Q: Look at readings for hip-hop AND country. Where do you see similarities and/or connections between these two music genres? What do they have in common? Where are they fundamentally different?
A: Today when I think of music, the first two genres that come to mind is first hip-hop, and then country. To be honest, that is about the only thing the two genres have in common, is popularity. Hip-hop and the meaning of it has definitely switched direction from positive to negative. It seems as though rappers like to sing a lot about other rappers (insulting them), misogyny (women), materialism (such as money, cars, clothes), and murder (a lot of times, guns). In a lot of rap songs, you don't even realize what the rappers are saying until you READ the lyrics. Most of the time you can't even tell what they are saying. Country seems to be a lot different and is a lot easier to understand compared to hip-hop. The music is easy to understand, regular people can relate to the artists and what they are singing about. Also, the singers seem to sing "simplified and clear" lyrics that focus on present time, which also makes it more aunthentic.
I think the two genres have a lot more in common that you're giving them credit for. Both have very strong stereotypes that they sometimes have to work against. Both support fairly traditional gender behavior. Both accept violence as a natural part of everyday.
ReplyDelete