A new University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash College study explores the evolution of hip-hop from party music into a political platform. Todd Callais, an assistant professor of sociology, criminology, and criminal justice at UC-Blue Ash, focused on the hip-hop industry because of its impact on society and because there is a clear timeline of its development.

 

"You can identify a beginning to the hip-hop culture that was fairly recent," said Callais, who will present his research at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. "It started in the mid-1970s and the performers were primarily interested in entertaining and expressing themselves. By the early to mid-1990s performers began more consistently looking at hip-hop as a political opportunity with social movement implications."

 

He points to "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash as the first song by a major artist to address social issues and achieve widespread popularity. It highlights the social and economic barriers that force many African-Americans to live in poverty in the inner city and the frustration¹ that results from these inequalities, Callais said.

 

Callais uses 1995 as the turning point for this shift when hip-hop truly evolved into a platform for social movement. For his research, he interviewed 25 people involved with hip-hop before 1995 and 25 who joined the industry after. These included performers, writers, producers, and critics.

 

"I argue that musical participation² in itself can be a social movement, as opposed to the soundtrack for a movement that is already happening, like we saw in the 1960s," said Callais. "Hip-hop gives performers another way to reach and influence a larger audience. Many of the rap artists in the last 15 to 20 years identify themselves as being more overtly³ political in their efforts."

 

According to Callais, key figures in the rap industry today are leading a movement countering the mainstream⁴ rap stereotypes⁵ of violence, misogyny, and crime to help create a better image for rap music. The modern movement leaders ironically cite early hip-hop artists as their influences, even though these early artists may have lacked truly political intentions.

点击收听单词发音