William Norman
Lancaster
ENGL- 1301
18 September, 2012
A Response to “Hip Hop: A Roadblock or pathway to Black Empowerment”
Geoffrey Bennett’s article Hip Hop: A Roadblock or Pathway to Black Empowerment illustrates the influence hip hop and rap music has had on not only the music industry but mainstream culture, African Americans to be specific. Geoffrey Bennett, a senior English Major from Voorhees, New Jersey goes over many aspects of how hip hop came to be “the forefront of American attention.” He starts from its early history in the 1980s as an African American exclusive music genre to what is now a worldwide phenomenon. He reviews the affect it has had on the lifestyle of many people and the ways it’s changed the way people …show more content…

It can lead to what some could call “experimenting” to where a child could experiment with drugs and sex. Ultimately I believe it’s up to the parents to control what type of music their child is being influenced by. Parents have the ability to control what their child listens to up to a certain degree. Moreover it’s the parent’s job to be aware of what music is out there. What they believe will have a positive or negative influence on their children is up to them, but they must inform their children of what is right or wrong. As long as parents focus on these things we’ll need not to worry about the negative influences rap can have on younger children.
In recent years hip-hop has had a direction change in which what it started off as being that rap music is such a profitable commodity. Bennett states that, “rappers perpetuate images and stereotypes that will sell their products…” in other words rappers are perceived as being people who are generously wealthy or excessively violent. Agreeing with this statement I believe not only is this something we necessarily can’t change, but it’s a business strategy. It’s simply a part of the image of the music genre and it’s what sells. Being that rap and hip-hop is associated with a lot of the things they portray I believe they are simply playing the part that will get them in the role of the business world metaphorically speaking. Being the Americans are astounded by the idea of stardom and being extremely