How Hip-Hop Became Popular Culture - Free Essay Example

Abstract This paper will be examining Hip-Hop/Rap music up close in the context of how it moved from a very edgy genre of music with a small target audience to a dominating genre which can be consumed as Pop Culture. This phenomenon will be examined using Adornos On Popular Music to explain how Hip-Hop/Rap has become standardized to be safe an appeal to the general population. In complementary form to this theory, the Relations of productions portion of Stuart Halls Encoding/Decoding model will be used to detail how the genre contradicts itself in its production to only reinforce it becoming pop culture. I will be using two examples from the genre to examine, Logic, and Lil Pump. Logic has moved from a hungry performer in the genre to an artist who distributes music now on a much more safe agenda. Lil Pump is one artist of a very saturated area of the genre which manufactures similar music all packaged with a similar looking artist. This paper will argue that Hip-Hop/Rap has become pop culture and has lost some of its authenticity that made it so unique in its earlier life. Keywords: Hip-Hop, Rap, Adorno, Hall, Pop Culture From the Notorious B.I.G., Common, Wu-Tang Clan, to Kanye West, J. Cole, Logic, and Lil Pump hip-hop has an expansive array of sounds. Now a days hip-hop makes up the majority of the top rotation on spotify in the country. The genre was not always like this however, it used to have a much smaller audience. How has Hip-Hop become popular culture? To understand this one must first understand Hip-Hops beginnings. Its exact roots are debatable. The widely-accepted belief is that during a party DJ Kool Herc scratched the record in order to extend the length of the song. This allowed people to dance longer to the music. This caught on quickly and people began to create their own turntables and create their own mixes. MCs or rappers then began to rap over the mixes. Once the Mcs added their lyrics, it officially became Hip-Hop The content of original Hip-Hop represented much of what life was like in Harlem and the South Bronx in the 70s. The lyrics contained testimonials of violence, poverty, police brutality, failing economies and government corruption. The streets of Upper Manhattan and Lower Bronx were harsh and the music allowed the people of these communities to vent and spread their thoughts. So how does a genre that started out of the streets of Harlem move into being one of the largest genres in the United States? Is it because of the simplicity of the musics sound, or better musical equipment or maybe even better MCs? According to Adorno, it comes down to standardization. Adorno argues that Pop Music is popular because it will produce the same effect on consumers. The composition hears for the listener. This is how popular music divests the listener of his spontaneity and promotes conditioned reflexes, says Adorno (Adorno, 1941, 16). It needs to be easy to listen to and understand by large amounts of people. In other words, the consumer should relate to the music, not feel confused by the content, and follow a safe pattern. How does Hip-Hop become popular culture then? You strip Hip-Hop of what made it so distinct in the first place. You need to make it easily digestible for the masses. Hip-Hop contains testimonials of issues faced by people who are marginalized. These need to be removed and be made safe in order to be mass produced. Rapping about the daily struggles in Harlem is not going to be listened to and enjoyed by the masses around the country. In order to make this genre a form of popular culture then the content must be pre-digested. Here in turn lies the irony of Hip-Hop as a popular culture. Every artist in rap at one point or another struggled to get where they are today. Before Logic was world renowned he was handing out mixtapes on the streets. His content was unique, and detailed the struggles of his life in poverty. But in order to make it further in the industry, one must make music which goes against the founding cores of Hip-Hop. Hip-Hops standardization can also be looked at with Stuart Halls Encoding-Decoding model. The models relations of productions are very prominent when it comes to Hip-Hops creative field. Artist that make it big in Hip-Hop often create labels to sign other artist. Creating an organization that will then mass produce music which the label approves of. This minimizes the channels at which a small artist can get their music spread. In order to push music through a label, you need to fit into what they believe is ideal and safe to produce. An example of this is the rapper Lil Pump. Lil Pump produces a subgenre of Hip-Hop titled Lean Rap and it is exactly what it sounds like. The content often contains references of drug abuse in a positive light, often times lean, marijuana, or pills. The method at which this music is exported is often similar too, in the way the artist appears. Many of these rappers often have facial tattoos, colorful hair, and a large presence on social media. This