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Events
Mar. 1 | 2012 Franklin Prize
Nominations for 2012 John Hope Franklin Publication Prize for the best-published book in American Studies due
Mar. 1 | 2012 Romero Prize
Nominations for 2012 Lora Romero Publication Prize for the best-published first book in American Studies due
Mar. 1 | Community Partnership Grants
Applications for the 2012 Community Partnership Grants Program to assist American Studies collaborative, interdisciplinary community projects due
Resources: Abstracts of American Studies Dissertations
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Donahue, Matthew A. "The Message Behind the Beat: Social and Political Attitudes Expressed in American Rap and Punk Rock Music of the 1980's and Early 1990's," Bowling Green State University, May 2001.
This interdisciplinary study provides an analysis into the history and lyrical content in rap and punk rock music in the United States from 1980 through 1992. Both musical styles were developed in the United States from distinctly different communities, yet in the social and political content of the lyrics rap and punk addressed similar issues. The historical developments of both musical styles are covered to provide a background to the musical forms. The lyrics of both styles were also examined through the sound recordings made by rap and punk rock recording artists and groups. The results of the study prove that although rap and punk were from different communities in the United States, in many cases lyrically both forms addressed similar social and political issues. The message in the lyrics of both forms serve as a critique of what was happening socially and politically in the United States during the period of 1980 to 1992. In many cases both musical genres were censored which had a great effect on the ability to raise social and political messages lyrically in the two styles. Eventually both styles were co-opted and as a result the social and political message in the lyrics of both forms went by the wayside.
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