Hip-Hop as a Culture of Social Movement

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Rap music, sometimes referred to as hip-hop music, is a style of music that originated in America as a result of the country's multiculturalism and African-American population. Rap music initially existed to give minorities a platform on which to express themselves in public. It should be mentioned that at the time and even now, colorism is still somewhat prevalent in the United States. The term "colorism" or "shadeism" refers to the classification of people into specific groups based on or in accordance with the presumption of skin color.

A almost 400-year-old history has influenced the use of colorism in the United States. In the past, humans transported slaves to America, the majority of whom originated in Africa. Forced labor was used to enslave slaves, who were mostly of "Black" skin, in order to establish the nation's fame in market and economic development. Black people are frequently the targets of discrimination in American popular culture, such as in a number of movies. Call it in the Marvel television show "Cloak and Dagger," which features a black boy with numerous challenges who joins forces with a white girl to become a superhero.

The "fire of struggle" of hip-hop has never totally died out, even though the author still believes that the hip-hop scheme is going through a change in ideals. Several hip-hop musicians still speak out against oppressive cultural norms and conflicts against authority, particularly in relation to people of color. For instance, Jay-Z harshly condemned the change in American society that split the African-American ethnic group in its attempts to ascend to the top of the social scale in the song "The Story of O.J." In response to a societal climate that never stops discrediting African-Americans as people of color, Jay-Z blasted the lack of unity within the African-American ethnicity itself.

Other musicians, like Childish Gambino, have also criticized the social conditions in the United States as being like a dangerous battlefield. In his song "This is America," he specifically described these conditions with several shooting scenes that represented several mass shooting incidents that have happened in the country. The use of the media as a weapon to deflect discussion from the important issues, such as prejudice against people of color, is another criticism leveled by Childish Gambino.

A significant incident occurred in 2020 that once more provided the impetus for the emergence of hip-hop culture as a major worldwide civil society movement advocating for racial and minority issues. The incident involving George Floyd's death, which was brought on by white members of the Minneapolis, Minnesota, American police force, appeared to lift the curtain on the continued existence of racial and minority issues. Then, as a sign of support from the world's civil society for Floyd's situation, the hashtag Black Lives Matter appeared on internet social media. The involvement of young rappers like Lil Baby and Dax with their songs "The Bigger Picture" and "BLACK LIVES MATTER" suggests that rap music is becoming a "New Social Movement" that may be used to voice racial and minority issues around the globe. Although the author was unable to locate any documentation regarding these musicians' involvement in the protest movement's planning, their involvement demonstrates solidarity and the "flame of fight" that Hip-Hop music represents against social injustice. Hopefully, the movement will inspire people to improve the world.