Music plays a crucial role in shaping the subconscious part of the mind. The education sector faces shifts due to the existence of various kinds of music, and it is necessary to understand their contribution to shaping morals in society. Before analyzing the film, it is imperative to do an aspect, that most scholars might regard as ironic in the field of music. Failure to explore the aspect might bring an allegation of bad motives while exploring key features of hip music. The changes in the genre of music present some impacts on the education sector and it is imperative to understand the relationship between hip-hop and education. Ideally, that will explore the manner in which information is stored in the mind as well as its dissemination. Such an understanding makes it possible to have a comprehensive understanding of the contribution of music in contemporary society. Time is of much importance for the essay as well as hip-hop since it explains key aspects of the music that people admire. That is inclusive of the thoughts on the way forward; the issue makes it possible to save for the existing platitudes, and that is an instance most fans tend to swallow for over 20 years at the moment. The essay explores the impact of hip-hop on education and explores the relationship between education and the Illmatic.
For centuries, youths tend to be influenced so much by the lyrics in the kind of songs they like to the extent of always repeating the stanzas, making notes in their notebooks for practice, and also using the message depicted in the songs to dictate their daily lifestyle. Therefore, it is important to note that teenagers mostly listen to songs that contain the lyrics they like as opposed to the instrumental. Hip-hop songs tend to be full of obscene behaviors and messages as compared to other genres. For example, hip-hop lyrics expose youth to sexual intercourse, drugs, and alcoholism. Furthermore, hip-hop songs containing unethical practices and behaviors are more embraced by youths and sales than the ones with positive messages. Consequently, these menaces corrupt the minds of teenagers and young adults such that they are unable to make rational decisions that may fuel excellence in the entire education process.
Hip-hop songs have been in the spotlight for promoting racing discrimination by depicting the negative side of African Americans. In the recent century, academicians have been holding different opinions regarding hip-hop songs; most scholars usually generalized the entire genre and term it as a symbol of racial identity (Hart 22). Historically, African Americans used hip-hop as a channel to communicate their opinions as the oppressed. Moreover, blacks were using this genre to condemn how the whites were mistreating them for their skin color. As a result, this brings a great controversy between the blacks and their fellow white counterparts in several learning institutions mostly in the United States of America.
Hip-hop is also seen as a vital tool to be incorporated into the education system to target young stars. University and college youths are profoundly known to be carried away by rap music, and this makes this genre relevant as a channel to use to empower society. For instance, Jay Z utilized the power of hip-hop to communicate and conduct a mega campaign to harness the political power of the young generation in the United States of America.
The same instance was also witnessed in 2008 when Barrack Obama managed to use hip-hop to influence youths to vote him as the President. Moreover, tutors use hip-hop songs as a wise way of motivating and igniting innovation and creativity in scholars so that they can easily comprehend the subject matter in their contemporary world. Therefore, it is imperative to note that this genre was utilized socially to bring positive change in society. Also, hip-hop artists and rappers contribute intensively in the education sector. For instance, in the United States of America, hip-hop artists award scholarships and finance the willing students to further their education which eventually impacts positively on the entire community.
In the film, the relationship between education and the Illmatic is depicted through different circumstances (Hart 17). For example, Nasir who was a spokesman and a mentor to P’Tones Records finances a workshop and a vacation trip termed as ‘The World is Yours’ after every single year for four years. In the year 2013, Harvard University’s Hip-hop Archives and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research founded the Nasir Jones Hip-hop Workshop (Tillman 17). As a result, this Workshop was a lucrative platform for young scholars and celebrities to showcase their capabilities, innovation, and creativity in the field of arts as well as matters regarding Hip-hop.
In collaboration with multi-national companies such as Microsoft and Google, Nasir managed to bail out scholarship cash to the individuals who were interested in going to New York City to attend coding college. Consequently, women, African Americans, and Latino were empowered alongside careers such as Science, technical courses, and mathematics to become software experts across the globe. Also, Koru Company partnered with Nasir to empower fresh graduates by financing them through Nasir Scholarship Fund to attend entrepreneurship training programs. Therefore, the personal life and sacrifices of Nasir in the film showcased how “Illmatic relates to the whole education sector.
In conclusion, society ought not to dwell much on the negative side of hip-hop. However, they should not ignore the enormous positive impacts of the genre on the entire society in the contemporary world. Currently, hip-hop has been utilized by educators, academicians, scholars, and even politicians as a tool to propagate positive change and empowerment across the entire world. Therefore, hip-hop can be incorporated as an integral part of the learners and as a channel in the learning system.
Works Cited
Hart, Austin Harold. One Love: Collective Consciousness in Rap and Poetry of the Hip-Hop Generation. East Carolina University, 2012.
Tillman, Daniel A., et al. “I’ve got the power: Representations of mathematical skills and abilities within popular movies about successful hip-hop musicians.” Journal of Mathematics Education 8.2 (2015): 4-96.