image is easily exportable to young masses who can relate to the music. Teenagers or young adults who experiment with drugs and want to rebel from the norm find the content and the rapper easily digestible. Hip-Hop has stayed culturally relevant throughout the years by either glorifying a life that the general population does not live, or by expressing struggles that people can relate to. Hip-Hop had been dying out as a genre in the 2000s but was revived with the 2008 Recession. The recession left many people feeling frustrated and untrusting of their government. Hip-Hop being controversial was a way to express that distrust with the status quo. No longer was the typical consumer of Hip-Hop someone who lived the lifestyle that it wrote about. Instead you see the rise of consumers of all demographics listening to Hip-Hop. This is very important because it changes the content that must be made in order to capture more of this market. In what follows I will discuss Hip-Hop artists Logic and Lil Pump and how they are products of a standardized genre. The artists are fragmented to appear different but their content is still predigested. Ultimately, this discussion will frame Logic and Lil Pump from a popular culture theory and how they fit that mold. Logic Logic is a rapper of controversy, not because of his material being dangerous or defying but rather his material being too soft. His raps often include topics of social justice issues such as poverty, gang violence, low wages, and suicide. Perhaps his most well known song is 1-800-273-8255. This is the number for the Suicide Prevention Hotline. In this song he raps from both the perspective of the person who wants to commit suicide and the hotline operator who is defusing the situation. The song was critically acclaimed but also received very poorly by many in the Hip-Hop community. The song receives much negative attention because it comes across as a very predigested song. The song itself appears to be very different and challenging. In the chorus Logic states, I dont wanna be alive, I dont wanna be alive,I just wanna die today, I just wanna die (Logic 2017). Reading these lyrics can be very harsh, and create a sense of sadness and mortality in the consumer. This appears to stand out from the rest of Hip-Hop but in relationship to Adorno, the song really is predigested. The song cant make the listener upset because it wouldnt be easy listening music then. The song still contains many of the same aspects that popular culture Hip-Hop has. The song is presented to be emotional but still contains a very recitable set of lyrics which make it easy for the song to be sung by the consumers. In one of the lines of the chorus Logic states, Who can relate, (Woo!) (Logic, 2017). This line continues to show how the song is really not any different from the rest of Hip- Hop. In a song that seems to be discussing a serious topic you have a lyric which includes an sound affect and adlib. This song is also easy listening music. It appears to tackle a serious subject matter, but yet it can be played without fully listening to. One does not need to listen to the entirety of the album or the song in order to understand the message of the material. The song has a very predictable pattern in its flow and notes. One can easily strip the song of its lyrics and the song can still be easily identified by its instrumentals. Logic is also a predigested entity in himself. According to Stuart Hall, Relations of Production is defined as The organisation and combination of practices within media apparatuses (Hall, 1973, p. 508). Logic is signed to the label Def Jam. Def Jam is a major player in the Hip-Hop world as it has been around since 1984. Def Jam ushered in may popular artists such as LL Cool J, Big Sean , and the Beastie Boys. The record has a set strategy when it comes to producing popular music as it has done so since the 80s. Its because of this relations of productions between Logic and Def Jam that his music must not challenge their beliefs and must fit into their brand. LL Cool J was originally denied by Warner Bros because he didnt fit with their brand. It was too raw, minimalist and different, said Chris Bolman. It wouldnt appeal to mainstream tastes (Bolman, 2017). Def Jam also uses producers such as NO ID who has produced for other popular rappers in the industry. This creates a type of rap instrumental that may sound similar even with different subject matter. This song is one way Logics music is shown to be popular culture. His music is standardized and utilizes methods in Hip-Hop which are known to be successful. His subject matter is very relatable to the new consumer of Hip-Hop, and he is signed by a major record label which enforces Stuart Halls Relations of Production. Lil Pump Lil Pump is another rapper who has recently came into the Hip-Hop community very quickly. His music is a subgenre of Hip-Hop which currently can be best classified as lean rap. The genre of rap is exactly what it sounds like, with lyrics often containing content that glorifies lean