Matt Altstiel
12/04/06
GLOS 3900
The Re-Education by Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill, to me doesn’t just represent one of the best female rappers of all time, but one of the best MCs period. Her voice has to be considered one of the most expressive and emotive of any rapper. Furthermore, Hill’s ability to blend musical styles and excel in a variety of musical genres also presents her as a formidable musical talent. From an early age, Hill has been performing; whether it be as an MC, singer or actress. Few MCs have the lyrical talent to capture the harsh reality of street life, the power of love and combat political apathy within a single verse, let alone a single album. As a group member of the Fugees and as a solo artist, Hill has preferred quality over quantity as witnessed by her limited number of album releases and non-album tracks. The deep faith and conviction conveyed by Hill in her lyrical content are the mark of a multi-layered, complicated artist.
Hill began her career very early already landing a spot at the world famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem by the age of thirteen in 1988. Hill, along with fellow high school classmates and neighborhood friends, Wyclef Jean and Prakazrel Michel, comprised the now legendary group, the Fugees. While both Fugees’ albums played to the individual strengths of all three members, Hill’s commanding rap and singing voice clearly leant the group its sonic force and unique feeling. The group’s biggest landmark hits “Ready or Not” and “Killing Them Softly” feature Hill as the prominent vocalist. The second album, The Score, far superior in lyrical content and scope to its predecessor, was hailed as an incredible achievement in Hip Hop and secured two Grammy awards. As the group reached massive popularity, internal conflict prompted each individual member to peruse a solo recording career.
As a solo artist, Hill released The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998. The album showcased nearly every single skill Hill possessed in her artistic arsenal, by this point honed for over ten years. Not only did the album obliterate the previous Hip Hop record sale marks with 18 million, it garnered lavish critical praise. The African American community praised the album by showering it with 4 NAACP Image Awards. The Grammy’s provided another career highlight by awarding Hill with the distinction of five Grammy’s, the most ever received by a female artist. Part of the album’s massive popularity was the mega-hit “Doo-Wop (That Thing).” Always critical of the social climate of Hip Hop, the song’s pointed lyrics mocked the excessive patriarchy displayed within the genre.
Never content with one artistic direction, Hill released from an extended artistic hiatus in 2002 to release her MTV Unplugged album. The album marked a sharp turn from traditional Hip Hop as her voice and an acoustic guitar were the only instruments. An intensely personal collection of songs, Hill striped away the excessive production and pretense of rap by refusing to apologize for the heavy lyrical nature of the songs. Her voice, strained from a respiratory illness, lead more credibility and reality to her lyrics than through simple words alone. The album also showed the incredible self-transformation within Hill that occurred during her hiatus. Rather than be sucked into the radio Hip Hop formula, she escaped in order to find deeper meaning within her music and preserve her own individuality.
Hill’s career path, clearly tackling increasingly difficult subject matter with unparallel clarity, will most likely not be replicated. The ability of Hill to be taken seriously not only as a street smart, world weary MC, but also as a soul and reggae vocalist is a testament to her artistic talent. Furthermore, given the potential ease for Hill to succumb to the trappings of commercial success; her artistic reinventions are all the more startling. Lauryn Hill certainly did not invent Hip Hop, but her own personal and artistic reinterpretations have created a wholly unique version of the genre.
Showing posts with label Hip Hop Journals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hip Hop Journals. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2007
The New Revolution of Rap and the Law
Matt Altstiel
11/20/06
GLOS 3900
The New Revolution of Rap and the Law
Hip Hop, a musical style born out of urban frustration and political alienation has served as a voice for the disenfranchised and urban poor. As such, rap music has always had an uneasy relationship with American authority, be it on the local, state and federal level. One consistent target for rap artists over the years has been the police, often perceived as an extension and tool of white oppression toward minority groups. The lyrics contained within the songs “Fuck the Police” by N.W.A and “Cop Killer” by the Ice T led heavy metal group Body Count, represent but two strident examples militantly attacking established police practices of racial profiling. While one sided, each song serves as a dialogue, a protest against established conditions framed within the reality of urban American life. The songs’ production and their subsequent reactions serve as enduring discussion points into the issues of racial politics, censorship and police brutality.
N.W.A’s “Fuck the Police” begins firmly within the confines of the established legal authority positing the group’s rappers as the judge and the prosecution, indicting the police through often inflammatory language. Marking a break from studied, thought provoking lyrics by such rappers as LL Cool J and KRS-One, N.W.A advocates violent street vigilantism towards police officers as a means to destruct police strategies which demoralize and create fear within the African American community. Rapper Easy – E affirms this militant view exclaiming, “Without a gun and a badge, what do you got?
A sucker in a uniform waiting to get shot, by me, or another nigga, and with a gat, it don't matter if he's smarter or bigger.”[1] Such statements, and the way they are delivered appeal to the emotional side straying away from reason. Ultimately, the emotionally frustrated lyrics echo a complete loss of faith in the Police to change internally and through normal legal means. The song ends with a rousing condemnation delivered as a sentence by “Judge” Dr. Dre in the following words: “The jury has found you guilty of bein a redneck, whitebread, chickenshit muthafucka.”[2] Dre’s sentence locates the police as a white apparatus intentionally designed to destroy urban communities.
The politics of Reaganomics and existing policing practices effectively countered the perceived threat of militant Black Nationalism and unity with increasingly severe punishment tactics. By 1988 (and still consistent today), the year of the song’s release, the incarceration rate of African American males proportional to their white counterparts was nearly 3:1.[3] At the same time, the average income for African American families had declined relative to inflation, leading to higher rates of poverty. Chang explains, “In 1983, the median white family owned eleven times the amount of wealth as a median family of color. By 1989, the gap had nearly doubled.”[4] These very real facts of urban life led to explosive confrontations between legal authorities and the populations they oppressed. The glamour of the outlaw, as an individual outside legal authority and prescribed social norms, helps outline the transition into Gangsta rap and explain its enduring social popularity. Rose offers, “hidden transcripts that attempt to undermine this power block do so by insinuating a critique of the powerful in stories that revolve around symbolic and legitimated victories over powerholders,”[5] (Rose 100). The testimonies offered by N.W.A and other Gangsta rappers give power and a sense of victory to its listeners who so desperately want to taste it.
