Post-Reading Week 13: PIC

• In my own words, Prison-Industrial Complex is owned and operated by big corporations. They make money off from prisoners that they are underpaying. I thought this was interesting because I never knew that some american brands didn't need to outsource to save and sell it in a regular price. Plus the more the people that are incarcerated, the more money the government gives the private owned jails. I didn't know that the CSUs are getting furnitures, chairs that we use in school by prisoners, and I didn't know that Victoria's Secret agreed to get cheap labor off from prisoners. So that's why it's called Prison-Industrial Complex. 
• The motivation for the Prison-Industrial Complex isn't to stop crime, but to make money off from prisoners. I feel that it's like a modern slavery, because they enslaved people giving them lower income then making them pay for their bed space and the food that they eat. I thought they had a good life in prison. Some people told me that they get free everything until we looked in depth at the Prison-Industrial Complex and they were wrong about the prisoners getting all the freebies. 
• Incarceration creates a "racial caste system" by putting the African Americans below the hierarchy from the beginning. They were not given the privilege like white folks to start off so of you were born black then you'll have a higher chance to be incarcerated. For example, Police officers are mostly to hang out in "ghetto" places so that why black that does drugs is most likely to be caught and incarcerated. Same goes with the differences between "crack" and "cocaine". They have the same content of drugs but they have different prices. Crack is cheaper than cocaine and so the poor black people are purchasing crack because they didn't have the money to buy cocaine, and rich white old men are the ones that purchases cocaine. 
• The industrial part of the Prison-Industrial Complex is the cycle that the big corporations make money off. It goes like a circle, first African Americans that are caught using drugs are incarcerated, money from the government. Then they are forced to work for other corporations, money from the corporations and from the product that they built. Then when they are free from being incarcerated, they go back and they experience life discrimination because of their criminal record, they most likely go back to jail because they can't have a fair life and money to provide for their family. It goes back and forth like a big cycle that private corporate jail owners benefit from. 
• I think The New Jim Crow resonated me the most because it was divided into parts of how the Prison-Industrial Complex work and how the African Americans are discriminated and incarcerated most of the time. As I've watch the new every day, there are blacks that are incarcerated for felony, or other crimes. 
• Yes PIC can be related to colorblind racism by the "racial caste system", people assume that because they are African Americans that it is normal for them to be caught with illegal drugs. It's in our racist society that blacks are seen that way, that's why they can't start off where the white folks are usually starting off. I remember the game theory, blacks don't have the choice but to start in a difficult level than white people does. 
• No more questions. 

Word Count: 566

Post-Reading Week 12: Hip-Hop

• I think I liked the video because it is not the everyday hip-hop music videos we usually see. Lupe Fiasco did a good job portraying the "good bitch" to the "bad bitch". Some of the points made by Lupe Fiasco is the hierarchical level of being the "Bitch Bad" being the bottom level, after "Women Good", and the top part of hierarchical level is the "Lady Better". The way he uses bad to good to better defines the hierarchy of the women portrayed in the society. Lupe Fiasco's music is critically conscious because of the lyrics that explains the point of view of the boy and the point of view of the girl. Also, the video shows the actors of the hip-hop music video that they did and the minstrel shows at the very end of the video which shows that White folks dominates minstrel shows and they carry all the money. The black woman and the man didn't really like painting their faces even darker with charcoal because they're humiliated by white folks. 
• The article "Thoughts on Lupe Fiasco's "Bitch Bad" connected to me the most not because we discussed it in class but because it gave me broader insight of what is happening in the video. The article is also a pro for Lupe Fiasco's music video because of the story and the confusion most kids think about when they were little and when they grow up they basically follow what they see online or with their parents. With the boy Lupe Fiasco pointed out that "he is in reality" because he sees his mom doesn't dress like a "bitch", while in the girl's "malleable" mind is portrayed with the music video of the mom in bikinis showing her butt. I understand more about Lupe Fiasco's "Bitch Bad" because the author did a really good job analyzing the video. 
• The connection between Jamila's point of view and Lupe Fiasco's video is that it's not about the feminism's view of how the women dress in a music video but also how they can help in order to stop or lessen the "stupidity" that women most of the time show in a hip-hop music video. Lupe Fiasco's "Bitch Bad" music video portrayed the life of the mother in order to live and raise his son by his own. She had multiple jobs in order to please the people that pays her to act in a bad video and in a minstrel show. Jamila is also pointing out that we need to be aware of how the producers or the people behind the music video portrays the body of a woman or women included in a hip-hop video. 
• I believed that hip-hop is a movement against white supremacy and how they see black men as inferior to the white folks. Hip-hop too is getting in the popular culture amongst the youth to show their own oppression in their lives. It can be socially responsible because most people listens to hip-hop and most of the billboard hit makers are hip-hop and rap artists.
• According to Clay there are a lot of things that you can do with hip-hop. It can be a way of communicating to people that are experiencing the same oppression as you. It can also be a way of showing emotions in performances. It can also be a way to make people aware of the problems that faces their society. Yes most of the time. Some of the hip-hop songs that I listen to contain messages that impose awareness in the society.

