Hate It or Love It Essay

In 1972 the Cross Bronx Express representation was completed this marked the separation of the s pop bulge outhern Bronx and was followed by the Bronx is burning which began the downward spiral for this urban, Afri hobo American neighborhood. Around the wish time hip-hop was founded and became an outlet for the frustrations of the poor, suffering people of this region. The result was the cultivation of hip-hop that glorifies violence, drugs, money, and a gangster persona. This has become the image of the Hip hop creative person, and is apply by euphonyians to g ain the approval or street street credibility of their fans/peers. With this proof of authenticity, however, piecey belt ammunition/hip-hop artists pick out sent messages of blame and condemnation of the disembodied spirit in the hood and the failures of the urbane Rights Movement. In the vocal hate it or Love it, these themes of hip-hop argon portrayed end-to-end the song. Rappers The plunk for and 50 cent both use signification and realism to gain credibility and critique the failures of the well-behaved Rights extension. As defined by Imani Perry, a processor of African American studies at Princeton University, realism encourages a critique of the media and reflects the significant realities of social inequality and signifying is a metaphor for the rescript of preceding texts and figures (Perry, 61, 101).Credibility is an idea that is very important in hip-hop. It is practically referred to as keeping it real and calls attention to the authenticity of the rap artist (Perry, 87). According to Imani Perry, this entails collapse goting allegiance to color youth populations or subgroups within their community. nearly enthusiasts believe that hip-hop artists should stay true to their roots and stick with the name of their home-region. The back up stays real by recording scorn it or Love it as West Coast style hip-hop and visually signifying N.W.A. (a hip-hop group also from t he uniform city of Compton, CA) in the music video. The song also allows featured artist 50 penny the encounter to stay authentic when he signifies Tupac and Rakim, both of which were also from New York. The adventure and 50 Cent though not machinately try out from these artist do cover the identity their predecessors created as a result, they cover and maintain allegiance to the image of men from wispy American urban communities.In addition to signifying, Hate it or Love it uses realism throughout its lyrics to gain credibility with the audience. Rappers/ Hip-Hop artists are expected to witness and live out the narratives that they tell. 50 Cent starts the song saying, lets takeem back signifying the transition to story of a real time in front he or The zippy were known rappers. Both artist abduce this reality by disclosing details of ghetto/gangster life in lines like Brenda is still throwing babies in the food waste, niggas had stole my bike, and one phone callll have your body dumped in marshes. These phrases all refer to personal or witnessed events that pull back the problems like adolescentage pregnancy, theft, and gang violence in b wish American urban communities. This reality regardless of truth authenticates the rapper because it shows he has experient the pains of racism, and poverty.It gives the listener a reason to believe the artist can sympathize with his/her own struggles and authenticates the words in the song. Imani Perry also says that, naturalism is a testimony to the stirred state resulting from the experience of poverty, obtuseness, and the crisis of urbanity (Perry, 87). After proving oneself as real and establishing their ability to rival to black America, rap artist can further their credibility by targeting the sensational hardships of urban poverty. 50 Cent conveys these emotions when he raps, Different day, same bruiser, aint nothing steady-going in the hood. Id run away from this bitch and never come back if I c ould. Here he expresses a genuine hate for the hood and shows his exposure as a child, a sentiment not often admitted to in rap. It is this type of realism and openness with emotions that gives musicians the chance to connect and gain combining from the audience. With trust, support, and belief in the lyrics, credibility is established. The artist becomes real.Establishing a sense of world real is not restricted to the lyrics. In the music video for Hate it or Love it, The Game employs sev successionl images that create both emotion and establish his witnessing of gangster life. For example, both 50 Cent and The Game are represented as children in the music video. They are shown alone in an empty house, standing next to a dead body, and being arrested (as a child and adult). These pictures create feelings of pity and sorrow for the young rappers who appear to have nobody looking out for them, a truth often seen in poor urban communities. This again earns credibility for the rappe rs because it shows they have lived out the experiences that they rap about. (Perry, 90) With this evidence of living as a real African American, The Game and 50 Cent progress toward a manifestation of measure by contrasting the hood with their new reality. This new life is what Nelson George would describe as, the black man craveing a context for that style, one that often comes as infract of a male person-dominated collective (George, 52).In other words, 50 Cent and The Game must cover a glorified version of that style ascribed to the black, male demographic to earn respect from their peers. This glamorized image of blackness is seen throughout the Hate it or Love it music video. The Game is shown standing on legislate of a building in suburban Los Angles, cruzing down the Boulevard in a red convertible, and wearing two Jacob watches. These images are all a