Essay for "Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes"

Byron Hurt's innovating documentary, "Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes" explores through Hip Hop culture and its connections through many issues. From the music he grew up with, Hurt connects topics such as sexism, homophobia, violence, and masculinity, with the music itself. He goes through many locations and interviews many people, ranging from famous artists and authors, to inspired rookies of the culture. With his interviews, Hurt gains knowledge of the topic in the music itself. One of Hip Hop’s issues that Hurt examines in his documentary, violence, as it displays Hip Hop’s perspective of it as a necessity of surviving and being strong.

Majority of Hip Hop music relies on the same topics: girls, money, shooting someone, and having a prized gun. Artists rap about the only way to survive and make oneself noticeable is by owning weapons, win fights, and kill anyone who is an opposition. According to Byron Hurt, “America is a very hyper masculine and hyper aggressive nation.” Audiences and listeners look up to artists who create these types of music and will believe that violence is the answer. Mainstream artists rarely rap about political or social issues like Kiwi Illafonte of Native Guns, a Hip Hop group formed from Los Angeles and San Francisco. This group creates music revolving around political and social issues, such as sweatshops, the War in Iraq, racism, and more. Kiwi‘s song, Imagine, is about wanting to stand up and actually act for something you believe in:

“Sometimes I ask myself why should I even fight for? Like what’s the point if this country already likes war? I write more to kind of get myself through the process, thinking of the fate of humankind as the world watches. Is it me or are we just losing our conscious? Are we just scared or does everybody really want this?”

Instead of Hip Hop music that inspires people in a positive way, people mostly hear music that inspires in a negative way. During Hurt’s documentary interviews rookie , artists who rap the same subjects: guns, shooting, and guns. Those artists explains that they are able to create the type of music like Kiwi does, but nobody wants to listen to it. Instead, they rap what sells, using concepts from the military and movies. As the violent music continues, listeners continue to be influenced, leading to deaths of people

Hurt’s documentary “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” displays what people think and believe in through Hip Hop music. If mainstream music continue on, there will be numerous of consequences to pay. Because Hip Hop culture is highly influential, people do follow its ways and believe that the music is truth. Hurt's documentary shows the issues the music includes in its songs and uses them to sell and sell. While artists gain money and fame, some or most areas are suffering. Is the price of life worth the gain of manhood, money, and fame?