Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Hip Hop

You've read the lyrics to Queen Latifah's "U.N.I.T.Y."... this song was popular when it was released in 1993. Would a song like this be equally appealing and commercially viable now? Why or why not?

Many view this song as a direct response to the violent, misogynist lyrics in Dr. Dre's influential album The Chronic... do song lyrics even matter, though? If people sing along with a hook, what are they saying? Do you think people think about what the lyrics mean when singing along with them?

25 comments:

  1. I believe a song like this would be accecpted in todays culture becaue Queen Latifah sings about unity in her song, and I see this as something that many people in todays society would accept; but would it be considered part of the main stream media? I am not really sure, depending on cetain aspects it may make it to manys ipods and be played on the radio. Lyrics do matter to an extent, I see it as we all understand what we are listening to and we know what songs are about. We may not know it, but the lyrics we listen to get nailed into the back of our heads. The lyrics we hear in sounds may influance many of our actions, but to many I am sure lyrics have little to no affect on them. My opinion is no matter what the lyrics these songs are sending some kind of message to our brain and we understand what the song is saying.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the song will be accepted in society today because the lyrics are copied over and over. the lyrics are similair today. the background of this song was popular in the 1990's the song was great but, mainly by the beat, the lyrics though people propbably did not or even care to know what it meant.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok so people are disagreeing even though it'd be more sensible if they thought about what they were listening to people created a level of unity which means that it'd make much more sense to be with this song. When people sing along with a song that tells me they either like the beat of the song or agree strongly with the lyrics going out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. No, this song would not be popular today. Society has grown too tolerant to the everyday "gangster" lyrics to care about an angry response. As for singing along with the lyrics; sure people realize what they are saying, but just singing song lyrics doesn't make people kill others. Instead people become more accostumed to hearing these words and it effects us less every day. Sure some people let the lyrics define their lives, but to most, listening to these songs is purely based on thinking the song is catchy or cool.

    ReplyDelete
  5. i dont think that this song is very popular now one because its old and two it is positive. it sounds horrible but every song today is usually negative and talking about guns and crime etc. queen latifah is talking about unity and no one is interested in that kind of music now a days, times have changed and theres really just nothing going to change about it or at least anytime soon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A song like U.N.I.T.Y would be accepted in our culture because hip hop is still about putting down women. She would probably get a stronger reaction but the song would still be affective. I think people listen to lyrics but that doesn't mean they agree with it. The song doesn't reflect you even if you like the song. When you sing along most of the time you just say the words with out thinking about the words.

    ReplyDelete
  7. in response to slama, i agree with him when he says people have become accustomed to hearing the words of the songs toda or the gangsta rap lyrics. society has in fact grown tolerant to it as he said. i agree with his post.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think that society would tolerate an angry response. Just look at the song "obsessed" by Mariah Carie. She is basically dissing on Eminem the whole time if you know the story behind the song, and Eminem came back with a song that was a come back to this called " The Warning" that is working its way up in the charts... just a thought

    ReplyDelete
  9. I believe this song would be recognized and promoted but it would not go main stream or make hit lists. People who feel the same way or understand her message might like the song and listen to it. But most main stream music listeners are ignorant to positive-messaged music and wont take the time to hear out what its saying. They like their materialized, get money, big life, im the shit kind of music too much to care what it talks about. I think it makes people feel good listenining to this kind of music because they feel the music and it influences their out look on things. If you feel the music enough you will start to live it out or think of your self as a bad ass cause you surround your self with it. Lyrics do effect the way people feel about a song and i do think people know what their saying and the messages behind most main stream music.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i think queen latifa has a right to say whatever she wants back to Dr. Dre. its her opinion and she can say what she wants. i think dre can say what he wants too, its music he it shouldnt be restricted