Word Count: 593

Post-Reading Week 11: Hip-Hop

• The most interesting thing I learned about the video that we watched in class is hip-hop can be defined in intersectional theory. It doesn't only degrade female but also sexuality. Hip-hop can also be just a business to white folks, but they didn't really care about the content of the song and as long as the beat is an attention getter to consumers. 
• I agree to all of the statements. First, the violence found in hip-hop is a reflection of the American culture is true because action movies that are made by Whites also contains violence and with the concept of guns as masculine in dominant males. Second, Hip-hop is both homophobic and homoerotic; hip-hop being homophobic is when they criticize males that cries, like when Jarul cried 50 cents called him a "bitch ass nigga" (excuse me for the term). Also, hip-hop can be homoerotic is when they always say "Me and my homeboy" and when rappers are oiled on their body and models in a magazine naked, it makes a connotation that not females can do sexy photos but also males that have six packs or eight packs. Third, I believed that company CEOs or producers are responsible of the content of the song that they are supporting and producing, and what I think about this statement is that white folks benefit from these genre of music but in the end people of color are also criticized by the foul language or the violent language that they portray. Fourth, hip-hop degrades women because they see them as sex materials and not human beings. Women who are dressed revealing are called "bitches" instead of "sisters" and even though they are dressed properly they are also called names. Men feels the power to degrades women because it is needed for their masculine image that they are trying to perceive. Lastly, hip-hop uses black masculinity to sell to white consumers; I agree with the statement but somehow I'm confused on how to answer this question because I really don't understand how black uses their degrading language and masculinity to sell to the records and be in the top hits. 
• Well hip-hop is one of the famous genre of today in the society. Most of the artist that makes millions of dollars out of violent songs are people of color and behind it their entertainment companies that they belonged to. Videos of women wearing just bikinis are also portrayed in hip-hop videos to show that the women are all over one men and can also prove their masculinity. 
• Race intersects with gender for black masculinity when it comes to being homophobic because hip-hop makes a clear statement that they're always hanging out with their "homies" instead of their "girls" which then strengthen the argument about masculinity. In class, race intersects by people of color having to rap and sing explicit language because most of them just finished high school and not college, as oppose to whites who are seen most likely like CEOs of big companies and not having to do degrading music to live life. 
• I think that hip-hop is homoerotic because like what I stated above that they portray their naked oiled bodies on magazine. They love themselves so much that they didn't really care about females. 
• I think hip-hop can be problematic by its use of violent language that most of the time degrades their fellow male and can also degrade females as sex materials and not normal human being like them (like being inferior over men). 
• Yes, in some way I feel like hip-hop can be socially responsible but I also think that the American culture is also responsible for showing violent scenes in the media. 

Word Count : 618

Pre-Reading Week 11

• When I think of hip-hop I think of people of color, mostly black people coining the word hip-hop and making it famous around in our American society. So when it comes to hip-hop, race can be considered one factor of hip-hop. Hip- hop can be also associated with social justice. Some singers or song writers writes music or hip-hop music that contains social justice and every people can listen to it which then gets the point across. 
• I think of the purpose of hip hop is one way to rebel against inequality in the society. Also, hip-hop can be a way to educate people about the Black people's lives, how they live it and how they encounter differences amongst their race, gender, and their beliefs in their own society. Its goal or agenda can be to educate and let people know their hardships that they've been through and also their life story. It can also be about their emotions which then can be expressed through writing songs. 
• As I've said in the first question, I think hip-hop plays an important role in race because mostly Black people are the ones involve in any type of hip-hop whether it's a song or dance they are the ones that are familiarize in hip-hop. Also when someone said hip-hop most people see a picture in their head of Black or African Americans emerging in that industry. African American are the majority when it comes to hip-hop artist, although other race and people of color can be a hip-hop artist. The consumers of hip-hop are racially diverse because all of us listens to hip-hop songs whenever it comes in the radio. I see white folks buying CDs of Chris Brown, or Trey Songz because it's catchy and they like the music. My mom like Bruno Mars, not because he's half-Filipino and half African American but because his songs are catchy and most of the songs have meaning on them.
• I didn't know hip-hop can be problematic. I'm not sure about this portion of the question because I didn't know hip-hop can be problematic. I think people still buy or listen to hip-hop because most of them either like the tone, the beat, or the rhythm of the hip-hop music. 
• Well white artists are (I think) not that problematic than hip-hop. Like Taylor Swift, she can write good quality songs but she has never been in a controversy that her songs are racist or sexist or any kind of problems before. I think white artists are different from Black or hip hop artists because they can't be that problematic. I'm not also sure about this question because I haven't really looked in depth of what hip-hop is and how they can be problematic.
• Now I understand why people are stereotyping rap or hip-hop because they think that it's not art at all. People think it's garbage like what Rock said in his speech. Rock feels like he needs to defend Rap because people still doesn't care about the rappers. It can also be that the government hates rap. For example that Rock has given in his speech, Tupac was shot at Las Vegas in front of circus circus and there were no suspect, police reports, and no one ended up in jail. The use of bad language is one problem that a rap or hip-hop has. 
• Most problematic of hip-hop is its use of graphic language. I think people that hates rap thinks that it's bad to listen because of its explicit language. 
• The role of women in hip-hop is that they are always described as 'bitch' (Sorry for the language), or they are often described as 'sex' materials that man use. Most of the hip-hop music I hear nowadays always describe women in a bad image. In my opinion, I think hip hop or rap can be misogynistic because they give women a bad image calling them names like 'bitch'; I think it degrades women in the society. 
• Gender intersects with race because in hip-hop, white folks degrades African Americans because they think that their music is all about 'sex' and other bad language. While in gender African Americans that are rappers or hip-hop artists degrades women by describing them as 'sexual materials' in their songs. 
• Jay Smooth thinks that rappers should identify the problems first before they look at other aspects of hip-hop, and rappers should be aware of the choices they made because they are still responsible for the consequences in return. 

Word Count: 759