Hip Hop culture takes a special place in the lives of many Americans and other people from different parts of the world. Some people like to express themselves with the help of Hip Hop music and songs, and some people define Hip Hop as an opportunity to be ethically identified, and some people just admire the beauty of this style.
However, the nature of Hip Hop changes the same way the world changes day by day, and Watkins offers considering the times when Hip Hop was “unsullied, unburdened, and unchained by the commercial forces and political divisions that generate so much anxiety within the movement today” (9) in order to comprehend the culture of Hip Hop and its true worth. The Otherside is another source where people can learn more about Hip Hop and its impact on people.
Regardless numerous discussions about Hip Hop, this culture remains to be a considerable part of human life that helps to understand that such issue as racial profiling is not only something that is required by society to divide people, but it is something that can unite people and make them stronger in their intentions and dream completion.
People from The Otherside explain their intentions to use Hip Hop as an opportunity to introduce their national scene. They believe that Hip Hop is their possibility to unite so many different sounds in one place, Seattle, which is regarded as a powerful “melting pot” (The Otherside).
People do not want to use the idea of racial profiling as a distinction that cannot be neglected. They accept it as a feature that unites them and makes them powerful enough to develop their own styles and interests without fear of their personal craziness and inappropriateness (The Otherside). Though there are many ups and downs in the development of this culture, its representatives are ready to deal with them and protect their positions at any cost.
Watkins teaches that despite the varieties and improvements of the style, Hip Hop should also be “traced back to the early days of the movement” (22) in order not to lose its essence and power among the political and economic uncertainties and requirements. Hip Hop is more than just a culture that has to be accepted. It is a style of life that helps people understand their place in the world and use their opportunities to achieve more than they actually can. The commercialization of Hip Hop that takes place today may also be explained by the racial profiling that cannot be neglected. People try to protect their personal investments in the chosen culture and create boundaries with the help of which they identify who can join them for free and who should pay a certain price.
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that the Hip Hop communities may establish their own rules, identify the boundaries, and develop their own styles. Still, all these actions are intended to help people become better but not to prove that racial profiling can matter something. The history of Seattle Hip Hop (The Otherside) and the experience of different Hip Hop artists in the middle of the 1970s (Watkins 9) focus on Hip Hop not only a music style but a style of life that helps to survive and understand the worth of personal interests.
Works Cited
The Otherside. Dir. Daniel Torok. M.A.D. Northwest Production, 2013. Film.
Watkins, S. Craig. Hip Hop Matter: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement. Boston: Beacon Press, 2005. Print.