BRAGGING AS ONE OF THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF HIP-HOP DISCOURSE

Statement of the problem. The subculture of hip-hop was formed among the African-American population of the United States during a period of poor socio-economic situation. These conditions for the development of hip-hop build a system of values and knowledge, which acts as the foundation of the discursive space of hip-hop. Hip-hop discourse unfolds around the basic concepts of racism, violence and bragging. The concept of bragging is based on the consequences of living conditions in the segregated society of the United States, when African Americans did not have the opportunity to possess certain goods which are available to the white population. After the restrictions having been lifted, high-priced goods have become an element of hip-hop discourse participants’ system of values. The purpose of the article is to identify and systematize the linguistic means of representing the concept of bragging as one of the basic concepts of hip-hop discourse. The methodology of the research is the analysis and summary of works about the basic concepts on the basis of which the discourse is built. Research results. In the article the most common linguistic means of implementing the concept of bragging are identified. The analysis of the song texts of the hip-hop discourse shows that the studied concept is represented mainly through lexical means. Conclusions. The most common ways of representing the concept of bragging are the lexemes of the semantic fields “jewelry” and “financial well-being”. In addition, precedent names are important for the nomination of companies that produce high-value goods, which represent the attributes of success for the participants of the hip-hop discourse. The concept of bragging acts as a basic concept of hip-hop discourse and reflects the specifics of hip-hop discourse. It also determines the perception of the surrounding world by subculture participants.

The Ramifications of Covid-19 Within the African American Community

The coronavirus (Covid-19) perplexed many aspects of everyday life. Sadly, Covid-19 took a greater toll on African Americans. As Covid-19 developed, medical professionals, health care authorities, and advocates recognized several day-to-day living situations and intrinsic medical conditions that distressed African Americans with higher mortality rates during the pandemic. It is imperative that healthcare leaders understand the ramifications that have occurred and that may continue to surface from the Covid-19 affliction, which could be utilized to adjust and amend current policy surrounding the adversely affected African American population. We explored several substantial questions regarding this pandemic: the perceived reasons for the vast impact of Covid-19 within the African American culture; and what recommendations are needed to aid healthcare leaders in the fight against Covid-19 within the African American community. There are six ramifications that the authors address in this general article, including- employment, poverty, deaths, mental illness, and distrust. We offer suggestions to implement, prevent, and educate the African American public to circumvent these ramifications for present and future pandemics.

Consequences of a match made in hell: the harm caused by menthol smoking to the African American population over 1980–2018

BackgroundFor many years, national surveys have shown a consistently disproportionately high prevalence of menthol smokers among African Americans compared with the general population. However, to our knowledge, no prior study has quantified the harm that menthol smoking has caused on that population. In this work, we estimate the public health harm that menthol cigarettes have caused to the African American community over the last four decades.MethodsUsing National Health Interview Survey data, we employed a well-established simulation model to reproduce the observed smoking trajectory over 1980–2018 in the African American population. Then, we repeat the experiment, removing the effects of menthol on the smoking initiation and cessation rates over that period, obtaining a new hypothetical smoking trajectory. Finally, we compared both scenarios to calculate the public health harm attributable to menthol cigarettes over 1980–2018.ResultsOur results show that menthol cigarettes were responsible for 1.5 million new smokers, 157 000 smoking-related premature deaths and 1.5 million life-years lost among African Americans over 1980–2018. While African Americans constitute 12% of the total US population, these figures represent, respectively, a staggering 15%, 41% and 50% of the total menthol-related harm.DiscussionOur results show that menthol cigarettes disproportionally harmed African Americans significantly over the last 38 years and are responsible for exacerbating health disparities among that population. Removing menthol cigarettes from the market would benefit the overall US population but, particularly, the African American community.