Creation 3 - Rap Song

A combination rap with Cindy Rebellon, this is my half of 16 bars & a hook:

[16 bars]

Our roomie Keady is Irish like Spring

Can’t get in her pants cuz she wears a promising ring

White like Casper, & she stays repping Queens

Studying Biology because she likes them genes

Funny how she thinks she’s the smartest of us all

But don’t get scared when she blends into the wall.

She’s into rap, her favorite rapper’s Yeezy

Only for him she would act sleezy

Let’s end the rap with Cindy

She has a stuffed giraffe

His name is Matthew

He’s her better half.

As you can see, she’s short and petite

Can’t take her anywhere without a car seat.

She loves her Arizona Green Tea

But not more than going on a shopping spree.

[Hook]

Suite 322, you know how we do.

Come to class, we about to school you.

Creation - 2 Poem

"When Your Pride Leaves a Scar"

Mi Papa, light eyes, dark skinned, AFRO-BORIQUEN.

He was the father of my father & my only grandfather.

Swept me away almost every summer

to the island of my ancestors. PUERTO RICO

It was my second home & still is.

See the man was known throughout the states

& his island querido.

For he was a humble man, very grand, and always put others before him.

He was Latino to the full and everyone knew it.

The pride was ever to be hidden and is driven within me through him.

But because an argument parents, I just drifted myself away from that family even my Papa.

Months past, as my pride to stay in contact took the best of me.

Then a call from my father hit me like an atomic bomb…

Sorry mi hija pero Papa is gone. Regrets run through my head of what I should of, could of,

But didn’t do to make our last moments better. Now because of the death of a loved one, the family was together.

Te amo Papa are the only words I wish I could have said.

How my price like me with my scars.

RIP Papa. 

Creation 1 - Poem

                                                  A Toast to Where I’m From

Abuelita is always cooking, Mami is always working.

Where the Puertorican blood is thick, because I was born into the culture not the land.

Where the loud Spanish music plays and the rhythm goes from my body into my brain

Hips are like a washing machine,

Feet so quick like NYC’s rush hours.

Where translating isn't viewed as a job but a way of life.

Our people are supposed to stick together, but instead we fight.

New cultures are introduced to me, but does that change what I am?

These different cultures mixed with some of my sazon and adobo,

                                                          Is what made me who I am.

Critique on Chapter 10: The Hip Hop Wars

Chapter 10: Nobody Talks About the Positives in Hip Hop

            During this chapter, it speaks about how Hip Hop is usually viewed in society. When people think about Hip Hop they usually think: money, females and just expensive things to make them look good. However, that is not the case for all the Hip Hop artist, according to Tricia Rose; she states, “These artists-the more visible ones are Common, Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, KRS-One, Tribe Called Quest, OutKast, Dead Prez, and Talib Kewli-are often mentioned as notable examples of what is good about hip hop but also often overlooked in the frenzy to condemn all that is associated with hip hop” (pg.202). In other words, these artists are the ones that talk and rap about actual things that happen in life and how we can try to make a difference. These are also the artists that do not get much attention or recognition. Unlike other artists who are viewed as bad role models in society such as Lil’ Wayne and Meek Mills, they speak about violence, drugs, and degrading females by calling them “bitches”. These are the type of artists and rap songs that our listeners like to hear. It is has gotten even harder to change that now because the younger generation prefers to listen to music about discriminating females and about having the best gear. Trying to teach them the positive about Hip Hop, would not be “cool” for them especially if they were to hear a song from Lupe Fiasco, since he talks about the government. Trying to educate their mind is a big challenge because showing them how to use Hip Hop to understand life issues is not that easy to get through to them, especially since they do not see Hip Hop as a learning tool.

