MC Hotdog, Taiwanese Hip Hop Artist
posted by Sam Richards
No doubt a few of you know this guy, MC Hotdog. He’s been around for a minute, as they say, and is popular in Taiwan and known in Southeast Asia. He is recognized for his gritty lyrics and many supporters and critics claim that his music represents a vision of “real life.” Sound familiar? Gangsters, fast women, tough talk, fast living…you know the standard schtick.
This particular song is about perceptions of people, women in particular, that northern Taiwanese have of people from the south Of that country, and a general commentary of the nexus between the north and south Taiwan. But alas, it’s mostly about women and the fact that he prefers the Taiwanese “beauties” over those women with cultural ties to mainland China. Watch the video:
What jumps out for me is how you could use Photoshop and FinalCut and replace all the people in the video with African American actors/artists and you’d never know. You could probably keep 98 percent of the lyrics and just replace names like “Taipei” (the capital of Taiwan) with “Compton” (a community in Los Angeles) throughout it. And so I’m struck by the enormity of this globalized village in which we’re living, of how some artist on the other side of the world can take the hip-hop formula and very easily reproduce it to become a well known artist in his own land.
Here is a video from Zanka Flow, a popular hip hop group from Morocco:
I have no idea what they’re saying–they’re spitin’ it in Arabic, although they might be using some local dialects–but it sounds like it might be rather hard core. Morocco is a pretty poor country–rich in history and culture, poor in terms of resources that would help them compete in the global economy. The unemployment and underemployment rate for young men is extremely high in this Muslim land, and so I can imagine the kinds of things that young males might be saying to the world.
Any thoughts on this world wide dissemination of hip hop and rap? Personally, I find it pretty cool that people around the globe are tied together by music. They always have been, of course, though it has happened much more quickly this time around.
Whether you hate it or love it, there is no way one can ignore Hip Hop music. It has been one of the most popular forms of music in America for a good while now and has become a culture in itself, as well. It takes over our radio stations and television shows and it is difficult to go a day without hearing Hip Hop music or something related to Hip Hop. Also, Hip Hop was seen as a genre of music that was mainly black artists. However, this type of music has come a long way today, seeing as people of all races have become immersed in this music. Also, people of different backgrounds and colors are listening to this music. It has spread throughout America and become a phenomenon that is nearly impossible to ignore.
Moving outside America, we have also seen Hip Hop emerge in other countries. As Sam points out in this blog, Hip Hop is popular in countries such as Morocco, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. This expansion of Hip Hop is quite memorable and something worth noticing. It proves how powerful and influential music is and it shows how people are connected through music. No matter where you live or what your culture is, you can be connected to other people through one common ground: music. If you look past the Hip Hop that talks about sex, drugs, and other negative subjects, most people are “rapping” or singing about the same issues. A lot of Hip Hop music referrers to the trials and tribulations of the people singing it. Many times, people are singing about racism, which is a subject everyone can relate to. Everyone will experience racism in his or her lifetime and it is something that everyone all over the world can relate to. Other artists sing about the struggles of life, such as poverty. Poverty is another issue that every single country can relate to. It is a huge issue in our world today and it gets noticed through outlets such as music.
If we did not talk (or sing) about these issues, they would never be brought to light. Although it is sad, it is reassuring to see that people all over the world are addressing important issues that need to be fixed. If someone in every single part of the world is speaking out against issues such as racism or poverty, we are that much closer to making a difference. Hip Hop has truly proved the power of music and shown that it can take hold of people all over the world. Hip Hop is a language that everyone can speak and it brings us together. Although some Hip Hop is negative, it is important to focus on the positive music and the music that brings the world together.
