Part 1: Music and African-Americans: The Beat Goes On<\/p>\n

It is no secret that music has always been the cornerstones of the African-American experience. Hip-hop and R&B currently fulfill the role of telling the black perspective.<\/p>\n

Throughout the history of black people in America, music has been the outcry of joyous expression, and painful despair. From the Negro spirituals of slaves, to rock and roll, blues, jazz, and on into hip-hop, music has been an outlet for the African-American expression.<\/p>\n

It was something the country had never experienced before, a genre of music with fast-paced lyrics and story-telling in a method that hadn\u2019t been used before.<\/p>\n

Born from this music was a culture, a hip-hop culture. The early form of hip-hop almost directly reflected the black experience and the state of black America.<\/p>\n

Now with the extreme fiscal success of hip-hop in the music industry, the relationship between the actual black experience and what is being heard in hip-hop is becoming more and more blurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lucrativeness of hip-hop has likely played a large factor in its separation from black culture as a whole. This is because hip-hop stems from jazz and blues, both of which are genres which specifically catered to appeal to black people\u2019s state of second-class citizenship,\u201d said rapper Kashif Moncrief, sophomore chemistry major at Jackson State from Atlanta.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cNow it has mostly evolved into a means of making money and boasting one\u2019s own status on a mere personal level. It is a selfish ideal that plays a large role in the music that now represents black culture in America, and I believe it represents little truth in what makes black culture truly rich.<\/p>\n

According to billboard.com, for the week of Feb. 7, the top ten rap songs re: \u201cAnaconda\u201d by Nicki Minaj, \u201cFeeling Myself\u201d by Nicki Minaj andBeyonc\u00e9, \u201cTry Me\u201d by Dej Loaf, \u201cHot Boy\u201d by Bobby Shmurda, \u201cG.D.F.R\u201d by Flo Rida, \u201cCoCo\u201d by O.T Genasis, \u201cNo Type\u201d Rae Sremmurd, \u201cTime of Our Lives\u201d by Pitbull and Ne-Yo, \u201cOnly\u201d by Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil Wayne, and Chris Brown, and \u201cI Don\u2019t F**k With You\u201d by Big Sean and E-40.<\/p>\n

Paris Cooper, a sophomore biology major from East St. Louis, Ill. said, \u201cI feel like \u2026 our feelings aren\u2019t involved. For I.D.F.W.U to be no. 1, that says a lot about our generation and how we think now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The billboard music charts are indicative of what music is popular. Because hip-hop was created as an art form of expression, these songs are supposedly indicative of what black America feels at this point in time. Some may argue that most of those songs do not indicate the current black experience. A reason behind this argument is that black people don\u2019t even control what is being put out on the radio.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Hard Knock TV, Scarface, a legend in the hip-hop community, and president of Def Jam South voiced his opinion on the state of hip-hop. \u201cThe people that are in control of what hip-hop does is so white \u2026 until (they don\u2019t care) about what the culture and the craft really is about,\u201d Scarface says. He further expressed his frustration with people in the powerful positions to dictate what the black community listens to. Scarface went on to say that these people \u201cbrainwash\u201d a generation of hip-hop listeners with \u201ccrud\u201d that makes black people look stupid.<\/p>\n