Against this background, the hard charging lyrics condoning violence against police officers as an appropriate means of resistance, drew the ire of the legal establishment. Going far beyond the local authority N.W.A seemed to target, the FBI and Secret Service independently sent letters to the group’s record label Ruthless Records, to voice their displeasure at the song’s lyrical content. Legal authorities in Detroit arrested the group members during a live performance and police officers in the state of California refused to offer protection during live performances, ruling out the possibility for the group go on tour.[6] Whether intended or not, the song’s lyrics provided enough of a tangible threat to police officers and their families to warrant censorship efforts.
Ironically, the official protest of a protest song fed directly to the success of the group’s debut album, ensuring a wider audience to its lyrical content. Such a proactive reaction displayed by legal authority effectively reinforced the anger and frustration shared by the group’s rappers. However, the racial tensions and inequalities outlined within the song “Fuck the Police” were further exacerbated. The police, due to the violent behavior the lyrical content advocates, became even more wary of African Americans. Rather than seeking to address the problems rap music diagnosed, the legal establishment suppressed its articulation, preventing the viability of social change.[7] Put another way, “the relationship between listening to and committing subsequent acts of violence appears to more closely resemble a statistical accident than a causal equation.”[8] The unwillingness or inability of legal authority to understand the reality of urban African American life further entrenched the politics of racism. The dialogue between legal authority and Hip Hop as represented by the reaction the song provoked, highlights the function and need for Hip Hop as a means of interaction and communication with direct political authority.
“Cop Killer” by the heavy metal group Body count reflects similar lyrical content urging violent reaction as a method to counter police aggression. Furthering the trend of censorship and legal condemnation, the song suffered erasure from the album and the eventual dismissal of both Ice T and Body Count from their music label. Ice T channels “Fuck the Police” through such lyrics as: “I got my twelve gauge sawed off. I got my headlights turned off. I'm 'bout to bust some shots off. I'm 'bout to dust some cops off.”[9] The anger and hatred towards the police is tangible, collective and widespread. These feelings are significantly emphasized through multiple voices shouting the chorus, “Cop killer, I know your family's grievin' (fuck em). Cop killer, but tonight we get even.”[10] Such treatment of lyrical content focuses dislocated rage onto a principle manifestation of white social, political and economic order: the police officer.
First performed in 1991 and recorded shortly the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict and L.A. Riots of 1992, the song’s timing made it a lightning rod for social criticism.[11] The song’s lyrics continued a trend towards a “self-serving moral panic around rap music.”[12] In other words, rap music was seen as a socially dangerous and undesirable construct of American popular culture. While outright censorship never occurred, indirect economic censorship reinforced the cultural parameters that white systems of power sought to control. Rose comments that “dominant groups must prevail in a war of position to control the discursive and ideological terrain that legitimates such institutional control,”[13] The urgent condemnation of rap generated by benefactors of contemporary social arrangements allowed personal offense to become a measure of political superiority. Likewise, mass media seemed to have the implicit consent necessary to violate notions of creative license as well as artistic freedom of expression.
The aggressive backlash directed towards N.W.A and Body Count finds its roots within the racism and brutality of perceived white cultural superiority. Hamm and Ferrell point to examples such as Eric Clapton’s rendition of “I Shot the Sheriff”, numerous Great Depression era songs, as well as modern rock songs; all of which glorify anti-social behavior.[14] However, as the authors explain, “Clapton's white bread portrayal of an armed and heroic Jamaican 'rude boy' was abstract and romantic. Ice-T's shotgun -toting black U.S. gangster is too concrete, stripped of romantic pretense and lodged uncomfortably in everyday life.”[15] While both songs center on the same subject, one listening to Clapton presumably can easily disassociate lyrical characterization with the artist. Stripped of association, white artists and white musical productions are not required to exhibit the same lyrical responsibility of the rap artist. In the case of the rap artist, the listener more closely associates artist and lyrics, combining the two into a single, unitary construction. As a result, rap lyrics are not given the same leeway as Rock and Roll lyrics, allowing them the equal advantage and disadvantage as a thoroughly subversive text.
Social criticism, a key thematic element of rap takes on a definite form within “Fuck the Police and “Cop Killer”. A daily reminder of oppression and disenfranchisement, local police exercise the unique duality of enforcement and autonomy not available to the average citizen. Thus it is no coincidence that such lyrics harshly castigate an apparatus that has “collapsed categories of youths, class and race into one profile that portrays young black males as criminals.”[16] Clearly framed within this context, the militant, battle minded lyrics evoke the imagery of war against an ideological other. Inverting authority and moral supremacy challenges established social order, which is understood differently by each side of the ideological divide.
Through the discourse between rap lyrics and legal authority, attention is directed towards the creators and “perpetrators” of rap music. While more proactive and militant than many contemporary social-political statements of the time, N.W.A’s “Fuck the Police” and Body Count’s “Cop Killer”, are indicative of the general attitude of young African Americans directed at legal establishment. However, the unprecedented response and level of persecution focused on these artists has served as an enduring reminder of racial politics, censorship and brutality present in everyday American urban life. The message of these songs will continue to resurface as long as the dislocation between the lived experience of African American youth and the falsified views of the American legal apparatus remains.
Bibliography
Bureau of Justice Statistics Jail Populations by Race Chart. 2 June. 2006. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 19 Nov. 2006. <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/jailrace.htm>
Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: Picador Press, 2005.
Cop Killer (Song). 10 Nov. 2006. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 19 Nov. 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_Killer_(song)>
Ferrell, Jeff and Hamm, Mark S. “Raps, Cops and Crime: Clarifying the ‘Cop Killer” Controversy.” Rapping about Cop Killing. 2004. Institute for Jewish Policy Research. 20 Nov. 2006. <http://www.axt.org.uk/HateMusic/Rappin.htm>
Fuck the Police Lyrics. 2006. Lyrics Depot. 20 Nov. 2006. <http://www.lyricsdepot.com/n-w-a/fuck-tha-police.html>
Ice – T, “Cop Killer”. Date Unknown. 19 Nov. 2006. <http://it.uwp.edu/gangsters/ice-t.cop.killer.html>
Martin, Dennis R. “The Music of Murder”. 2004. Institute for Jewish Policy Research. 20 Nov. 2006. http://www.axt.org.uk/HateMusic/Rappin.htm>
Riviere, Melisa. The New Revolution of Rap. Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective. Blegan Hall, University of Minnesota: Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 19 Oct. 2006.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
[1] http://www.lyricsdepot.com/n-w-a/fuck-tha-police.html
[2] http://www.lyricsdepot.com/n-w-a/fuck-tha-police.html
[3] http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/jailrace.htm
[4] Chang pg. 221
[5] Rose pg. 100
[6] Riviere, Melisa 19 Oct. 2006
[7] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[8] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[9] http://it.uwp.edu/gangsters/ice-t.cop.killer.html
[10] http://it.uwp.edu/gangsters/ice-t.cop.killer.html
[11] Riviere, Melisa 19 Oct. 2006.
