Will Smith

Born on September 25, 1968, Willard Christopher Smith Jr., was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Starting his career at the early age of 12, Will began creating his own style of rap under the influence of Grandmaster Flash. Then at the age of 16, he met Jeff Townes, as known as DJ Jazzy Jeff, who helped him come up with the name Fresh Prince. These two produced several songs together, winning Grammy's and creating albums. In 1997, Will went solo with his first album titled, Big Willie Style. Along with his music career, Will Smith was cast in 1990 for the lead role in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. After his music and acting career took off the movie offers came rolling in. The first films he was featured in were Made in America, Six Degrees of Separation, and Bad Boys. Following these came Independence Day in 1996, Men in Black in 1997, Enemy of the State in 1998, Ali in 2001, Hitch in 2005, and The Pursuit of Happyness in 2006. He has won 28 awards and has been nominated for 49 others, including 2 Oscar nominations for Best Performance by an actor in a leading role. These two nominations were for his performances in Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith is now a producer. He and his partner, James Lassiter, just recently launched Overbrook Entertainment, a film and television production company that also does artist management. Since he launched this company it has produced several box office hits, including his movies, I, Robot, Hitch, and The Pursuit of Happyness. Smith has and still is one of the most recognized and esteemed performers and producers in the industry.

Written by: Lauren Welch

The Official Will Smith Website. "Will Smith". Retrieved April 21, 2008. http://www.willsmith.net/_bin/artist.cfm.

Kanye West

Not only is Kanye West a rapper, he is a producer and music writer also. Born in Chicago, Kanye has produced beats for rappers like, Jay-Z, Ludacris, and Scarface. After Kayne's near fatal car accident he was able to produce more mix-tapes that are in the industry become among the best hip-hop music released in 2003. Like many other rappers in the business today, Kanye's music is highly inspired by his life experiences. According to some people Kanye is only known for his beats and not for his rhymes. "As Kanye imparts a charmingly laconic vocal delivery, equal parts Mos Def and Snoop Dogg that is brimming with radiant wit, and agile word play." Kanye continues to show his beats and rhymes through songs like; "Through the Wire", "Home", and "My Way".

Written by: Kelsey Oler

Goldstein, Hartley. "Kanye West". retrieved April 18, 2008.
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Kanye-West-Biography/D08AAB9FDE5039E448256E0000077DF3

DJ Hollywood-The "Godfather of Hip Hop"

How did Rap music actually become part of our world today you ask? It first originated in “the 1970s in the South Bronx area of New York, and was primarily marketed to the African-American community” as a new genre of music (Rap Music: When Did it Start?). It began as a cross-cultural product created by two generations of early artists that derived from Jamaica. These two creators, Jool Herc and DJ Hollywood, used their cutting and mixing of American music which also led to the trend of turntables. Rap began to record by small independent record companies and the term “rap music” became coined in 1978. “The Beastie Boys and Run-DMC were the first two rap groups to hit the Billboard top-ten list” and since then, they have laid the grounds for all of the artists out there today and the inspiring rap artists to come.

Rap Music: When Did it Start?. (2003). Retrieved April 17, 2008, from Rampwayonline Web site: http://www.rampway.org/article.php?id=177




Written by: Morgan Hinson

Rap is more to some than others

Just like Country, Blues, or Jazz; Rap has meaning to people. To some people rap can be offensive, annoying, or even disturbing. But in others eyes, it takes them home and they can sing about their lives. "Rap is classified as urban poetry of lyrical resistance." Rap is a way for artist to express their feelings through a somewhat type of poem mixed in with beats and mixtures of music. Some people who listen to rap dont even think about the lyrics, they know them but they dont necessarily care about the violence because the beat and the voices are catchy and gets them in the groove. "First goes the beat, and then goes the lyrics! It is not as smooth and tender as classical music, not as glossy as pop, but it has the scream of pain of real emotion of the world's harshness." This shows that it doesnt have to flow or satisfy everyone like other music does, because it has its own way of getting peoples attentions.

