Finally, what you consider "hip hop" is not hip hop. It's a minstrel show with baboons and buffoons singing "gangster pop." At the core of the real hip hop movement and hip hop culture is the understanding that what you see on MTV and BET isn't hip hop. 50 cent isn't hip hop. Young Jeezy isn't hip hop. Souljah Boy isn't hip hop. Bitches and hos and champagne and Bentleys isn't hip hop. Take a minute, study up on the subject.
What you just mentioned is EXACTLY what hip-hop is to the fools who listen to it and to the world at large.
Real hip-hop was born in the late 70's in the Bronx and died the second NWA busted out with "Straight Outta Compton", and its' been downhill from there.
The genre has its roots in social/political unrest and is a reflection of the cultural melange that was New York City in the 70's and what globalization has created today. The roots of hip hop culture can be traced back to the African Slave Trade, the post Slave/Reconstruction era, the share cropper communities of the south and beyond. The music is more than just bling on TV, so be willing to consider that REAL hip hop culture has a value you have yet come to appraise.
You are giving this extremely limited art form, which revolves around packaging negative stereotypes for sale to a mostly white suburban audience and where there isn't a real instrument played in sight, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much credit. And unfortunately too many of our youth wear these stereotypes like a badge of honor.
Ever heard a young dominican exaggerating that annoying Cibao accent even though they've never stepped foot anywhere near the island?
Educated dominicans don't speak like that, and it would embarrass them to be around fools who act in such a way that does not elevate their culture.
You may be a fan and a defender of the music, but to me calling hip-hop a culture is a cop-out. Why? Because the negative messages and influences drown out the positive. Therefore it is not something we should gravitate towards or identify with. We as latinos can and should strive to be better than the message we get from that music.
Johhny Pacheco, a dominican from Santiago, was a master who helped create salsa music. You really think any chopo hanging out on Broadway and 145th Street with his pants dangling around his knees knows who he is? Of course not.
He had a hand in creating music that uplifted the culture-anywhere you go you can say you are a fan of Pacheco and not have to be embarrassed. You can't say that about hip-hop. Take it out of the ghetto and it has no place.
And as for your summarization on the roots of hip-hop, you need to do some research on jazz music, a true american art form created and developed almost exclusively by blacks. The roots of jazz can be traced back to the slave trade, but hip-hop? You are exaggerating with that statement.
For whatever reason you defend this music to the point where you overestimate its place in history and its' influence. Why I don't know.
But let me tell you the damage it does-a young, intelligent, educated latino from the inner city is labeled twice-once in his hood from the morons who think he is a "sellout" and again out in the real world where some people expect the worse from him because he is latino and from the "hood".
This hurts a dominicans' chances at getting ahead and leading a decent life. But thank goodness it doesn't stop them.
Anyone who hangs out in Washington Heights knows that there are many young dominicans who conduct themselves with dignity and want nothing to do with those stereotypes. And they dress and behave much differently than their ghetto counterparts, who in the name of representing their "dominicanness" ruin it by the way they dress and act.
