Hate It or Love It Essay

In 1972 the Cross Bronx Expressway was completed this marked the separation of the southern Bronx and was followed by the Bronx is anxious which began the downward spiral for this urban, Afri bottom American neighbor hooligan. Around the same time knock was founded and became an outlet for the frustrations of the poor, suffering people of this region. The result was the culture of hip-hop that glorifies violence, drugs, money, and a gangster persona. This has become the image of the Hip Hop artisan, and is apply by musicians to gain the approval or street cred of their fans/peers. With this proof of authenticity, however, many swath/hip-hop artists have sent messages of censure and condemnation of the life in the hood and the failures of the Civil pays Movement. In the song Hate it or Love it, these themes of hip-hop are portrayed throughout the song. Rappers The jeopardize and 50 penny both use signification and realism to gain believ force and critique the failures of the C ivil Rights generation. 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 brotherly inequality and signifying is a fable for the revision of previous texts and figures (Perry, 61, 101).Credibility is an idea that is very important in hip-hop. It is often referred to as keeping it real and calls attention to the authenticity of the rap artist (Perry, 87). According to Imani Perry, this entails maintaining allegiance to shameful youth populations or sub separates within their community. Most enthusiasts believe that hip-hop artists should stay true to their roots and stick with the style of their home-region. The patch stays real by recording Hate it or Love it as West Coast style hip-hop and visually signifying N.W.A. (a hip-hop group as well from the same city of Compton, CA) in the music video. The song also allows featured artist 50 penny the chance t o stay authentic when he signifies Tupac and Rakim, both of which were also from New York. The Game and 50 cent though non straight sampling from these artist do cover the identity their predecessors created as a result, they cover and maintain allegiance to the image of men from black American urban communities.In addition to signifying, Hate it or Love it uses realism throughout its lyrics to build credibility with the audience. Rappers/ Hip-Hop artists are expected to witness and become out the narratives that they tell. 50 cent starts the song saying, lets topicem back signifying the transition to story of a real time before he or The Game were known rappers. Both artist wing this humans by disclosing details of ghetto/gangster life in lines like Brenda is still throwing babies in the garbage, niggas had stole my bike, and one phone callll have your corpse dumped in marshes. These phrases all refer to personal or witnessed events that describe the problems like teenage p regnancy, theft, and gang violence in black American urban communities. This reality regardless of truth authenticates the rapper because it shows he has experienced 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 linguistic process in the song. Imani Perry also says that, Realism is a testimony to the emotional state resulting from the experience of poverty, blackness, and the crisis of urbanity (Perry, 87). After proving oneself as real and establishing their ability to relate to black America, rap artist can further their credibility by targeting the emotional hardships of urban poverty. 50 Cent conveys these emotions when he raps, Different day, same shit, aint nothing good in the hood. Id run away from this bitch and never come back if I could. Here he expresses a genuine hate for the hood and shows his vulnerability 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 commit from the audience. With trust, support, and belief in the lyrics, credibility is established. The artist becomes real.Establishing a sense of being real is not restricted to the lyrics. In the music video for Hate it or Love it, The Game employs several 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 tenderness and sorrow for the young rappers who appear to have nobody sounding out for them, a truth often seen in poor urban communities. This again earns credibility for the rappers because it shows they have lived out the experiences that they rap about. (Perry, 90) With this evidence of living as a real African Ame rican, The Game and 50 Cent progress toward a materialisation of respect 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 part of a phallic-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 top 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 surrounded by rapper to rapper and rapper to audience (Perry, 62). These images of wealth, and power are a cover of African American males desired collective style, a style formed by the previous generation of rappers, and a style African Am erican 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 makes them real rap artists.Realism is not restricted to the construction of credibility for an artist, it also has the ability to inform 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 enlighten rather than plain depict (Perry, 91). The Game accomplished this throughout the lyrics in his song. He raps, Thinking how they spent 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 baseball club 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 clearly condemning indian lodge for its failure to take responsibility for African American children despite the availability of resources.A telling narrative does not only express disapproval for society in general, but also provides an internal critique of sociological conditions and the prospects of social control through planned communities (Perry, 91). The possibility of social control or an returns 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 just society as a whole. Within the first stanza 50 Cent recounts the poor/lack of parenting he received from his mother and father.He says, Coming up I was confused, my mom kissing a girl/ murkiness occurs coming up in the cold world/Daddy aint aro und, 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 movement 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 meaning 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 concerned with issue of drug addiction, poverty, and the Vietnam War. It is clear 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 imitation, 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, release music that alludes to the gangster life and its hardships. This signification often is criticized as an affirmation of stereotypes however, on a deeper level t he 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 loving his baby. Looking directly at the camera he is staring into every 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 possible even if it is one person at a time.