Jay-Z is known not only for being one of the best rappers in hip-hop, but also for having a successful career in and outside of hip-hop . He recently protested some of the new hip-hop. His songs "DOA" (Death Of Auto-Tune) and "Run This Town" have a rebellious approach to all recent hip-hop fads. Although the fads were embraced by pop culture, Jay-Z considered them stale and unprogressive. On “DOA” he talks about hip-hop becoming ringtone rap and losing its appeal. "This is anti-autotune/death of the ringtone/this isn't for I-Tunes/this isn't for singing along/...this is basically assault with a deadly weapon/I just did it to flex/basically I want people to feel threatened. (Blueprint 3) "Jay-Z isn't promoting violence, he's simply saying that hip-hop is losing its status. The reason for the slow transformation from hip-hop to commercial hip-hop can be traced back to the birth of the genre. Early rappers were often teenagers who were part of the lower classes and were subject to the thoughts and images of success, wealth, and happiness projected through the media and advertising. These teenagers hoping to change their current living situation began chasing money, and by the late 1980s, the easiest way to make money, due to the crack epidemic, was to sell drugs. That was until they saw rappers like Big Daddy Kane and Run DMC with their heavy gold strings; they quickly turned their attention to rapping. The only problem was that most rappers had to soften their lyrics to be accepted into pop culture. So the simplest solution was to talk about clothing and jewelry. In the book Hip Hop: A Short History, the author describes how they used consumerism to appeal to pop culture... middle of paper... we can "become our own DJs" and take control of what let's listen and see. Works Cited Fiasco, Lupe, Sarah Green, Skylar Grey, MDMA, Trey Songz, Matt Mahaffey, Eric Turner, Sway, and John Legend. Laser. Atlantic, 2011. CD.--. Build minds faster. Lex Luger, 2010. MP3.Jay-Z. The Black Album. Rock-a-Fella Records, 2003. CD.Neal, Mark Anthony. “Up from the Hustle: Power, Plantations, and the Hip-Hop Mogul.” Socialism and Democracy 18.2 (2004): 157-182. Political science completed. EBSCO. Network. March 24, 2011.Smiley, Travis. "Tavis Smiley. Entertainment. Lupe Fiasco. January 9, 2008 | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Travis Smiley Group Inc., January 9, 2008. Web. April 10, 2011West, Kanye and John Legend. "Jesus walks." By Che Smith. Rec. May 24, 2004. Jesus walks. Kanye West. Kanye West, 2004. MP3.Jay-Z, Luke Steele, Rihanna, et. The project 3. Roc Nazione, 2009. CD