Interviews with Tricia Rose

Tricia Rose makes some strong points about the differences of hip-hop in the present and hip-hop in the past. She makes the point that hip-hop is not dead (the name of Nas's album), but rather it is buried. By this Tricia Rose means that the history of hip-hop is no longer alive. In the past hip-hop had a wide range of listeners (age wise) and it was about politics, education, and learning about your history. There was still some anger is the past hip-hop, but not the same as today. Nowadays, hip-hop artists rap about drugs, sex, and violence with much anger.

Rose also makes a point that hip-hop cannot just be ignore or "turned off". It is all around, on the radio and several television stations. Although the artists make statements that if you do not like the music then turn it off... they don't mean it. In order to make sales, the artists need people to listen to their music, this is how sales will be made. Not all people like hip-hop music but there are many people that enjoy it. For the audience that does not enjoy it, there is pretty much no escaping it because it is on many television and radio stations.

Reading and listening to the interviews was a different type of read for me. I am not used to the question and answer type of reading, so it was hard for me to find the overview of what was the most important and such. To help me better understand Rose's points on the differences between past and present hip-hop songs I will have to listen so some. I am the type of person that listens to all kinds of music no matter what it is; If I like it then I'll listen.

These two pieces reminded me about how much of a struggle teenagers already have in their life and now they have more to add it it. The music that teenagers listen to plays a role in their life. They listen to it frequently and for some or most the words and the rappers can be influential on the teens decision making. Hearing all of the artists rapping about sex, drugs, money, and violence makes it appealing for the teenage listeners. In the end, they want to be like the rapper and may take part in some of the actions because it looks and sounds "cool".

I agree that there is no getting away from the hip-hop of today. It is widely listened to by many, there are many rappers, and it can be found on the radio and television. I also do not think that it will fade away until something new comes out and the audience likes it much better than hip-hop. I do believe that the hip-hop artists should be aware of their main audience (teenagers) and take this into consideration when coming up with song lyrics. Teens will tend to do whatever seems cool to them... if the rappers are aware of this and want to help make a difference or at least some positiveness, they can choose different song lyrics.