-What is writing? In what ways have my perceptions on what writing is evolved this semester? 

-To what extent have I achieved the course learning objectives and thoughts about goals I have not achieved yet.

I thought that writing should not involve much time. I would skim through information and quickly read through the criteria for an assignment, not do much note-taking or brainstorming, find a few sources to quote from and paraphrase to unify some ideas and be done. That was my understanding at the beginning of this semester. After completing different types of writing assignments, and trying to achieve the course learning outcomes, my perception on what writing is has changed. I noticed that writing includes a complicated thought process. It is necessary to be mindful of every sentence and word in the instructions, sources I’m reviewing, and my drafts. I have realized that from my first post on blackboard to this last assignment, and in all drafts in between. In the first homework post on blackboard, I had to describe myself. I threw in a few sentences and was done. But my instructor came back with follow up questions that made me note that I could have made my description clearer, so I revised it, and thought I did a great job the second time around (I include my first post and its revised version in the portfolio). However, my grade wasn’t 100 so I followed up with my instructor and she said it’s because I did not peer review other students’ posts. That’s when I realized that I didn’t really read the homework instructions. I went back to blackboard and peer reviewed a few of my classmates’ posts. 

The second assignment involved writing a poem about where I’m from. I was surprised I didn’t get any comments from peers so I thought maybe my poem wasn’t clear enough for them. I went back and revised it (I include the revised version of the poem in the portfolio). Then came four writing assignments that showed me even more how complicated writing is. Before I describe them in detail, I want to note that even this self-assessment essay again proved me wrong as to what I thought writing was about. I’m including in my portfolio my first draft of this essay to show that I didn’t fully address the instructions on the first attempt. When I went back to the instructions, I saw I would be evaluated not on whether I achieved a course learning goal but instead on how well I demonstrated my understanding of those goals. I finally grasped that the instructions said that including my final versions of assignments was just the “minimum.” To really do this essay right, I also had to provide drafts of essays, examples of homework, annotated notes on sources to show critical reading, etc. All of this I have missed before I submitted my first draft of this essay. I hope that this second draft proves that I realize how much more goes into writing. I will go now to describe my work on the papers I submitted. 

    In my personal artifact essay, the first essay, I described my jiu jitsu belt as a personal artifact representing the jiu jitsu subculture. In my reflection, I mentioned that I needed to think much more about how to connect sentences, and convey what I meant in detail. This was a course goal, to “enhance strategies for…drafting, revising, editing and self assessment.” (goal 2) Maintaining “rhetorical sensibility” (goal 1), meaning a clear connection to each idea so that an audience would understand what I’m writing, was another goal I wanted to improve on.

In the classmate interview essay, Essay 2, I intended for anyone who reads it, even people who don’t know anything about the gaming industry, to understand the gaming subculture better by interviewing a classmate who has been playing different video games for years. In the process of doing this assignment, I improved on two other course learning objectives because I was engaging “in the collaborative and social aspects of the writing processes” by interviewing my classmate (goal 4). I also strengthened my practices of “quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources” (goal 8) because I had to write what my classmate told me by converting conversations into an essay, so this process helped me develop these two goals. I include in my portfolio my annotations on the chapter from the Fieldworking book that dealt with interview techniques I used for interviewing my classmate.  

By essay 3, the subculture research essay, I felt I made a considerable improvement in several course goals. In that assignment, I went over how hip hop led to 90s rap, and then I reviewed what rappers at that time rapped about. Although my instructor gave me a high grade, she gave me many comments. The ones I will cite here were the ones I will forever remember in my future academic writing. She highlighted that “a rule of thumb about punctuation and parenthetical citation: You do not need to use the period twice. If the direct quote ends exactly where you have ended it, the period goes inside the quotation mark. If you end the quote mid-sentence, the period would go after the parenthetical citation.” She also noted a few times that before I quote, I must use “signal phrases.” She explained that I have to tell my readers why I have chosen to use a specific quote and reiterate what a quote meant (I include those comments in my portfolio). In essay 4, I thought about these comments and attempted to use punctuation and signal phrases the way my instructor explained. 

In the fieldworking textbook, I learned of a data culminating technique called intersubjectivity, and with the use of footnotes, I triangulated my sources to discuss my findings. Thinking how to connect ideas in a clear way in this essay further enhanced my drafting, revising, and editing strategies (goal 2). I reviewed many online sources about this community for this essay, and that helped me improve on achieving goal 7, which is about practicing using the internet and other databases. I can say I also achieved goal 5, which was about analyzing a genre (“engage in genre analysis… to explore effective writing .”)  I ended up quoting too many sources and attempted to avoid that and use more of my voice and essay 4. 

In essay 4, the mini-ethnography, I expanded on insider viewpoints of famous 90s gangsta rappers to explain where their hardcore rap styles came from and how their background infused their rapper persona. In this essay I went directly to hear from the rap artists themselves. Although I couldn’t interview them, because they were either inaccessible to me, or dead, I reviewed their rap lyrics, which were their way to tell their life stories. I watched interviews and documentaries with them talking about what led to them rapping in this style. I had to look online to find these interviews and documentaries and also look for scholarly articles, and that made me improve on goal 7 (“using library resources, online databases, and the internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing project”). In my portfolio, I also include some of my notes collecting information from interviews and articles. 

This essay made me improve on other course goals. Writing about very explicit and slang-driven Gangsta rap lyrics made me “acknowledge” how these rappers and I had “linguistic differences” (course goal no. 1). One who listens to this gangsta music can think that the rappers intended to promote violence but listening to the rappers talk about their raps made me conclude that their intentions were to rap about their lives as they were. Since I was able  to conclude that, I can say I achieved learning outcome 6, “formulate and articulate a stance.” I also include in my portfolio one of the academic sources I cited in essay 4 and my annotations on it to demonstrate critical reading.  I cited from a book I found among a collection of free books to take home in the NAC building. The book caught my attention even before I thought to incorporate it as a scholarly source because of its title, Music and Culture. Little did I know, it was right on point with what the rap artists said: they didn’t mean to promote violence. In a virtual meeting with my instructor before the final draft was due, she emphasized I needed to input my own voice as a writer. This influenced my writing of the final draft, and made it very different from the first and second ones. 

In all four essays, I attempted to explain information to people who knew nothing about a subject, and this helped me achieve goal 3, “negotiate your …writing goals and audience expectations.” 

My perception of writing has changed during the course. My ability to self-assess my writing and how much goes into it improved. I recognize now that writing is a complicated process that requires more effort  than I initially thought (and much more effort than I put into this course the last semester). While I developed as a writer, I see I need to keep improving in all course goals. Although I think I reached them in the papers I wrote, I have a lot more to learn. I also want to better my time management. I underestimated how long each assignment would take and as a result either submitted papers at the last minute or needed an extension and didn’t leave enough time for proofreading. Finding out how to write is complicated and requires a higher level of diligence than I used to put in. Yet, I hope I’m on the right track of evolving as a writer.