By: Kelsey Oler

Mima. "Rap is more than music" retrieved April 11, 2008.
http://www.allthelyrics.com/articles/rap_is_more_than_music-202790.htm

Lil Wayne

Dwanye Michael Carter, Jr., also known as Rapper Lil Wayne, was born on September 27, 1982, in New Orleans, LA. Growing up in a New Orleans neighborhood, “he became acquainted with the Cash Money Records collective, which he eventually joined as a teenager” (Lil Wayne Biography). In 1997, at the age of eighteen, Lil Wayne was the youngest member of the Cash Money Records group Hot Boys and was well on his way to preceding a solo album. Unfortunately, in 2002, all of the members of Hot Boys left the group but Wayne decided to continue on solo. Today he has joined with Rapper Birdman and is becoming more and more popular each day.

Written by: Morgan Hinson

Lil Wayne Biography. (2008). Retrieved April 11, 2008, from AOL Music Web site: http://music.aol.com/artist/lil-wayne/biography/1352386

KJ 52

KJ52 is a well known Hip Hop artist in the Christian music world. He has released 5 albums, 4 of which sold over 100,000 copies. He is known for his ability to mix hip hop and rock into his songs, to appeal to a wider audience. He has encountered and overcome many obstacles through the past 7 years. A few major obstacles have been people questioning his art because of his Christian faith, and the fact that he's White. Through all of this he has set his name above the rest and has a huge loyal fan base across the world.

Written By: Matthew Thompson

The Yearbook. (2008). Retrieved April 11, 2008.
http://www.kj52.com/bio

Toby Mac

Toby Mac is probably the best known Christian rapper today. He grew up in northern Virginia and got his claim to fame while attending Liberty University. With the help of Michael Tait and Kevin Max he formed the group DC Talk. DC talk performed a variety of gospel, rock, and Hip Hop music up until 1999 when they broke up. Shortly after their separation Toby Mac released his first solo album, Momentum. It was a huge hit! In it Toby Mac mixed rock and hip hop to give the listener the best of both worlds. Today Toby has released many other albums, and is touring the world promoting them.

Written By: Matthew Thompson

Toby Mac Biography. (2008). Retrieved April 4, 2008. http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Mac,_Toby/Biography/

Eminem

Eminem, born as Marshal Mathers has caused controversy with his lyrics. Born in Kansas City, Eminem became famous for his offensive and disturbing lyrics. With his lyrics containing drugs, alcohol, death, homosexuality, sex and suicide doesn't usually attract many fans. Because of all Eminems lyrics towards homosexuality, the gay and lesbian protestors have arguesd to get his records changed or for his lyrics to be heavily censored. Dr. Dre, Eminem's producer tells people, "It's working, we are creating controversy, this means record sales,if you don't like this record, wait for the next one, if you don't like this one then you aint going to like the next one much better". Turns out Dr. Dre was right, Eminem's next album caused even more controversy. "From the day Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP was released last May, GLAAD has worked toward a singular goal: to increase public awareness by initiating a high-profile national dialogue about the impact of hate lyrics and the continued glorification of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people," said GLAAD News Media Director Cathy Renna. The GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) have tried their best to to rid Eminem's lyrics.

Posted By: Kelsey Oler

Renna, Cathy. "GLAAD Puts Hate Lyrics Debate Center Stage at the Grammys". Progressive Newswire. 22 Feb. 2001
http://www.commondreams.org/news2001/0222-08.htm

Tupac Amaru

Named after an Inca Chief, meaning shining serpent, Tupac was born June 16, 1971. His mother was a section leader in the Black Panther Party, which was a movement to re-open the New York Public Schools, feed the school children breakfast, and gain equal civil rights for African Americans. His mother taught him the value of gaining knowledge and encouraged him to do so. As a child he was known as the "Black Prince". Growing up without a father really tourmented Tupac and he said he didnt feel "manly," so he wrote love songs and poetry in a book, where he kept his private thoughts. In this book he wrote what he wanted out of life, saying that he would be famous and that he wanted to be an actor. He said, "The reason why I could get into acting was because it takes nothing to get out of who I am and go into somebody else." After several successful acting careers and his very successful rapping career, in November of 1994, Tupac was shot five times in a robbery. He miraculously recovered and produced his most impressive artistic accomplishments, which sold nearly 3 million copies. After this his career began to take off and then he was shot again and this time did not make it. His death was a shock to his fans and the community, but he often had said that he expected to die before the age of 30.

