ARticle (Article Sample)

Name Instructor Subject Date Article Critique: Stinging Like Tabasco” by Imani Perry Imani Perry’s article “Stinging Like Tabasco” published in Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop advances the idea that hip hop music, a popular genre among African Americans, is a form of deviance and assertion of pride in African heritage. Perry starts by comparing hip hop music with boxing, a sport that blacks from Muhammad Ali to Mike Tyson have dominated. The author states that boxing may be seen as a metaphor for hip hop music because both are dominated by individuals with bragging personalities and aggressive styles. Just in the same way a boxer assets his or her power physically in the ring, hip hop artists assert their superiority over their rivals (especially whites) linguistically by using language that mocks opponents while praising the artist. In light of Perry’s thesis, it is arguable that the deviance exhibited in hip hop language represents the discriminated and despised African American’s response to their white “masters” and proponents of white supremacy. This view is supported by the fact that hip hop became a popular genre among blacks at a time when the black community in America was experiencing discrimination and racism more than today. Hip hop became the vehicle for resisting negative stereotypes against blacks by promoting black consciousness and identity. Hip hop artist were the...