Hip-Hop Introduction : Discussion (Santiago Henry)

Introduction: I chose the topic of Hip-Hop as I’m highly invested in it. First, I would like to address the connection between me and the culture I’m in known as Hip-Hop. It goes further than just music. It’s a major influence in my life and I can say the same for others. Hip-Hop is very influential. It’s redefined time and time again social and cultural norms such as fashion, media, and politics one example is Hip-Hop helping uplift the black youth recognizing, tackling situations such as the young black man whose life has been taken at the hands of another, Trayvon Martin. It’s affected the world in a big way we got people talking like us, acting like us. It’s not something you can ignore. I don’t have many questions concerning Hip-Hop but, I know for a fact everywhere you go the phenomenon known as Hip-Hop will rear its head.
        I as a young black man myself deeply ingrained within the community known as Hip-Hop. I’ve come to find out many things I haven’t before such as the origins of Hip-Hop and the culture now presented to us. Hip-Hop wasn’t a movement planted in the music industry like many things are now. It came from a small community in 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the 1970s. It all started with a DJ known as DJ Kool Herc who throw back to school parties with his sister Cindy in their building’s rec room the same room Herc would go to record players in which is now known as the first DJ booth.

Discussion:
Hip-Hop as good and uplifting it can be for the community as a whole can be hell for the artist influencing society. I’ve come to find out that not all love is mutual in Hip-Hop especially for the artist. I say this because in order to become a successful and lasting artist in the eyes of the public you’ll eventually have to sign with a record label regardless of your success unless you’ve garnered success as big as Drake who also started off under a record label known as Cash Money. You may ask how this can be very destructive and unloving for the artist til you come to know the requirements sometimes needed in order to possibly reach that success known as 360 deals otherwise known as multiple right deals. In the music industry, 360 deals, are contracts that allow a record label to be able to obtain copyrights and a percentage of the earnings from all of the artists activities such as selling merchandise or even appearing on television instead of just from record sales or activities to raise money that the record label had to put their hand in themselves. Labels will promise artist promotion and opportunities to develop in exchange from taking revenue from them. Labels look after the artist like a pseudo-manager throughout their whole career.This also means they can keep you from putting out music which in turn leads you to being more in debt by them as they’ll give you money for the contract you sign and it’ll be even harder to get out as you’ll need overwhelming success most of the time to be able to meet due and regain the masters to your music. This has happened to various known artists in Hip-Hop such as Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Pump.

Genres

1. Genres I know oh so well are Hip-Hop & Horror. I learned about Hip-Hop through the neighborhood I reside a bunch of Hispanics or Black bumpin’ 50 cent. I learned about Horror by staying up late and tuning in to just random horror movies around October when I was really young. Hip-Hop has many different rhetorical features but the most common has to be with how they portray themselves such as their attire and Horror having to do with gore, blood, jump scares, and lots of death.

3. When it comes to writing I absolutely enjoy freedom simply because I can do whatever I want. Not limiting at all.

Discourse Communities

The very first Discourse community I’ve ever joined was a brotherhood (Sisters were included too). It was during the summer a few years back can’t exactly recall the year. A summer school program in a school located near the pier located around the Hudson River Park. The owner or leader was some dark skinned individual who I believe was an advisor to the school. He talked about being a gentlemen and several other gentlemanly rules he taught. I was bored all throughout. I joined and left the same day. A year later or so I joined another Discourse community they’re like a real family to me.

Writer’s Statement

Yes, I do believe the ideas portrayed as Discourse communities, genres, and rhetoric are useful concepts as they are created to be able to guide groups of people to meet a common goal through the means of social construct as the community have to use such as genre discourse which has to do with the type and structure of language used to convey for a particular purpose in a particular context which I find highly important as you want to get your ideas to be approached in a particular manner as it can greatly influence the outcome of the project or the goal. The same can be said about rhetoric discourse as symbols can and will convey varies messages that can also influence decisions and the way we can communicate with one another just like how today in society we use emojis to convey how we’re feeling rhetoric discourse can do the same. Discourse communities are great. I can see myself using the ideas of a discourse community as an artist to better understand the community that back me up and see how we together as an artist and a fan can come to further push whichever project I have released or about to release. It’s a great way to bring people together and leverage them to greater heights.

Mike Rose

The rules in which I have to follow in order to at least deem my essay decent has to be with having a good structure, good opening that will lure the readers in so that they will want to read more and invest in my writing.

The hardest part in writing to me personally has to be with starting the actual piece as I have so many ideas which I can branch off to but it takes me quite awhile to actually decide which would be the best direction to go. I want to be informative, set down a serious tone but at the same time keep it chill just in case it might bring the readers into a meltdown.

I’ll have to agree with Mike Rose’s opinion on rigid rules. He states rules can inflict potentially writers block as you’ll be stuck on what or how you’re going to do things from throughout your essay. That’s why instead of trying to plan things ahead I’ll just jot down everything I have thought of into the essay and later revise it.

Santiago’s goals

My name’s Santiago Henry I’m currently 18 and an aspiring rapper that hails from the jungle more formally as The Bronx. My only goals within this class is to pass with an A. I hope I get to connect with a lot of new people as well. Try new things. I hope City Tech will be able to provide that for me and open new doors as I go through my semester.