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Music is something that has tied people together around the world for generations. It’s funny because for some reason we as human beings are always trying to find the differences that we have between each other, trying to make ourselves unique from each other, but we fail to recognize the fact that music and its message will rarely vary from place to place. Especially when it comes to hip hop and rap. The type of music that comes out of this genre is always trying to tell a story, whether it is based on life experiences, troubles that someone has had in their life, or even love. We all go through similar experiences in all aspects of life and music is able to capture this in an incredible way. I am personally a huge hip hop fan. I’m not one for the bullshit that’s out these days, calling people like Soulja Boy a hip hop artist. But I’m more with the times of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Nas, etc. You get the picture. These artists rap about their lives, whether they grew up in the ghetto, or on the streets of suburban Chicago. I’m sure the experiences of someone living in China may not be so different and farfetched from those of these rappers. That is where the connection comes through. I agree that internet and networking has played a huge part in the spread of music throughout the world. For example a popular R&B artist of Indian origin from the UK has recently made waves in America after signing a contract with Cash Money Records. This is incredible. Ten years ago, something like this would never have happened. But through the technology and networking we have in this day and age the opportunities are endless. Hip hop is a music genre that has a good amount of relationship with the lower or middle class and inner city cultures. A lot of countries have these kinds have this kind of culture in all classes of life which must make it easy for them to identify with the topics discussed in hip hop music, even if they don’t share the same skin color as those who may have began the hip hop movement. Usually we do not think of other kinds of racial groups first as hip hop artists, it certainly is possible for a person of any race or culture to share life in the same genre of music. It really is definitely true that music is often the one thing that often brings people of any race or religion together, and it is absolutely brilliant. I don’t understand why people have a specific view of what “hip hop” should “look like”. That is individual to each particular country. The message might be fairly the same but the style will be a bit different. As long as we continue to find things in common with each other we may be able to cut down these lines of prejudice only if it is little by little.
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It is interesting that this came up. I was just talking with some people the other night about how the western world influences so many other countries. There are McDonalds and Burger Kings the world over. My girlfriend’s dad just got back from a cruise of the Mediterranean. He said that in Egypt he went to see the Sphinx. Upon arrival and after the initial aw, he looked around and saw a KFC and a Burger King right across from it. That caught me by complete surprise because I never really realized how much influence we have on the rest of the world and these videos prove it. Like Sam said, while I’m unsure of what these rappers are mostly saying, I get the idea of what it is really about. I’m sure that the words in their raps tell the same struggles that our rappers tend to tell.
I also liked this blog a little better because it is more of an upbeat discussion rather than a bashing of one stereotype of another. But while I like the idea that our way of life has an influence all around the world, I can see why some people would hate us. It is like in class when we put ourselves in the shoes of a young Iraqi person. Well now I think of an older Iraqi person. Think about how they feel when they see their children embracing a way of life that is attacking others. Think about how they feel to see their children choose a different worlds culture over their own. It’s like we also talked about in another class where the next generation chooses to embrace the culture they are around. And while this normally results in a hybrid of the two cultures in the end, there tends to be some resistance and problems from the older people. This can also be a problem because the culture the young people are embracing, in these cases, is the invasive culture to their own. For many countries the American way of life is immoral, lazy, fat, and we have it way too easy. They most likely hate what this type of music represents.
Whether they like it our not the young people tend to love the appeal of the western way of life, and these videos prove it. I know if I was in one of those countries I’d probably be doing similar things. And who wouldn’t like what many of these things represent: money, cars, girls, and freedom. These seem pretty appealing to everyone. I think it is interesting that these young people all around the world create songs and videos that look and sound similar to music that we have here. In one of my other classes we have a term for this, is called cultural diffusion. This is defined as the spread of a cultural trait from one society to another. I feel this directly relates to this situation. The rap culture has diffused to other cultures all around the world.
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I think it is very interesting that countries all around the world share the same taste of music. Music is one thing that we can all connect on. I’m sure that the lyrics of the songs of these other countries are probably very similar to the rap songs we hear in America. The rappers/singers/people of these other countries probably face similar problems in life that we face here. Although people think that the United States is so much different from the rest of the world, it is not. People all around the world have to deal with racism, poverty, gangs, and corruption in the police force as well as the government. We are all not that much different, it’s just the persona that our governments show. Just because you don’t know much about another person should not be a reason for you to judge them or call them that much different from yourself. I have met people all throughout my life of all different races who are not all that much different than me. They lead pretty much the same life, have moderately sized families who they love and care for, have their crazy relatives and friends, and go to school and/or work. They tell me stories about when they were young and it always seems like no matter what they tell me I have a similar experience to match it.
Our lives have its ups and downs, times we’ve gotten into serious trouble or received a very prestigious award, it is very interesting to step back from it all and analyze it. These people in other countries probably hear our music and enjoy it for its lyrics or beats or whatever it is but they like it. I don’t know about everyone but I’m pretty sure I’m like most people in the fact that I listen to music because I like the way it sounds, not because of who sings it or where it comes from. Music has no color or race or ethnicity, whether you like the way it sounds, you can relate to the lyrics, or you like it for some other reason.
You don’t need to be rich, poor, here, there, or anything else to make music. That’s the beautiful thing about it, music is like something you feel, you can make music without any type of experience or talent. And there are all kinds of music so there is destined to be something that you like.