and pills. The artist are often viewed as being unlyrical by other rappers due to the simplicity of the bars. Perhaps Lil Pumps most popular song is Gucci Gang. The song has become popular for its simple repetitive bass heavy beat and simple lyrics which glorify an expensive lavish lifestyle. The song is a prime example of popular music according to Adorno. According to Adorno, The beginning of the chorus is replaceable by the beginning of innumerable other choruses. The interrelationship among the elements or the relationship of the elements to the whole would be unaffected. When looking closer at the chorus of Lil Pumps Gucci Gang, you can see how the chorus can easily be replaced by another set of lyrics and the entirety of the song would be unchanged. The chorus goes as: Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang (Gucci gang!) Spend ten racks on a new chain My girl love do cocaine, ooh I got a girl, I forgot her name I cant buy a girl no wedding ring Rather go and buy Balmains Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang (Gucci gang!) Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang (Gucci gang!) (Lil Pump, 2017) The song still exists in an easily understandable format without the chorus. The song itself also utilizes the repetitive format of lyrics which helps make the song easy to remember and listen to. Gucci Gang is repeated numerous times throughout the entirety of the song. The song actually only has 106 unique words out of the total 361, and can be listened to from start to finish in just two minutes and four seconds. This shows how the song can be fragmented very easily and is extremely easy to digest for consumers, making it a safe option for radio stations to play. In addition to this simplicity, the channel of which Lil Pump and his music have traveled to make it to popular culture only enforces the theory of how this music is popular culture even though it tries to show its not. Lil Pump was a XXL freshman. XXL is a magazine and website which specializes in Hip-Hop. Every year the organization selects 10 freshman who are up and coming artists in the genre who it believes are going to be popular. The irony of XXL is it seems to selects artist who are not widely known and are different than the rest. When examining the recent 2018 XXL Freshman list however you can see something that actually shows no uniqueness. The majority of the artists in the 2018 freshman list have facial tattoos, similar haircuts, and produce music which can either be considered lean rap or is closely related. XXL helps bring artists into the spotlight but only artist which they deem safe and digestible. This coincides with Stuart Halls Relations of Production. A ll of the artist are given the opportunity to work with popular DJs who will help them create music. In turn however, the result is a similar sounding song due to the fact that the artist are similar and the production is similar. Lil Pump looks to be unique at first because of his multi-colored hair, and his facial tattoos. When looked at in a closer context however one can see how his music is actually the same as other popular culture rappers through its ability to be fragmented and easily digestible. His music is also produced by a set of producers who produce other popular music in the genre, therefore limiting the amount of uniqueness, which in turn makes him a safe and pre-digested artist in Hip-Hop. Conclusion Hip-Hop was once a genre of music which was listened to only by the few who understood the lifestyle. The quality of music was considered much more authentic because it told stories which were a true testimony to an underprivileged lifestyle and was very hard to digest by people outside of the Hip-Hop community. Hip-Hop however has transitioned over time and become a genre which can be considered popular music according to Adorno. Through artist such as Logic we can see how music which tries to prove itself as serious subject matter is produced in formats which are easily digestible by consumers. The music is easy to chop up and fragment and consists of musical adlibs which do little to challenge the norms of popular culture. His music is also produced by DJs who produce a large selection of other popular rappers music. Lil Pump shows us another perspective of how rap tries to present itself as being different by presenting himself as being rebellious through drug use and different haircuts which are often multicolored. His music does little to challenge the listener as the songs are short, have little unique and difficult words, and often repeats the same lyrics over and over. Hip-Hop has become a very large genre bringing in over $10 billion in revenue last year alone according to ABC. The industry did not get that big from producing music which did not conform to the rest of popular music. Hip-Hop tries to present itself as a challenging and different genre of music from the rest but in turn still plays to the same tune as other forms of music.

Similarities Between the Great Depression and the Great...

