Soon after the first records were scratched and the first lines were rhymed, hip hop saw its microphone for creative expression quickly transform into a tool that could also be used for social and political expression. Beginning in 1973 with DJ Cool Herc, on to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, then to the Sugarhill Gang, hip hop MCs did more than entertain—they painted a picture of their lifestyles, their living situations, and their struggles in the ghettos of the boroughs of New York City. These MCs, and artists like them that would soon follow in their wake, gave hip hop its first turn at being the magnifying glass for life in urban, inner-city ghettos. Still today, many mainstream hip hop artists speak truths, both good and bad, about their lives and communities.

Although mainstream hip hop of today carries a largely negative stigma, many artists, specifically those independent of major labels, still utilize hip hop for a positive purpose. By analyzing further than the limits of the mainstream version of hip hop that, one might come to understand that hip hop is being used as a tool for urban, minority communities and disenfranchised groups in American society. These populations of people are shining a light on social ills, exercising protests, and expressing their many different identities. Hip hop is a microphone for social consciousness, cultural awareness, and a platform for political protest.  Focusing on the works of independent artists and even considering some of the lyrics of mainstream artists will help bring forth a greater understanding of what the purpose of hip hop is outside of entertainment. 

In the late 1970s when the genre of hip hop was born, it was in its purest form. Birthed in the underground social scene of the South Bronx of New York City, hip hop began as a creative form of entertainment. Hip hop consists of four key elements—rapping, breakdancing, deejaying, and graffitiing—which are platforms of performance for the genre. Rap, although not completely independent of the instrumental art of deejaying, is undoubtedly the most important element of hip hop. From the very beginning of the genre’s existence, any credited MC or rapper would be the spokesperson for their neighborhood, community, or any other group of identity. This gave rappers the ability to choose the purpose of the music they made whether it be to entertain, preach their beliefs, or give insight to their lifestyles.

Hip hop also became a response to the growing social and economic tensions faced by Black, Hispanic, and immigrant communities in urban areas. This can be confirmed through the PBS program, History Detectives Special Investigations, in which Dr. Tukufu Zuberi investigates the birthplace of hip hop and traces its origins to examine how the genre sparked a cultural movement that incorporates things from politics and issues of race. In his interviews with Dr. Mark Naison, Naison describes the atmosphere of the Bronx leading up to the birth of hip hop by stating, “It created this tremendous sense of fear that was compounded by a city fiscal crisis which led to closing of schools, closing of fire houses, closing of police stations.” Naison then continues by saying, “Herc’s music fit the psychology and lived experience of young people growing up in the Bronx. And that was the big bang that started hip hop. The sound created there, that pounding rhythm, is something that’s still capturing the imagination of young people all over the world.” (qtd. in “Birthplace of Hip Hop”). 

Due to the growing popularity and mass appeal of hip hop in America throughout the following years, the music industry made substantial gains by turning hip hop into a commercial profit. Through the course of the industrialization of hip hop, much of the substance of the genre was lost. Many artists made themselves profitable to music industry moguls by being raw, unrated, and explicit. From here, the media could demonize hip hop for what it became and generalize it as a source of vulgarity, misogyny, homophobia, and violence. Despite the stigmatization of mainstream hip hop as an outlet for vulgarity, the genre still wields a significant amount of power as a platform for expression of beliefs, expression of dissent, and expression of identity. 

Those who support hip hop and those who oppose can both easily agree that hip hop references vulgar imagery, violence, misogyny, homophobia, drug use, and a slew of other things that American society generally despises. These messages are no doubt topping charts, breaking records, and making their way into the ears of billions of listeners right here in our very own neighborhoods, communities, and schools. To separate these messages from the overarching category of hip hop music, one must be able to identify these messages as characteristics of the notorious subgenre, gangsta rap. 

By isolating the subgenre of gangsta rap and retracing its origins, many will understand why and how it became the face of what many Americans have come to despise when they hear the words, “hip hop.” Many associate the rise of gangtsa rap with the 1990s and the notorious rap wars commonly known as “East Coast versus West Coast.” From the lyrics of N.W.A. to the feud between Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, the beginning of the era of gangsta rap horrified many “good Americans” and gave the media a feast to last all the way up to today’s headlining news. Denise Herd uses analysis of lyrical content side by side with crime rates in the United States to show correlation between the two. Herd also makes claims that the music industry pushed a violent and criminalized agenda to make sales. Herd states:

Therefore escalation of violence in rap music lyrics during the late 1980s and early 1990s may reflect increasing acts of violence, especially among young blacks. However, sustained violence in rap music lyrics in the late 1990s, despite the downturn in societal rates, seems, at least in part, orchestrated and driven by commercial forces. Changes within the music industry, such as higher production costs and sales slumps, may have increased the pressure to sell ‘by any means necessary’(403). 