Rap is an acronym for rhythm and poetry. More specifically, it is a “music verse composed of rhymes, figurative language, and varying syllables. It’s commonly written using the first-person, with the lyrics directed towards a real or imaginary rival.”
Rap isn’t soft Jazz or catchy pop music. Central to rap music is “the juxtaposition of hardcore rap lyrics centered around crime, drugs, and material wealth” with “smooth, R&B-style vocals.” (Duniker, 114). Rap gave musicians a chance to express poetry without having to sing it. “Like singing, rapping can be about different subjects like love, social issues, and about life as we live it. The difference lies in the way that these subjects are presented because rapping is
usually meant to enliven and excite a party so it is more pumped up and uses more profound language. It uses wordplay that can also be found in poetry. It also involves a lot of rhyming techniques because rhyming and rhythm are two of the basic components of rapping in addition to the flow or interaction between the pitch, timbre, and volume of the delivery of the rapped words.” However, unlike singing, “rapping does not involve accompanying words with any
particular [music] notes”.
Rap grew into popularity in the early 1990s. In the 1990s, most major rap artists were from poorer areas in New York City and Los Angeles. “The most successful styles of the 90s were the hardcore rap of New York and the gangsta rap and G-Funk of Los Angeles. New York’s
Wu-Tang Clan created one of the first hardcore styles when they rapped about gangster life over
swinging hip hop beats with samples from martial-arts movies. “
In Los Angeles, NWA, a young California rap group from the lower class neighborhood of Compton, Los Angeles, initiated what
many rap fans would call the golden age of hip hop. Their 1991 album sold one million copies in seven days. Their style, combining hardcore lyrics about growing up poor and gangster life, served “as the blueprint of how to make unapologetic gangsta rap,” one of the styles dominating the 1990s. Rap music originated from African music and in its American style tries to convey the struggles of African Americans. “Rap music draws heavily on African-American music…and by using music to establish and express the distinctness of black contra white culture. Rap music is also in some forms political and deals with the situation of the African-American population in America.”
● Rituals, insider phrases, language, and behaviors
The rapping subculture has several characteristics such as fashion and language. In regard to fashion, baggy pants and extra large sweat-shirts, the backward turned cap, and snickers, from brands such as Nike and Reebok. Rappers usually wear jewelry and watches, bandanas and other head-dresses, and certain brands of clothes and shoes. (The Evolution of the Hip Hop Subculture, Debbie Baker). With respect to behavior, rappers portray a certain “coolness” and laid back attitude. “The ‘coolness’ described as a certain way of behavior can be viewed as a form of ritual, especially in the different forms of handshakes and way of greeting each other.” Further, rap battles, which are a form of competition between rappers, “contain elements of a ritual because it is a symbolic fight over honor…rap-battles were an attempt to solve the gang-violence by replacing it with rap competitions.” (Hip Hop from Subculture to Pop culture, 17 ). With respect to language, typically, rapping uses Ebonics (American black English). Rap
has its own “‘jargon,’ slang, and vernacular” and they are strongly connected to the ethnic origin of the culture. Black culture is closely connected to a certain way of speaking. ‘Black’ English has its own grammatical rules, slang words and pronunciation.” Rap language is
referred to as the “spoken soul,” and “the language distinguishes itself from regular English by pronunciation” and “ intonation” (Hip Hop from Subculture to Pop culture, 18 ).
● Rap music today
Unfortunately, today’s rap music does not represent the 90s style. The 90s style tried to convey struggles and the rap songs had meaningful lyrics. Today’s raps are generally meaningless. “Rappers right now are very lazy in the way that they write lyrics…Not a lot of them write lyrics about real things or tell stories. Rappers just write rhymes that don’t mean anything with a beat that’s good, and people listen to it just for production…Now rappers think ‘just say lyrics that rhyme, and let the beat make it popular.” In contrast, “back in the 90s,
rappers thought ‘I’m telling stories about what’s going on in my life, with upbeat drums, and piano for the beat.” (What Happened to 90s Rap?) Me, as well as other fans of the 90s style agree with this assessment. My friends and I like to meet and rap. We write lyrics that are meaningful to us and then create the beats to accompany them. We try to embody the 90s style in our music.

An interview of a gamer by a gamer

“I love this drink man.” As Bryan took another sip from his Red Bull energy drink, I saw he already presented some video gamer qualities before my interview with him even started. I flashed back to mornings when I drank bottled Starbucks coffee to feel less fatigued from my own gaming hours. I asked Bryan if his online friends make him lose track of time and as he lifted to take another sip, he nodded his head. Friend groups that meet online often create this routine and the daytime hours Bryan cannot spend playing with his online friends are made up for at night. I have been playing video games since I was young and therefore, I consider myself an insider in Bryan’s subculture. I can measure his playstyle, online friend group, and whether he felt intent on achieving a “gamer status” (meaning you have a fan base of people who watch how you play when you livestream your game or post about it). In my first round of questions, I wanted to find out Bryan’s reasons for playing video games. Is Bryan playing to achieve a specific goal? Is part of his social life happening online? I asked if Bryan has seen his online friends’ faces or if he has met any of them in person, and if they spoke outside of their discord group chat (Discord is an online software used by gamers to create private chatrooms with friends, some may say it is similar to skype). Bryan answered that his friend group knows each other’s faces and the only time he met up with an online friend was when Bryan learned one of them was in Brooklyn. I was not surprised when Bryan went on to say that even though his online friends do not talk much to each other outside of discord, meeting one of his online friends in person strengthened the entire group’s relationship. Gaming for Bryan is about making connections with other players. I discovered that Bryan played video games out of pure enjoyment and entertainment, something he would later elaborate on in my second round of questions. My next question was if Bryan ever considered streaming or playing video games professionally. Streaming is a huge activity in the gaming community where content creators record videos of their gameplay to a live audience. There is a huge monetary value to streaming. In livestreams, a streamer with a large fan base can receive thousands of dollars from viewers who donate as much as they want to support the player who streams. However, after streaming his gameplay during the second half of 2021, Bryan stopped streaming because he realized that his gaming setup should be upgraded, and besides, he had to focus on work. Bryan is a hardworking guy. In addition to being a college student, he has three jobs: he works in a pizza shop, smoke shop, and cleans offices after hours. Since March 2020, Bryan took breaks throughout the year because of his work hours; and so, he would play casually with his online friends.

