Exploring Pop Culture -- Part 1

Having a sense of culture is very important in our life. Especially we live in America which is a big multi-cultural country where gathered all kind of people from all over the world. Knowing culture and cultural identity will make us more respectful to each other, and it will void misunderstanding each other. Culture is part of our everyday life. After taking Pop Culture class, I learned culture is ubiquitous, we may not see it, but it is all round us.

The iceberg model of culture helped us to identify the three types of culture- The visible part above the water is considered as formal culture that everyone can see, like the lifestyles, languages, and how do people dress. The mid part under the water is considered as technical culture such as norm, rules and beliefs that you may not know, but people won’t care if you break the rule because they understand you are from a different culture. The very bottom part under the water is considered as deep informal culture that you can’t see and people really care such as values, desires, tastes and body distance when you are talking to someone.

In addition, from the study I also learned about the universals of culture which is the one that applies to every culture. There are four major characteristics of culture. First, it is passed from one generation to the next through the process of inculturation. From the reading, It explained” All of us learn to be functioning members of our own culture through inculturation”. Second, culture is shared. This is simply easy that we all share our cultures and learn from each other. Third, culture is symbolically expressed and transmitted. It gave us an example that the most important symbolic system that all human beings depend upon is language. Last one, culture is adaptive. One example we had in our class is that we after we left our countries many years, when we go back again, you will see it will not be the same as when you left. Because culture is adaptive, it is adapting to the new environment in order to survive.

My favorite raper

Eminem

Real name: Marshall Bruce Mathers

Birth day: Oct 17, 1972

Occupation: Rapper, Record Producer, and Actor.

Eminem was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri. His father abandoned the family when he was 18 months, and he was raised by his mother in poverty. By the age of 12, Eminem and his mother had moved between various cities and towns in Missouri before they settled in Warren, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.

Eminem became interested in hip pop after procuring a copy of the Beastie Boys album Licensed to 3 as a teenager, and performing amateur rapes at age 14, and jointed a group called “Bassmint Productions” and released their first EP. They later changed their name to “soul Intent”. Although he was enrolled at Lincoln High School in Warren, he frequently participated in freestyle battles at the now0defunct Osborn High School on Detroit’s east side. Despite a well-documented struggle succeeding in predominantly African-American industry, he gained the approval of underground hip pop audiences. After repeating the ninth grade twice due to truancy and near-failing grades, he dropped out of high school at age 17

In 1991, Eminem’s maternal uncle , Ronald “Ronnie” Nelson, committed suicide via shotgun wound to the head. Eminem was very close to his uncle, and was devastated at his death; today, he sports a tattoo “Ronnie R.I.P.” on his upper left arm.

Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label album, The Slim Shady LP, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The following album, The Marshall Mathers LP, Became the fast-selling solo album in US history.

The Marshall Mathers LP and his third album, The Eminem Show, also won Grammy Awards, making Eminem the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive LPs. He wond the award again in 2010 for his album Relapse and 2011 for his album Recovery, giving him a total of 13 Grammys in his career. In 2003, he won the Academy Award for best Original Song for “Lose Yourself” from the film, 8 Mile, in which he also played the lead. “Lose Yourself” would go on to become the longest running No.1 hip hop single.

Eminem then went on hiatus after touring in 2005, He released his first album since 2004’s Encore, titled Relapse, on May 15, 2009. Eminem is the best-selling artist of the decade on the US Nielsen SoundScan, and has sold more than 80 million albums all over the world, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. In 2010, Eminem released his seventh studio album Recovery. It became Eminem’s sixth consecutive number one album in the US and achieved international commercial success.

The Used-To-Be trend -- High School Musical

High School Musical is a three series of television movies. It soon became the most successful Disney Channel movie when it was first released in January 2006. The third one came out in 2008 and was played in theaters. Also the sound track won the best album in the year of 2006. High School Musical is about two high school juniors performed by Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens who try out for the lead parts in their high school musical.

Along with the success of High School Musical, Disney also produced a series of merchandises with High School Musical icons, such as school supplies and clothes. Not only the movies were successful, but also it brought Disney land a lot of profits. So many kids were crazy about their products because of the movies. My 16 years old cousin was one of those kids. She bought a lot of High School Musical products, like her school bags, pens, and folders.

The cartoons we were watching every day when we were kids are not on the TV any more. Same things happened to High School Musical. When teenagers grow up, they will not like the same kind of movies anymore, and the same movies will not satisfy the new generation of teenagers. Therefore, the used-to-be popular movies will become fads.

Pop Culture Webquest - 2000s

Best "Bumper Sticker"

House of Blues

From the visit to House of Blues I learned that Blues music was originally from Africa. In the 19^th century, Africans were sold and brought to the United States. Blues music was originated from work songs and shouts in African-American communities of primarily the deep south of the United States. Later, it generated other music genres like Jazz, R&B, Rock and roll, etc. Therefore Blues music is the beginning of many mainstream music genres. Moreover, the band gave us a really good live performance. At first I didn’t realize the special audiences were handicapped because they were dancing and singing with the music, even better than us. They had a really good time, and the performers on the stage liked them too. They created a very happy atmosphere, but we, physically perfect people, could only stay quietly upstairs and watch them have a good time. Other than the history of Blues music, I think the more important thing I learned was being happy is really simple that we should just concentrate on the things we do have, not the things we wish we should have.

Song Analysis - Cleaning out my closet

This is a rap song called “Cleaning out my closet” by Eminem, it's first released in 2002. In the song Eminem express his anger about his childhood. At the beginning Eminem mentioned many people demonstrate against his lyrics, and the rest of the song tells why his song contains that much anger. Eminem's story is public that almost ever one knows. His Father left Eminem and his mother when he was 1 year old, and he mentioned his own daughter Hailie, said he can’t even picture leaving her,he really felt sad about that. He described how his mother mentally abused him , and in the lyrics, Eminem also mentioned his mother popping drugs in the kitchen. When Eminem grow up, his mother made him a CD trying to fix their relationship, but Eminem didn't think that can fix anything,because he hated his mother so much that he even cursed his mother in the song, and said his daughter Hailie won't even be at Eminem's mother's funeral. The other person he mentioned was his wife Kim.In the lyrics, Eminem rapped “ I’da Killed him, shit I woulda shot Kim and him both”, I think his wife cheated on him because he mentioned “him” in the lyrics. After I did some online research I found out, Eminem and his wife Kim remarried twice ,after the second time they got divorced, Kim went to jail because she refused to receive drug rehabilitation treatment. Overall, in this song, Eminem wanted to express his sad life story.

The issue that the song addresses is about how family education affects a kid, and how important it is to have a healthy family for a kid. About over two decades ago, rap songs were only underground, and were judged bad music because the lyrics are usually degrading and expresses so much anger, that was the kind of music that parents would never want their kids to hear. In truth, I think it tells the stories of the other side of the world which are hard to express. For example, your boss doesn’t treat you fairly, your wife our husband cheated on you, those issues made you so mad and you can’t do nothing. Later on, people bring rap song on stage and it has been dominating the whole music genre, I think it is because this kid of song reflects a lot of people's lives.

Most rap songs flow very fast, and there are a lot of abbreviations, so it’s hard to understand without looking at the lyrics. It is even hard for native speakers.

When we talk about rappers, we will think a lot of black people. The only white rapper that most people know and the best will be Eminem. He is famous for his lyrics and his performance which always contains such strong anger.

I like his song because when I look at the lyrics and listen to the song, I can feel his story. After some research, I found out all the names he used in the song and the stories are real.