[12] Martin, “The Music of Murder”
[13] Rose pg. 102
[14] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[15] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[16] Rose pg. 106
11/20/06
GLOS 3900
The New Revolution of Rap and the Law
Hip Hop, a musical style born out of urban frustration and political alienation has served as a voice for the disenfranchised and urban poor. As such, rap music has always had an uneasy relationship with American authority, be it on the local, state and federal level. One consistent target for rap artists over the years has been the police, often perceived as an extension and tool of white oppression toward minority groups. The lyrics contained within the songs “Fuck the Police” by N.W.A and “Cop Killer” by the Ice T led heavy metal group Body Count, represent but two strident examples militantly attacking established police practices of racial profiling. While one sided, each song serves as a dialogue, a protest against established conditions framed within the reality of urban American life. The songs’ production and their subsequent reactions serve as enduring discussion points into the issues of racial politics, censorship and police brutality.
N.W.A’s “Fuck the Police” begins firmly within the confines of the established legal authority positing the group’s rappers as the judge and the prosecution, indicting the police through often inflammatory language. Marking a break from studied, thought provoking lyrics by such rappers as LL Cool J and KRS-One, N.W.A advocates violent street vigilantism towards police officers as a means to destruct police strategies which demoralize and create fear within the African American community. Rapper Easy – E affirms this militant view exclaiming, “Without a gun and a badge, what do you got?
A sucker in a uniform waiting to get shot, by me, or another nigga, and with a gat, it don't matter if he's smarter or bigger.”[1] Such statements, and the way they are delivered appeal to the emotional side straying away from reason. Ultimately, the emotionally frustrated lyrics echo a complete loss of faith in the Police to change internally and through normal legal means. The song ends with a rousing condemnation delivered as a sentence by “Judge” Dr. Dre in the following words: “The jury has found you guilty of bein a redneck, whitebread, chickenshit muthafucka.”[2] Dre’s sentence locates the police as a white apparatus intentionally designed to destroy urban communities.
The politics of Reaganomics and existing policing practices effectively countered the perceived threat of militant Black Nationalism and unity with increasingly severe punishment tactics. By 1988 (and still consistent today), the year of the song’s release, the incarceration rate of African American males proportional to their white counterparts was nearly 3:1.[3] At the same time, the average income for African American families had declined relative to inflation, leading to higher rates of poverty. Chang explains, “In 1983, the median white family owned eleven times the amount of wealth as a median family of color. By 1989, the gap had nearly doubled.”[4] These very real facts of urban life led to explosive confrontations between legal authorities and the populations they oppressed. The glamour of the outlaw, as an individual outside legal authority and prescribed social norms, helps outline the transition into Gangsta rap and explain its enduring social popularity. Rose offers, “hidden transcripts that attempt to undermine this power block do so by insinuating a critique of the powerful in stories that revolve around symbolic and legitimated victories over powerholders,”[5] (Rose 100). The testimonies offered by N.W.A and other Gangsta rappers give power and a sense of victory to its listeners who so desperately want to taste it.
Against this background, the hard charging lyrics condoning violence against police officers as an appropriate means of resistance, drew the ire of the legal establishment. Going far beyond the local authority N.W.A seemed to target, the FBI and Secret Service independently sent letters to the group’s record label Ruthless Records, to voice their displeasure at the song’s lyrical content. Legal authorities in Detroit arrested the group members during a live performance and police officers in the state of California refused to offer protection during live performances, ruling out the possibility for the group go on tour.[6] Whether intended or not, the song’s lyrics provided enough of a tangible threat to police officers and their families to warrant censorship efforts.
Ironically, the official protest of a protest song fed directly to the success of the group’s debut album, ensuring a wider audience to its lyrical content. Such a proactive reaction displayed by legal authority effectively reinforced the anger and frustration shared by the group’s rappers. However, the racial tensions and inequalities outlined within the song “Fuck the Police” were further exacerbated. The police, due to the violent behavior the lyrical content advocates, became even more wary of African Americans. Rather than seeking to address the problems rap music diagnosed, the legal establishment suppressed its articulation, preventing the viability of social change.[7] Put another way, “the relationship between listening to and committing subsequent acts of violence appears to more closely resemble a statistical accident than a causal equation.”[8] The unwillingness or inability of legal authority to understand the reality of urban African American life further entrenched the politics of racism. The dialogue between legal authority and Hip Hop as represented by the reaction the song provoked, highlights the function and need for Hip Hop as a means of interaction and communication with direct political authority.
“Cop Killer” by the heavy metal group Body count reflects similar lyrical content urging violent reaction as a method to counter police aggression. Furthering the trend of censorship and legal condemnation, the song suffered erasure from the album and the eventual dismissal of both Ice T and Body Count from their music label. Ice T channels “Fuck the Police” through such lyrics as: “I got my twelve gauge sawed off. I got my headlights turned off. I'm 'bout to bust some shots off. I'm 'bout to dust some cops off.”[9] The anger and hatred towards the police is tangible, collective and widespread. These feelings are significantly emphasized through multiple voices shouting the chorus, “Cop killer, I know your family's grievin' (fuck em). Cop killer, but tonight we get even.”[10] Such treatment of lyrical content focuses dislocated rage onto a principle manifestation of white social, political and economic order: the police officer.
First performed in 1991 and recorded shortly the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict and L.A. Riots of 1992, the song’s timing made it a lightning rod for social criticism.[11] The song’s lyrics continued a trend towards a “self-serving moral panic around rap music.”[12] In other words, rap music was seen as a socially dangerous and undesirable construct of American popular culture. While outright censorship never occurred, indirect economic censorship reinforced the cultural parameters that white systems of power sought to control. Rose comments that “dominant groups must prevail in a war of position to control the discursive and ideological terrain that legitimates such institutional control,”[13] The urgent condemnation of rap generated by benefactors of contemporary social arrangements allowed personal offense to become a measure of political superiority. Likewise, mass media seemed to have the implicit consent necessary to violate notions of creative license as well as artistic freedom of expression.