signifying call-response trope between rapper to rapper and rapper to audience (Perry, 62). These images of wealthiness, and proponent are a cover of African American males desired collective style, a style formed by the introductory times of rappers, and a style African American public continually tries to mimic. It is with the success of achieving this style that 50 Cent and The Game earn respect, and it is with this respect that they gain that final amount of credibility that exercises them real rap artists.Realism is not restricted to the construction of credibility for an artist, it also has the ability to express listeners about life in the hood. Imani Perry describes this type of realism as a telling narrative. She says, a telling narrative is to inform and net rather than simply soak up (Perry, 91). The Game accomplished this throughout the lyrics in his song. He raps, Thinking how they dog-tired 30 million dollars on airplanes when theres kids starving, and No schoolbooks, they used that wood to build coffins. These two lines are extremely powerful and a harsh criticism of society as a whole. These words enlighten us of problems for children in black urban communities like hunger, poor education, and violence. The Game shows contrast when rapping that we spend 30 million dollars on airplanes. He is distinctly condemning society for its failure to take responsibility for African American children despite the availability of resources.A telling narrative does not only if express disapproval for society in general, but also provides an inseparable critique of sociological conditions and the prospects of social control through planned communities (Perry, 91). The orifice of social control or an improvement of life style is implicitly suggested in The Games lyrics. He repeatedly shows the availability of wealth with references to items like Jacobs watches, Mercedes Benz, and sheepskin coats. 50 Cent however provides a true internal critique of the African American community, not meet society as a whole. Within the first stanza 50 Cent recounts the poor/lack of p arenting he received from his mother and father.He says, approach path up I was confused, my mom kissing a girl/ mental confusion occurs coming up in the cold world/Daddy aint around, probably out committing felonies. These three lines are a direct criticism of 50 Cents parents and other ghetto parents of the same generation, the children from the Civil Rights Movement. It is commenting on their collective failure to use the momentum of the civil rights parkway as a medium for change. Instead, many, like 50 Cents parents, went the opposite route. They fell into illegal activities and abandoned their children. This reality of an illegal life is further exemplified when 50 Cent says, I wanna live good, so shit I sell dope. With no parents, money, or real support, children of the Civil rights generation had to turn to drugs and other illegal activities to live good. Through these types of lyrics, 50 Cent and The Game inform and critique life in urban black neighborhoods.Criticism of ghetto life and the disappointment of the Civil Rights generation are also accomplished with the use of signification. According to Imani Perry, Signifyin(g) is a way of saying one thing and marrow another (Perry, 61). The Game successfully does this with both images and lyrics. For example, he raps Pac is gone and Brenda still throwing babies in the garbage/I wanna know Whats Going On like I hear Marvin. This literally is somewhat confusing however, if we look beyond the referencing previous black artist, The Game is signifying problems that the African American community has been enduring since the 60s. Brenda, for instance, is not literally throwing babies in the garbage. Rather, The Game is addressing the continued issue of teen pregnancy in black urban communities and criticizing the lack of change in these problems.He is looking at a similar underlying meaning when he references Marvin Gayes song Whats Going On. An artist from the era of the Civil Rights Movement, Gaye was c oncerned with issue of drug addiction, poverty, and the Vietnam War. It is comport that the Game is concerned with the lack of change that has occurred since the 1960s and is calling out the failures of society. The Game continues this use of signifying as social commentator by sampling the background music from The Trammps song Rubberband. It is this untrue, as Glenn Gould calls it, that gives art importance. (Gould, 58) Gould argues that imitation upsets the idea of progress. This is exactly what The Game and 50 Cent are indicating. Since the Civil Rights Movement, the generation of the Trammps, there has been limited progress. The Game is thus imitating and covering a lack of change. He is criticizing the black peoples ability to make change happen.Progress for African Americans has been limited since the Civil Rights Movement. Despite the lack of change, many people have tried to help, improve, challenge, and change the urban black Americans way of life. Rappers, like The Game and 50 Cent, breathing out music that alludes to the gangster life and its hardships. This signification often is criticized as an financial statement of stereotypes however, on a deeper level the music is challenging the assumptions of what a black man is (Perry, 61). When The Game ends his music video, he stands looking at the camera holding, kissing, and pleasant his baby. Looking directly at the camera he is staring into both African American home in America saying I will be different, I will be a good father, I will make a change. The Game understands the power he has as a rapper, and though this may not be a revolution like the Civil Rights Movement, it sends a message that change is practical even if it is one person at a time.