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The Real Thing

The Real Thing

Date: Nov 13 2006

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Hip hop music was born in New York City in the 1970s. The first rappers were black, telling stories about life in the neighborhoods they lived in. In the eighties, Run-D.M.C. became the first hip hop group to hit the big time, and had a major impact on the direction of hip hop music. In 1986, the Beastie Boys’ (pictured) album Liscensed to Ill became the first hip hop album to hit number one on the music charts.

Although the Beastie Boys have been major players in the hip hop scene, some fans feel that hip hop is inherently “a black thing.”

Listen to Mason and Amanda talk about the color of hip hop.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Amanda

Amanda

Mason

Mason

Amanda:  I think there’s this huge misconception about hip hop that it’s either black or white. That it can’t be both. Why do you think that is?

Mason:  Um, well, definitely the predominant imagery of hip hop community is black people…

Amanda:  In marketing or media. Sure.

Mason:  You know… um… And it’s the music that they generated. You know. I don’t think any Caucasians can lay claim that, uh, you know, hip hop…

Amanda:  Beastie Boys... but no, you’re right…

Mason:  But they didn’t…. they came to the culture, and…

Amanda:  You’re right.

Mason:  I don’t know about you, but to me… and then things that I’ve heard spoken definitely about the Beastie Boys, about Eminem, uh, you know, stuff like that…is that it… they, they are from a culture, you know, the street culture, the hip hop culture, the urban culture, the hard times culture…

Amanda:  Right.

Mason:  um, and that’s really raises you in hip hop, what gives you credibility to be a hip hop artist.

Amanda:  Absolutely. And it’s because how, where and when it originated, which was in the seventies in the South Bronx, and it was predominantly black and Puerto Rican. But now it’s 40 years later and it’s pretty cool ‘cause people are feeling hip hop on every continent…

Mason:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Right now. And it’s become colorless.

 

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Discussion

Mason and Amanda agree that hip hop comes from a certain culture.

Even though African Americans originally were responsible for the rising popularity of hip hop in the seventies and eighties, the music was less about skin color and more about the street culture the artists rapped about. That’s why white rappers like the Beastie Boys and Eminem have credibility.

But as the hip hop permeates other styles of music, the meaning of hip hop may change. And that’s probably what concerns some black hip hop artists who are trying to maintain a thread with their musical history.

Do you like hip hop? What does it represent to you?

 

Comments

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selina wang

China

It’s cool…

09:19 AM Nov 14 2006 |

oceangirl05

Viet Nam

I am feeling hip hop very much

01:25 PM Nov 13 2006 |

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