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Nowadays hip hop has become a big part of certain people lives every day. Especially majority people see hip hop as one of the best thing to attract girls around the world. By wearing large jeans, shirt, hoodies and especially hats. They think that they are very cool by doing all of these things on public TV showing off their style for being a rapper and get people to watch them one group that perform on stage. As a matter of fact they deserved to be call “Mr. Baggy Pants” after all. I am very interested in hip hop but not rap and I don’t really have an answer to that because it just something that I like but I realize that rap is more into sexual way that can attract lots of people to watch and especially with the loud music it can be the best ones at a time. It also has motivated a lot of people to follow rap tradition as they watch the videos on you tube or TV shows during the day. For me personally I think hip hop is fun to watch than rap. I believe that rap songs are very easy to change such as lyric, photos or people in the music videos. I totally don’t know how to explain this at all but as I watch some of the rap videos on TV and you tube this is what I saw and it happen most of the times when I tried to search for more videos more than an original video but sometimes I don’t know if that is the original video that I watch or not since people always take something out from others and create something that different so they make it as their own. This is not a good way to do such thing but the world knew that it happened in the past 15 years already. For American rap songs are very hard for me to understand because English is my second language so it would take me more than 4 to 5 times to watch it in order to get the meaning of the video with the lyric but without lyric I won’t be able to understand it very much because of the accent is very hard to follow. The second video is totally a waste, I don’t know why. When I first listen to it I didn’t even know what language they were rapping about but as Sam mentioned about a Mexican rap group so I kind of get the idea that they were Mexican. I was just completely lost at first and this was my first time seeing this video with a whole bunch of people rap as a group.
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I think its cool that the Taiwanian one randomly had English thrown in there? That was sort of neat. But what I really noticed was that if you dubbed the entire thing over in English it would most likely make the top ten in a week. It’s a very American sound. Did hip hop start in America? I honestly don’t know, but I know it’s a sound that I’ve heard before. The comment about being able to switch it with Africans is a good one. You don’t even have to change the guy singing, he looked enough like Kanye to me. I was surprised to see Asians to be honest. May have been the aviators, though, I’m used to seeing Kanye in them.
As for the Moroccan music, it was scary! Like. I didn’t know what they were saying, but it sounded so cool, but they sounded so angry. Maybe that’s just how their language sounds, but it was so intense. It sounded like the type of music that is used for crumping? The angry dancing? I was just fascinated.
Though they’re two very different kinds of music, they are both rap and hip hop, two kinds of music that stemmed from one another in an attempt to capture poetry with drums (rap) or put lyrical music within the poetry (hip hop).
About the world being connected by music. I think the world is so much better connected now because of the internet, of course that’s why. And though the connection can lead to bad things like how the Middle East views Americans as Christians via what the missions are doing, I think that this is a good connection. Music is the universal language (many people think it is math. Those people are wrong. See, math is the universal ANNOYANCE. They’re just confused.) and I think that’s beautiful that these people have found a medium though which to express themselves. The only barrier they have at this point is language and they could just all be friends. I’d like to see several multiracial men in a studio just screwing around with a drum synthesizer, not knowing anything about each other’s language or about their culture, just experiencing life together through music. Music is something that you feel, something that you just accept and something that everyone can take a part in. You don’t need to know someone’s life story in order to make music with them, and I think that if these two artists were to meet, they wouldn’t be hindered by the language barrier as much as most would think them to be. That would bring a true smile to my face and make me honestly more optimistic about this whole ‘global togetherness’ thing.
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Surprisingly, I must admit that I have never heard of MC Hotdog. But after watching his video, I really could see that music, as well as music genres transcends culture and language. If you were to watch this music video on mute, it would appear like all the other hip hop music videos you can see on American television. It had all the hip hop ingredients: dancing women in skimpy outfits, motorcycles/cars, guys in football jerseys, big jewelry, champagne and the throwing of money. The Moroccan hip hop group, Zanka Flow, seemed to have a much harder, tougher edge than MC Hotdog did, but I still feel as if I have heard/seen that type of music on American TV and radio. I do not know much of anything about the Taiwan or Moroccan hip hop industry, but I do wonder if they have borrowed a lot of their style from American hip hop artists? I feel as if they had to have. The Eastern counties in general borrow trends from the West, so I guess it was only a matter of time before they picked up on our trend of rap and hip hop music.
