Michael Zarrillo Hip Hop Planet Response

Michael Zarrillo

20 Septmeber 2014

Professor Young

English 1100

Hip Hop Planet Response

In the reading “Hip Hop Planet” by James McBride, McBride writes and explains how he used to hate hip hop music and couldn't stand listening to it, but as he got older he grew to accept it and understand that it is a part of him. McBride was always a jazz person, he loved in and it was his favorite genre of music. He remembers hearing rap or hip hop music for the first time and thinking how ridiculous and pointless the lyrics and melody were. He never really understood the point of rap music and did not like the fact that DJ’s put records on turntables and used their hands to move them to make a “scratch” noise. And while the DJ’s spun the records, MC’s put lyrics into the rhythm and “spouted rhymes.” 

McBride was trying to accept the nightmare that his daughter was getting married to a rapper that wore a do-rag and had gold in his mouth and had huge muscles and “thug attitude”. McBride went to history and tried to find something that could change his mind and accept the fact that he was going to have a rapper sun in law. He looks back and realizes that rap music derived from African poetry. He looked more into it and saw that villages of Africans would sing rap music all the time. When McBride saw this, he realized that rap was a part of him. 

McBride’s family history traces back at some point to Africa, so being that rap is African poetry, he realized that rap music was in him. As much as McBride did not like rap and could not understand the point of it, he knew he had to accept it because it is in him and is a part of who he is.  McBride began to change his perception of rap music because it was part of his identity. Since rap traces back to African poetry, and McBride is African-American, he knows rap is inside him, so he knows it is part of his identity. McBride says later in the reading that “after 26 years, I have come to embrace this music I tried so hard to ignore.” McBride says this because he knows rap music is part of his identity and he has to embrace it, rather than ignore it.