The housing crisis in America is a major problem plaguing the United States economy. Before a solution is formulated, one must consider the history of the market and the causes of the problem. And after a solution is formulated, one must present an idea for prevention of the problem for the future. Many people see similarities between The Great Depression in the late 1920s to the late 1930s. The Great Depression was caused by the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Leading up to the crash was The Roaring Twenties. It was right after World War I. The United States economy was stimulated by producing things for the war. People seemed to have a lot of money. There were many new technologies and new infrastructure. There was a new concept of†¦show more content†¦There are millions of houses and few people buying houses. The cost of houses plummeted. I suppose there are quite a few similarities between the two. People were buying things on credit or loan they could not pay back. Laws wer e made both to help and prevent the situation. The housing market is not the only part of the economy that has suffered. Many states had already been suffering from the recession, revenue is even lower because of fewer purchases of houses. The labor market and industry have been suppressed as well. To find a solution, we need to look at what we want to accomplish. We want more commerce within the housing market and fewer illegitimate mortgages. When we go back to the idea of supply and demand, we are faced with two options to increase commerce. We can either have fewer houses, or we can make people want houses more. Since destroying existing houses is foolish, we assume we need to increase demand for houses. To have fewer illegitimate mortgages, banks will have to give loans to people only if they can repay them, and people will have to pay off the loans. There are many ideas floating around about how to jump-start the market. Some people think we should look at the assets to determ ine what each house is worth. Then we should base mortgages on what each house is worth. Others think mortgages should be restructured to be affordable for the buyer. Still others think banks should merely loan money toShow MoreRelatedEconomics...In Real Life1567 Words   |  7 Pagesluxury and economic stability in the United States, that is, until the day the stock market crashed and the country was plummeted in to a time of misery and uncertainty called the Great Depression. The ten year span from 1929 until 1939 is one of the worst episodes the United States has ever experienced; it held a great shortage in the money supply, massive unemployment, and despair and doubt for all of the people who lived through it. 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Summary Of Hard And Soft Roi - 1668 Words

Summary of Hard and Soft ROI In summation, return on investments (ROI) and its historical roots involving the Du Pont system have an extensive history which paved the way for cost accounting, financial accounting, and capital accounting. The (ROI) and (ROE) formulas are prominent in accounting, textbooks, and finance as well as health care professionals who use these formulas. Then, hard and soft benefits of projects vary depending on the for-profit and not-for-profit organization. The soft benefit also known as (qualitative data) is most useful for when a project team wishes to explore the root causes of project success or failure. Overall, hard methods primarily use data collection measure for objective realism. When it comes to softer†¦show more content†¦It can overall increase productivity and profit in the long-term. For instance, my workplace instills usage of electronic medical records for new and current patients for efficiency, productivity, and accuracy for the lo ng-term of patients dental x-rays and health history. The costs involved are considerable and hard to calculate depending on the fees and licensing. According to, (Health Resources and Services Administration, 2016), a persistent problem is demonstrating a return on investment from an (EHR) implementation is often times challenging and may be even more difficult for smaller practices. The cost and effort involved from staff and management is difficult, but necessary to carry out productivity for implementation of (EHR). Every company practice is different and every practice must adapt to changes of implementing (EMR) for the duration of patient accuracy. Aside from the challenges, cost, and effort of implementing (EMR)’s in health care organizations, there is a desire to generate a return on investment (ROI) from them. 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Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation-Samples for Students

