Masculine hip-hop culture is under the lens in the documentary “HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes.” Writer and director Byron Hurt examines the effects of the genre in shaping hip-hop consumers.

The prevalent concept of masculinity in the hip-hop industry prompted Hurt to work for six years on his documentary.

“I wanted to promote people to think about materialism, masculinity, homophobia and violence in hip-hop,” Hurt said. “I wanted to do a film that represented manhood in the industry.”

Hurt wants to create a dialogue between people, whether they listen to hip-hop or not.

“I want people to see and listen to the music different,” Hurt said.

The stereotypical ideas of money, women and power defining a man have caused male artists to trap themselves in a “box,” Hurt said. This “box” causes current and up-and-coming artists to put on a persona that exemplifies the dominating male image. Hurt’s film showed artist after artist throwing money at half-naked women as they sang about violence.

Regardless of the flaws Hurt points out in the documentary, his love for the genre caused him to critique hip-hop “from a place of love.”

Hurt said he is an educated hip-hop consumer, one who is emotionally invested and can see the brilliance in the lyrics and beats. He makes a point to reiterate that he only buys and listens to artists who do not reinforce stereotypes.

Americans’ obsessions with violence is a result of the constant barrage of violent images in movies, television and video games, Hurt said. Images of violence and objectification of women is used by corporate media owners to desensitize the public for profit.

“America is being dumbed down through American culture,” Hurt said, because most popular culture does not challenge the public mentally. Hurt advocates media literacy to help people break down media concepts to make them more understandable.

Hurt’s straightforward approach took some students by surprise.

“It was not what I expected,” said junior journalism major Ericia Hall. “I expected it to be boring, but it really showed the duality of hip-hop.”

Latoya Sams, junior communication major, said the documentary was very informative. At first, Sams admits she was ashamed because she used to be a fan of many of the artists Hurt used as examples.

“I used to point and judge the people that were in the videos, but information like this has caused me to look at the three fingers pointing back at me,” Sams said.

Hurt finished by saying, “My purpose is to uplift my people.”