significant impact. Pop culture can shape and even change a person’s perceptions and behavior, and this is true for people of all ages and levels of pop culture consumption. The NWA’s message of white nationalist resistance lives on in the form of their music to this day. Real-life issues may be addressed through the “Reality Rap” genre, in which NWA played a significant role. The phrase “Fuck Tha Policemessage” is still relevant in 2016. There are still many challenges in the United States’ black communities. Black Lives Matter was founded in 2014 in response to white police officers’ killings of unarmed black people in the United States. The militarization of the American police force has been exposed by Occupy Wall Street and other social uprisings. The NWA song “Fuck Tha Police” was the first to use art to protest tyranny. The National Rifle Association (NRA) is not the only voice in the United States that opposes the Second Amendment. Racism in the United States is a problem that rap, hip-hop, and pop artists of color have addressed and continue to address through their platforms.
References
Prier, D. (2010). Hip-hop as a counter-public space of resistance for Black male youth. In Youth Culture, Education and Resistance (pp. 109-128). Brill Sense.
Quinn, E. (2004). Nuthin’but a” G” thang: the culture and commerce of gangsta rap. Columbia University Press.
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