In this kind of schedule, he alternated with month long video game phases to quarter yearlong breaks. Recently, however, Bryan has been gaming with his friends a lot during the week. Bryan told me he likes to play Minecraft, Rocket-League, and Garry’s Mod, all video games with a large fan base. Bryan does not play new games releases. He likes to play games that are considered more of classics in the gaming community. Classics are pure fun and simple. New game releases are usually more fast-paced and intricate. Bryan added that in the God of war game series, he liked to play as Kratos, a warrior from ancient Sparta, whose mission is to kill of Greek gods. Bryan called Kratos a “beast”, a slang word for characterizing someone as amazing.I asked Bryan what gaming moment he can always remember, and it turns out that I also share a moment like this in my own gaming experience. “My first trick shot in a public match playing Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2.” He can always remember how he felt at that moment, even six-seven years after it happened. A trick shot is a move where a player jumps off a high surface and does multiple spins with maneuvers through the air, shooting his weapon (usually a sniper rifle) and killing an enemy player before hitting the ground. As a gamer, I know this is very hard to accomplish. Despite being able to trick shot, Bryan joked that he is not good enough of a gamer to even think about playing professionally. The most successful team of players who could trick shot as a profession in Call of Duty, a group called FaZe Clan, now run a company worth around one billion dollars! Bryan is a reliable insider to discuss the subculture of video games because he has been playing before “he could walk or talk.” I too started to play video games at an early age and although I do not play much anymore now, I still will recall how much fun I had playing. I enjoyed hearing Bryan describe the fun he has playing. As a gamer myself, I share his enthusiasm and like him, wish I could do it more.

In my self assessment essay, I went over how in my student introduction post on blackboard, I did not describe myself as well as I could have. I could have introduced myself with more details. Because of my instructor’s follow up questions, I elaborated some more!

Ben Simone 

Hi class, my name is Ben Simone. I am 20 years old. I was born in Philadelphia, and grew up in NYC since I was three years old. I am beginning my third year at CCNY. I work two jobs that I really like. I work as an after-school counselor in an elementary school. It is the same school that I attended as a kid. I also work as a Jiu Jitsu instructor. I train beginners, adults and children. Outside of academic life and work, I like to see friends, read, and push my body past its physical limits by exercising, biking and training Jiu Jitsu. I like to travel, have been to Greece, Madrid, and Israel, and would like to travel more in the future! I hope to learn interesting social sciences concepts that I can use to interpret the world and sights around me. I’m excited to be back in school! Excited to meet my peers.

Jennifer Buno 

Welcome to the class, Ben! I hope your experience returning to campus is a positive one! I’m a multiple job holder myself; what are the two jobs you work?

Ben Simone 

I work as an after-school counsoler at an elemntary school on the Upper West Side. My job involves organizing sports games, arts and crafts, outside playtime, and watching the kids during free time. I attended the same elementary school and went to this program each year from kindergarden to Fifth grade. I enjoyed this progam as a kid, and couldn’t wait to apply to work there as a counsoler when I turned 18, which I did. My second job is a Jiu Jitsu instructor. I have been training Jiu Jitsu and other martial arts since I was 16. At 17, I started working as an intern Jiu Jitsu instructor for kids at the same club I trained, and later transitioned to teaching adults for pay. Teaching Jiu Jitsu is fun and seeing my students progress is fulfilling. 

Jennifer Buno 

What rewarding jobs you hold, Ben! I think it’s really great that you are giving back to the elementary school you attended by working in the after-school program. I bet the kids have a lot of fun with you. I’m sure there would be many people in the class, including me, who would like to hear about your experience training in Jiu Jitsu and then later on becoming an instructor. What inspired you to teach it, and not just continue practicing as a student?

Ben Simone 

Hi Ms.Buno, thank you for appreciating what I do. Truth is, in the elementary school, it is at times challenging to work with such young kids, but I enjoy facillitating the fun I used to have. Regarding Jiu Jitsu, I primarily started teaching because it was a way for me to revisit fundamental technique that I am supposed to know. When I teach, I basically refine my own knowledge as far as explaining it in its most simple form. I cannot let my explainations get too complicated because then introductory classses no longer stay introductory. So when I’m with beginners, forcing myself to explain things in the easiest way, clarifies for me what more I need to understand about what I already thought I knew. 

Revised Where I’m From Poem

The second blackboard post involved writing a poem about where I was from. I was surprised I didn’t get any comments from peers so I thought maybe my poem wasn’t clear enough for them So I went back, and revised it. I am including here my revised poem.

I am from the upper west side and Central Park.

Where these stomping grounds are what tens of millions of people

around the world,

save for months to have the chance

for a weeks’ visit.

From elevators to apartments on the 19th and 4th floor’s,

my real family name is engraved on a sidewalk thousands of miles away.

I am from a family of entrepreneurs–and academics–

and comparing their life outlook is as polarizing as contemporary political debate.

Really though, I am from my own freedom

found inside these endless streets and structures

disassociated from

the peering eyes who want to guide my future.

Notes for Mini-Ethnography

Here I am including parts of my very rough notes for essay 4, where I collected information from interviews, documentaries and academic sources about the 90s Gangsta rap subculture.

