By Mohamed Mansour/ reporter
NE students learned hip-hop culture Nov. 2 at Hip-Hop and Masculinity, presented by Texas Christian University’s student success director.
“America is a hyper-masculine nation,” said Anthony Walker, who previously worked at TCC.
For centuries, this country has been male-driven, with women “expected to stay at home to cook, clean and take care of the kids,” he said. The emergence of hip-hop has added to that belief by using degrading language toward women and featuring half-naked females in music videos performing in a distasteful manner, Walker said.
Walker played Beyond Beats and Rhymes, a YouTube video that looks at hip-hop and the reasons its culture is violent and degrading of women. In the video, several white people who were fans said they listened because they grew up with African-American friends.
That statement backs up the claim that “people associate themselves with the culture they are most close with,” Walker said.
NE speech instructor Amber Meyers, who attended the presentation, said it is frustrating how women aren’t respected. She said her son went overseas for boarding school, and everyone there seemed appalled by all the violence in American society.
Walker said hip-hop today is a “culture denigration” compared to its origins. He said he was a fan of hip-hop when he was younger.
“[It felt like I] lived in a fantasy world and felt a part of the culture without experiencing the things they say in the songs,” he said.
Walker said the entertainment industry has few positive male influences.
“[Therefore,] people negatively associate what they see and hear in hip-hop with the actual image of the genre and what it represents,” he said.