As Sam mentioned, MC Hotdog’s lyrics are mainly about Taiwanese “beauties”, which is pretty similar to most hip hop artists. I don’t know for sure if MC Hotdog is respectful to the women he raps about, but if he is anything like the hip hop artists popular right now, I can guess he is not. I am not a huge rap or hip hop fan, but it tends to be the music of choice at parties so I know my fair share. I actually learned a lot about women in the media in my women studies class last year, and we focused a lot on how women are portrayed in the hip hop world. If you really stop and take a look at the lyrics of all the popular hip hop or rap songs, they are extremely derogatory. Rap and hip hop music videos are also very degrading towards women. Women are purely seen and used as objects whether they are used to pour alcohol on or throw dollar bills on.
I liked what Sam said, about how music can tie cultures together. I find this to be true. Music is a universal language, even if the lyrics are written in a different dialect than your own. Everyone can still appreciate a good beat or instrumental piece. Although, it does say something when a certain attitude or lifestyle goes along with a musical genre, no matter the country. Is it something that is learned or copied? And what kind of example are we really setting for these other countries, if the hip hop industry is mainly based off of sex, drugs, and slutty women?
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I have little substantial knowledge about rap music and the whole hip-hop culture because I usually cannot associate myself with it, meaning that I don’t usually find a sense of identity with what the rappers have to say. In fact, most of the time, I have not the faintest clue of what they are saying. If I was a little more ethnocentric than I am now, rappers would sound totally ‘weird’ to me.
I thought the whole rap industry was insulated from my own culture because I grew up around sentimental Chinese music and occasionally sentimental American/Irish boy bands. I am not an overly sentimental person, but I also do not think there’s anything wrong for a dude to be a little sentimental, but why am I even talking about this?
Back to rap music: I thought rap music had nothing to do with me until I saw MC Hotdog’s music video which was posted by Dr. Richards. Good call Sam. I think you were right. If we could photoshop that video, substitute the cast with American rappers, change only a few lyrics, the song would still make sense totally. We are not all that different are we? I suppose young people all over the world are trying to assimilate each other in lifestyle and values, and by ‘assimilate’ I am not sure if I meant ‘Americanize’, and I did I don’t know if that would be a good thing, but in the end what is good and bad? It is happening right now for its own inevitable causes. What is interesting is, the video reminded me that I actually went to MC Hotdog’s concert a few years back. I had a fun time with my friends at the concert, not because I related much to his lyrics, but I certainly enjoyed the atmosphere. I do not think all people who like rap concur with the lyrics sung, but it should make us realize that, in the end, no matter what culture you are from, or what norms you are used to, in the very end, we all just want to have some fun before it gets too late.
Then there is the other video of Moroccan rappers. It reminds me of Iraqi and Iranian rap music. People rap across the world now, in rich and poor countries alike. Rap traces its roots to the African continent, but the modern-day rap music that we know of was born in North America. Rap music being reproduced globally could hence be seen as yet another sign of Americanization. In countries where I grew up, young people have a fair amount of access to American culture, be it Hollywood or the music industry. These factors only expedite their process of being Americanized. While the same phenomenon is present in dozens of other countries, how much do Americans really know about the outside world? Americans: should you be proud of yourself or feel endangered? Come on, it’s time to start watching little more soccer.
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Music is an art form. It is quite explicably the means of expression for an artist to disperse feelings and disseminate their culture. Throughout history, music has brought people together, whether it was for entertainment or even just to tell story. Music has passed down key components of culture and has allowed many cultures to continually survive. With the technology of today, this process has revolutionized the genres of rap, hip-hop and all music in general. Even the genre of rap music or that of hip-hop can be considered its own subculture. We are capable of sharing such a wide range of information, including pictures, videos and music. It’s exciting to hear the influences that go into the music artists produce, especially when it is something out-there, something new. It’s so cool to see such cultural connections manifest in something as universal as music. It’s definitely a step in uniting people and developing an understanding and appreciation for different cultures outside our very own. As I scroll through my IPod and listen to different songs, I have begun to hear the inspirations behind their work. I also have begun to extend my collection of music from other cultures. Recently I have played a lot of an Australian hip-hop group, Bliss n’ Eso. Bliss the lead singer is American and the other MC is Australian, while the third member has Moroccan decent. This collection of heritages can account for the style and genre that they label themselves. They have a unique sound of their own, but you can hear their influences. In their album Flying Colours they sampled African gospel choirs, folk, orchestra, funk, rock and even Bhangra sounds. By using these effects they are showcasing their own culture and feeling, while representing several cultures around the world. As they become more and more popular, more and more artists will experiment with sounds from around the world. Unfortunately for some the music they share concentrates on aspirations of gluttony. Many rap songs speak of money, hoes, and luxuries of the fast life. This type of life is envied by many, hence its large popularity among the youth of our society. It isn’t something that is going away, and it’s spreading to other cultures. The globalization of music sharing has many pros and cons and it can be argued in my opinion that the favorable qualities far outweigh the negative aspects. If we are to continually grow and assimilate cultural understandings, music is a great bridge to get started. I believe music is one of the most universal languages, and using it well we can grow as a culture and connect to the many cultures of the world amicably. In doing so the on growth and individuality have no limits.