The aggressive backlash directed towards N.W.A and Body Count finds its roots within the racism and brutality of perceived white cultural superiority. Hamm and Ferrell point to examples such as Eric Clapton’s rendition of “I Shot the Sheriff”, numerous Great Depression era songs, as well as modern rock songs; all of which glorify anti-social behavior.[14] However, as the authors explain, “Clapton's white bread portrayal of an armed and heroic Jamaican 'rude boy' was abstract and romantic. Ice-T's shotgun -toting black U.S. gangster is too concrete, stripped of romantic pretense and lodged uncomfortably in everyday life.”[15] While both songs center on the same subject, one listening to Clapton presumably can easily disassociate lyrical characterization with the artist. Stripped of association, white artists and white musical productions are not required to exhibit the same lyrical responsibility of the rap artist. In the case of the rap artist, the listener more closely associates artist and lyrics, combining the two into a single, unitary construction. As a result, rap lyrics are not given the same leeway as Rock and Roll lyrics, allowing them the equal advantage and disadvantage as a thoroughly subversive text.
Social criticism, a key thematic element of rap takes on a definite form within “Fuck the Police and “Cop Killer”. A daily reminder of oppression and disenfranchisement, local police exercise the unique duality of enforcement and autonomy not available to the average citizen. Thus it is no coincidence that such lyrics harshly castigate an apparatus that has “collapsed categories of youths, class and race into one profile that portrays young black males as criminals.”[16] Clearly framed within this context, the militant, battle minded lyrics evoke the imagery of war against an ideological other. Inverting authority and moral supremacy challenges established social order, which is understood differently by each side of the ideological divide.
Through the discourse between rap lyrics and legal authority, attention is directed towards the creators and “perpetrators” of rap music. While more proactive and militant than many contemporary social-political statements of the time, N.W.A’s “Fuck the Police” and Body Count’s “Cop Killer”, are indicative of the general attitude of young African Americans directed at legal establishment. However, the unprecedented response and level of persecution focused on these artists has served as an enduring reminder of racial politics, censorship and brutality present in everyday American urban life. The message of these songs will continue to resurface as long as the dislocation between the lived experience of African American youth and the falsified views of the American legal apparatus remains.
Bibliography
Bureau of Justice Statistics Jail Populations by Race Chart. 2 June. 2006. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 19 Nov. 2006. <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/jailrace.htm>
Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: Picador Press, 2005.
Cop Killer (Song). 10 Nov. 2006. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 19 Nov. 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_Killer_(song)>
Ferrell, Jeff and Hamm, Mark S. “Raps, Cops and Crime: Clarifying the ‘Cop Killer” Controversy.” Rapping about Cop Killing. 2004. Institute for Jewish Policy Research. 20 Nov. 2006. <http://www.axt.org.uk/HateMusic/Rappin.htm>
Fuck the Police Lyrics. 2006. Lyrics Depot. 20 Nov. 2006. <http://www.lyricsdepot.com/n-w-a/fuck-tha-police.html>
Ice – T, “Cop Killer”. Date Unknown. 19 Nov. 2006. <http://it.uwp.edu/gangsters/ice-t.cop.killer.html>
Martin, Dennis R. “The Music of Murder”. 2004. Institute for Jewish Policy Research. 20 Nov. 2006. http://www.axt.org.uk/HateMusic/Rappin.htm>
Riviere, Melisa. The New Revolution of Rap. Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective. Blegan Hall, University of Minnesota: Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 19 Oct. 2006.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
[1] http://www.lyricsdepot.com/n-w-a/fuck-tha-police.html
[2] http://www.lyricsdepot.com/n-w-a/fuck-tha-police.html
[3] http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/jailrace.htm
[4] Chang pg. 221
[5] Rose pg. 100
[6] Riviere, Melisa 19 Oct. 2006
[7] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[8] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[9] http://it.uwp.edu/gangsters/ice-t.cop.killer.html
[10] http://it.uwp.edu/gangsters/ice-t.cop.killer.html
[11] Riviere, Melisa 19 Oct. 2006.
[12] Martin, “The Music of Murder”
[13] Rose pg. 102
[14] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[15] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[16] Rose pg. 106
Soul Sonic
Matt Altstiel
11/21/06
GLOS 3900
Soul Sonic
In her chapter, Soul Sonic, Trisha Rose compares European traditions of progression and regression with what she calls the Black observance of repetition. By “Soul Sonic” Rose means the ways technology, orality and Black cultural practice appear within rap music. Rose defends rap music, as music, which is firmly within the tradition of other musical forms. Through various methods of analysis she asserts its viability against the criticism that rap music, is in fact, not music. Rap music, like any music, is comprised by of organization of noise. However, rap music focuses much more on afro-centric compositions of rhythm and repetition. Rap music does not lie on the same linear plane as European musical forms, which seek progression and change, but rather draw upon rhythmic dynamism and slight nuances in form to perpetuate movement.
Rap music is the by product of high technology, born out of industrial and commercial methods of reproduction. Rose therefore looks at the construction of the beat and the widespread use of sampling with regard to modern technology. Sampling reinforces afro-diasporic traditions which dissolve the past and future into an eternal present. Samples reconfigure certain elements to draw listener attention and prevent lapsing into passive listening. Breaks can be extended endlessly and seamlessly harkening back to the days of call and response compositions of ancestral Africa. The manipulation of samples can bring in elements completely severed in time and space from the original recording, fusing old with new, creating a thoroughly unique composition. Common raps on his song, “The 6th Sense”: “think about how many dead folks this art resurrected / how many different people this culture connected / who am I to judge ones perspective?” The soul sonic, as defined by Rose reflects the lyrical thoughts of Common.
Emphasis on bass and on the beat is another cultural prerogative. Various sampling devices and drum machines allow the manipulation of sound to fit sonic priorities. The 808 drum, commonly referenced in modern rap songs produces the deep, booming base characteristic of rap music. Detuning, focusing on the most dynamic rhythmic elements and “pushing levels into the red” all originate from the experimentation characteristic of Black diasporic music. Often the lyrical content within the production phase is subsumed by the thump of the bass. However, the MC serves within the process of rupture and repetition as well. The oratic tradition prevalent in African music and its North American offspring, is not only preserved, it is refined. The lyricist stutters and explores between the parameters of the beat using his or her voice as a musical instrument. Key phrases are emphasized, repeated and transformed by the skilled MC. Like the nuances of the beat and the sample, the MC has the ability to add definition in ways that European musical construction does not allow.
