Nas- The prophet

Nas: The Prophet

As a junior high school kid growing up in New York City during the 90’s, rap and hip hop determnined almost all aspects of my life. Hip hop influenced the music I listened to, the way Idressed, the way I spoke and acted to even the magazines I readand the tv shows I watched. But most importamtly the artist of the time I followed. In the 90’s I remember very vividly there were no bigger rap artists on the planet than Tupac and Biggie Smalls. Their music played from every teenager’s cd player orboom box, in every car with a potent stereo system, and their music was a must at every block party.  Biggie and Tupac’s names became synonomous with hip hop, it was almost impossible to mention hip hop and not mention them. They appealed to the masses through their music where they portrayed themseleves as outcasts in a society that did not offer  them a fair deal. This unequal treatment enabled them to do everything in their power to get even. In order to portary their message, they incorporated the street culture prevelant at the time: that of dealing drugs, violence and guns.  They used this as a means of empowerement for the many men and women who did not have  any power in their society. Although Biggie and Tupac were the most commercialized and best selling artist of this time, they soon had competiontion  from a skilled young rapper from Queensbridge.  At the height of their success, Nas captivates hip hop. Nas  was rapping about the same issues as Tupac andBiggie, although at this point if his career he was not as popular and his albums did not have as  much commercial success  . Nas kept true to his craft and soon became a beloved figure of this time.  Nas’ proliphic devlivery in his rap songs contributed to his overall appeal. While Biggie and Tupac’s lyrics were in your face and harsh, people loved it. Nas’s approach however wasdifferent;  he made his listeners take a step back. He wasn’t just going to inform you his challenges, through his rap he unvailed them like a masterfully created story.   As a listener, each song was an exeprience. It  became a journey in which you sympathized with the challenges he was  facing growing up  in Queensbridge.  This led to his listeners to analyze and appreciate the poetic style  in which he delivered his knowledge and embrace it.   Nas’ words were artisitc but simotenously raw and thruthful and at times they were very hard concepts to deal with. Nas’ first album Illmatic was an istant classic that cemented Nas as a force in Hip Hop.  Nas had arrived artistically with Illmatichis  prophethic style of rap ignited the imagination of many that remain part of a cult follwing that remanins loyal to this day.

American Empire; Cold War 1970….. Chapter 8

American Empire is one of the most compelling urban histories published in the last few decades. Joshua Freeman sets out to undermine this exceptionalist view in his synthesis of American history after World War Two. American Empire is comprehensive in its sweep, but returns to three major themes such as firstly, extraordinary economic growth, especially in the quarter-century following World War Two; secondly, the proliferation of mass movements to bring the promise of democracy to fruition on the home front; thirdly, the dramatic expansion of American power in the world. furthermore, Befitting his interests, he emphasizes the economics dimension of the recent American past and highlights the certainly of social movements ( organized labor and Civil rights, particularly) in remarking the internal politics of the United States. On the third dimension, American foreign policy, Freeman is the most conventional. He assumes that American is an empire rather than defining exactly what that means. and unlike many of the most recent social and cultural historians writing on the subject, he leaves empire’s subjects mostly voiceless and, by implication, powerless.

In addition to this book tells the story of the United States during those years. it examines the political and economic structures of the country, daily life, regional and national culture, and the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world. Writer Freeman tells in doing so, it tries to explain why the United States took the particular path of development it did.

In the decades after World War Two, Americans rarely spoke of empire or imperialism, especially in relation to their society. Once common terms, widely used by both supporters and critics of policies meant to achieve control over foreign lands by the mid-twentieth century they had come to be seem as archaic and irrelevant to a world of decolonization and cold war.until the turn on of the new millennium, only on the political left during the vietnam era did imperialism get revived as a way of understanding the United States.

American Empire; Cold War 1970….. Chapter 8

Mohammad Qaiyum

American Empire; Cold War 1970….. Chapter 8

American Empire is one of the most compelling urban histories published in the last few decades. Joshua Freeman sets out to undermine this exceptionalist view in his synthesis of American history after World War Two. American Empire is comprehensive in its sweep, but returns to three major themes such as firstly, extraordinary economic growth, especially in the quarter-century following World War Two; secondly, the proliferation of mass movements to bring the promise of democracy to fruition on the home front; thirdly, the dramatic expansion of American power in the world. furthermore, Befitting his interests, he emphasizes the economics dimension of the recent American past and highlights the certainly of social movements ( organized labor and Civil rights, particularly) in remarking the internal politics of the United States. On the third dimension, American foreign policy, Freeman is the most conventional. He assumes that American is an empire rather than defining exactly what that means. and unlike many of the most recent social and cultural historians writing on the subject, he leaves empire’s subjects mostly voiceless and, by implication, powerless.