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Music…. AWESOME!
Music makes the world go ’round. With the internet, youtube, and cheap recording software… I can do a little jam on my guitar, upload it to youtube, and have someone across the world watching it in seconds. Incredible. Western culture has historically had an enormous influence on the rest of the world, and globalization has only fueled the western culture wildfire. Examples such as these, of non-western musicians creating music very similar to western artists, show how much of an impact our society has on the world culture.
With respect to the global music industry and my commentary on rap music (and pop music in general), a formula has been discovered. I hear a lot about, and sometimes find myself talking about how musical talent is not embraced the way it was 30-40 years ago. And although this is probably true, music is shifting to where the money is. It’s because music is becoming more “entertainment” than “art”. This is a sad truth, but hey… why fix it if it ain’t broken. The formula will prevail, and Americanization will continue until we start feeling bad for ourselves and another country takes the trends somewhere else.
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This is going to go slightly off topic. This post got me on a rather interesting note. Music now a-days has become very vulgar. It wasn’t like this back when I was growing up. Back 90’s it was the Backstreet Boys and Nsync running around in tuxedos, singing love songs. Granted Britney Spears was still crazy, but her sex appeal was being a school girl. She was still fully clothed and classy. Backstreet Boys and Nsync sang about being in love and willing to do anything for the girl. 98 degrees was similar. Parents really didn’t have to fear having the radio on, they knew that what would be played, was perfectly safe for their childrens’ ears. From experience, I know not to play the radio with my seven year old sister in the car. I was in shock when my baby sister knew the lyrics to Spears’s “If U Seek Amy” song which is blatantly her singing about having sex. Typical nutcase Britney status.
With the years the music and entertainment industry have been getting more and more controversial. Now a days its all about sex, or drugs. The music videos for these songs are also very degrading. Most of the popular dance, hip-hop or rap songs have a bunch of girls dancing around in bikinis and thongs. Most of these songs also mention some sort of drug. What kind of message is this sending to the younger generations? Looking at what the girls wear to go out, just makes you want to slap yourself in the head. Girls wear dresses where half of the butt is hanging out, and their boobs are barely hanging in there. Its absolutely ridiculous. These girls are essentially dressing like sluts in order to attract men. The only message they’re sending is that they are easy. Halloween is a holiday for it to be socially acceptable for girls to wear as little clothes as possible. Guys walk around campus with their tongues hanging and drool dripping down their chin.
At first, I thought that this awful phenomenon was only occurring here in the Unite States. But unfortunately enough, this has hit the entire world. As state in this blog, songs and music videos of this nature can be found in Asia as well. I know from experience that the Europeans prefer to play our American songs, and they don’t really have many of their own vulgar and crude artists.
Luckily though, not all artists are of the same nature as Lil Wayne, Flo Rida, and Pit Bull. Akon has several songs where he appreciates women. For example, his newest song, “Sexy Chick”. He sings about wanting to tell a girl she’s beautiful without disrespecting her!
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This is just too funny to watch, I love it. You really could just replace all those background people with people from America and it would be the same essentially. I thought it was really interesting to see the actual rappers in “action!” The guy rapping in Arabic had that doo-rag on his head and his voice was not very manly. It was just funny to see this because I am used to the huge black dude with a doo-rag and a more manly voice. So I guess I just really cannot take these videos seriously, because it looks so pathetic to me compared to what I am used to. I think if I knew what they were saying it would make things a lot different because then you could hear all the lyrics to go with that “wonderful music and background.”
Another thing I find interesting is the name the Taiwanese rapper uses, “MC Hotdog,” in America this name would be the laughing stock of every town. I mean come on really? HOTDOG!? That is just too American to not laugh at. I think I just need to travel more so that I can start to understand why I think everything people do in other countries is ridiculous.