Traditional music training, of the Western theory of music, dismisses these innovations in favor of tonal, harmonious compositions. Following Western progress narratives, music must build to something. The climax of the song represents the paramount of musical intensity; the reliance of notated music subtracts the power of the oratic element. European musical tradition contains its notation in a limited number of notes, octaves and chords. Soul Sonic therefore looks toward rap as a form embracing the possibilities allowed by traditions of technology, orality and Black cultural practice.
Editors Note: Since I pulled an all nighter and wrote this at 5 in the morning. It might not make any sense. If you think I should re-write this, I’d have no problem doing that.
11/21/06
GLOS 3900
Soul Sonic
In her chapter, Soul Sonic, Trisha Rose compares European traditions of progression and regression with what she calls the Black observance of repetition. By “Soul Sonic” Rose means the ways technology, orality and Black cultural practice appear within rap music. Rose defends rap music, as music, which is firmly within the tradition of other musical forms. Through various methods of analysis she asserts its viability against the criticism that rap music, is in fact, not music. Rap music, like any music, is comprised by of organization of noise. However, rap music focuses much more on afro-centric compositions of rhythm and repetition. Rap music does not lie on the same linear plane as European musical forms, which seek progression and change, but rather draw upon rhythmic dynamism and slight nuances in form to perpetuate movement.
Rap music is the by product of high technology, born out of industrial and commercial methods of reproduction. Rose therefore looks at the construction of the beat and the widespread use of sampling with regard to modern technology. Sampling reinforces afro-diasporic traditions which dissolve the past and future into an eternal present. Samples reconfigure certain elements to draw listener attention and prevent lapsing into passive listening. Breaks can be extended endlessly and seamlessly harkening back to the days of call and response compositions of ancestral Africa. The manipulation of samples can bring in elements completely severed in time and space from the original recording, fusing old with new, creating a thoroughly unique composition. Common raps on his song, “The 6th Sense”: “think about how many dead folks this art resurrected / how many different people this culture connected / who am I to judge ones perspective?” The soul sonic, as defined by Rose reflects the lyrical thoughts of Common.
Emphasis on bass and on the beat is another cultural prerogative. Various sampling devices and drum machines allow the manipulation of sound to fit sonic priorities. The 808 drum, commonly referenced in modern rap songs produces the deep, booming base characteristic of rap music. Detuning, focusing on the most dynamic rhythmic elements and “pushing levels into the red” all originate from the experimentation characteristic of Black diasporic music. Often the lyrical content within the production phase is subsumed by the thump of the bass. However, the MC serves within the process of rupture and repetition as well. The oratic tradition prevalent in African music and its North American offspring, is not only preserved, it is refined. The lyricist stutters and explores between the parameters of the beat using his or her voice as a musical instrument. Key phrases are emphasized, repeated and transformed by the skilled MC. Like the nuances of the beat and the sample, the MC has the ability to add definition in ways that European musical construction does not allow.
Traditional music training, of the Western theory of music, dismisses these innovations in favor of tonal, harmonious compositions. Following Western progress narratives, music must build to something. The climax of the song represents the paramount of musical intensity; the reliance of notated music subtracts the power of the oratic element. European musical tradition contains its notation in a limited number of notes, octaves and chords. Soul Sonic therefore looks toward rap as a form embracing the possibilities allowed by traditions of technology, orality and Black cultural practice.
Editors Note: Since I pulled an all nighter and wrote this at 5 in the morning. It might not make any sense. If you think I should re-write this, I’d have no problem doing that.
Lyricism
Matt Altstiel
11/14/06
GLOS 3900
Lyricism and the Lyricist Response Paper
After witnessing the lyricism workshop presented by Ill Chemistry, one can clearly see the correlation between theory and practice. The study of lyricism and actually producing lyrics, while mutually exclusive, provides a stronger basis for the development of both aspects. Obviously, if one listens to radio rap or Crunk, one cannot gain the same appreciation for the music as a lyrical form as one would by listening to rappers such as Mos Def or Rakim. While the practice leads to the development of a personal voice and increasingly lyrical complexity, learning about lyrical forms and studying paramount lyricists provides a format for lyrical experimentation. For instance, after one can successfully duplicate a certain MC’s flow, one can incorporate new styles within his or her lyrical arsenal. Furthermore, rap music, if done correctly follows an apprenticeship system in which the teacher passes down lyrical knowledge and the art of performance. This paper intends to provide a definition for lyricism, a discussion of both elements (theory and practice) separately, and emphasis on the correlation between the two.
Lyricism as a defined by the Dictionary is “the character or quality of subjectivity and sensuality of expression, especially in the arts.”[1] Rap lyricism, however; requires a different definition. Based on the workshop and by what this writer has learned through the years as both a rap music listener and practitioner, lyricism involves six distinct components.[2] The first of these components focuses on communication with the listener. This element refers with what type of message is being conveyed and how it is told. The second involves the story line, or narrative element of the lyrics. Does the MC present a fully developed song linking verses or choruses, or does each stand unattached without a coherent theme? The third element focuses on how the lyrics and their delivery hooks the listener. Various vocal styles, pneumonic devices, and lyrical twists are used to grab attention and focus the listener. Closely related to the hook, patterns and word play add complexity and emphasis towards selected lyrical segments. Another key element of lyricism requires that the lyrics must be able to transcend the accompanying music.[3] As the highest form of poetry, rap lyrics are firmly grounded within the tradition of not only the oral, but also the written. Lastly, the intention of the lyrics, that is, the reason while the rapper feels the need to express certain words, thematic elements, or convictions, is paramount to lyricism as an artistic form.[4]
Rap lyrics differ from traditional poetry forms on several levels. Maulpoix agrees, saying “Lyricism challenges, it is the most obscure part of the process of poetic creation and may be of our intimate relationship to language which it compels us to examine.”[5] While learning about lyricism and rap music, one can quickly gauge that rappers have much more creatively liberty than poets who follow traditional forms of rhyme and meter. For instance, internal rhyme schemes, the use of inarticulate sounds and line length can vary greatly within the sequence of a single verse. By the same token, while content is crucial to the lyrics themselves, the rhythm and tone follows a longer line of oral tradition. To sum up the former, Rose comments, “rap lyrics are oral performances that display written (literate) forms of thought and communication.”[6] Just as any good literature seeks to communicate with the reader, rap lyricists invoke intense lyrical imagery to convey messages, albeit at a much more rapid rate.
