INTRODUCTION The word “artist” is a term that is used to describeprofessions such as painters, chefs, and even musicians. Painters use paints andcanvas as their medium, chefs use food for their delicacy, and musicians use thewords and musical instruments to create the art of sound. Even within this, theterms of chief, painters, and musicians encompass many facets. For example, somechiefs specialize only in pastries, some painters only work with watercolor, orthe in the instance of music, musicians who create rap music.
IN ALL INSTANCES AFORM OF CREATION HAS TAKEN PLACE BUT MODERN DAY SCRUTINY ON WHO CAN OR CANNOT BECONSIDERED ARTISTS HAS BANISHED RAPPERS AS ARTISTS. FIRST SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHRAPPERS ARE MUSICIANS WHO USE FAST-PACED RHYMING VERSES ACCOMPANIED WITH A HEAVYBEAT AND SYNTHESIZING RHYTHMS. The lyrical verses can reflect everything fromlove to a drug deal gone wrong to strong opinions about social and politicalissues. Lately though, rappers such as Tupac Shakur, Notorious BIG, and PuffDaddy have been scrutinized as to weather or not their form of expression can beconsidered art. Notorious BIG uses offensive language to describe his lifestylesand his objects of desire.
Many people think that the profanity andoffensiveness of his lyrics serve as reasons to dismiss him as an artists. However, according to the definition of an artist, rappers can be consideredartists. SECOND SUPPORTING PARAGRAPH IN ORDER TO FULLY ESTABLISH THAT RAPPERSARE ARTISTS, THE DEFINITION OF “ARTIST” AND “ART” MUST BE ESTABLISHED. An artist is a person skilled in a fine art, such as painting, dance or music. Art is the creation of a work bringing about a variety of new combination ofelements in the medium (tones in music, words in literature, ect. ) To furtherestablish the definition of artist, lets look at some examples.
Painters forinstance are considered as artist because they meet the defined criteria. First,painter must be skilled in their field. They must have an eye for color, shapes,patterns and details. Second, painters must be able to combine differentvariables to form a variation of artwork.
They must be able to bring differentexisting colors, textures, and shape together to create something new, abstract,or even definitional. Third, painters must use their skill as a form ofself-expression. Colors portray their emotions and the shapes to signify acertain mood. In these aspect painters meet all the criteria that make an artistan artist. Now you need to examine the characteristics of a rapper to determinewhether or not they meet the same criteria of being skilled in a fine art suchas music, being able to bring out new combination of elements to form somethingnew, and being able to present a form of self expression.
THIRD SUPPORTINGPARAGRAPH IN FACT RAP IS A FORM OF MUSIC THAT REQUIRES MANY TALENTS IN THESIMILAR FORM THAT PAINTERS MUST BE SKILLED AT THEIR TRADE. According to theMerriam Websters Dictionary, rapping is defined as “a rhythmic chantingoften in unison of usually rhymed couplets to a musical accompaniment. “Therefore, in addition to the skills required of other musicians, such as beingable to detect musical notes, and being able to read music, musicians who rapmust be able to write rhyming lyrics as well as being rhythmically inclined. Forexample, well-known rapper Bizzy Bone from the rap group Bone Thugs NHarmony is acclaimed for his ability to rap with an incredible speed and at thesame time maintain a steady beat and rhythm. In addition to those talents, arapper must be able to create and write verses and couplets. Two of the mostpopular rappers, Notorious BIG and Tupac Shakur, were recognized for theirability to write lyrics that had not only absorbing meaning but were also knownfor their choice of words and semantics.
In light if this, rappers begin to fitthe definition of artists because they posses certain musical skills necessaryto their particular form of art. FORTH SUPPORTING PARAGRAPH THE SECOND ATTRIBUTETHAT RAPPERS MAINTAIN TO BRING IS A NEW COMBINATION OF ELEMENTS. Just aspainters must be able to take different colors and shapes to create a painting,rappers must also be able to take pieces and put them together for a new song. For instance, a method of compilation used by many rappers is called sampling. An artist takes a musical cord or series of notes from different musicians andbuilds upon it to produce their own sound. A rapper may take an introduction toa song and use that as the basis for their song.
An instance of this can befound in Puff Daddys sampling of Lunez “I Got 5 ON IT. ” Puff Daddy usesthe background music and creates his own lyrics to form a new and slower lovesong, “Satisfy You. ” FIFTH SUPPORTING PARAGRAPH ANOTHER CHARACTERISTIC OF ARAPPER THAT GIVES HIM OR HER THE RIGHT TO BE CONSIDERED A RAPPER, IS THEEXPRESSIONS THEIR SONGS PRESENT. Painters may use red to signify their anger oryellow to express cheerfulness, paralleling to rappers use of words and lyricsto express their feelings and emotions about politics, personal reasons, or eventheir happiness in their wealth. Rapper Tupac Shakur was noted for his anger andfrustrations that was his seen in his lyrics and music.
He used his feelingsfrom his unstable childhood and life in the inner city. He also often describeshis lost friendship and hate towards Notorious BIG due to Notorious BIG stealinglyrics from Tupac further creating a rivalry among the two rappers. Many rapperssuch as Juvenile and the group Cash Money rap about topics such as success inlife, wealth, and the things they can buy with it. There are all sorts ofvariation of rappers just as there are variation of painters; some painting areonly abstract and other paintings are in details. CONCLUSION Rappers use theirlife and its tribulations as a source of inspiration to their music.
The musicthey create present all the forms of what would consider them to be artist; dueto their unique ability to create rhythmic lyrics, to express themselves, and touse different elements to create something new and distinct. BibliographyMarian Websters Dictionary pg. 78&79, pg. 1128