Critique on Chapter 9 The Hip Hop War

Chapter 9 : We Are Not Role Models 

 In chapter 9 of Hip Hop Wars by Tricia Rose the author speaks on how Hip Hop rap artist are not role models or at least they claim they are not role models. Rappers use lines such as “we’re not role models”, “parents are responsible for their own kids” and “just turn it off” a lot. Most of the time when a rapper is confronted he brings up on of these 3 clichés to justify themselves and deflect negative attention that comes from their negative music. Rappers say that they are not role models of the young but they are flashing their lives around so that others may see and mimic them. They say parents are the responsible but how much impact can a parent have when their children and already filled with the negativity most rappers and passing on as the truth. The “Don’t like what you see, then just turn it off” line is a major contradiction because record labels spend millions on marketing so that everyone could know about a particular artist. So rappers are not only everywhere but in all the minds of the youth with their catchy negative tunes and their image is like a goal to the youth. How can rappers say they are not role models when a rapper is supposed to be the voice of all struggling unable to voice their opinions and thoughts but rappers want the benefits that come with being a role model without the responsibility.

Critique on Chapter 8 The Hip Hop Wars

Chapter 8 : There Are Bitches and Hoes

               Chapter 8: There Are Bitches and Hoes in “The Hip Hop Wars”, speaks about the icon that started the idea of calling a female a bitch or a hoe, in the black and rap community. This term came from the socially structured image of a man being dominant towards a female, and the female throwing themselves towards the male, serving him and his every need. This is what created the Pimp.

            The Pimp was this image of a man, which was created during the 1980’s Hip Hop. The Pimp was pictured to be this idol towards the black community. Where ideally strippers and groupies praised him, money was included, and of course the image of the fuzzy hat. It was all about g’s up ho’s down mentality during this time. In the chapter it explains how much this idea was promoted through artist such as Nelly, Lil’ Pimp and 50 Cent. These artists bragged about controlling women, using the word Pimp. Furthermore, movies were also exploiting it as well; such as Hustle and Flow. As stated in the text, “Dominating prostitutes and living off of their sex work” should not be how society should view women point blank; especially, when it is involving the use of physical violence towards women while calling them Bitches and Tricks.

            This chapter also explains how men think it is ok to call a women a Hoe, because they call themselves that as well. However, in my opinion men may call themselves Hoes but in a sense that it is a more like a compliment to them. How many bitches did you fuck this week, what’s your count? It’s like the more they let themselves out the higher they view themselves. Whether for girls it is the complete opposite. A woman can be exactly the same a man in a sense where she’s sleeping around, but obviously it is both disrespectful towards herself, disgusting and wrong. An issue that the book brings up in which I believe is, the how because of this male dominance, it is ok to say that every female is this way. Discrimination is a key factor in the play of Rap music.Instead of discriminating the real issues, such as the war in Iraq or poverty; they are spreading the words of a man who all he wants to do is “fuck bitches and get money”.

            Although, the rappers and hip hop artist use these terms to describe a female; some use the term to describe females they feel deserve no respect. Sometimes women are put to blame because they hyper-sexualize hip hop. Women also use bitch when speaking to one another, challenging the sexist word which I feel does not help make them any different from men. However, places them into the same category of power as men when saying it to the opposite sex. 

     In my opinion the words (Bitches and Hoes), are  only there to label the Afro american race even more than what they are labelled. It is a concept that as create years ago, and is still used now in days to discriminate women.

Imitation 7 - Rap Music of 2010/11

                                                                Break Down - J.Cole

"Look, I just shed tears homie and now I ain't too proud to admit it
Just seen my father for the first time in a minute
And when I say a minute I mean years man
Damn, a whale could have swam in them tears fam
Cause as I left them I reflected on my younger days
When it was just me and my brother and my mother played
Father, cause no other man bothered
Not even my biological, it never seemed logical"

The rap song that I chose is called Break Down by J.Cole. It is a 2010 song that speaks about a boy who lived without his biological father and the struggles he had growing up as a kid with his mom, brother and sister that is later mentioned in the rap. J.Cole is an adult rapping in the perspective of this child. The context is written to expresses his anger towards his dad, but when meeting him for the first time it seems that he misses him too much to even be mad, so he breaks down. The song is a confessional rap because he confuses his true feelings for his father, and is also critiquing the father's irresponsible decisions in life. The rhyme scheme is (aa,bb,cc,d,e) and the literary devices used are imagery, ending rhyme scheme, and most importantly flash backs to reenact conversations and emotions with is father.