The process of learning about Hip Hop, and its best lyricists involves a number of processes on the part of the learner. The first is to gain an ample appreciation and understanding for the music and the lyricism contained within the music, just as a novice reader will not recognize the difference between good and bad literature. Rose explains, “rap is a process of cultural literacy and intertextual reference.”[7] If one only listens to the standard radio rap, often devoid of meaning, it is likely the actual practice (attempt at producing lyrics) will yield meaningless lyrical results. Furthermore, without sufficient exposure to rap music and lyricism, one cannot hope to create meaningful or coherent raps because they lack the knowledge. To give an example, one could not write a haiku if one had never read one or understood its form. As in any type of writing, the development of an ample vocabulary, familiarity with differing styles and experimentation using existing parameters leads to the formation of an individual narrative (personal style).
The studied analysis of lyrical content provides insight into the intention of any rap song, album and artist. Certain lyricists have the power “to move, to help relate, and change minds” and viewpoints.[8] Thematic elements of lyrics serve as entertainment and propaganda in a way similar any good position paper would. As an example, “8 Mile is Eminem’s originary political symbol: it represents the root cause of American working-class political weakness and suffering: the endurance of white supremacy.”[9] That is, lyrics portray a certain viewpoint and attempt to move the listener/reader to accept their position. Great lyricists can be catalysts for social change and invention. Studying individual lyrics gives the reader/listener often unparalleled access into an individual set of realities that can aid in the formation of one’s own identity or of a larger collective group identity. Lyrics and the way they are delivered allows for an instantaneous and memorable connection between artist and listener, nearly impossible to replicate in any other form of written/lyrical expression.
The workshop included a list of various lyricists who all have shaped artistic development and lyrical expression in some form. By studying and incorporating these elements, one can absorb these elements to their advantage as a potential lyricist/MC. The theatrical storytelling of Rakim, the word tricks and rapid fire delivery of Eminem, and the awe inspiring command (presence) of Brother Ali; combine together to form a cohesive guide for successful lyricism.[10]
The practice of lyricism, (the art of rhyme) involves a much more personal investment with lyricism since one intends to produce rather than simply absorb lyrics. Using the definition provided for lyricism, one attempts to convey a unique set of realities and expression. Just as it is important to familiarize oneself with the art of lyricism, it is vital to first replicate and move beyond in practice. Many listeners will often find themselves rapping along to the original lyrics of a rap song. This practice then leads to the conscious step of producing individual, uniquely original lyrics. As with any artistic process, it is a process of trial and error. According to Rehn and Skold, the production of lyrics, “represents a very clear pattern where organizing discourse that doesn’t merely represent a ‘way into’ phenomenon, but a case where organization discourse quite explicitly stands as the creation of value – not metaphorically, really keeping it real.”[11] Finding a personal style means experimentation, finding which lyrical patterns and expressions are more successful than others leads to a unique form.
Lyrical content can dictate the lyrical form. It is from the knowledge provided by life experience and the lessons one has learned that helps determine the subjects that are important to the MC. Developing these thematic elements allows the MC to execute the elements of lyricism. Namely, how the MC communicates, hooks, and tells a story to the listener. The passion, or lack of passion one feels for a certain subject becomes manifest in the production of lyricism. If a thematic element matters to the MC, the production of lyrics becomes much easier and helps eliminate bad writing. Carnage explained that the lyrical content and intention for writing helpz answer the questions: why do I rap, why do I feel compelled to perform, and what makes my message and viewpoint unique?[12] Rose comments on the production of lyrics as a “critical part of a rappers identity, strongly suggesting the importance of authorship and individuality in rap.”[13] Once again, lyrical content and self identification are often subject to trial and error. The participation between listener (learner) and lyricist (producer) is a crucial reciprocal relationship. The give and take, accepting change and criticism allows the MC to further hone their style and narrative voice. In theory, the more one practices and performs, the better lyricist they will be.
Lyrical form can add and transform lyrical content. The parameters of the beat allow for different types of flow, rhyme and meter. The beat also compliments (or should) complement the lyrical content being expressed by the MC. Experimentation with form can keep lyrical content organic and fresh. Internal rhymes and increasingly intricate rhythmic patterns can be learned from the study of rap music, but can only be successfully employed through the actual production and practice. Desdamona reflected that free form accapella performance loosens the form and can reveal new patterns and word play.[14] At the same time, even thinking about the form will create lyrics within the mind of the MC. A beat or sound will trigger certain emotions, compelling the production of lyrics.
As previously alluded to, the apprenticeship involved in Hop Hop in all its forms, links theory with application. From learning about lyricism and rap music, one gains the curiosity to produce lyrical content and perform those lyrics. The apprenticeship means that one must have ample knowledge learned about its history, (paying dues, enduring artistic struggle) in order to gain access to the knowledge accumulated by a Hip Hop elder. Given the resources and attention of the apprenticeship, one takes learned knowledge and expands upon it creating new knowledge. Thus while the theory and practice of lyricism remains distinct elements, the give and take between the two makes them closely related and cohesive components.
Bibliography
Free Dictionary by Farlex. Lyricism. 2000, 2003. 10 Nov. 2006.
Ill Chemistry. Lyricism and the Lyricist. Carlson School of Business Management, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 7 Nov. 2006.
Maulpoix, Jean Michel. About Lyricism. March 2000. Jean Michel Maulpoix and Cie. 14 Nov. 2006.
Rehn, Alf and Skold, David. Makin it and Keepin it Real. Stockholm, Sweden: INDEK Royal Institute of Technology Press, 2005.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
Scott, Jonathan. The Staying Power of Rap. 21 Oct. 2005. Chicken Bones: A Journal. 13 Nov. 2006.
[1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lyricism
[2]
[3] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006
[4] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006
[5] Maulpoix, :www.maulpoix.net/lyrismea.htm
[6] Rose pg. 88
[7] Rose pg. 86
[8] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006
[9] Scott, http://www.nathanielturner.com/stayingpowerofrap.htm
[10] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006.
[11] Rehn and Skold pg. 5
[12] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006.
