Imani's Musical Blog

One of the most prominent music genres in American music history is hip-hop. This music genre was cultivated by Black, Latino, and Caribbean youth in the 1970's. Hip-hop is considered to be a culture as well as an art movement. This music genre is characterized by four key elements; rapping, breakdancing, DJing, and graffiti. Hip-hop has other elements and characteristics other than the musical aspect. Hip-hop is also considered to be a culture. Hip-hop has affected so much from politics, language, fashion, style, and knowledge.  It is a debate whether hip-hop originated in West Bronx or in the South. Particularly, Bronx hip-hop came to light in the mid 1970's. Block parties thrown by the Black Spades, an African-American music group during the time, really kickstarted the birth of the hip-hop music genre. DJ Kool Herc and Cindy Campbell, a brother-sister duo, are credited for making the genre more well known from their history of DJing parties in the Bronx.  This is a clip fr...

 The past three cultures we have learned about in class have been extremely interesting to me. I have discovered so many things that I would not have learned outside of being in this class and I am so glad I am given the opportunity to dive deep into the musical aspect of these cultures and I am even more excited to learn more about them. There are actually a few things concerning the Native American, Central Andean, and Western and Southern African music cultures that I would like to know more about. Concerning Native American culture, I am extremely interested in knowing more about their attire and how they combine it with making their music. With the Central Andean and West and Southern cultural music, I am especially interested in the instruments they use over all.  During traditional dances, Native Americans will be wearing their Regalia. The Regalia is often very colorful and eccentric, and will almost never be the same Regalia as someone else is wearing. A common event ...

It's no secret that there is a certain expectation for the kind of music a woman makes, and the kind of music a man makes. This expectation plays into misogyny, gender roles, sexism, and much more problematic matters. But why is that? A lot of the time when a woman releases music that empowers themselves and other women, it is bashed and deemed inappropriate or "unladylike". Because of social norms and issues I mentioned earlier such as sexism and misogyny, women are not as encouraged in comparison to men to express themselves freely. Men are encouraged and even praised for their music that may include vulgar language and objectification of women. Growing up, I wasn't familiar with the differences in expectations from men and women specifically in music. A song was a song and the fact that it was either from a man or a woman wasn't of importance. As I got older, I noticed that a lot of people ridiculed and bashed music from women that was even slightly off from wh...

Hi! My name is Imani Rain and I am a first-year student at Converse. I do not have very musical expertise but I played the viola for 3 years in middle school and at the moment, I play just a tiny bit of the piano. I am a child and family studies major and my hope is to be a school counselor in the future. I'm born and raised in South Carolina. My home is in Greenville, but I am currently living on campus as a resident. I am the youngest of my family with two brothers and one sister. My favorite way to pass time is sleeping, but I also enjoy listening to music, reading, cooking, and spending money. My number one favorite musical artist is The Neighbourhood. I've loved their music since I was younger and there is not a song by them that isn't absolutely amazing. I enjoy almost all genres of music except country. It just doesn't really resonate with me. Growing up, my family listened to all types of music including Christian Rock, R&B, Alternative, and much more and I ...