American Boy

After listening to the Estelle's song, "American Boy," for the 500th time, i listened to it with a different perspective. After reading Lipsitz's article on hip hop and the diaspora, there are certain cultural elements in American hip hop that have invoked a global movement to change. As Estelle is describing this American boy, she is describing most Americans who identify with the hip hop culture. They wear their baggy jeans, go to MIA concerts, and wear sneakers looking 'fresh to death". There is a defined hip hop culture that started in America and has worked its way across the world. After characterizing this American boy, it is obvious that most of the world sees hip hop culture like this. While it might have started out as a form of rebellion with Afrika Bambaataa and Zulu Nation, it has become another trend that is not defined the urgency of social change. It is now a style; a way of life. When Kanye and Jay-Z sing about the tough times they lived it, it is hard to take them seriously when they make an absurd amount of money for doing something as mundane as making an appearance at a basketball tournament. Hip hop, something that was once considered an "indie" genre of music, now is infested with artists who talk about bitches and hoes and getting crunk. And while there are a few artists in the genre of music who stay true to the origins of hip hop and follow Queen Latifah and Bambaataa, most of the artists these days do not inspire the hip hop that Bambaataa inspired globally. Now in France and the UK, the rap artists and hip hop artists are trying to replicate the pop hip hop that is successful in the U.S. Even in Estelle, a british singer, describes this American hip hop phenomenon as a trend that people want to be apart, not a struggle they want to highlight.