●Notes from Popular Culture a As Oppositional Culture: Rap as Resistance/Theresa Martinez:
Watts riots of 1965 depicted “Inner city residents angry with their living conditions so much so that rioting seemed a necessary means to call attention to their plight.” A so called “second wave of riots seemed an unnerving rerun of the earlier violence in Watts”
Musicians drew on their “own cultures to resist oppression under dominant ideologies and, in turn, influence the dominant culture… Their families, their spirituality, their music, among other cherished aspects of culture, become viable forms of oppositional culture.”
Rappers became hardcore and angry in the world they inhibitted. Songs can illustrate the despair, anger, and futility of life in the ghetto. This was further substantiated by Biggie in his interview..
-oppositional culture, a protest and condemnation of perceived racial formation, institutional discrimination, and urban decay in the inner cities. “These groups will develop an oppositional culture” or “culture of resistance” that embodies “a coherent set of values, beliefs, and practices which mitigates the effects of oppression and reaffirms that which is distinct from the majority culture.”
Part of African American oppositional culture has been “their own art and music” along with a “critical assessment of the dominant culture.”
“Ultimately rap is the voice of urban African American youth, and that this voice is a form of resistance to and survival within the dominant social order.”
● The intensity of the gangster persona. In an interview, Snoop Dogg said “I was at the forefront of the most violent record label in the world.” Snoop Dogg and Tupac lived under the control of rap’s most violent kingpin, Suge Knight. He demanded loyalty. Snoop Dogg on a radio show said he had a positive relationship with east coast rap stars.
● The Notorious Big (Biggie) and the man that owned the label Biggie was in: Puff Daddy.
● More on gangsta persona: On a flight with Suge Knight and Tupac following this Snoop Dogg interview, they both wanted nothing to do with him. They didn’t let Snoop’s security board and when Snoop walked to the back of the plane he “ grabbed me a knife, and a fork, put a blanket over his nose and rode that way the whole flight…”
●Snoop was desperate to stay safe. But he’d been trapped in a life of violence and fear for years. Howard Stern Show, “at 12 years old you joined a gang.”
●Death Row Chronicles, “if you were a young black guy at that time, drugs and gangs were as much a part of your life as stop lights and street signs.”
●”A lot of the times I was shot at I had a gun in my possession but couldn’t shoot back because I was so scared, concerned for my life”
●Got kicked out of the house at 17 because his mother believed he brought too much drama to the house.When Snoop met Suge, he finally thought he had a way out. Suge was so passionate about his
artists (Snoop says). He was giving us direction and coaching us.
Snoop Dogg got involved in a first degree murder case and turned himself in. Tupac wanted Snoop Dogg to stay gangsta, and not turn himself in but Snoop believed that he should. He said he had a lot to live for, “cuz, i got a baby on the way, I have a lot to live for. Somebody’s life was lost, this is a real situation. So I don’t feel how y’all feel, I got actual remorse, I feel bad.. I don’t want to live this gangster life no more”
●Biggie A&E Documentary, July 28, 2020
Insiders: Biggie himself, Biggie’s friends or work partners, such as Hurbert Samsoula Sam, Lil cease, Junior Mafia members, Puff Daddy, Faith Evans, His mother, Violetta Wallace
“Everybody say my music is so negative but I was just tryin to just, tell people what’s going on. I look at myself as the eyes of the world… I gotta tell my story.
“Bedstuy in the 80s was a jungle, just a concrete jungle.”
“A lot of violence”
“It didn’t feel like anyone was in control.”
“I felt like the environment in the neighborhood, gangsta stuff was in his face so strongly that that world showed you you made money.”
“He was always about that, get money by any means.”
Biggie said with his mom gone all the time he was dipping and dabbling in dangerous things. “Who is somebody to tell me that I shouldn’t hustle… It was inevitable”
“Biggie was a son that every mother would have liked to have but at 13 he became notorious,” his mother said.
● “You wanted the same life that they had because yours was bad.”
“After I got introduced to the drug game the only thing I thought I was going to be in life was a drug dealer.”
“He was caught on the streets hustling but was genuinely a good person.”
“I mean when you in the game, and you say you’re selling drugs, or whatever, you automatically considered a bad person… the worst person in the world, they don’t even understand the situation before I
was selling drugs… I had to do my thing to feed my family.”
● “I know if I wasn’t rapping, I’d be hustling. There’s really no doubt about that because 9-5 ain’t me, I just can’t see that.”
“I just rap about what I know. The Streets I was brought up [in].”
“His label manager Diddy wanted Biggie to be authentic, and he was hardcore rap.”
●Tupac and BIggie had a lot of things in common which strengthened their friendship. Lack of father figure, skilled rappers, both from the streets.
●Biggie on Tupac, “He liked to hang out and get drunk, in his interviews and everything he just seemed so angry but at the same time so charming.”
●”You can rap as hard as you want on an album but make sure you got some joints. Good, friendly records that the girls is going to like, the radio is going to like, it’ll help sell your album.”
●Diddy wanted to make a movie about this kid from Brooklyn who had nothing to lose who was ready to die and that was the mentality that was going on. Coming out of the 80s, out of crack, people losing their family. Not seeing any light on the horizon.

Teacher’s Comments and Annotations

In my self-assessment essay, I noted some of my instructor’s comments on essay 3, that I would alway remember when I write papers in the future. I attach these comments here.

I also attach my annotations on a scholarly source I used in my mini-ethnography paper (the Music and Nature book), and my annotations from the Fieldworking book chapter about interviewing techniques I used for the classmate interview paper.

The Rap subculture in the 1990s – How did it evolve and what did the 90s rappers rap about? 

I’ll never forget the first time I listened to a rap song. It was Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio, and JV. This is a rap song from 1995, and Coolio, a 23 year old rapper from Compton, LA, wrote it. Coolio raps in one verse:

 “I can’t live a normal life, I was raised by the street

So I gotta be down with the hood team

Too much television watchin’ got me chasin’ dreams

I’m a educated fool with money on my mind

Got my ten in my hand and a gleam in my eye

I’m a loc’d out gangsta, set trippin’ banger

And my homies is down so don’t arouse my anger.”

This rap song is representative of a style of rapping prominent in the 90s, called Gangsta (gangster) Rap.

Gangsta rap in the 90s was an important component to the integration of rap in mainstream music. In my subculture research paper I discussed: How rap evolved and what did the 90s rappers rap about? In this essay, I will be expanding on insider viewpoints of prominent 90s rappers to explain where hardcore rap styles came from. These prominent rappers are insiders in the rap subculture since they are individuals in the know. They are also gatekeepers because the personal information they publicized granted me access to explore this topic. 

• The Origins of Popular Gangsta Rap

In 1995, west coast rapper Tupac Shakur released an MTV special titled Growing up Poor. Tupac’s early life switching from  “homeless shelter to a project” and dealing with “not enough food on the table” provided a story to draw inspiration from. Dropping out of high school to make ends meet, not being able to live at his mother’s home because she was impoverished, and the constant thought of survival are core elements in his music. In a different interview with BET in 1994, Tupac explained that he strongly believed that his audience “emphasizes with me because I show that raw and uncut emotion. Good and bad.” (Shakur). 

In both interviews, I observed that the hosts brought up the controversy behind gangsta rappers being labeled as only violent people who were outlaws. I was disturbed by this misunderstanding. In the MTV interview Tupac said he used to act in high school, wanted to attend college but didn’t because he didn’t have the money. Tupac compared his hard life to college students who were provided for. Although “this might be presumptuous… I know a lot of people who went to college and they had their lives okay… Someone is paying for them to be there, they have somewhere to live.” His difficult background forced Tupac to find his own path. Harlem rapper Big L in his hit song Street Struck explores this point further. In Music and Culture (a collection of essays about music and culture), Nathan George notes that many raps are a byproduct of the rappers’ lives. “Tupac [and others] were artists who looked at the worst things in the world and reveled in describing their meanest dreams and grossest nightmares… Rap lyrics that describe violence are a natural consequence of a [violent] world.” (George, 142)  succumbing to street life was unavoidable at times. Other authors note the same point: “gangsta rappers… provide key themes of distrust, anger, resistance, and critique of a perceived racist and discriminatory society.” (Popular Culture as Oppositional Culture: Rap as Resistance, Martinez). Harlem rapper Big L, in his hit song Street Struck explores this point too. Big L rhymes, 

 And some of my peeps are still in the game sellin ‘caine,

 If that’s what you gotta do to maintain, go ‘head and do your thang. 

