Hip Hop/ Media & the black community

Overall I feel that the film Hip Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes did just what it's title represents. The film took us beyond the music and entertainment to a very personal and sensitive aspect behind the scenes of hip hop. The film portrayed the hip hop industry as an outlet feeding black communities with negative images and ideas of what the black community is or should "look like". The film shed light on the injustices of society and how media is used against African Americans . I feel the film brought an awareness of just how many people of the black community have been negatively influenced by what the media portrays about African Americans. The film also brought the artists to the forefront and how they react to taking on responsibilities within this issue or how they reinforce these negative ideas on the black community and other communities. I feel the film raised several questions such as who truly is behind the hip hop industry or orchestrating this negative depiction of blacks? Who is effected overall? How do these images compare to the realities of the black community? and what came first the reality or the depictions?

After viewing the film I feel that both articles highlight very important topics. The Black community has to set up early interventions with children to help them break down and understand images depicted of African Americans within the media. The black community has to steer away from internalizing the idea that in order to be a respected black man you have to be "hard," or a "gangster," or being a woman of the black community equates exploiting yourself or being over sexualized. Simply viewing this film and reading about the research results in the Peterson article convince me enough that there is a serious need for interventions such as the warrior program. Awareness and intervention are crucial to several aspects of the black community and one being the health of the younger generations of African Americans. The Petersen article reveals the impact of hip hop lyrics/videos on the sexual health of the women within the black community. I feel that it is great to know that interventions on these kinds of topics do exist and I feel that we have to uphold the need for these interventions so that we can see them continue and grow. Media has proven time and time again its ability to influence across races. The depiction of blacks within the media call for concern in the idea that blacks are portrayed through a very biased approach negatively influencing those of the black community and how the world views African Americans.