In addition to this book tells the story of the United States during those years. it examines the political and economic structures of the country, daily life, regional and national culture, and the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world. Writer Freeman tells in doing so, it tries to explain why the United States took the particular path of development it did.

In the decades after World War Two, Americans rarely spoke of empire or imperialism, especially in relation to their society. Once common terms, widely used by both supporters and critics of policies meant to achieve control over foreign lands by the mid-twentieth century they had come to be seem as archaic and irrelevant to a world of decolonization and cold war.until the turn on of the new millennium, only on the political left during the vietnam era did imperialism get revived as a way of understanding the United States.

Michael Dukakis

“Until 1980, he had been in the moderate wing Republican Party, backing abortion rights family planning and the ERA. But by the time he sought the presidency in 1988, he recast himself as a hard-line conservative, opposing abortion, pledging not to raise taxes (in spite of the huge deficit), supporting constitutional amendments requiring balanced budgets and allowing school prayer, and building ties to conservative Christian groups. Running against Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, a bland technocrat whom he initially trailed in the polls, Bush ran an ugly negative campaign. In a measure of how much liberalism had become delegitimized during the Reagan years, Bush’s main charge against Dukakis was simply that he was a liberal. The Republican campaign calculated that being labeled the “L word”, as Bush called it, would have much the same affect that charges of communist sympathy once had.”

p.409-410

These campaign tactics are reminiscent of the red scare. Technically in the shadows of the second red scare- Bush switched views almost 180 degrees between the time he entered office as Vice President and running for President, seemingly in order to create a stir and take shots against Mayor Dukakis. This showed the strength of Reaganism and I find it interesting to see a person in office change their view so drastically (even though I am sure he is not the only one). Its amazing to me haw they sway to meet the wants of the people; quite possibly not being the best candidate yet altering themself to serve their campaigns.

Jose Napolean Duartre

“The Reagan administration portrayed itself as a promoter of democracy, but it simultaneously adopted the view that sometimes the road to democracy-or at least the best interest of the United States- lay in supporting anticommunist dictatorships. This was far from a new position for the United States, which over the years had allied with doctoral regimes such as….”

p. 394

Jose Napoleon Duarte, leader of the Christian Democratic Party of El Salvador. He was a Notre Dame graduate and presented a much more attractive image than the far-right ARENA party. Reagan took an interest in the party and saw it as an opportunity to “flex” American muscle by sending aid, advisors and training for the Salvadorian soldiers to overthrow radical communist uprisings. Reagan also knew that Americas foe Russian would stay out of it, mainly because they had no prior interest in the region. However, this reiterated a well know message that Americans would even support a dictatorship over communism. This is mentioned by Freeman to show the increasing medaling by the United Stated in foreign affairs with personal gain at the root of it all. This action, although briefly mentioned is a small portion of the behind the scenes, covert operations that took place- quietly of course in avoidance of the negative Vietnam feelings towards Vietnam.

 

Scandal

“Some of the public disgust with politics and politicians stemmed from political scandals and revelations of past government misdeeds”

 

I like how Freeman spoke about the scandals that took place with political figures in this chapter. He reference when Wilbur Mills of the House of Representatives was stopped in a car by police and was in the presence of a stripper. Political scandals sometimes get took out of contex, so what if they cheat on their spouse or significant others. I know its a tool that political parties used against each other to discredit or get them put out of office. I feel that your personal life should not matter especially if your doing your job well.

War Tactics

” As the United States took over the bulk of combat in Vietnam, a strategy of conventional war and victory through attrition”

 

Vietnam was a pointless war for the United States, and alot of people opposed the war. We lost a bunch of american soldiers in war due to the military strategic tactics. U.S. military believed that thet could win the war by killing the opposition faster than they can be replaced. These tactics did not work for the most part. The U.S. relied on their advantage in firepower, instead of taking over specific territories they seeked out enemy forces an attcked them.

Same Pay

” The ERA was one of two strategies during the decade after World War II for improving the status of women”

 

Women rights has always been an issue they felt that they wasnt treated equally to men. the Equal Rights Amendment was proposed in 1923. This amendment declared equality of rights under the law on the account of gender, and was a nice attempt for women to gain equal rights. The support for the ERA  begin to die but some people who supported women economic rights pushed for something to be done. Congrees passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, which forbade pay differences between men and women doing identical jobs. The Equal Pay Act had little effect because back then women and men rarely had the same jobs or did the same type of work.