I can see this whole international rap gig from a business perspective and sure, it works perfect. You become rich and powerful in your country without entering into the political circle. It really seems like anyone can do this if they put their mind to it, no matter what the country or race. Now do not get me wrong it may look funny to most all other countries, but I bet people in Taiwan and Morocco have a very similar understanding of these rappers, just as many young Americans do here.
When it comes to the women in the first video, it definitely was not as “graphic” as a typical American rap video. In America there is much more exposure of the women in the videos and it really gives them a bad image of course. That is the one thing that I see as a problem when it comes to international rapping. This is just how I was brought up to respect women all the time, so to see this sort of thing migrate to other countries in a similar form of music is devastating. This is not something that we want to promote internationally more than we already do. Woman have it tough in many places in the world; it is about time some guy rapped about women’s troubles and a possible hopeful future for the respect of all woman. These rappers just found the easy way to be successful just like our American rappers, it is no wonder the awful humor goes along with it.
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It is plain and simply clear as to what is going on in both of the music videos. The hip hop and pop culture has been so popular and the style and movement has spread throughout the world. The artist portrayed his women in a provocative way in the first video. Though the video was being rapped in a totally different language than English, the video is appealing to a certain crowd. This crowd however is very large and diverse. The use of women, flashy cars, clothing and money in the videos can appeal to not only Americans who founded the genre of music, but to all people. Suppose we did look a little bit closer at the first video, black people could easily look great and blend into the video. The clothing styles and dancing movements are all custom of the American Hip Hop culture.
The second video reminds me so much of a WUTANG CLAN video, it is not even funny. The beat, style and setting of the video are so similar to the style of Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Old Dirty Bastard. These people over seas notice what is popular and what sells in the United States. American rappers and artists are all influences of these people. I could understand why they may want to imitate the swagger of Americans. We are the most unique and undoubtly the most diverse nation in the world.
Okay now back to the explotiation of the females in the music videos. Sex sells point blank and we all know it. Sexy girls dancing around in half naked outfits is appealing to men and draws attention of many different groups. Where did this artist get the idea of having sexy women dancing in his music videos. The answer is the American culture. Now whether this is considerded good or bad is really not that important to me, because I like what I see on the television. If I already like the beat and instrumental of the song, and have the addition of beautiful women. Those both coincide, at least to me.
Women however, may find this idea of exploiting women to be a degrading and insulting idea. Pro-women protesters demand that women dancing provocativly should be regulated by the FCC during afternoon hours. If women feel that it is disrepectful for females to be looked upon in this manner, then they should speak to their fellow women, and not get upset at the rappers and artists for using these women to boost their sales. These women should have the self-worth and self-respect to act cofident and responsibly while in the music videos and in the hip hop culture. Artists from overseas see what they like on television and mimic it in their own work.
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I will never forget the time a group of Arabs decided to take all their emotions and express it through music. They were a group of 5 guys, from different countries in the Middle East, and rapped in English with a twist of some Arabic words in rap music infused with their heritage beats. The hip hop band, Army of One, only made a video clips for their “commercial songs”. They had one song, called “Arabian Thugz”, that was known as one of their most powerful. It referred to all the hate people had towards Arab, the singers rapped, “you think they can take it all, you are wrong, you can’t take our pride. It all started one day, from a terrorist grief…” The chorus goes on to explain “You can not take our pride away, side by side will always stay, Arabian Thugz…” In a weird sense, they gave hope to a lot of politically active teenagers. They thought the rappers would be able to hit American charts, and hopefully represent Arabs in a more creative way. Unfortunately, Army of One was unable to get that far. They hit the charts in all of the Middle East, but could never get to America.
A lot of other countries have done that, expressing political issues through music. But the problem is that there are two extremes to rap: on one side, it is the “shake that booty” kinds of music, and on the other it is used as a medium to express anger, poverty, and “they are thugs”. Music is the one way to connect all people from around the world. From Tiesto’s techno music that united over one million people in his annual concerts, to Lil Wayne’s crazy rap music sets a trend for all other amateurs. Music connects people, and people take advantage of that by singing about current political issues. Pink, a music artist, for example sang a song about President George Bush. She sang about the Iraqi war, and how it destroys people. The song “Dear Mr. President” brought about a lot of controversy. She sings, “How do you sleep when the rest of us cry, how do you dream a mother has no chance to say goodbye, how do you walk with you head held high, can you even look me in the eye?” In a weird sense, music educates people. People hear this kind of music, and begin to really think about issues. They begin to research more about current issues.
