Modern Hip Hop Culture in America

Over the years, the genre of Hip Hop has received attention for a number of factors.

Unfortunately, many of the factors are not exactly positive or beneficial for the community hip-hop as a genre tends to represent. From the 1980s to 1990s, hip-hop was frequently used as a platform for many artists to express their concerns about the society whether the topic of the matter was political or socioeconomic. There are artists who talked about their backgrounds such as involvement with the gang culture and being on the lower side of the socioeconomic scale.

One of the bigger stigmas about Hip-Hop as a genre was that it belong exclusively to the minorities, specifically referring to the African American and Hispanic community. Many Caucasian artists who attempted to get into the genre received certain feedbacks, in which mainly consisted of how they do not have a place in the world of hip-hop.

In the current society, due to the continuous effort for racial equality and having an open mind, a number of caucasian artists were able to establish their places in the hip hop culture as respectable artists such as Eminem, Atmosphere, and more.

As Geoff Harkness, the author of 'Hip Hop Culture and America's Most Taboo Word', puts the focus on the argument by Sociologist Andy Bennett, "hip hop culture - and its accompanying themes of authenticity - is under constant revision as various youth groups throughout the world adopts it.

However, the use of the N-word, one of "the most taboo words" in America, should not be encouraged solely because one is a part of the hip hop culture.

Whether the term is used out of its original context in the current society, that reason should not be any justification on the usage of the word because it does not change how the word was formed and used in the past.