Questions: 1.Provide an Introduction to the report that clearly states the aim and structure of the report, and provides justifications of the HRM issues discussed, looking into with key strategic aims of the organization. 2.Critically analyse the Internal and External Environment for your chosen Organisation. Answers: 1.Founded in the year of 1970, Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metal Corporation has emerged to be the third largest steel producing organization in the entire world (Nssmc.com 2017). Nippon Steel Sumikin Engineering Co., Ltd. (NSENGI) with its more than 40 years experience, mainly in Southeast Asian projects, has laid many long-distance, large-diameter, high-pressure submarine pipelines for oil gas projects, which meet demanding requirements for high reliability.Considering the fact that the human resources are the most valuable management resources, the Nippon Steel Indonesia does employ a variety of impressive HR practices that helps the company enhance the skills of the employees and encourage them to demonstrate their ability. Hence, the present report intends to discuss and critically analyse the existent HR policies of the company, and offer recommendations, if any. As far as Nippon Steel is concerned, it has been created by merging two giant steel companies, Yawata Iron and Steel company and Fuji Iron and Steel Company. The company is known for offering a wide range of products including flat and long steel products, wire products, chemicals and plates. The company has been operating globally almost since its inception, and the total number of employees working here sum up to 60,508 (Nssmc.com, 2017). The importance of IHRM practices cannot be undermined, as it is the strategic way through which the Human Resource manager of an organization aligns organizational goals with employee benefits, motivating the staffs to work more dedicatedly towards the accomplishment of the organizational goal. Nippon Steel believes in enhancing the skills and expertise of the employees, so that they can embrace leadership roles in future in an effective way. Hence, Nippon Steel promote activities like the early work abroad experiences, study abroad opportunities in designated regions, and internal courses (Moriguchi 2014). Besides, the company offers skill training to its employees, especially the local, inexperienced and semi-skilled staffs of Indonesia, so that they can deliver high quality performance in future. This not only helps the company train its employees, but also enjoy employee loyalty. Those employees, who join the company as working staffs, if exhibit special potentialities, are being offered career growth opportunities as well, as they are enrolled in leadership programs at the expense of the company. The company also believes that in order to increase employee engagement at workplace, it is important to value the employees. Accordingly, the management authority of the company holds meetings with the employees, to assess the total annual working hours, and to reduce the same, if necessary. Besides, it is equally important to state here that that the company also promotes specific measures for the prevention of overwork, such as the establishment of bonus annual leave (approximately 10 days annually) and workload countermeasures in cooperation with a supervisor and / or industrial physician (Giarratani et al. 2013). Although the existent HR policies are indeed impressive, further recommendations can be advised. Since Nippon Steel is a steel manufacturing company, occupational injuries are common. The HR practice should include investment in the safety management system to reduce chances of occupational accidents. The company should also reduce its working hours, offer flexible work schedules and work from home facilities once a week (wherever applicable), and provide cultural training to its employees. These are the basic HRM strategies undertaken by the company in the international strategy. While speaking of HRM in the international setting, the basic function of the HR of the company is to offer intensive training to the expatriate employees, so as to enhance their linguistic skills as well as their cultural sensitivity in a foreign nation and an alien culture. Again, similarly, sufficient training is also being offered to the impatriate employees ho are coming from foreign lands in order to work under the host country, and consequently they must be made aware of the organizational culture prevalent in the host country. Another very important function of the IHRM at Nippon Steel is to offer sufficient compensation and lucrative incentive packages to the employees who are relocating to other locations, for the sake of the organization. Hence, the HR manager offers lucrative bonus as well as other financial benefits for shifting to the foreign location, though the % of salary increment depends on the country location and local market cost of living. In fact, as an import ant IHRM function, the company also offers allowances for cost of living, housing, food, recreation, personal care, clothing, education, home furnishing, transportation, and medical care. Other than this, the IHRM also is responsible for offering other allowances, and Nippon Steel, for example, offers home-leave allowances and relocation allowances. The HR manger, as part of an important IHRM function, also organizes meetings with the managers and CEOs of the different branch locations of the company, and ensures proper coordination amongst the different branches. Nippon Steel follows the ethnocentric IHRM model, whereby the managers as well as the technical workers working in different locations of the company are advised to follow the HRM practices of the home country only. 2.The performance of any organization is not only guided by the human resources or the financial resources, but also by the environment in which the organization operates in. As a strategic tool, the environmental analysis of an organization helps in identifying the internal and external elements that affect the performance of the company. Accordingly, the internal and external analysis of Nippon Steel is also being conducted as follows: Internal Environmental Analysis 3Generic Strategies: While analyzing the internal environment of Nippon Steel, it would be interesting to take note of the important generic strategies undertaken by the HR manger