By going back to the beginning and using research like that of Herd, one should understand that social atmosphere of urban areas and minority populations created the change in the message of hip hop, ultimately giving it the stigma that it still carries today. The gangsta rap artists who seemed to be glorifying the harsh lifestyles that they lived and rapped about were illustrating and responding to the growing social and economic tensions that they faced every day in America’s ghettos. Because it is easy for most Americans to blame these artists for selling their explicit content, it is just as easy to ignore that the explicit content is a reality in the suffering urban communities that most of these artists come from.

Another duo of researchers, Christine Reyna and Mark Brandt, did an extensive study that examined the results from nationally recognized bodies like the General Social Survey (GSS) in order to make claims that stereotypes surrounding hip hop are associated with anti-Black attitudes and discrimination. These authors state, “Most who disapprove of rap music and its violent content are often referring to a subtype of rap called ‘Gangsta Rap’ which makes frequent references to the criminal lifestyle.” They further support their claims by stating, “Regardless of the ultimate aim of rap music, its definition, or the value that listeners derive from it, one thing is certain: rap music and the culture that surrounds it have become associated with negative stereotypes of Blacks” (Brandt and Reyna 362). Finally, they follow these claims with close examinations and studies of responses of Black and White subjects who were asked about music preferences, behaviors, and policies.  This research summarizes a clear example of the opposing views which support the idea that hip hop has a negative and detrimental impact on American society and urban areas. These claims and the supporting data not only highlight the general basis for the opposition to hip hop, but explain the potential negative effects on society that may stem from anti-rap attitudes. 

The large opposition to the genre of hip hop, ultimately reflects an opposition to its artists, their backgrounds, and the communities they hail from. The perceived messages of hip hop affect both white audiences and audiences of color, as seen before in the research of Brandt and Reyna. Researchers Kate Conrad, Travis Dixon, and Yuanyuan Zhang also discuss potential influences on these audiences by stating, “Therefore, the images that dominate rap music videos may cultivate specific attributions White consumers make about Black individuals,” which is supported by the cultivation theory which says that, “exposure to consistent messages over time influences individuals to perceive the world in a certain manner” (Conrad et al. 138). They continue with, “Additionally, the Black audiences are more likely to identify with the Black individuals in the videos making it more difficult to disassociate themselves from the stereotypical images” referring to hip hop music videos (139).  Because most of hip hop’s artists are minorities in America, it is important for different audiences to try to focus on hip hop’s most important purpose as the mouthpiece for these minority communities.

By trying to remove the negative aura that is commonly associated with hip hop, many ethnographers, sociologists, and researchers have done significant amounts of work to uncover and reestablish the power of this groundbreaking genre of music. These researchers have not only taken hip hop’s messages into consideration, but they have drawn connections between hip hop and effects on specific groups of people in America such as minorities, teens, and the urban lower class. These connections illustrate hip hop’s social and cultural effects while drawing attention to the lives of the populations that consume the music the most. Research on hip hop’s negative effects, sociocultural impacts, and role as a mouthpiece are all parts of dissecting what hip hop means to its target populations and how it can be used. 

Ethnographic researchers also examine the weight of the impact hip hop has on the identity of minority youth including social interactions and fashion sense. Andreanna Clay uses first hand research at a youth center to monitor the behaviors of Black adolescents and teens to connect their day to day interactions and behaviors to the influences of hip hop. Clay’s studies of the interactions of youth at the center lead her to state, “What is important here is that if hip-hop is indeed the Blackest culture as Gilroy (1997) suggests and is the overwhelming representation of what it means to be a Black youth, as I argue, then these markers of performance are significant because all Black youth are encouraged to adhere to them to be accepted in the setting and, more implicitly, to be accepted as authentically Black” (1355). Clay believes that the sociocultural impact of hip hop directly affects the identity of much of the Black youth that feels represented by hip hop culture. 

There are even more extensive articles of research that focus on hip hop’s role as a mouthpiece and tool for social movements and political expression. Researchers Siobhan Brooks and Thomas Conroy analyze hip hop and its role as a platform for expression of identity and social protests. Brooks and Conroy explain the importance of hip hop’s four elements in relation to young people who perform and consume the genre by stating:

 Often a young person of color (or young White person who happens to identify with at least some cultural and social aspects of people of color), [achieves] a type of flow as he or she encounters (and counters) forces of repression, be they the police, homophobia, classism, or another alienating social structure. (Brooks and Conroy 6)

This quote gives a very realistic example of how hip hop affects audiences of minority youth in particular and explains how they can use hip hop to their benefit. These authors also follow the previous claim by summarizing the social significance of hip hop by stating:

Much of the essence of a number of lyrics to hip-hop songs can be summed up as: this is me; here I am; this is what I do! Also, as signifiers, hip-hop can be viewed in terms of the construction of maleness and femaleness; it is, after all, a genre created by young persons negotiating the boundaries of gender and sexuality. (Brooks and Conroy 6). 

By accepting that hip hop is vital to minority communities such as those mentioned by Brooks and Conroy, many will continue to come to understand the greater purpose of hip hop, which is to be a voice for those who are less likely to be heard. 

Many researchers such as Michael P. Jeffries also support the idea that hip hop can be a guide to help understand the realities faced by those living in urban areas of America. Jeffries states, “
