A Bad Rap?

Matt Altstiel
6/11/06
GLOS 3900

A Bad Rap

The thematic elements of violence and mistrust for legal authority by now represent common currents within the Hip Hop genre. Starting in the late 1980’s, many rappers began to write and celebrate their violent, oppressive city environments. Such a trend continues to this day, however; the groups N.W.A and Ice T helped usher the new genre of “Gangsta Rap.” The violent street imagery, thuggish bravado and utter disrespect for legal authority drew legions of fans and the ire of the law enforcement community.

Already thematically discussed in such songs as “Illegal Search” and “Who Protects Us from You?”, tracks like “Kop Killa” and “Fuck the Police” take a much more militant stand against law enforcement. While highly popular, such songs did incite violent anti-social behavior and increase the level of mistrust between people and their government. As a retaliatory measure, the law enforcement community refused to police any N.W.A. concert, preventing the group from organizing a tour. Racial profiling continues to this day and has not abated in part due to the actions promoted by Hip Hop lyrics.

The lyrical content of Hip Hop songs began to be directly targeted as obscene or insightful speech, neither of which are protected under the First Amendment. The court cases targeting As Nasty as They Wanna Be and 2pacalyse Now represent watershed cases in the regulation of the music industry, particularly in Hip Hop. Both cases upheld the right for rappers to explore subject matter that challenged the parameters of speech. Interestingly though, similar thematic elements discussed in Rock, Country and R & B lyrics have never provoked court cases against the record label and artist. Both cases highlight fundamental questions: Can lyrics drive an individual to commit socially unacceptable acts? should the music industry be regulated to prevent certain messages from escaping?, and how should decide what is deemed obscene?

Particularly interesting are the relation of the “Hip Hop Cop” to the Hip Hop community itself and the existence of “The Binder”. Based on the two above paragraphs, this represents a logical continuum for the law enforcement community. The Hip Hop Cop, an individual who loves the culture and knows many prominent musical artists, nevertheless performed extensive surveillance into their activities. In his own words, he reflects that while there is a level of comfort that exists between him and rappers, it is certainly not an open, friendly relationship.
The sometimes insightful speech of Hip Hop, the escalating number of arrests, and violence between rap cliques all point to the need of a special task force binder to track its members.

However, the Binder once again showcases the sometimes contradictory nature of Hip Hop, the difference between theory and practice. Many of the included artists have no formal arrests or are included for outdated offenses. While most citizens have old records expunged, the rap binder offers no such amnesty to its occupants. White rappers such as Eminem and Everlast, who have numerous legal offenses, are not included within the binder. Once again, does the binder represent another step in racial profiling?