I’ve seen a lot of my peers give up their careers for some fast money..

 Aiyoo They used to be legit kids, now they are corrupt,

 they had dreams but gave em up cause they street struck.

Tupac found his escape from his reality by smoking weed and hanging out with drug dealers and criminals. Tupac clarified that although at certain points he did engage in illegal activity, when he stopped, the people he knew from that life looked out for him. They gave him money which led to Tupac becoming more independent. Tupac said the people he knew wanted him to stay out of their lifestyle and, “get out there and do your dreams, they were like my sponsors,” Tupac recalled. Tupac said he got lucky because people recognized his talent.

Snoop Dogg, another famous rapper from the 90s, pointed out in a 1994 interview that it it’s almost “a ritual to be from the streets — to come from gang involvement.” It’s like a pattern. Moreover, because rap music was blamed for worsening the conditions of the hood, Snoop Dogg countered that gangsta rap actually solves the problem by “bringing it to your face.. So it can be understood what rappers go through.” Snoop Dogg even acknowledged his probation officer for keeping him on the right path. Additionally, in the BET interview, Tupac said that he tried with his raps to control violence. The police can’t be the only ones that can control violence. Although he was formerly a gangster, with his raps he could show a more “sensitive side” and because so many people follow him, his reputation as a rapper can “stop a confrontation before it happens.” (Shakur). 

Snoop Dogg explains in a 1994 interview on the Arsenio Hall talk show that the message of gangsta rap was to be real.  “Being real is accepting the type of behaviors rappers had.. It wasn’t nice.” Snoop Dogg wanted fans to learn from his experiences and use it as foresight if they ever intended to copy his former lifestyle. Both Tupac and Snoop Dogg felt that their raps about gangster life did not represent their characters.

Towards the end of the 90s era, hardcore rap began to die out as a central rap style since the rappers who contributed most significantly to it died (as a result of gang violence). 

(This is how the perception of gangsta rap changed. It was a milestone of music making that could never be replicated, only because the artists who were best at it died too soon). This led to an evolution in rap forms with Eminem, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and others inserting themselves as the following generation of rappers heavily influenced by the artists before them. A fresh wave of insiders ( in this case being newly popular artists) changed the perception of gangster rap afterwards because if the hardcore rap from the 90s was the silhoutte that made up gangsta rap, since it was not being produced anymore, that style is now remebered as  “gangsta rap.” Hardcore rap was essentially categorized as a non-fungible style. An effect so serious, these prominent rapper’s deaths are commemorated to this day.  

Tupac’s east coast gangsta rap counterpart, The Notorious Big, also popularized gansta rap music in the 90s, some may say even more than Tupac. In a 2017 film produced by cable company A&E titled Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G….[to be continued].

Jiu Jitsu Belt as my Personal Artifact
I chose my jiu jitsu purple belt as a personal artifact.
Jiu jitsu is a ground fighting technique originating in Japan hundreds of years ago that
was later modernized as a sport in Brazil during the 20th century. Jiu jitsu incorporates a color
belt system to show a person’s developing skil;. There are five belts that practitioners above 16
years old can have: white, blue, purple, brown, black (there are other belts at the highest level
that I will briefly get into later). You get a new belt when your instructor thinks you earned it,
that you can fight better than you were previously able to.
Instructors also award stripes that are pieces of tape that are wrapped around one side of
the belt to show progress at the current belt level. You can earn up to four white stripes on belts
from white to brown, and on the black ones there can be six stripes (called degrees). After six
degrees on your black belt, you get a red/black belt and then advance up to a red belt. To
understand better the belt system for adults, you can look at the following belts chart at,
https://gbgardengrove.com/bjj-belt-guide/
In addition to belts and stripes signifying progress, practitioners use the belt to hold
together the training uniform (called a “gi”) by tying the belt around their waist.
I started practicing when I was 16 years old and received my blue belt in September
2018, after nine months of training. I knew I was going to get the blue belt as long as I passed the
blue belt test on a scheduled day. Almost four years after I started training, I received my purple
belt. In contrast to the scheduled test for the blue belt, I was surprised to receive the purple one
without a test. It was a meaningful surprise by my instructor, because he awarded it a week after
I was eliminated in the first round of a world championship tournament in Texas.
After losing this competition, I was ready to continue training as a blue belt for a few more months to fine tune and review my technique before I would even think about the next belt level. But in a regular class, the instructor pretended he needed to use me to demonstrate a
technique. In reality, it was a cover to promote me. The instructor told me, “give me your back” so I was facing the other students and couldn’t see my instructor’s face. I heard him start talking
about the technique and then his voice faded away. I saw students start smiling. I did not know what was going on and by the time I looked down, I saw my instructor tying a purple belt around
my waist. My purple belt is important to me because it validates how much I’ve learned during the years I’ve put into training. I have been teaching children and adults as an assistant instructor with a blue belt, but the purple belt allowed me to become an instructor that does not need supervision to teach the beginner curriculum at the academy. This belt also allowed me to teach intermediate level private classes. As I look at my belt, I am reminded of the countless hours of mat time I put in since my
first class. I also think of the hours of learning and training I will have in the future. I know I
have a long way to go to reach the desired level I want to be at, but seeing myself as a purple belt
means that I am getting closer.
People from different backgrounds who speak different languages train jiu jitsu all
around the world. I met many training partners who don’t know English, in my gym or when I
trained in other countries (Israel and Greece). While I couldn’t always talk or communicate ideas
with them in the same language, we could connect through jiu jitsu language. The language
barrier does not matter in our community/subculture. Being able to “speak” jiu jitsu means that those who are dedicated and love this sport are united. I can feel comfortable with someone else who speaks broken English because I can still communicate through jiu jitsu moves.
I have included an image of my purple belt tied on a dummy in my gym.

Self-Assessment Essay

-To what extent have I achieved the course learning objectives?

-In what ways have my perceptions on what writing is and does, evolved this semester? 

I thought that simply finding a few sources to quote from and then paraphrasing  to unify an idea was what essay writing was about. That was my understanding at the beginning of this semester. After completing different types of writing assignments, and trying to achieve the course learning outcomes, my perception on what writing is and does, has changed. 

In the my personal artifact essay, the first essay,  I described my jiu jitsu belt as a personal artifact representing the jiu jitsu subculture. In my reflection, I mentioned that I needed to think much more about how to connect sentences, and convey what I meant in detail. This was a course goal, to “enhance strategies for…drafting, revising, editing and self assessment.” (goal 2) I realize now that through the process of writing,  I was able to identify early on in the semester one of the goals that was harder for me to accomplish. Maintaining “rhetorical sensibility” (goal 1), that is, a clear connection to each idea so that an audience would understand what I’m writing, was what I wanted to improve on.

