Hip Hop Entrepreneurship teaches you how to hack your business idea or concept within the context of the bootstrapping philosophy of the Ghetto Genius Paradigm (GGP). The GGP consists of various product development, promotion, and marketing strategies within Hip Hop Culture that authenticates products and services by uncovering or establishing the “cool factor” for scalable revenue generating opportunities (Patterson, 2014).
Saturday, February 6, 2016
How would you define Ghetto?
When you think about the term "ghetto" what is the first thing that comes to mind? When you have an image of the ghetto, who and what do you see? Please describe.
As someone who was raised Jewish, my definition of a ghetto might be a little different than the definition understood by most Americans. From attending religious school every weekend as a child, I came to understand the lives of Jews before me who endured anti-Semitism all across the globe. In fact, the original meaning of the word “ghetto” was used to refer to the section of a city, mainly in Italy, where Jews were restricted to live (NPR). While used primarily for segregation in Italy, the German Nazis had more of a malicious intent when they brought the Jewish ghettos back under their regime. The systematic killing of the Jewish people was made easy by quartering off Jews into small towns, where Nazis could pick up and drop off men, women, and children by the trainload at the various concentration and death camps in and around Germany. This time period became known as the Holocaust, a word which also has some Jewish roots. Today, the word implies mass slaughter and destruction on a large scale, but it originally referred to a ritualistic sacrifice performed by Jews. The Hebrew, korban olah, is described in the Hebrew Bible as the sacrifice of an animal, which is to be completely consumed by fire upon the altar. Korban olah translates to “holocaust”, a word whose Greek roots, holos and kaustos mean “whole” and “to burn”. Interesting how a word which originally meant the “whole burning”, or sacrifice, of an animal at the altar, came to be synonymous with the “whole burning”, or genocide, of the Jewish people.
Throughout American history and even today, we see ghettos as urban spaces represented by racial, religious, and ethnic minorities who suffer from prejudice, discrimination, and lack of opportunity. Like the Jewish ghettos of Europe, the early 1900s American ghettos came to be defined by the lack of choice experienced by their inhabitants. Poverty stricken and culturally different people of America were essentially forced to live in these types of places. However, something unexpected and beautiful arose from the Black Americans living in the ghetto. Separated from the rest of the world, a new “ghetto culture” was forged: Hip-Hop. This culture has caught on so much for Blacks and non-Blacks alike that today, it is considered admirable and cool to “be ghetto”. Considering the original meaning of “ghetto”, today’s definition has taken quite a turn.
Reading Dan Charnas’ The Big Payback, I think I see why there is so much collaboration between Black and Jewish people. Both have unique cultures which benefit the other: Jews with their history of business enterprise, and Blacks with their history of artistic endeavor. To an extent, Hip Hop is the thriving business that it is today because many Jews were able to observe the culture that was being developed in the ghetto. Moreover, despite the differences in their cultures, both Blacks and Jews share a common historical trend of being discriminated against. There is a certain bond between all people who once experienced or currently experience hatred on a large scale. In a White America where most people wanted nothing to do with the Black community, Jews were reminded of their past brushes with prejudice and made the righteous and smart decision to welcome Black culture into the mainstream.
The first thing I think of when I hear the word ghetto is segregation from privileged society. They are disprivileged; they do not have the same opportunities or resources as the privileged. Because of this, many believe they are forever stuck in the ghetto and may as well not even try to leave. Like Will said, Dre may not have built a brand without Iovine's help because he was still in the "ghetto mentality." He might have believed he could only be a musician because that's what society says people from the ghetto can become. The ghetto genius realizes that they are not confined to where they come from. Coming from the ghetto is not a hindrance; coming from the ghetto is a great strength because they learned valuable lessons from it. They come to entrepreneurship from a different angle and have that edge to understand what their strength is in their ghetto. Like Zack said, the Jews had their strength of business enterprise and blacks had their artistic endeavors. In this way, ghetto is not a negative term; it is a positive term that reflects and promotes the diversity that is required for successful entrepreneurship.
test test
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was raised Jewish, my definition of a ghetto might be a little different than the definition understood by most Americans. From attending religious school every weekend as a child, I came to understand the lives of Jews before me who endured anti-Semitism all across the globe. In fact, the original meaning of the word “ghetto” was used to refer to the section of a city, mainly in Italy, where Jews were restricted to live (NPR). While used primarily for segregation in Italy, the German Nazis had more of a malicious intent when they brought the Jewish ghettos back under their regime. The systematic killing of the Jewish people was made easy by quartering off Jews into small towns, where Nazis could pick up and drop off men, women, and children by the trainload at the various concentration and death camps in and around Germany. This time period became known as the Holocaust, a word which also has some Jewish roots. Today, the word implies mass slaughter and destruction on a large scale, but it originally referred to a ritualistic sacrifice performed by Jews. The Hebrew, korban olah, is described in the Hebrew Bible as the sacrifice of an animal, which is to be completely consumed by fire upon the altar. Korban olah translates to “holocaust”, a word whose Greek roots, holos and kaustos mean “whole” and “to burn”. Interesting how a word which originally meant the “whole burning”, or sacrifice, of an animal at the altar, came to be synonymous with the “whole burning”, or genocide, of the Jewish people.
ReplyDeleteThroughout American history and even today, we see ghettos as urban spaces represented by racial, religious, and ethnic minorities who suffer from prejudice, discrimination, and lack of opportunity. Like the Jewish ghettos of Europe, the early 1900s American ghettos came to be defined by the lack of choice experienced by their inhabitants. Poverty stricken and culturally different people of America were essentially forced to live in these types of places. However, something unexpected and beautiful arose from the Black Americans living in the ghetto. Separated from the rest of the world, a new “ghetto culture” was forged: Hip-Hop. This culture has caught on so much for Blacks and non-Blacks alike that today, it is considered admirable and cool to “be ghetto”. Considering the original meaning of “ghetto”, today’s definition has taken quite a turn.
Reading Dan Charnas’ The Big Payback, I think I see why there is so much collaboration between Black and Jewish people. Both have unique cultures which benefit the other: Jews with their history of business enterprise, and Blacks with their history of artistic endeavor. To an extent, Hip Hop is the thriving business that it is today because many Jews were able to observe the culture that was being developed in the ghetto. Moreover, despite the differences in their cultures, both Blacks and Jews share a common historical trend of being discriminated against. There is a certain bond between all people who once experienced or currently experience hatred on a large scale. In a White America where most people wanted nothing to do with the Black community, Jews were reminded of their past brushes with prejudice and made the righteous and smart decision to welcome Black culture into the mainstream.
NPR article referenced above: http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/04/27/306829915/segregated-from-its-history-how-ghetto-lost-its-meaning
The first thing I think of when I hear the word ghetto is segregation from privileged society. They are disprivileged; they do not have the same opportunities or resources as the privileged. Because of this, many believe they are forever stuck in the ghetto and may as well not even try to leave. Like Will said, Dre may not have built a brand without Iovine's help because he was still in the "ghetto mentality." He might have believed he could only be a musician because that's what society says people from the ghetto can become. The ghetto genius realizes that they are not confined to where they come from. Coming from the ghetto is not a hindrance; coming from the ghetto is a great strength because they learned valuable lessons from it. They come to entrepreneurship from a different angle and have that edge to understand what their strength is in their ghetto. Like Zack said, the Jews had their strength of business enterprise and blacks had their artistic endeavors. In this way, ghetto is not a negative term; it is a positive term that reflects and promotes the diversity that is required for successful entrepreneurship.
ReplyDelete