Critique 4: Chapter 4

                This chapter of The Hip-hop Wars was another I enjoyed because of how it linked social issues to other larger causes. This is similar to what chapter 3 did however chapter 4 speaks much more broadly about American culture as opposed to just black culture, so I am able to understand and relate to it more. While I found most Tricia Rose’s points thought provoking the one I had an issue with was her first which was that black people have a long standing association with violence and sexual deviancy. While this may be true in some circles at this point in time it is only extremist that still link rap and black people as one cause of corruption of youth and this is because rap does not equate to being the same as black people as a whole. I don’t think her point is completely invalid I just think she makes it sound more important a factor than her other mentioned issues. I found her discussion on the emergence of youth culture and its marketability to be far more convincing. How emerging youth culture also related to the change in family values and how the same changes in values were related to the distribution of wealth were also interesting points. It helps that Rose can tie all these points together so well and really helps her prove her point that hip-hop must be a progressive movement that draws on true American values such as equality and justice.

Critique 3: Chapter 3

                Chapter 3 was possibly the most interesting chapter of The Hip-hop Wars I’ve read. Two particular topics that interested me were the sentiments surrounding the no snitching attitude and the anti-educational attitude. Both issues I believe I was partially aware of before reading the chapter however Rose goes into their origins and reasons and by doing so she forces you to realize that rap is not hurting black culture so much as the people themselves are. Rap merely reflects an attitude of, as Geoffery Canada put it, “Just have our community. Do anything you want, and we will either deal with it ourselves or we will simply ignore it.” This attitude towards crime perpetuates the attitude that crime is ok. You can say it is up to the parents and leaders of the community to prevent the music from doing this however the issue lies in the anti educational attitude. Anything about mainstream culture is enemy to many children who also embrace the anti snitching ideals. Because of this any guidance from school or parents is found to not be helpful to these kids but rather makes them feel even more attacked. This is important as combined with the no snitching attitude these two common youth ideals create a recipe for neighborhoods full of drop outs and eventually as a result of lack of education and employment you get gangs. I found it interesting that Rose was able to root all these societal woes that are blamed on rap music to a larger cultural view that is flawed. It is a view that must be changed if improvement is ever to be an option.  

Critique 2: Chapter 7

                I enjoyed reading chapter 7 of Tricia Rose’s The Hip-hop Wars as it swayed my opinion slightly on Rap’s relationship with sexism and women. I was very much in favor of freedom of expression (one of the issues tackled in the chapter) but reading the chapter has made me realize while rappers should be allowed to demean women, if this is how they wish to express themselves, it doesn’t mean they should or that it is ok. The chapter also made me realize that censoring indecent words doesn’t change the overall message that it sends youth; youth that admire rappers above all else. I disagreed slightly however, that rap can’t contain sexist lyrics as a way to show a true issue of sexism in our culture. While the chapter argues sexism should be tackled at the root by rap I believe this in part has happened through rap displaying how sexist our culture is. The problem really arises in that not enough rappers are socially conscious enough to make it clear to their fans that they can rap these lyrics and still have a great deal of respect for women.  This issue goes back to the disconnect between how rappers act in their personas and in reality. Tricia Rose has made me think a lot of social issues related to rap are cause by this difference in personalities.