Black Community Issues in Hip Hop: Gun Violence & Hypermasculinity - Essay Sample

Introduction

In his conversation with Hurt, Dyson talks about several issues in the black community that affects hip hop music. One point is gun violence. In almost all hip hop songs, there is the mention of a gun, shooting, and violence. This aspect represents the livelihood of black people. Massive shootouts happen in the black neighborhood, and that is an indication of the high insecurity in the community. The second issue addressed by Dyson is hypermasculinity. He uses the term to describe how a boy is supposed to behave and act. The tendency of hypermasculinity is common in games (like football and rugby), in religion and the military. This attitude has caused black Americans to adore war and violence instead of reconciliation and peace. Dyson uses the example of the conflict between America and Iran. He argues that America preferred throwing bombs at Iran instead of reconciling with them (Dyson, 2005). The third issue that Dyson addresses is the struggles of black females. The black males tend to uphold supremacy and demand submission from the women. According to Dyson, women have to prioritize between being female and being black. The last issue that he addresses in his talk is homosexuality. He argues that society is very judgmental such that straight males are confused with gays because of doing things he considers as usual such as saying, 'I love you, Jesus.' This essay will use Dyson's talk to discuss Ice-T's "6 'N the morning".

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The song begins by addressing violence where the artist says that the police went for him early in the morning. He says that he did not get a chance to grab his old school tape, and this shows that he was on the run with the police after him. The song reflects the environment of guns and violence in the black community. The rapper says that "gold on my neck, my pistols close at hand," meaning that it was normal for a person to own a gun (Velkrive, 2019, 0:10). He goes ahead and says that the streets were not safe, and therefore he had to protect himself. He says that "living in the city is a serious task," and this shows that there was constant upheaval in his neighborhood.

The song portrays hypermasculinity when he says that "I'm a self-made monster of the city streets." Black men, especially rappers, tend to view themselves as monsters who can go through any kind of hardship and turn out fine (Dyson, 2005). Ice-T's song shows masculinity when he tries to protect himself with a gun when police came looking for him. The artist goes ahead and meets his fellow black men "homeboys," where he told them about his eventful morning. As they were talking, they noticed a group of ladies sitting at the corner. The group of guys decided to make a move on the ladies. One lady started insulting the men. Ice and his friends were annoyed and decided to beat the lady. The whole incidence shows gender inequality and struggles faced by black females. Ice keeps referring to the lady who insulted them as a 'ho' and a 'bitch' (Velkrive, 2019). Such terms are disrespectful, and this shows how the black community is male-dominated. Ice and his friends beat up the lady, and this was considered a normal thing to do. Male dominance is common in the black community, and violence against a female is considered normal (BlackTree Tv, 2008)). Ice and his friends beat up the lady because she was expressing herself, and this shows a lack of freedom of expression amongst black females.

Later on in the song, Ice says that "I bought a Benz with the money, the rest went on clothes." (Velkrive, 2019, 3:00) The statement reflects hypermasculinity amongst black men. Black males want the identity of providing for themselves and owning expensive things (Barnes, 2015). Blacks earn masculinity through having money and affording fancy things. Ice goes ahead and raps, "Went to the strip, started pimping the hoes" (Velkrive, 2015, 3:02). Black men view females as sexual objects and Ice confirms this when he said that he went to the strip club to pimp some hoes. The song portrays gun violence when Ice says that "Shotgun blasts echoed through the crowd, Six punks hit, two punks died, All causalities was applied to their side, Human lives have to pass just for talking much trash, We didn't know who they were, no one had the time to ask" (Velkrive, 2019, 3:09- 3:25). The song shows hypermasculinity, female oppression, violence. Ice-T's song has the best reflection of Dyson's arguments and terminologies in his talk with Hurt.

Hip hop music is the mirror of black society. The topics talked about by the rappers are the issues that affect the black people. Dyson has talked about the four major issues that affect the hip hop music and blacks in general. Those issues are hypermasculinity, female oppression, gun violence, and homosexuality. This essay has used Ice-T's song '6 In the Morning' to discuss Dyson's ideas. The song offers a broad view as it has tackled the majority of the issues that Dyson talked about in his interview with Hurt.

References

Barnes, D. (2015). Here's What's Missing from Straight Outta Compton: Me and the Other Women Dr. Dre Beat Up. Gawker. com, 18.

BlackTree Tv. (Apr 23, 2008). Hip Hop vs. America (The World) V. 10 (Misogyny). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkQd0Tk7_mQ

Dyson (2005) : "Cover Your Eyes as a Describe a Scene so Violent". (Track 4). God Bless the Child Productions Studio.

Velkrive (Oct 7, 2019). Ice-T. 6 In The Morning (Lyrics). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrpsV15GV3A