[13] Rose pg. 95
[14] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006
11/14/06
GLOS 3900
Lyricism and the Lyricist Response Paper
After witnessing the lyricism workshop presented by Ill Chemistry, one can clearly see the correlation between theory and practice. The study of lyricism and actually producing lyrics, while mutually exclusive, provides a stronger basis for the development of both aspects. Obviously, if one listens to radio rap or Crunk, one cannot gain the same appreciation for the music as a lyrical form as one would by listening to rappers such as Mos Def or Rakim. While the practice leads to the development of a personal voice and increasingly lyrical complexity, learning about lyrical forms and studying paramount lyricists provides a format for lyrical experimentation. For instance, after one can successfully duplicate a certain MC’s flow, one can incorporate new styles within his or her lyrical arsenal. Furthermore, rap music, if done correctly follows an apprenticeship system in which the teacher passes down lyrical knowledge and the art of performance. This paper intends to provide a definition for lyricism, a discussion of both elements (theory and practice) separately, and emphasis on the correlation between the two.
Lyricism as a defined by the Dictionary is “the character or quality of subjectivity and sensuality of expression, especially in the arts.”[1] Rap lyricism, however; requires a different definition. Based on the workshop and by what this writer has learned through the years as both a rap music listener and practitioner, lyricism involves six distinct components.[2] The first of these components focuses on communication with the listener. This element refers with what type of message is being conveyed and how it is told. The second involves the story line, or narrative element of the lyrics. Does the MC present a fully developed song linking verses or choruses, or does each stand unattached without a coherent theme? The third element focuses on how the lyrics and their delivery hooks the listener. Various vocal styles, pneumonic devices, and lyrical twists are used to grab attention and focus the listener. Closely related to the hook, patterns and word play add complexity and emphasis towards selected lyrical segments. Another key element of lyricism requires that the lyrics must be able to transcend the accompanying music.[3] As the highest form of poetry, rap lyrics are firmly grounded within the tradition of not only the oral, but also the written. Lastly, the intention of the lyrics, that is, the reason while the rapper feels the need to express certain words, thematic elements, or convictions, is paramount to lyricism as an artistic form.[4]
Rap lyrics differ from traditional poetry forms on several levels. Maulpoix agrees, saying “Lyricism challenges, it is the most obscure part of the process of poetic creation and may be of our intimate relationship to language which it compels us to examine.”[5] While learning about lyricism and rap music, one can quickly gauge that rappers have much more creatively liberty than poets who follow traditional forms of rhyme and meter. For instance, internal rhyme schemes, the use of inarticulate sounds and line length can vary greatly within the sequence of a single verse. By the same token, while content is crucial to the lyrics themselves, the rhythm and tone follows a longer line of oral tradition. To sum up the former, Rose comments, “rap lyrics are oral performances that display written (literate) forms of thought and communication.”[6] Just as any good literature seeks to communicate with the reader, rap lyricists invoke intense lyrical imagery to convey messages, albeit at a much more rapid rate.
The process of learning about Hip Hop, and its best lyricists involves a number of processes on the part of the learner. The first is to gain an ample appreciation and understanding for the music and the lyricism contained within the music, just as a novice reader will not recognize the difference between good and bad literature. Rose explains, “rap is a process of cultural literacy and intertextual reference.”[7] If one only listens to the standard radio rap, often devoid of meaning, it is likely the actual practice (attempt at producing lyrics) will yield meaningless lyrical results. Furthermore, without sufficient exposure to rap music and lyricism, one cannot hope to create meaningful or coherent raps because they lack the knowledge. To give an example, one could not write a haiku if one had never read one or understood its form. As in any type of writing, the development of an ample vocabulary, familiarity with differing styles and experimentation using existing parameters leads to the formation of an individual narrative (personal style).
The studied analysis of lyrical content provides insight into the intention of any rap song, album and artist. Certain lyricists have the power “to move, to help relate, and change minds” and viewpoints.[8] Thematic elements of lyrics serve as entertainment and propaganda in a way similar any good position paper would. As an example, “8 Mile is Eminem’s originary political symbol: it represents the root cause of American working-class political weakness and suffering: the endurance of white supremacy.”[9] That is, lyrics portray a certain viewpoint and attempt to move the listener/reader to accept their position. Great lyricists can be catalysts for social change and invention. Studying individual lyrics gives the reader/listener often unparalleled access into an individual set of realities that can aid in the formation of one’s own identity or of a larger collective group identity. Lyrics and the way they are delivered allows for an instantaneous and memorable connection between artist and listener, nearly impossible to replicate in any other form of written/lyrical expression.
The workshop included a list of various lyricists who all have shaped artistic development and lyrical expression in some form. By studying and incorporating these elements, one can absorb these elements to their advantage as a potential lyricist/MC. The theatrical storytelling of Rakim, the word tricks and rapid fire delivery of Eminem, and the awe inspiring command (presence) of Brother Ali; combine together to form a cohesive guide for successful lyricism.[10]
The practice of lyricism, (the art of rhyme) involves a much more personal investment with lyricism since one intends to produce rather than simply absorb lyrics. Using the definition provided for lyricism, one attempts to convey a unique set of realities and expression. Just as it is important to familiarize oneself with the art of lyricism, it is vital to first replicate and move beyond in practice. Many listeners will often find themselves rapping along to the original lyrics of a rap song. This practice then leads to the conscious step of producing individual, uniquely original lyrics. As with any artistic process, it is a process of trial and error. According to Rehn and Skold, the production of lyrics, “represents a very clear pattern where organizing discourse that doesn’t merely represent a ‘way into’ phenomenon, but a case where organization discourse quite explicitly stands as the creation of value – not metaphorically, really keeping it real.”[11] Finding a personal style means experimentation, finding which lyrical patterns and expressions are more successful than others leads to a unique form.
Lyrical content can dictate the lyrical form. It is from the knowledge provided by life experience and the lessons one has learned that helps determine the subjects that are important to the MC. Developing these thematic elements allows the MC to execute the elements of lyricism. Namely, how the MC communicates, hooks, and tells a story to the listener. The passion, or lack of passion one feels for a certain subject becomes manifest in the production of lyricism. If a thematic element matters to the MC, the production of lyrics becomes much easier and helps eliminate bad writing. Carnage explained that the lyrical content and intention for writing helpz answer the questions: why do I rap, why do I feel compelled to perform, and what makes my message and viewpoint unique?[12] Rose comments on the production of lyrics as a “critical part of a rappers identity, strongly suggesting the importance of authorship and individuality in rap.”[13] Once again, lyrical content and self identification are often subject to trial and error. The participation between listener (learner) and lyricist (producer) is a crucial reciprocal relationship. The give and take, accepting change and criticism allows the MC to further hone their style and narrative voice. In theory, the more one practices and performs, the better lyricist they will be.
