A Modern Black Arts Movement through the Instrument of Hip-Hop Essay ex

A Modern Black Arts Movement through the Instrument of Hip-Hop Since the decade of 1920, America has been the setting for a progressive "Black Arts Movement." This African-American cultural movement has taken shape in various genres, gaining mass appeal, through multiple capitalistic markets. Even with the use of capitalism this cultural arts movement has stayed set upon its original purpose and direction, by aiding in cultural identity awareness. The knowledge of the duel-self through community awareness as it pertains to economic perceptions and other social boundaries or the metaphysical-self; what W.E.B. Du Bois coined as "twoness," or a division of one’s own identity as a African-American. (Reuben 2) A realization of the existence of two beings within one’s mental identity, where time alters attitude and identity through environmental influence of passing events. The discovery of the "New Negro" in the Harlem Renaissance marks the beginning of this essential philosophy contributing to the 1960’s Black Arts Movement and the Civil Rights Movement; continuing to be evident in current forms of black art, such as within the lyrics of hip-hop music. These revolutionary Ideals of reform have been voiced in the lyrics of many rappers of urban realism, like the New York M.C.’s Rakim, Run-D.M.C. and west coast rapper Tupac Shakur. Though this form of expression is opposed by most academic elitists and fundamental conservatives due to their vulgar expressions of sex and violence depicted within the genre of Hip-Hop; it in opposition actually presents an internal cultural conflict revealed through the redefinition of one’s own identity with poetic lyrical expressions of realism. This art form known as rap developed due to the in... ...Working Hip-Hop Chronology." Professa Rap’s Working Hip- Hop Chronology. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. . Reuben, Paul P. "PAL: Appendix F: Elements of Poetry." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature-A Research and Reference Guide. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. . Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance-An Introduction." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature-A Research and Reference Guide. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. . Salaam, Mtume ya. "The aesthetics of rap." African American Review. 29.2 (1995): 303-316. Shakur, Tupac. "Words of Wisdom." OHHLA.com. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. . Toure. "Rap-up." Rolling Stone. Apr. 1995: 78.