In this essay I will be talking about how hip-hop still has a positive message. People think that studying hip-hop is not good since it has a lot of negativity, but I will be speaking about how hip-hop has a positive message. One positive messages that emcees use hip-hop to criticise the REEL. I will now explain what the REEL is.

Hip-hop started in New York in 1970. Hip-hop came from the black musical traditional which includes Blues, Jazz, Soul.

Before rappers started rapping about getting girls, getting money and having sex all the time, they were rapping about police brutality and issued effecting in the inner city.

Previous emcees that rapped about police brutality and issues effecting in the inner city then since they got more popular Major companies saw the advantage by making money of them and decided to buy smaller labels and change up the lyrics and took control of them. When people listened to emcees rapping about police brutality and issues effecting in the inner city they really didn’t enjoy it but when they heard that some emcees changed there lyrics most people bought most of there records. White suburbans admitted that they enjoy hyper violent lyrics because they think that they are experiencing how black people lived.

Yc the cynic criticise the reel through using repetition. He shows this by saying ‘ I’ll ride for my negus, die for my negus. The repetition of negus is important because the word comes from the Ethiopian language which means royalty. Here Yc the cynic suggest that black people were kings and queens before being slaves. Here, Yc the cynic tries to imply that the word ‘nigga’ is used to casual. In Comparison, the n word is a derogatory word used to put down people of a African origin.

The emcee that we studied was about Mos Def and in the song called Mathematics he says this quote which is “Eight year old found with 9mils”, they got influenced by listening to hip-hop, they think it was necessary to hold it with them because they might want to get involved with the crimes that are happening around the house.

This song by Kendrick Lamar is called The Blacker the berry in this song he is criticising the REEL, I will now explain how it is criticising the REEL now. In the song Kendrick Lamar is trying to spread a positive message to people by saying this line ‘The Blacker The berry The sweeter the juice’. What he means when he says ‘The blacker The berry The sweeter’ he is trying to say that black people are good. He is being the biggest hypocrite because of what happened to them two kids that the police killed. In this song Kendrick Lamar starts the verse with a point of view of an African-American angered because of black people lives being destroyed.

This song by Mick Jenkins is called Martyrs in this song he is criticising the REEL, I will now explain how it is criticising the REEL now. Mick Jenkins is criticising the REEL by saying that black people are following destructive behaviour. In this quote ” I’m just wit my niggas hangings Hangings I’m just with my niggas hanging Hanging” Mick Jenkins is trying to say that there is a double meaning saying that black people can carry on the popular mindset. This quote is a double entrende because of what he says on the quote ” I’m just wit my niggas hangings Hangings I’m just with my niggas hanging Hanging”  by either saying that black people can carry on the popular mindset like continuing what rappers keep on talking about in there songs or other wise being hanged from poplar trees whilst Nina Simone is singing about black people getting hanged.

Kingslee James Daley, or know as Akala has done a freestyle on SBTV which criticises the REEL, I will now explain how it is criticising the REEL now. At the start of his freestyle he says that “Sorry kids let me apologise before I go further Unfortunately I don’t rap about how many man I’ve have murdered” this means that to many kids have listened to what rappers talk about in there raps this part already starts to criticise the REEL and is socially conscious. It is like Akala wanted to make the audience disappointed because he is not rapping about what rappers rap about today in fact he wants people to be socially conscious and see the real world instead of being trapped in the box (what rappers rap about like killing people, getting money and having sex all the time). This quote “When you have been to Brazil and stood in favela streets next to kids holding hand grenades and M16s when you come back to London it ain’t serious” is saying that children in Brazil have to carry heavy armed weapons and explosives to defend them selves whilst when you are back in London it is like children complain about going to school and could be doing great in life. What Akala is saying in this quote “Apparently murdering man has become an aspiration” is that now people think it is normal killing other people since that is what rappers rap about.

So this is going to be the conclusion for my essay and I will now overall explain to you why the REEL is bad and a bad influence to young people like me. So the REEL is a box made by mass media to show a bad image of how young people should be living and do what rappers say in there songs.