The documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes creates a portrait of manhood within the realities and tales of hip-hop, a genre of music known for the subjugation of women, misogyny, hemophilia, and intense masculinity. The video highlights a very important issue in the United States, one that has roots in the historical marginalization of people of color and the imperialist pursuits of violent nation. The video describes the animalistic traits that hip-hop glorifies: violence, toughness, ‘being the alpha male’, having a lot of women, domination, and so on. These traits are in fact our own animalistic behaviors used for our historic survival that have been socialized to fit our modern society. However, the onset of hip-hop has been created through false and magnified realities for the purpose of greed and profit. This, I believe, is toxic to the healthy development of youth who are living in very modern and complicated times.

Hip-hop itself is a genre of expression, often seen highlighting the unfavorable reality of many undeserved communities. The problem lies when these stories or realities are exaggerated for the purpose of profit. Take for example, the N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes), one of the most prolific and influential rap/hip-hop groups in history and also the group seen as responsible for the surge of gangsta rap and hip-hop in the west coast. In numerous interviews on national television, the group said their lyrics only highlighted the “reality” of their neighborhoods, adding that they wanted to be different than everybody else. This difference was indeed what quickly sparked the group’s success. The end goal was profit and its proliferation was met by consumers driven to violence and sexism in media.

Not all rap or hip-hop exaggerates the reality of inner-city youth. Artist like Tupac Shakur or Kendrick Lamar balanced a career of mainstream hip-hop with more important messages of stepping away from gang violence, crime, drugs, or the incarceration of black males in the United States. Some, not all, of their songs portrayed realities that in a lot of ways are true, and would even draw on the historical corruption of police, government structures, or racism that place people of color in impoverished communities and situations. Inequality is a structural and institutional problem in the United States, with racism at the backbone of our current society. So for hip-hop to express some of these realities, then it should be expected that youth would connect to the messages that resonate within their communities. However, the problem again lies when corporate profit in mainstream content plagues the minds of youth with false and exaggerated realities in 21st century America.

As mentioned in the video, our society has grown desensitized to images of sexism and violence. This can be traced back to various structures in the United States that promote violence. For example, the military and patriotism is casted as an American and respectable trait to have, despite our historical imperialistic pursuits in the countries we fight, trade, and become allies with. The military in particular has maintained this righteous stature, even though it is the force of the largest oppressor in the world. For example, black and Latino men during WWII and Vietnam were forced to prove their loyalty to the United States by fighting in the war. However, when they returned, they were subjected to the same or worse discrimination that the United States was supposed to be defending. Another example of the military would the use of comfort women in war. They held a large role in the moralization of troops and the day-to-day tasks for those at war. At home in the United States, women raised the next generation of solders and labor force, while also working to provide for the war efforts. However, women’s position during times of war were mostly used in sexualized posters to recruit men into the military. Thus, the historical subjugation and structural discrimination of marginalized groups has only been idolized through government operations, no less toxic than the messages shared in hip-hop and likely its inspiration.