Alternative music: history, genres, and cultural impact

¶ … Martin (2005) are that music played an integral role in the mid-twentieth century African-American freedom struggles and that a variety of black musical genres and artists contributed towards arousing black social consciousness and activism. Much of the evidences used to support these points were derived from the works of various cultural historians and black art theoreticians.

The main points of the article by Aidi (2003) were that Islamic traditions were slowly being incorporated into mainstream Western pop culture due to large-scale conversions among minority members of Western society and the increasing popularity of Islamic hip-hop. Much of the evidence for verifying the conversion rates came from statistics compiled by Islamic organizations and social science researchers. The evidence indicating the emergence of Islamic hip-hop was derived from the works of Western social commentators and journalistic sources.

The ideas expressed by Martin (2005) have convincingly portrayed the black freedom struggle's use of music to motivate its insurgents. I found it especially interesting how disparate black artists during different periods of time were able to sustain the common goal of instilling black pride and self-determination. The ideas expressed by Aidi (2003) were also very persuasive in showing how Islamic elements are being integrated into Western pop culture. It was quite interesting to read about how Islamic hip-hop came into existence among the French Muslim youth and how it helped them to identify with youths of other cultures, namely African-American youth.