The subculture research essay, essay 3, is where I feel I made a considerable improvement in these two goals. In that assignment, I went over how hip hop led to 90s rap, and then I reviewed what rappers at that time rapped about. Before that essay’s conclusion, I also reviewed how some modern rap artists tried to keep that 90s rap style going. Thinking how to connect ideas in a clear way again in essay 3 further enhanced my “strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing and self-assessment.” In the fieldworking textbook, I learned of a data culminating technique called intersubjectivity, and with the use of footnotes, I triangulated my sources to discuss my findings. I stayed on topic and provided an overview as to what the subculture looked like. Even though I ended up quoting a lot and may not have been as concise as I could have been in that essay, I believe I met the rhetorical sensibility goal. Since I reviewed many secondary sources about this community for this essay, I can say I also achieved goal 5, “engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing ..”

The classmate interview essay, Essay 2, I intended for anyone who reads it, even people who don’t know anything about the gaming industry, to understand the gaming subculture better by interviewing a classmate who has been playing different video games for years. I enjoyed interviewing my classmate. In the process of doing this assignment, I improved on two other course learning objectives because I was engaging “in the collaborative and social aspects of the writing processes” by interviewing my classmate (goal 4). I also strengthened my practices of “quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources” (goal 8) because I had to write what my classmate told me by converting conversations into an essay, so this process helped me develop these two goals. 

In essay 4, the mini-ethnography, I expanded on insider viewpoints of famous 90s gangsta rappers to explain where their hardcore rap styles came from and how their background infused their rapper persona. In essay 4, I went directly to hear from the rap artists themselves. Although I couldn’t interview them, because they were either inaccessible to me, or dead, I reviewed their rap lyrics, which were their way to tell their life story. I watched interviews and documentaries with them talking about what led to them rapping in this style.While writing about these lyrics which were very explicit and slang-driven I  had to “acknowledge” how the rappers I was talking about and I had “linguistic differences” (course goal no. 1). One who listens to this gangsta music can think that the rappers intended to promote violence but listening to the rappers talk about their raps made me conclude that their intentions were just to rap about their lives as they were. Since I was able  to conclude that, I can say I achieved learning outcome 6, “formulate and articulate a stance.”

In all essays, I attempted to explain an artifact or subcultures to people who knew nothing about these subjects, and this helped me achieve goal 3, “negotiate your …writing goals and audience expectations.” I revised all my essays, based on comments from peers and my instructor.

The first essay was the easiest to write because it didn’t involve too much extra research because I already knew a lot about jiu jitsu as I have been practicing in it for a long time. Essay 2 was harder because I had to  summarize in a clear way what another person told me over two interviews. Essays 3 and 4 were the hardest because I had to do a lot of research for them. My perception of writing has changed during the course. I thought quoting and paraphrasing a few sources would be enough but each assignment had a rubric that required so much more to meet the course goals.  I realized that writing is a complicated process that requires more effort  than I initially thought. While I developed as a writer, I believe I still need to progress in all course goals. Although I think I achieved them in the papers I wrote, I don’t want to say that I have nothing left to learn. I still need to progress in my time management. I underestimated how long each assignment would take and as a result either submitted papers at the last minute or needed an extension and didn’t leave enough time for proofreading.

This personal artifact essay is a writing piece about an artifact that is an important to me. I discuss why I chose this artifact, the personal and cultural significance of the artifact, where and when I got it, and how this artifact extends to a historic social practice of the subculture my artifact comes from.

Jiu Jitsu Belt as my Personal Artifact
I chose my jiu jitsu purple belt as a personal artifact. Jiu jitsu is a ground fighting technique originating in Japan hundreds of years ago that was later modernized as a sport in
Brazil during the 20th century. Jiu jitsu incorporates a color belt system to show a person’s developing skill. There are five belts that practitioners above 16 years old can have: white, blue, purple, brown, black (there are other belts at the highest level that I will briefly get into later).
You get a new belt when your instructor thinks you earned it, that you can fight better than you were previously able to.
Instructors also award stripes that are pieces of tape that are wrapped around one side of the belt to show progress at the current belt level. You can earn up to four white stripes on belts from white to brown, and on the black ones there can be six stripes (called degrees). After six degrees on your black belt, you get a red/black belt and then advance up to a red belt. To understand better the belt system for adults, you can look at the following belts chart at,
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Belt Guide
 
In addition to belts and stripes signifying progress, practitioners use the belt to hold together the training uniform (called a “gi”) by tying the belt around their waist. I started practicing when I was 16 years old and received my blue belt in September 2018, after nine months of training. I knew I was going to get the blue belt as long as I passed the blue belt test on a scheduled day. 
Almost four years after I started training, I received my purple belt. In contrast to the scheduled test for the blue belt, I was surprised to receive the purple one without a test. It was a meaningful surprise by my instructor, because he awarded it a week after I was eliminated in the first round of a world championship tournament in Texas. After losing this competition, I was ready to continue training as a blue belt for a few more months to fine tune and review my technique before I would even think about the next belt
level. But in a regular class, the instructor pretended he needed to use me to demonstrate a technique. In reality, it was a cover to promote me. The instructor told me, “give me your back” so I was facing the other students and couldn’t see my instructor’s face. I heard him start talking about the technique and then his voice faded away. I saw students start smiling. I did not know what was going on and by the time I looked down, I saw my instructor tying a purple belt around
my waist. After the class was over, I sat down reflecting on what happened. I could not comprehend that I actually advanced to the next level. Seeing the purple color around my waist
meant that my commitment was recognized, and that felt good.
My purple belt is important to me because it validates how much I’ve learned during the years I’ve put into training. I have been teaching children and adults as an assistant instructor with a blue belt, but the purple belt allowed me to become an instructor that does not need supervision to teach the beginner curriculum at the academy. This belt also allowed me to teach intermediate level private classes. As I look at my belt, I am reminded of the countless hours of mat time I put in since my first class. I also think of the hours of learning and training I will have in the future. I know I have a long way to go to reach the desired level I want to be at, but seeing myself as a purple belt means that I am getting closer. 
People from different backgrounds who speak different languages train jiu jitsu all around the world. I met many training partners who don’t know English, in my gym or when I trained in other countries (Israel and Greece). While I couldn't always talk or communicate ideas with them in the same language, we could connect through jiu jitsu language. The language barrier does not matter in our community/subculture. 
Being able to “speak” jiu jitsu means that those who are dedicated and love this sport are united. I can feel comfortable with someone else who speaks broken English because I can still communicate through jiu jitsu moves. I chose this artifact because jiu jitsu is a big part of my life. The gym where I have been training almost everyday for the last few years is like my second home. It was easy for me to pick the belt as my personal artifact because it represents a goal that is important to me: to keep getting better.