of Nippon Steel as part of its human resource management strategy. First of all, innovation as a strategic imperative of HR management is embraced by the management authority of Nippon Steel. In order to create dedicated employees, the company offers flexible working schedule to the employees, and offers 3 work from home facilities a week to the employees, that help in motivating the employees. As part of the organizational strategy, innovation is achieved by offering intensive communication and managerial training to the employees. However, the company is still mindful of its cost reduction strategy, and hence it does not offer training to the employees at free of cost. The employees are enrolled in a variety of professional training courses, on the completion of which they not only enjoy career growth opportunities but are al so offered certificates from recognized training centers. The employees can avail the courses at lower cost, as the company deducts a very small amount of money from the employees salary every month, so as to enhance their skills and expertise, without affecting the profitability of the company. Besides, innovation is an important key strategy of the company, and the operating strategies of the company are developed through interactions with its employees, customers, partners, vendors, suppliers and consultants. They review market trends and identify, through benchmarking, what is required to out-perform their competition. Every week, the HR organizes interactive sessions with the employees and stakeholders, in order to communicate the innovative strategies of the organization (Druker, 2014). Another important cost-reduction strategy adopted by the company is the introduction of a variety of expat packages. In other words, the company offers local or local plus packages for developm ent or volunteer assignments; expat lite is being used for moves in markets where talent is widely available or early localization is desirable; and full expatriate packages is being used for senior level executives and leadership positions. Quality is also an important generic strategy adopted by Nippon Steel. The company does offer career growth opportunities to all its employees, and in case of exceptionally taented employees, the company offer huge concessions on the training courses. Apart from personal motivation, much attention is also being paid to the infrastructural facilities such as the physical layout of the office, facilities, hardware and software, communication equipment, etc so that the employees can work in a very comfortable way. External Environmental Analysis PESTEL: Political Factors While operating in Indonesia, Nippon Steel will need to be well-aware of the political instability of the country and that as much as 22% of the people in Indonesia are presently living below the poverty line (Hassan 2015). Economic Factors Although Indonesia does enjoy a good inflow of FDI amounting to $67.3 billion, the country cannot be termed as an example of a strong economy. In the entire world, Indonesia ranks 157 in terms of the per capita income of the citizens, and it is still a developing nation (Waworuntu and Suryanto 2015). Social Factors The country enjoys a large population, a total of 240,271,522 populations which is growing at 1.13%. The prospects of sale of any product are higher here, given the higher consumption rate of a densely populated nation (Arifin 2016). Technological Factors The country does enjoy a very highly developed and effective transport and communication system. Environmental Factors The environmental laws are very strict mandating the use of energy efficient means of production. Demographic Factors Issues relating to access to health and education as well as rising inequality are the most pressing social challenges the Indonesian people are encountered with. Hence, it is advised that in order to gain competitive edge over the rival firms, a company should invest in social initiatives. The country has a patriarchal set up, which makes it difficult to entrust managerial duties to the women. From the above analysis, it is clear that Nippon Steel does have prospect in Indonesia, considering the dense population of the country. However, since it is still a developing nation, the company will need to reduce its operational cost and offer low cost products. Accordingly, as part of its cost reduction strategy, the company can hire the semi-skilled local workers, and train them to work efficiently, at low cost. In Indonesia FDI is restricted in most ofthe sectors and the business environment is not good because of persistent corruption and natural disaster, and hence it is advised that the company does not focus all its resources in Indonesia. It can manufacture its products mostly here, because of the cheap availability of raw materials and labour, and export the majority of the products to other parts of the world. However, the Indonesian market also assumes great importance since Frost Sullivan forecastsIndonesias vehicle sales to reach 1.1 million units in 2017, growing a t a rate of 5 per cent, and hence the company can expect a steady growth in the sale of steel sheets (Natsuda et al. 2015). Reference List: Arifin, B., 2016.Institutional constraints and opportunities in developing environmental service markets: lessons from institutional studies on RUPES in Indonesia. Bogor, Indonesia: World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). Drucker, P., 2014.Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge. 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