There is always the “you are hot so shake that booty” kind of music. A lot of critics judge the new era of music to be shameful to the word Art. But I guess we are always criticized for whatever we do. I mean yes, music these days is sometimes degrading, we are not Frank Sinatra, but when you think about it, did he ever have the guts to sing about politics?
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I complete agree with the idea that we’re tied throughout the world through music. As a hip-hopper myself, I am not surprised to see a video of Taiwanese or Moroccan hip-hop. I have done my own personal exploration to see how hip-hop changes across the world, and even as an East Coast kind of girl, I have found it all interesting and palatable in different ways. One very big commonality, as seen directly in the subtitles of the Taiwanese video, is the use of English terms “for sure” or “yeah” at the end of lines. I am not positive on what this means linguistically or sociologically, but I’ve seen it in various languages or places around the world.
I do think that the worldwide common music is hip-hop. I have been part of the community for a long time, and I consider it very welcoming and accepting of different backgrounds, because we are so diverse in the United States. I think it makes those in other countries feel more comfortable pursuing their dreams and desires to succeed. And I love to watch television and see hip-hop invading commercials and shows and how prominent it is becoming in this society, I feel like our positive message is really beginning to get out there.
Yes, we still have chauvinistic, violent lyrics, but I believe it has been cleaned up a lot. One hip-hop artist I think of is Tip Harris, commonly known as T.I., who has turned his violent lyrics into a tale of his trials and tribulations and just the story of his past and how he no longer wants to be in that life. He even had his own series prior to going to prison the last time to talk to youth that may be on that same path. He had turned himself into an example of what not to do at that age, and used his celebrity to help people in communities like he grew up in. As much as people may talk badly about what hip-hop artists are doing and saying, I believe exponential progress has been made.
What I wonder is why it is going to (mainly) poorer communities. Maybe those are the people that can identify the most to the first rapper or other hip-hop artist they’ve heard, but why hasn’t this sprung up more in the wealthier communities? I also wonder for the songs in other languages, are they mainly about the girls, or are they about life, or are they violent? I would love to see if the cross-section of their music is to the same proportion as the hip-hop music in the United States. And on a more personal note, are they Philly, ATL, LA, Miami, or New York?
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After watching MC Hotdog’s video, and chuckling a little bit, I thought about Sam’s comment about being able to replace everyone in the video with African American actors. Having seen my fair share of hip-hop videos, I completely agree with his statement. The minor cultural twists account for a slight difference, but the essence of the video is the same, meaning that MC Hotdog may not be too different from an American rapper, meaning that we as people may not be too different. If rap has the ability to connect people from all across the world, then it may be a great opportunity to bring people closer together.
Music is a great way to bring people together, because it is not always about the words, the language. For most people, (including myself) catchy music or a beat is all it takes for me to like a song, pretty much regardless of the message. If I don’t like the message sometimes I just download the music or beat itself, if I can. So for this reason, music is able to transgress cultural boundaries. Although I found MC Hotdog’s video slightly funny, by the end I honestly found it to be slightly catchy. If MC Hotdog were to perform at Penn State, I would probably go to see it. If I’m not the only one who thinks that, then hip-hop may be a useful tool to connect people from all around the world, and bring them closer together.
Although MC Hotdog’s message that Taiwanese women are more attractive than Chinese women may bring some people together, but separate others. If the message has a meaning that is taken well in any culture, the potential to unify would be great. So, I think that for hip hop to be a positive unifying force, the message needs to change. Street life, materialism, money, partying, and objectifying women make up the subject of most hip-hop songs. These topics, though they can and do unify, do not make a strong unity. If rappers made songs about the positive aspects of life, that shared common ground with other cultures, the resulting unity would be stronger and more worthwhile. Rappers should make songs about struggle or current social issues to make a bona fide unity.
If hip-hop music has the ability to unify people all across the world, we should harness its power, and use it to bring us closer together. We should make its message something that is applicable to as many people as possible, and we should make the message positive. On the contrary, what if it is the negative meanings, money, street life, and objectification of women that is bringing us together? What if this ‘money is everything, women are nothing’ mentality is what the people of the world share?