In the essay, I intended for anyone who reads it, even people who don’t know anything about the gaming industry, to understand the gaming subculture better by interviewing someone who has been playing different video games for years

An Interview of a Gamer by a Gamer

Long nights and good friends

“I love this drink man.” As Bryan took another sip from his Red Bull energy drink, I saw he already presented some video gamer qualities before my interview with him even started. I flashed back to mornings when I drank bottled Starbucks coffee to feel less fatigued from my own gaming hours. I asked Bryan if his online friends make him lose track of time and as he lifted to take another sip, he nodded his head. Friend groups that meet online often create this routine, and the daytime hours Bryan cannot spend playing with his online friends are made up for at night. I have been playing video games since I was young and therefore, I consider myself an insider in Bryan’s subculture. I can measure his play style, online friend group, and whether he felt intent on achieving a “gamer status” (meaning you have a fan base of people who watch how you play when you livestream your game or post about it).I wanted to find out Bryan’s reasons for playing video games. Is Bryan playing to achieve a specific goal? Is part of his social life happening online? I asked if Bryan has seen his online friends’ faces or if he has met any of them in person, and if they spoke outside of their discord group chat (Discord is an online software used by gamers to create private chat rooms with friends, some may say it is similar to Skype). Bryan answered that his friend group knows each other’s faces and the only time he met up with an online friend was when Bryan learned one of them was in Brooklyn. I was not surprised when Bryan went on to say that even though his online friends do not talk much to each other outside of Discord, meeting one of his online friends in person strengthened the entire group’s relationship. Gaming for Bryan is about making connections with other players. My next question was if Bryan ever considered streaming or playing video games professionally. Streaming is a huge activity in the gaming community where content creators record videos of their gameplay to a live audience. There is a huge monetary value to streaming. In livestreams, a streamer with a large fan base can receive thousands of dollars from viewers who donate as much as they want to support the player who streams. However, after streaming his gameplay during the second half of 2021, Bryan stopped streaming because he realized that his gaming setup should be upgraded, and besides, he had to focus on work. Bryan is a hard working guy. In addition to being a college student, he has three jobs: he works in a pizza shop, smoke shop, and cleans offices after hours. Since March 2020, Bryan took breaks throughout the year because of his work hours; and so, he would play casually with his online friends. In this kind of schedule, he alternated month-long video game phases to quarter yearlong breaks. Recently, however, Bryan has been gaming with his friends a lot during the week.

Bryan told me he likes to play Minecraft, Rocket-League, and Garry’s Mod, all video games with a large fan base. For example, it is estimated that since Minecraft’s release in 2011, the game has amassed 140 million players. Bryan does not play new game releases. He likes to play games that are considered classics in the gaming community. Classics are pure fun and simple. New game releases are usually more fast-paced and intricate. Bryan added that in the God of War game series, he liked to play as Kratos, a warrior from ancient Sparta, whose mission is to kill Greek gods. Bryan called Kratos a “beast,” a slang word for characterizing someone as amazing.

A gaming moment

I asked Bryan what gaming moment he can always remember, and it turns out that I also share a moment like this in my own gaming experience. Bryan enthusiastically remembered his“first trick shot in a public match playing Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2.” He can always remember how excited he felt at that moment, even six-seven years after it happened. A trick shot is a move where a player jumps off a high surface and does multiple spins with maneuvers through the air, shooting his weapon (usually a sniper rifle) and killing an enemy player before hitting the ground. As a gamer, I know this is very hard to accomplish. Despite being able to trick shot, Bryan joked that he is not good enough of a gamer to even think about playing professionally. The most successful team of players who could trick shot as a profession in Call of Duty, a group called FaZe Clan, now run a company worth around one billion dollars!

Analysis

Bryan is a reliable insider to discuss the subculture of video games because he has been playing before “he could walk or talk.” Bryan plays video games out of pure enjoyment and entertainment, something I, as a gamer, and millions of others, can relate to. This is the nature of the video game subculture. Online gaming is about making connections with other people without even meeting them.“Minecraft isn’t just a video game: it’s a creative sandbox, a survival adventure, an educational tool, a social platform, and a community. Entire studios and talented individuals make their living through Minecraft; organizations and groups can use Minecraft to spread their messages, and friends and strangers alike can connect through Minecraft no matter the distance between them. Minecraft can bring out the best of humanity’s creativity and in genuity.” https://www.windowscentral.com/minecraft-is-the-greatest-game-ever-made.The gaming industry is as profitable as it is fun. Statistics published in November 2021, on the profitability of the gaming industry indicate that the worldwide gaming video content revenue in 2020 was 9.53 billion. The number of gaming content viewers worldwide was 1.2billion.

I too started playing video games at an early age and although I do not play much anymore now, I still recall how much fun I had playing. I enjoyed hearing Bryan describe the fun he has playing. I played all the games Bryan talked about. As a gamer myself, I share his enthusiasm and like him, wish I could do it more.

The Rap subculture in the 1990s - How did it evolve and what did the 90s rappers rap about? 

I’ll never forget the first time I listened to a rap song. It was Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio, and JV. This is a rap song from 1995, and Coolio, a 23 year old rapper from Compton, LA, wrote it. Coolio raps in one verse:

 “I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the street
So I gotta be down with the hood team
Too much television watchin' got me chasin' dreams
I'm a educated fool with money on my mind
Got my ten in my hand and a gleam in my eye
I'm a loc'd out gangsta, set trippin' banger
And my homies is down so don't arouse my anger.”
	
I remember I was in 6th grade when I heard it, and I was intrigued. How can someone have such a violent life and turn that into a song.  I was listening to pop songs before and did not expect to encounter music that depicts so much struggle and violence. 

History/background of rap music in the 90s

Rap is an acronym for rhythm and poetry. More specifically, it is a “music verse composed of rhymes, figurative language, and varying syllables. It’s commonly written using the first-person, with the lyrics directed towards a real or imaginary rival.” 

