Running head: Discrimination with Rap 1

Discrimination with Rap

Robert Roman
University of Texas at El Paso
Faitma Masoud
RWS 1302
Running head: Discrimination with Rap 2

Discrimination with Rap

Discrimination has been present for many centuries, but none are probably more notable

than the inequality of African Americans. In todays world a lot has changed but some patterns

stay the same. One popular music that is fairly quite new is Rap, started in the 1970s but did get

popularity till late 1980s. One of the most notable Rap groups to help the genre on to music

charts was N.W.A. besides their music being popular which got the group recognize, it was also

the ongoing controversy surrounding them mainly due to them being African Americans which

left a stain on Rap music. This impact will be reviewed through two different genres that go over

the conflict of rap music and its listeners. First an article from Group Processes & Intergroup

Relations, an academic journal, titled Blame It on Hip-Hop: Anti-Rap Attitudes as a Proxy for

Prejudice. Which looks at the stereotypes of rap music and how these affect Americas culture.

Second is a YouTube video from the channel The Young Turks, Extra Straight Outta Compton

Police = Racism? Which examines a closer to date example of officials being afraid of the

outcome of people at movie theaters showing the documentary Straight out Outta Compton.

Audience and Purpose

With the academic journal, the intended audience would be people that are trying to help

someone combat the situation of dealing with discrimination against the said industry or music

genre. The purpose of the information in the article is to inform the audience that there is a way

to help those who are going through discrimination in the music industry. The way the audience

ties in with the purpose is that they are finding ways to minimize the amount of people who dont

know what is really going on and ways that can help prevent what is currently going on.

As well, the audience is likely to know how they can start intervening with the music

situation at hand. Oftentimes, people are scared to help in fear that it will result in violence
Running head: Discrimination with Rap 2

towards them or others. The time that the audience might spend with the information is

debatable, it depends on how quickly they want to react to the situation and how long it takes for

them to get their point across to the person theyre trying to help. The language that is used in the

article is formal, it has valid information that uses higher vocabulary and grammar structure that

helps the reader or audience understand how to help discrimination in the music genre.

When looking at The Young Turks, the intended audience could be the people that are

actually going through a situation with discrimination in the music industry, or even people that

have seen the situation first hand. The purpose of the information in this video is to inform the

audience on why its happening, how to stop it, and opinions of others based on what they see.

The way that the audience ties in with this video is that they are getting information from a

person who has seen or dealt with the issue, the news anchors have their own opinion on the

video because of the fact that security had to be put in a black movie like Straight Outta

Compton. The audience is likely to know that the video may not be every single situation that

theyre going through, but they form an idea of what others are going through and that they are

not alone because sometimes the situation may be overwhelming to them and they want to know

they are not in it alone.

The language in this genre is informal, the news anchors are being asked different kinds

of questions and they are answering with their own opinion and how they feel about the

situation. Now, some similarities between both genres are that they provide information on how

to overcome the racial stigma and how to overcome certain situations. As for differences, it

would have to be to be that the video that differs the most because of the fact that its more of a

professional overlook. The people in the video are speaking straight from experience, whereas

the article is more factual and formal. Overall, they are both trying to combat the same thing.
Running head: Discrimination with Rap 2

Ethos

When looking at the article, Blame It On Hip-Hop, you can see that the article is

very put together and is in the order of problems in discrimination with stereotypes. This article

is credible because although it is written through someone who is sharing facts, its still facts.

The credibility comes from facts that are used from the past and statistics that were also found

from past events. Not only does it have statistics and facts but it also has a process that the music

genre had gone through and the results of that said process. This process influences the

credibility because it comes from events that although they are not the complete story, its the

overall gist that builds the credibility of the story as a whole. Now, as for the video the credibility

comes from the news that the anchors are getting and what makes them credible is that they are

anchors, people look at them as a reliable source of information and it gives them credibility of

having that audience that looks up to them for credible news.

Pathos

When it comes to pathos, its pure emotion, its how the audience is going to react with

the different situations that the events bring. Looking at the article, the pathos that it promotes is

that while reading the article people can get a sense of sadness, anger, sympathy, or empathy. The

facts that are given bring out so many emotions to people in different situations. For instance,

someone who had once gone through a traumatic event that deals with discrimination because of

their music genre can bring out the emotion of anger or despair. Another emotion that could be

brought from the article is gratitude, people are learning things about the discrimination against

the rap genre and it can make people feel gratitude because of how things are now in present day.

As for the video, the emotion that could be shown in the video is more comical. The news
Running head: Discrimination with Rap 2

anchors are giving their own opinion about the NWA extra security that had to be taken and they

are making jokes and saying really sarcastic things.

Logos

As for the logos in the article its all informative. All the information that is pulled for the

article are facts that have happened in the past events. Not only is that but there also information

about experiences that people have gone through. That makes it logos because not only are they

credible with the experience but they are also logical because of the factual information that it

did in fact happen. The video does have logos but the logos in the video is primarily the

information about the situation itself. They were speaking about how security had to be

reinforced for the NWA movie and how people were seeing it as discriminatory. Overall, they

both had a good amount of logos but in this case the article is more informative.

Structure and Delivery

For the first genre, the article has the display of a newspaper which grabs the reader to

see something familiar like a newspaper. It conveys the information in the order that it happened

and not only that but it also highlights main points that are notable on the article. The negative

thing about the structure of the article is that even though it is newspaper-like, it does not show

any visuals. Although, it all does depend on the writer, visuals could help people better

understand the situation at hand. In terms of the video, its very scattered, the news anchors are

talking all over the place, jumping from topic to topic and opinion from opinion, but that itself is

their structure, that is how they decided to deliver the message to society. A good thing about the

structure and delivery about the video is that it relates more to people of present day because of

the modern lingo and sarcastic remarks that people now a days are really used to. All in all, they
Running head: Discrimination with Rap 2

are both doing well in delivering the message that they wanted to give about discrimination in

the rap genre industry.

Conclusion

In closing, the article is more effective at giving the information because it displays the

information in a way that looks more professional and the credibility that the article has is more

effective to portraying the discrimination against the rap genre. Although the video is also

effective its more based on a current event than a situation as a whole. The video is good at

giving feedback about the event and it also supports the claim that the rap genre is discriminated

against. Both genres offer a lot and as long as they are meeting the needs that the people need

then it doesnt matter which one is more effective, as long as the message is getting across to

others.

References

Reyna, C. (2009, April). Blame it on hip-hop: Anti-rap attitudes as a proxy for prejudice.

Research gate. Retrieved February 2, 2017, from

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/247720606_Blame_It_on_Hip-Hop_Anti-

rap_Attitudes_as_a_Proxy_for_Prejudice

The Young Turks (2015, August 18). Extra Straight Outta Compton Police = Racism? Retrieved

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnuJlrAqPWs