Post 9, Pleasure and Critique: Hip Hop Controversies

 After watching the youtube video and reading the TIME interview, I believe Tricia Rose, author of The Hip Hop Wars, is arguing that hip hop may not be completely understood or viewed accurately. How radio portrays the music presently is different than what it intended to be. In the youtube video, Tricia Rose talks about hip hop as a creative and innovative genre and the history that contributed to it. She talks about hip hop music as a dialogue between musicians and compares the process to quilting, where samples from other songs can be put together to make new music. This was due to new technologies that allowed for the deconstruction of music and the knowledge of stereos and equipment gained from attending vocational schools that may have not led to any good jobs. In the TIME interview, Tricia Rose talks about how radio plays music that fits certain stereotypes and how making music has a lot to do with economics and money, rather than for the fun or creativity of it.  Certain messages or stereotypes that sell are the ones that are going to be played over and over on the radio, while others  will not get any attention. This makes sense because the music industry is a business. Rose argues that if we just look at the hip hop music that plays on the radio now and judge the genre by the current music we hear, we won’t have a full understanding of the genre of hip hop and the history behind it. Rose also ends the TIME interview by explaining a common stereotype or criticism of hip hop music, that hip hop causes violence. She says that hip hop is not the cause of violence and putting the blame on hip hop is an irresponsible thing to do.  

3) For Class:

Do you have a different perception of hip hop after watching/reading Tricia Rose? How much of an effect do you think radio/ media has on the representation of music?

1)     Tricia Rose, Hip Hop Wars

2) Argument