Rap isn't soft Jazz or catchy pop music. Central to rap music is “the juxtaposition of hardcore rap lyrics centered around crime, drugs, and material wealth” with “smooth, R&B-style 

vocals.” (Duniker, 114). Rap gave musicians a chance to express poetry without having to sing it.  “Like singing, rapping can be about different subjects like love, social issues, and about life as we live it.” However, unlike singing, “rapping does not involve accompanying words with any particular [music] notes.” 
In the 1970s, hip hop began as a movement and party style in the Bronx, NY.  The International Journal of Urban & Regional Research defines hip hop as a “germination of culture, with its initial elements being ‘rapping, DeeJaying, Bboying/Bgirling (also known as breakdancing) and graffiti writing.’” (Lamotte, M. 2014). 
Rap is a subculture/subgroup within hip hop, and rap can be done in many styles/subgenres. Such as conscious rap, a style focused on social activism. This style is about “creating awareness and imparting knowledge. Conscious rappers traditionally have decried violence, discrimination, and other ailments of society…Most conscious rap songs contain positive, uplifting messages, often delivered over smooth, ear-grabbing beats.” Boom bap is another style of the 90 that is focused on rhyming.  It is a subgenre of east coast rap referring to the sound of a beat.  “The ‘boom’ is the kick drum and the ‘bap’ is the snare. Boom bap is a style of music where the drums are highly emphasized.” 
“Gangsta” (gangster) rap, is a form of hip hop music that grew into popularity in the early 1990s and became the rap genre’s “dominant style.”  Rising inflation, unemployment and mortgage rates, as well racism behind arresting African Americans for drug offenses,  were the background for the rise of this rap style. 
“As noted by many hip hop scholars, gangsta rap is often understood as a product of the detrimental economic and social policies affecting Black and Brown working class communities during the Reagan-Bush era…West coast rappers used music as a platform to narrate the lives of those on the margins, depicting the material consequences of institutional racism and state violence.” Although “other forms of rap music addressed similar themes, gangsta rap was particularly rampant with tales of crime” and “gang violence.” 

Rapping developed when music like soul, funk, or disco played, and rap emcees (individuals who would sing with the music) freestyled, which is to make up entertaining interactions with an audience. In the 1980s, popular emcees started to produce music and they were the earliest rappers. These emcees are also referred to as the old school rappers because their style was composed of simpler rhyming and music production techniques. Computer innovation during the 1990s allowed rap music producers to start using software and digital effects to create beat sampling and new rapping styles. In those years, rap transitioned into a mainstream music genre. 

Language and rituals of 90s rappers

In the 1990s, most major rap artists were from poorer areas in New York City and Los Angeles, and they mostly rapped about social issues, the hardships of living in lower income neighborhoods and the gangster lifestyle.  Rap “was the story of ghetto life and the anthem of gangsters.” (McNulty-Finn, 2014). NWA, a young California rap group from the lower class neighborhood of Compton, Los Angeles, whose 1991 album sold one million copies in seven days were symbolic of “gangsta rap.”  N.W.A’s music “expressed the world of police brutality and the discrimination African Americans faced…N.W.A made songs not just as entertainment but to voice their opinions.”  For example, in one of N.W.A’s songs “N.W.A. constructs a subversive narrative in which they get the chance to put the LAPD on trial rather than the other way around. By switching roles with the system, N.W.A. is able to perform an identity that they don’t have access to in reality.” 
Tupac was another influential rapper in the 90s. “To many, he is titled as a rap legend. He has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide and his music was viewed as introspective. He unfiltered the world of growing up black and explaining the deprivation of going through racism and living in the ghettos.” 
With respect to language, typically, rapping uses Ebonics (American black English). “Rap music unapologetically articulates the social, political, cultural and economic issues in Black communities by employing the Black Language… The whole culture revolves around the elaborate Black storytelling that catches audiences' ears, imaginations, and hearts…rappers are speaking to and about their community in their language with particular pronunciations and linguistic features.”
Rap battles and diss tracks are typical rituals in this subculture. Rap battling is a type of rapping in a live event where two rappers freestyle or use pre written verses to  brag why they are better than the other rapper and where they insult each other through rapping. Diss tracks are recorded songs where rappers attack each other in the same way as in a rap battle. Rap battle and diss tracks test a rapper’s lyric flow and delivery against someone else’s. These rituals normally start if a rapper is accused of  “‘biting,’ or in other words… copying, another artist’s style, flow, or beat… Rap battles and diss tracks are an integral part of hip-hop culture, which are largely done either for prize money or respect… It’s competitive, but it’s ultimately about skill.” (Hall 2019).  The rap battling feud between the two biggest rappers of the 90s, The Notorious Big and 2pac, “may be responsible for some of the industry's most iconic diss tracks ("Hit Em Up" and "Who Shot Ya?") are often hailed as the best in history.”
	
Resurgence of 90s style rap today

Although many of  today’s mainstream rap musicians do not represent the 90s style because their songs don’t have a story and they make music “for entertainment only,” there are still established artists who try to embody the bygone rhythmic and poetic lyricism of the 90s. The 90s style that is in resurgence now is more  boom bap and conscious rap, and less of the gangster style one. Artists like Joey Bada$$, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and Benny the Butcher are contemporary examples of rappers who model and channel their rap style after the 90s. In one example, Joey Bada$$ met “with legendary producer DJ Premier, Joey, whose sound is very indebted to boom-bap beat makers like Premier was very excited about the collab, calling it a dream come true.” Kendrick Lamar, a top rap artist from today’s generation, is signed to Aftermath records. “Kendrick Lamar is described as Tupac’s reincarnation…He raps about wanting change and most of the songs he raps about do not contain him talking about his ego…” Dr. Dre, the owner of this record label, worked with some of the most prominent 90s rap artists to have ever joined the industry, such as: NWA, Eminem, 50 Cent, and Tupac. As a fan of the 90s style, and someone who likes to rap with his friends, I am glad that there seems to be a “90s-style resurgence, with the best new hip hop songs throwing it back to the beloved era.”  

Reflection
	I intended for readers to understand from my research a type of music that they may or may not have listened to. The purpose of this essay was to discuss how the birth of hip hop led to 90s rap, and then I analyzed what rappers at that time rapped about. Working on this essay required me to think about what I did not know about hip hop’s overall history. I thought I was also going to discuss how today’s rap music is not representative of the 90s style but, with the assistance of my instructor, I instead went over how some modern rap artists now create a similar style in their music. I learned to trust less in the knowledge I might already have about a topic because even if I’m very interested in it, I still need to find sources that substantiate my understanding. This assignment allowed me to research a subject that I already was intrigued by. I think that writing about it was an important process to go through because it strengthened my relationship to rap as a hobby overall. I worked with comments from my instructor since the peer I sent my initial draft to did not respond. This research assignment helped me achieve the course learning outcome of strengthening my source use practices by “evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources.” This assignment also helped enhance my “strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment.” Further, in the Fieldworking textbook, I learned of a data culminating technique called intersubjectivity, and with the use of footnotes, I triangulated my sources to discuss my findings. I would like to improve on the way I combine sources I find into a paper because this was definitely the hardest assignment so far. I would have liked to have more time to check my quotes and maybe eliminate some of them because I ended up quoting a lot, and maybe it got repetitive.