Rap The Flow Of A Disputed Artform - 3070 Words

Rap: the Flow of a Disputed Artform Often in history, and especially in the timeline of musical trends, the introduction of new ideas is almost always met with steep judgement and general distaste. It is not music at all. It s merely an irritation of the nerves of hearing, a sensual teasing of the strings of physical passion. Coarse opinions, such as Princeton University Professor Henry van Dyke’s, were common when jazz music initially received a reputation as being immoral with many members of the older generations viewed it as threatening old values in culture and promoting the new decadent values of the â€Å"Roaring 20s.† Eventually though, through informed discussion and appreciation for it’s innovative qualities, jazz became recognized as indispensable and one of the most definitive styles of American music. History appears to have repeated itself again in the case of another emerging musical genre: rap. Much like how jazz and blues were first highly controversial but undeniably very American musical styles, rap has become a definitive musical voice and creative outlet for a large group of people. In the last few decades, rap music in America has dramatically captured and changed the pop culture and media of youth. Much about rap is misunderstood because of lack of knowledge of the social context to some listeners and so it is often deemed obscene due to explicit language and content. Rap music has done so much socially crossing color barriers and introducing poetry to