Post #6 – Gay Rappers: Accepted or Not?

http://www.cinemablend.com/pop/Snoop-Says-Gay-Rapper-Wouldn-t-Accepted-Do-You-Agree-54412.html

Recently, rapper Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Lion, depending on how avid of a Snoop follower you are) was quoted saying that a gay rapper could not be accepted: "...,but in the rap world I don't know if it will ever be acceptable because rap is so masculine." Snoop went on to say that he has no personal issues with gay people, and said he even has a few friends who are openly gay. He does not think that a gay rapper would be culturally accepted, though.

This sort of statement seems somewhat offensive in today's world, especially in modern-day America where homophobia has significantly decreased. Even the Supreme Court has currently been deciding on whether banning gay marriage is constitutional. But, as discussed in class, the rap world is still really homophobic; not only such, but also sexist. Modern rappers have been notorious for lyrics about their tumultuous amounts of wealth and women.

So, with the current rap world, would a gay rapper be widely accepted? A poll on CinemaBlend.com asked the question to its users. 34% answered "yes"; 66% answered "no." Even the consensus agrees: the rap world is not ready for a gay rapper. But will it ever be?

The future of rap music could experience the biggest evolution the genre has ever seen. Softer genres of rap have begun appearing, more rapidly today than ever before. These softer genres – often influenced by or discussing drug use but rarely containing lyrics about sexual acts or money – have introduced semi-successful rappers such as Kid Cudi, Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller, and more recently Kendrick Lamar. These types of rappers have an eager following that is promising a "softer" future for rap music. This could possibly allow for a gay rapper to be reputable and accepted. Rapper Macklemore (along with producer Ryan Lewis) has also touched on the issue with gay rights and stereotyping in his song titled "Same Love." The song was critically accepted, and the music video has received 30 million views to date, despite the main theme of the song being about homosexuality.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis touched on homosexuality in the song "Same Love."

Despite there being no present acceptance of a gay rapper, all of these recent events in the rap industry could open up more doors for gay rappers in the near future.

Post #5: Do the Harlem Shake!

The latest and greatest viral sensation sweeping the nation right now seems to be the electronic song by Bauuer entitled "Harlem Shake." The song created an internet explosion of YouTube videos of people "doing the Harlem Shake." What is the Harlem Shake exactly? Well, nobody is quite sure. But the main basis of the videos seems to be people standing around while someone else is doing a dance move for the first part of the song, while everyone joins in in a chaotic manner when the beat drops. For some reason, this simple premise to a video sparked a worldwide internet phenomenon that, in a way, changed the media world.

It's believed that (besides Psy's "Gangnam Style," which became viral last fall) the Harlem Shake is the most popular internet meme so far. As of February 15, 2013, 12,000 versions of the dance had been uploaded on YouTube, reaching a total of 175 million views (http://youtube-trends.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/the-harlem-shake-has-exploded.html). Now, many famous celebrities and figures have done some sort of their own version of the Harlem Shake, such as The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert, multiple athletic teams, and more. Even our own CU Boulder did their own version.

Actually, it's impressive to see who hasn't participated in a Harlem Shake video. It is virally withstanding the test of time. With all of its impact, it is sure to become a staple memory into many young generations of the world today. It sparked the employees of YouTube to add a little fun to its website. If you go to the site and search "do the Harlem Shake," the entire site actually does its own version of the meme for you. The meme even influenced Billboard (the music charting company) to change their standards of finding the most popular songs. Billboard now takes statistics from each song's YouTube videos, which led to the song debuting at #1 its first week in the charts.

The Harlem Shake is an interesting trend for mainly one reason: the internet. It's amazing to see how the internet created a #1 song. The internet has become such a significant influence in our present day lives that if it were to be completely gone tomorrow, the world would have major difficulties functioning. Society has put so much dependency in the internet and technology. The Harlem Shake is just one unique example of that.

