THE INFLUENCE OF HIP-HOP VIDEOS ON THE DRESS PATTERN AMONG NIGERIAN YOUTHS

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ABSTRACT

This Work focuses on THE INFLUENCE OF HIP-HOP VIDEOS ON THE DRESS PATTERN AMONG NIGERIAN YOUTHS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Music is an integral part of youth culture, since the advent of the music video in 1981, music and music video have gone hand-in-hand and the effects of music videos on youth have been the subject of research and controversy. The common reason for the concern has been aptly summed by Arnett (2002), who explained:

“A typical music video features one or more men performing while beautiful, scantily clad young women dance and writhe lasciviously. Often the men dance too but the women always have fewer clothes on. The women are mostly just props. They appear for a fraction of a second, long enough to shake their butts a couple of times, then the camera moves on” .

This description is particularly applicable for hip hop music videos and there has been an increasing concern that hip hop culture as seen in music videos has become heavily influencial on young people’s view of sexuality (Jones, 1997 cited in Boyd, 2002). The term Hip hop is used both for a musical style and a subcultural movement. Scholar’s such as Carl and Virgil Taylor (2005) emphasize that ” Hip-hop is not only a genre of music, but also a complex system of ideas, values and concepts that reflect newly emerging and ever-changing creative correlative expressive mechanism including but not limited to song, poetry, film and fashion. ” Rap is what you do; hip hop is what you are. Rap is the act, hip hop is the culture (Boyd,2002).

The origins of hip hop can be traced to James Brown and Blowfly, among others. They are often called the godfather of hip hop. Today music is only one part of what makes up this subculture, which maintains a powerful presence in popular culture. Kids and young adults who adhere to it are traditionally exposed to “performer’s wearing droopy pants, hats to the back, laceless sneakers, hood and loud radios” (krohn and suazo, 1995). So, as Rose (1994) points out, “Hip-hop is a youth culture which comprises of graffiti, break dancing, and rap music” (Rose,1994). Ibrahim (2003) believes that Hip-hop and rap create a social identity among youth, in particular, black youth through fashion choices, dialect and an extensive slang lexicon,as well as their behaviours and ideas.

The influence of hip hop videos on youths are widespread. The influence is mainly on their dressing and their attires, that is what they wear and what they use to adorn themselves”. In recent times, it has been observed that a change is occurring in the mode of dressing and clothing style of the younger population. They dress weirdly and embarrassingly. The female younger population mostly dresses half nude; they prefer to wear trousers and skimpy shirts or T-shirt that reveals their tummy, body hug which shows all the contours in their body frames or mini skirt with a see-through tops while the boys although still wear shirt and trousers but which are always in various bigger sizes compared to their nominal sizes.

Apuke (2016) further submits that the way students on campuses of learning dress leave many to wonder where they get these dresses from. They tend to copy different hip-hop videos actors/actresses costumes projected on the screen which are mostly contrary to our traditional norms and values.

The concern on media influence has led to the development of different communication theories. This is an attempt to explain the relationship between communication messages and their influence on the respondent. Culturally, this media influence could be in the area of language, behavioural response, pattern of eating and dressing.

Since it has been established that music is a mass media, it is proposed in this study that hip-hop videos have influence on the dress pattern among Nigeria youth. This supposition is hinged on the fact that hip-hop videos have gained wide followership among students, especially the youths.

1.2 Statement of Problem

Hip-hop videos are seen as source of entertainment and education, as well as conduit for promoting Nigerian culture. In the face of media imperialism by foreign media and the overshadowing of Nigerian’s cultural values, it becomes important to examine hip-hop videos to ascertain if it is influencing the dress pattern among youths.

An examination of some of the hip-hop videos will reveal that they portray nudity while some portray costumes that reflect the rich Nigerian culture. In the face of this challenges, it becomes necessary to examine how hip-hop videos influence the dressing pattern among Nigerian youths.