Groups I'm Associated with
Family
Friends
College Students
Sports Fan
sSar Wars Fan
Afro-american
Andependent Democrat
Ausiness Major
Dog Owner
Hip Hop
Concerned Citizen
Neighborhood Club
My Discourse Community: Hip Hop
To become a member of the hip hop community is not something a person can seek to become, it
is something that a person has to be raised in. Contrary to popular belief it is not about fashion or ra-
pping or even music in general. Hip hop is about a way of life thats translated through the music and
the fashion, those elements are used as a vessel to articulate certain aspects of life ...hip hop life.
The language we speak is basic street slang with a twist , we make up word as we go along and the
words change meaning from region to region. So you have to learn what a person means when he's
stating a simple phrase like im about to "dip," which incredibly takes on several meanings. It could
mean leave, punch, or a special someone, so a quick dual-thinking mind is a neccessity in being a
hip hopper.
The basic Ideology of the hip hop citizen is to keep things honest (real), in hopes that your friends
and family will return the favor. We practice being "real" at all times any deviation from this
law will land the offender the title of "perpetrator, " meaning that a person should not represent
themseves as something that they are not. We also believe strongly in standing up for our core
beliefs and rejecting all forms of facism, conformity , and white washing.
The power in hip hop always has come from the people, we alone decide what is acceptable or not.
Any member has the power to become a leader, its as easy as accepting the responsibility for your ac
-tions, standing up for what youy believe and letting your voice be heard. But the people who are
mostly cast in leadership roles are the members that leave a permanent mark on the culture. People
who's voices are thought to express the struggles and mentality of the people as a whole. They
usually relate through song or dance the feelings of the masses. When they attain the power to
capture the peoples imagination they can either use it to exploit that attention for fame, or use it as a
tool to help the community.
The view of the world in the eyes of the average hip hopper varies, since it is such a diverse
culture you might ask three different people their take on the world and would be more than
likely to get three different answers. The one thing we can agree on is the system is broken
and is to our detriment, so we have to find alternative ways at times to support ourselves and our
loved ones. We also have serious mistrust for the law enforcement agencies in america, we dont like
talking to them under any circumstances and anyone found fratenizing with them are labeled
snitches or rats. The paranoia about authority figures and their misuse of power runs rampant in the
community, friends from other groups can sense the anxiety in me whenever an officer is in the
vicinity.
Success in the eyes of a hip hop citizen may differ from someone that belongs to another group,
since we have dealt with the harder side of life sometimes just getting by is considered being a
success. Too many of our friends have died, fallen victim to drugs, and are incarcerated for us to
take life for granted. A friend once told me that "any day a shooting didn't occure in his
neighborhood\was a good day." As sad a commentary as that is, it is the reality that we deal with on
a day to day basis, the criteria of "keeping things honest" envelopes the community with skepticism.
Success for us is interpretational to us and can not be generalized as success is judged on an
individual, case by case basis.
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