Post #4: Michelle Obama's Photo Gets Altered

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/michelle-obamas-image-altered-by-iranian-news-agency/

An Iranian news agency called Fars made news recently when they published an altered photo of the U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama attending the Academy Awards this past Sunday. The original photo showed the first lady wearing a silver dress that showed a little bit of chest and shoulders, something that is against the moral code of Iranians. The news agency "fixed" the photograph by adding sleeves and more chest area to the dress. Also, Iranian news agencies admitted that this is not the first time a photo of an American celebrity woman has been altered in the Middle East. Mariah Carey is another notable woman who has had her photo altered in the region for "morality issues."

Analyzing this article critically brings to light interesting differences when comparing our culture with that of the Middle East. It has been widely publicized that oftentimes women in American advertising have been altered and edited to make themselves more "attractive" and "sexy." Now it is being noted that the same activity is occurring in the Middle East, but it is producing almost the complete opposite results. In other words, while America wants more skin, the Middle East wants to see less.

It's thought-provoking to see the significant difference in morality between the two countries. But what's even more interesting is the fact that neither culture is morally against editing and altering photos of women. Both cultures are classifying these women as "objects." This problem is typically associated with the United States, and is widely known, but is never brought up when discussing Middle Eastern media. Another significant factor occurring in this situation is the fact that Iran (and other Middle Eastern countries) still censor things like this from its citizens. This proves that there is still moral inequality almost everywhere, no matter where you go.

Post #3: Obama Wants to Raise the Minimum Wage

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/13/us-obama-speech-jobs-idUSBRE91C03K20130213

Earlier last week, President Obama had his State of the Union address. At the address, one of the most important subjects that was touched on was the raising of the national minimum wage. Obama says that the minimum wage increase could lift incomes of up to fifteen million Americans, and that this is an act of improving the crippling economy.

Despite the fact that this could be good for the American economy, many Americans were reacting negatively to the announcement on a variety of social networking sites. The hash tag "#minimumwage" was a top trend on the networking site Twitter.  Thousands of people were discussing the announcement on the website, and arguing the positive and negative effects of such a decision right now.

Such an event has come to make certain that social networking sites are becoming an impertinent mode of media. With political discussions occurring right as an event is happening, there are thousands of opinions being shared with the world. Not only does this make it easier for news to travel at a ridiculous speed, but it also makes citizens more informed about politics and the government. With all of these discussions becoming massively public and popular, a more informed society can lead to more radical decisions in the future to help improve the government. Overall, social networking sites are indeed leading to a more informed society.

Post #2: Donald Trump vs Mac Miller

http://rapfix.mtv.com/2013/01/31/donald-trump-attacks-mac-miller-using-his-name/

Last week, there was a social media argument between two well-known people: business mogul Donald Trump and rap artist Mac Miller. Mac Miller's first well-known song titled Donald Trump was just now discovered by the business mogul it was named after. In outrage, Donald Trump took his anger to Twitter. He mentioned him in multiple tweets, stating "Little @MacMiller, you illegally used my name for your song “Donald Trump” and "Little @MacMiller, I want the money not the plaque you gave me!" He even threatened legal action: "Little @MacMiller, I’m now going to teach you a big boy lesson about lawsuits and finance. You ungrateful dog!" Mac Miller took to both Twitter and Facebook, posting statuses to his fans to disagree with Mister Trump's legal threats.

It can be easily understood through these Tweets that the two celebrities have a difficult time with arguments, as they seem to be people who need to edge in the last word. This could make this situation problematic, but mostly for rapper Mac Miller. Donald Trump obviously has a significantly larger amount of money and net worth than Mac Miller, and his legal threats could become problematic for the rapper. A million-dollar lawsuit is not an entertaining thing for anyone to go through, and can attract a lot of media attention. Also, due to the fact that Donald Trump has his last name trademarked (since it is the name of the company he owns), he has complete legal grounds to pursue a lawsuit against Mac Miller.

This situation brings to light the easiness of filing a lawsuit against someone in the modern day United States. It also brings to light how easy lawsuits come to people who have a voluptuous amount of money. It also aids the argument that celebrities are involved in more legal situations than the common man. Taking all of these points into consideration, it is easily seen that this occurrence could aid in the bogging down of the court systems with all of the lawsuits going on right now. Also taking that last point into consideration, it is understood that this settlement will probably involve no courts and just a large check made out to Donald Trump. The entire event brings to light how power and money can create a legal situation that needn't even exist.