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I think it’s pretty cool to see hip hop being disseminated on a worldwide level. I only wish it was the more lyrical and thought provoking type of hip hop. The spoken words of guys like Mos Def and Talib Kweli or even Common. That’s the true and legit hip hop in my opinion, the hip hop that doesn’t revolve around stackin’ cheese, blowin’ chronic and makin’ it rain on dem hoes. Since both videos from the blog are in a different language then it is possible that the entertainers are actually spitting some really soulful stuff. Of course when we look at the context of the videos we can realize that this isn’t the case, at least for the MC Hotdog’s video.
We can obviously see that Hotdog is replicating the side of hip hop that is the most publicized; the glitz and glamour so to speak of having a bunch of fast women, alcohol, and an overflow of dollar bills. It sucks that this is what is being disseminated worldwide since hip hop has the ability of truly changing the perspective of millions. I mean that is one of the beauties of music, no matter its genre, it introduces individuals to new thoughts and perceptions that they wouldn’t have encountered had they been isolated from that musical influence. The perception people of other nations are getting about current hip hop is that it’s all about parties, flashy cars, and girls. There is no substance, no depth, but it sells so why complain?
Moving onto the Zanka flow video we see the other highly popularized side of hip hop: straight, raw gangster rap. The rap that can be summed up as “I killed a nigga and his whole family cause he looked at me wrong”. Zanka flow could be talking about how hard it is just to get by on daily basis in Morocco and I would have zero clue of that fact because I don’t speak or understand Arabic, but I’m sure they aren’t talking about that in any way say or form. It’s been said that body language can speak just as loud as words and reading these young men body language I detect that their message is something along the line of death and destruction to their enemies (whoever those enemies might be). This message is of course gangster rap to the tee, right? Laying waste to your competition in the drug game and showing no mercy.
If it isn’t clear as yet, then allow me to shed the needed clarity on my point of view. I have a love hate relationship about what’s happening to the world of hip hop. I love that it is being highly publicized but I hate that the majority of the publicity is in favor of the negative images and portraits such as hoes, money and guns.
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It is pretty funny to see that someone in Taiwan portrays the hip hop culture in the same way. A couple of months ago Sam showed us the picture of the black guy with his pants down to his butt and then he showed the Asian guy wearing his pants the same way. It just goes to show that hip hop really is a culture and not just a genre of music. But what is it exactly that goes into this ‘culture’. There are several things that define a culture. One thing is the way you dress. Everyone in the hip hop or rap world is always shown with fast cars, beautiful bodacious women, chains hanging off their neck, backwards baseball hat, saggy jeans, shirts that are usually way too big, fresh new kicks, sometimes gold in their teeth, tattoos, and sometimes holding a gun. Oh…is this stereotyping? Well just take a look at any rap album cover and let me know when you find a hip hop artist who is wearing khaki pants and a polo with loafers. Something else that goes into the culture is the language. Well that one is easy… fuck this and fuck that fuck up some shit and fuck a bitch. It is extremely rare to hear a hip hop song without some swearing. Who knows what those Moroccan guys were saying, but I would almost guarantee a few Arabic curse words. Something else that goes into a culture is behavior. In America, you always see the rap artists surrounded by the sexiest women with the nicest cars and houses, at least in their videos. MC Hotdog also was surrounded by very attractive women wearing very scandalous clothing. They also sing about constantly having sex with many women and so one can only assume that these rap artists are getting laid by the world’s hottest women. At least that’s what I infer from their videos. However, then you look at what hip hop artists do outside of their videos. How many times do you see these same guys in jail? A lot. Just take a look at T.I., Lil’ Wayne, Tupac, Maino, Eminem, Akon, Lil’ Kim, and 50 Cent just to name a few. So this almost makes me wonder if this should be a part of the hip hop culture as well? Are people like MC Hotdog and the Moroccan hip hop artists also committing crimes and winding up in jail? All of these things seem so negative and make it seem as if the hip hop world is a wonderful place where you can get hot chicks and have sweet cars and tons of money. What’s ironic about the whole situation though, is what else these guys are rapping about. They always talk about struggle and sacrifice and how hard it was growing up. Yet it almost just seems very unreal and a little fake when you see videos and hear songs like “Pimpin’ All Over the World” come from the same artist who ‘sings’ a song called “Get Back”. Don’t get me wrong, I love these songs and the hip hop world. It’s fun to listen to and it’s gets me pumped at the gym. But when you really think about what these guys stand for and then look at how they act sometimes it’s a bit hypocritical and ironic. And it does make me wonder if this is what it’s like over in Taiwan and Morocco and if this is what our world is tied by.
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