2Pac Legacy.com. (2008). Retrieved April 3, 2008, from http://www.2paclegacy.com/2pachome.asp.

Written by Lauren Welch

Many people today find themselves arguing about the connection between drugs and Rap music. Some studies have been done to determine really how much Rap music actually influences drug use by young teens. Denise Herd, associate dean of students at the School of Public Health, "analyzed 341 lyrics from the most popular rap songs between 1979 and 1997" and found that "references to drugs increased sixfold, and there was an increase in songs featuring positive attitudes toward drugs and the consequences of drug use, and an increase in references of drug use to signify glamour, wealth and sociability" (Rap Music Glorifying Drug Use). Rap artists are definitely a key role model to young teens theses day. Therefore, getting negative messages from music media is putting them at a high risk of using drugs. Denise Herd also found that "what is discussed in rap is in code. The kids understand, but parents don't" and now it should be helpful for the parents to learn these meanings and start to monitor what their teens are listening to (Rap Music Glorifying Drug Use).

Rap Music Glorifying Drug Use. (2008). Retrieved April 2, 2008, from U.S. News and World Report site: http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/080401/rap-music-glorifying-drug-use.htm

Written by: Morgan Hinson

Christian Rap

Not all rap music has a bad influence on society. There are many christian rap artists present in the hip hop world today. One Example of this is a pair of rap artists from Tennessee known as Grits. They rap about struggles that they have overcome without using vulgrity and violent terms. In addition they tend to rap about girls in a positive way. Portraying the beauty of the girl's heart as opposed to how "hot" she is on the outside. Overall Grits is an uplifting rap group that has meaningful lyrics to go along with their outragous beats.

About us. (2004). Retrieved March 28, 2008. http://www.grits7.com/web/about.htm

Rap has several effects on people nowadays. Depending on the artist and what they say in their lyrics, determines how some people, especially young teens, live their lives. The number of teen suicides has gone up dramatically due to such violent music; as well as, violence against others. “Two young women were caught stabbing a man to death in Detroit, MI. One of the girls admits that she had thought it would be fun because that is what ‘the rappers’ do”. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/31199/the_effects_of_violent_music_on_teens.html).
I think music plays a large role in our lives and how we deal with certain things. Unfortunately, some don't necessarily know how separate their lives from what is not real.

Written by: Lauren Welch

The Effects of Violent Music on Teens, Including Suicide. (2006). Retrieved March 28, 2008. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/31199/the_effects_of_violent_music_on_teens.html.

Should rap music really be blamed for teen pregnancies? Some researchers agree, but it mainly depends on how closely parents are monitoring what their children are listening to. There is really no way to completely stop the production of dirty lyrics. Therefore, it comes down to limiting what teens listen to. On the other hand, does it influence teen’s thoughts about sexuality? Of course it does because “Rap stars are encouraging early sexual activity among teenagers by promoting a degrading view of women” and portraying men as “sex-driven studs” in their music videos. On top of the appalling lyrics, the gestures in Rap videos allows teens to view things that they might think is appropriate and “cool” because their favorite artist is doing it. Parents can try as much as they want to protect their teens from sexuality being exposed at such a young age, but they will be exposed sooner or later and it’s up to their childhood morals to steer them away from engaging in sex and risking another teen pregnancy.




Written by: Morgan Hinson

Rap Music Blamed For Teen Pregnancy. (2006). Retrieved March 27, 2008, from Daily Mail Web site: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401684&in_page_id=1770