    ReplyDelete
  11. I do not know if this song would make it in todays society. As a women i feel like most girls are okay with being treated like "bitches and hoes". It would probably make it in good with very head strong women, or women who completely despise men who treat women like their objects and don't really mean anything. It's too positive for todays culture as bad as it sounds.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think a song like this would still be popular today even though we're more used to gangster lyrics and negative lyrics. People today are still abused and objectified and would like to hear a song like this and would maybe help them realize that it's not okay to be treated that way. Some people are saying that it wouldn't be popular because people aren't interested in hearing those kind of lyrics today but if more songs were written in that way and had a good beat, i think that those kind of songs would become more popular and maybe even more understood.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think a song like this could exist in the music world today. Expressing your opinion is also respected in the hip-hop industry. In my opinion there needs to be more songs like this. Lyrics are a very important aspect of a song. I think lyrics are sometimes looked over and are ignored. People need to realize what ther are singing and how it effects society.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I agree with mo post because the song would be recognized but would not hit charts. So it would affect a small amout of people

    ReplyDelete
  15. No because in todays hip hop industry you have to act like your tough, thug like, gangsta.You also have to be violent like shooting people or robbing something. This image has been put on the hip hop industry over the years, some rappers like it, but some don't. Most people that listen to hip hop dont want to listen to songs that are about love and equality they want to here about how people are violent and how they have sex with many girls and how money and fame are the only way to be cool,and you have to have a gansta or thug image. I think song lyrics do matter but I think many people dont pay attetion to the lyrics when they sing along to the music. Todays hip hop music lyrics are all the same, about having sex, being a thug and having money and fame that people dont really recoginze what that means.

    ReplyDelete
  16. SLAMA. I agree with you and how you feel. People can become desensitised but they can feel out the music if they like the way it makes them feel.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The artist could representative a lots of women's mind which against the men's prejudice.I think this should be the most affective way to let the society realize what is the turth.When something is continously happen such as the misogyny hip-hop songs,if no one response then people will propbably think those none referred words were all ture.
    Chinese Hip-hop was produced by American culture invaded.I think was around 90s, and that influened plenty people were grow up in that period. Now they became the main chinese musical customers. American hip-hop is very popular but we dont have chance to see those songs which we watched last couple days.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I don't really think people think about what they sing when they sing those lyrics but I do think that they have an effect on people. Since we're so used to some of the harsh lyrics, people don't really react when they hear something harsh or experiece something like that. I also agree that if someone agrees with the lyrics or likes what they're saying, then they understand the lyrics more and appreciate the song more then someone who just sings along to the music.

    ReplyDelete
  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I think that people would still listen to Queen Latifah's lyrics because some people do like positive messages in music and for others it seems to be more about the beat and the music itself rather than the lyrics. Although most people dont care about lyrics to songs they listen to i think that it is important for us as listeners to find out what they are saying and not promote things that we dont agree with. I know that really because we listen to a song doesnt mean that we personally agree with what is being said but i think by listening to these things and buying these songs we are in a way saying that these things are ok with us.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I believe that Queen Latifah's song would only be popular if it included current, mainstream music composing it. There are some songs that protest how things are going, lyric wise, but they never reach the popularity that the songs they are protesting get to. I don't know why that is, it could be the corporations disallowing artists to stray from conformity, or simply that people don't want to stray from the mainstream ideals. When people sing along to songs, I don't know if they always realize what they're saying. Sometimes they could, but if the beat has been hammered into their minds as the important part, the lyrics could just be reaching them subconsciously.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Slama I agree with what you are saying and more people are growing more tolorate of the advertisment schemes.

    ReplyDelete
  23. i think the song would be popular in our culture today. a lot people listen to music because of the beat, not because of what the song actually means. but i do think that our socity has moved away from the violant "gansta rap" and now many popular songs are less violance and more about other things like drugs and sex. but people still dont care about the meaning. also many artists have created words or phrases to, i guess disguise what they actually mean so many ppl have no idea what the song is saying. for example... "superman" by soulja boy. ... my little 5th grade brother went around singin that song and had no clue what the phrase actually ment and neither did many of my peers or adults.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Obsessed by Mariah Carey isn't a response to the way Eminem treats women. It's responding to the way that he is "obsessed" her. Queen Latifa's song would not be popular because it is trying to put down the hip hop culture as a whole... Just a thought

    ReplyDelete
  25. i think she was just mad about how dr. dre refered to bi##### aint s### but hoes are tricks so she wrote unity which is about what men should expect in women and

    ReplyDelete