(Youth Culture and Hip-hop culture)
Youth culture is the manner by which the adolescents live, and the norms, values, as well practices they share. The youth culture is different from the older generations’ culture. Like other culture, youth culture is defined by beliefs, behaviors, styles as well as interests. The youth culture emphasizes on values such as clothes, popular music, vocabulary, music, and dating. The values create the distinction between the youth culture and other cultures. In most cases, the youth culture is an improvement of the norms and values of the parents. The youths have a massive influence on lifestyle and culture in the 21st century.
The youth culture has created some subcultures, which are defined by unique elements. Some of the elements are not reputable as they conflict with the culture of the adults. Such elements include improper dressing for the youths and degraded behaviors. Also, the youths lack interest in education as well as moral degradation following exposure to some of the subcultures. The individuals who do not participate in the risky youthful activities face challenges of segregation from the rest of the youths. As such, the individuals develop a negative attitude towards the youths, and they may lose social ties with the people of their age. The youth culture can equally be a significant force to change the society (Price 24). There are instances where the youths have participated in revolutions, which have brought changes. The youths can pull resources to advance the society and bring changes in various areas.
The culture is of interest for a number of reasons. The youths are trendy, and they would follow a certain route, following the pleasure that comes with the elements in the culture. The youths easily moved as a group, and they may focus on something and excel in it. They want to move with fashion and changes that are being experienced in the modern society. In consideration of the above elements, Hip-Hop would be a major interest for the youths through the youth culture (Sigler and Murali 341).
Youth culture and hip-hop culture become similar following the way they influence one another. Hip-hop came up as a reliable cultural expression of the African American urban youth. The foundation of hip-hop culture is based on the creative self-expression of African American youths finding it hard to survive in a dyeing city. Through the cultural style, sound and lyrics of hip-hop, the youths would easily identify with the culture as they are connected to most of the values (Sigler and Murali 342).
The hip-hop culture is setting a trend for the youths. Behind every hip-hop song is a message from the artist to the audience. Currently, hip-hop is mainstreamed to the consumption of luxury goods, which is a sign of success to the youths. The young people develop an exclusive interest in the music since it is exposing them to new goods, which are classy and relevant to very hip-hop artist (Sigler and Murali 338). As such, all the youths wish to get the luxury goods as they find them attractive, and they bring the youths closer to the hip-hop artists, who may be their mentors (Hip-hop culture "40 Years Of Hip Hop).
Teens being part of the youth culture are searching their identity, which many of the times may be achieved through the hip-hop culture. The elements of socialization, assimilation, as well as acceptance, are critical in the life of a teen. As such, the youths can adopt a sense of style, attitude, as well as belonging among the peers. Since the youths can easily decode the message in a song through consistent listening to the song, hip-hop has influenced how the youths react and adapt to changes in the surrounding environment (Price 36).
Certain language or terms are only identical to youths and hip-hop. For example, the term ‘cool’ has become a slogan for most youths. According to hip-hop culture, being cool means great or okay. The youths can easily identify to such languages since they always seek the best ways of doing things. They are looking for the most fulfilling designs, which will make them look ‘cool’ (Hip-hop culture "40 Years Of Hip Hop). For the youths to feel part of the hip-hop culture they engage in the practices that they observe among the hip-hop artists. Therefore, they have to dress, speak, or sing in a certain way that is similar to the artists.
Youth culture is becoming attractive through hip-hop following the success of young hip-hop artists. The youths feel it is their chance to grow or progress in a certain way or to a certain direction. As such, hip-hop has had positive influence among the youths as they seek for positive ways through which they would earn success (Price 42). They may opt to join the music industry with the aim of achieving exclusive greatness and imparting the rest of the society.
Like any other youth, the youth culture has been exceedingly influential to my life in college. At some point, in my first year in college, I had been linked to a certain group of youths who did not have the best meaning for success. They never believed fully in books’ success but had been engaged to high social life, which was influence on some hip-hop cultural values. Therefore, I was unable to develop unique success goals and a path to greatness. I did not have clear outline form life in college. I was never focused on any greatness or success since I did not have goals.
However, times changed to a point when I discovered the significance of hard work in college. I was able to understand that people have different ideas or thoughts over things, and they tend to react or behave in a certain way to strengthen their goals. Therefore, I realized that I needed to set my goals and follow them strictly. I realized that the influence of the youth culture would ruin my life if I did not focus on building a sustainable career that would be a definition of success in my life.
I managed to set goals on my behavior towards tutors and authority as I had to be respectful to the authority if at all I would enjoy success in the institution. I learned that being defiant does not make me ‘cool.' I have to uphold success through proper behavior and follow-up on hard work and commitment to my work as a student. As a result, I managed to achieve tremendous goals of becoming successful through college and obtaining good grades that would make my life outside better and more enjoyable.
Hip-hop culture is a culture of many young people. Therefore, it interacts easily with the youth culture since the two share values, and they are attached to certain values. Most of the hip-hop artists are young people who carry with them certain youthful cultural elements. As such, they blend the youth culture to the hip-hop culture. The youth culture may influence any youth negatively as well as positively based on one’s peers. The academic, as well as social goals may be influenced by the decisions that the youths make out of the influence of the youth culture.
Works Cited
Hip-hop culture "40 Years Of Hip Hop By KRS-One (Full Movie)". YouTube. N.p., 1997. Web. 4 May 2016.
Price, Emmett George. Hip Hop Culture. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2006. Print.
Sigler, Thomas and Murali Balaji. "Regional Identity In Contemporary Hip-Hop Music: (Re) Presenting The Notion Of Place". Communication, Culture & Critique 6.2 (2013): 336-352. Web.