Lyrical form can add and transform lyrical content. The parameters of the beat allow for different types of flow, rhyme and meter. The beat also compliments (or should) complement the lyrical content being expressed by the MC. Experimentation with form can keep lyrical content organic and fresh. Internal rhymes and increasingly intricate rhythmic patterns can be learned from the study of rap music, but can only be successfully employed through the actual production and practice. Desdamona reflected that free form accapella performance loosens the form and can reveal new patterns and word play.[14] At the same time, even thinking about the form will create lyrics within the mind of the MC. A beat or sound will trigger certain emotions, compelling the production of lyrics.
As previously alluded to, the apprenticeship involved in Hop Hop in all its forms, links theory with application. From learning about lyricism and rap music, one gains the curiosity to produce lyrical content and perform those lyrics. The apprenticeship means that one must have ample knowledge learned about its history, (paying dues, enduring artistic struggle) in order to gain access to the knowledge accumulated by a Hip Hop elder. Given the resources and attention of the apprenticeship, one takes learned knowledge and expands upon it creating new knowledge. Thus while the theory and practice of lyricism remains distinct elements, the give and take between the two makes them closely related and cohesive components.
Bibliography
Free Dictionary by Farlex. Lyricism. 2000, 2003. 10 Nov. 2006.
Ill Chemistry. Lyricism and the Lyricist. Carlson School of Business Management, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 7 Nov. 2006.
Maulpoix, Jean Michel. About Lyricism. March 2000. Jean Michel Maulpoix and Cie. 14 Nov. 2006.
Rehn, Alf and Skold, David. Makin it and Keepin it Real. Stockholm, Sweden: INDEK Royal Institute of Technology Press, 2005.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
Scott, Jonathan. The Staying Power of Rap. 21 Oct. 2005. Chicken Bones: A Journal. 13 Nov. 2006.
[1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lyricism
[2]
[3] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006
[4] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006
[5] Maulpoix, :www.maulpoix.net/lyrismea.htm
[6] Rose pg. 88
[7] Rose pg. 86
[8] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006
[9] Scott, http://www.nathanielturner.com/stayingpowerofrap.htm
[10] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006.
[11] Rehn and Skold pg. 5
[12] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006.
[13] Rose pg. 95
[14] Ill Chemistry 7 Nov. 2006
Rap on the Radio
Matt Altstiel
11/09/06
GLOS 3900
Rap on the Radio?
When one listens to the radio, one is usually struck with the slick formatted productions, the incessant list of shout-outs and the amount of collaboration. The producers running the Hip Hop game today not only have their names prominently featured within an album’s liner notes, but within the individual songs themselves. Many rap records feature a slew of different producers, all lending a somewhat different vision in sound. Interestingly, some of Hip Hop’s most illustrious duos have been rapper/producer combos. In groups such as: Pete Rock & CL Smooth, DJ Hi-Tek and Talib Kweli; it is no coincidence that the producer’s name appears first.
For me the role of the producer has always been somewhat enigmatic. As a rapper with the ability to record my own music on my own computer, I have always wondered how studio production would change my overall sound. Producer Will Ways helped answer some questions, but created new questions in the process. For example, the creative end and the business end, while distinct, are virtually inseparable. I realized that while I have written many lyrics, recorded over fifty songs and created many completely unique beats, I do not actually own any of these. Copywrites, royalty agreements and publishing agencies have assumed paramount importance in the Hip Hop industry.
Ways showed a true passion for making beats for Hip Hop music, that is, the meat and the bones of any good Hip Hop song. I liked the process he used to show how he began with a foundation beat and gradually added distinct elements. As with an individual rapper, the beat projects a certain image. The beat coupled with delivery creates a certain mood and intends to give the listener a certain feeling. Ways believes any good beat should to a climatic sound and continually draw the listener through all of the dynamic elements of the track. Moreover, the producer must be flexible to incorporate what the artist has already created and adds to the overall value by masking artistic flaws. However, it is quite obvious that ways producer heavily formatted commercial music, as the emphasis on both content and delivery is largely neglected. Ways assumes that the average listener is not trying to draw a message out of a Hip Hop song and is just looking for a party track to vibe with.
Ways spent a good deal of time explaining the business end of production and in turn, much about the nature of the Hip Hop business itself. He stressed the importance of getting published, copywriting music and establishing creative legality. Patent law, so to speak, allows for back royalties, but really only ensures the allowance of court action. Therefore, as a producer, or for that matter, as an artist, it is critical to enter into contractual agreements between artist and producer, in order to decide who receives what of the financial pie. Similarly, royalty points and royalty agreements are all a matter of negotiation. Ways explains, “the business element of Hip Hop is almost important than the creative end.” The nature of the business allows for separation between the legal and moral aspects, with Ways learning the hard way the importance of industry practices.
Listening to Ways’ previous productions, one cannot argue with the positive change in recording quality. The vocals come off clean and distinct, the delivery matches the beats, and climatic elements of the beat help propel the track forward. Clearly, in order to be taken seriously as a rapper, one must find a producer who truly complements that artist. However, while the insight Ways provided is invaluable, I almost questions ways intention for producing music in the first place. Which came first, the passion for the music, or the drive to make money?
11/09/06
GLOS 3900
Rap on the Radio?
When one listens to the radio, one is usually struck with the slick formatted productions, the incessant list of shout-outs and the amount of collaboration. The producers running the Hip Hop game today not only have their names prominently featured within an album’s liner notes, but within the individual songs themselves. Many rap records feature a slew of different producers, all lending a somewhat different vision in sound. Interestingly, some of Hip Hop’s most illustrious duos have been rapper/producer combos. In groups such as: Pete Rock & CL Smooth, DJ Hi-Tek and Talib Kweli; it is no coincidence that the producer’s name appears first.
For me the role of the producer has always been somewhat enigmatic. As a rapper with the ability to record my own music on my own computer, I have always wondered how studio production would change my overall sound. Producer Will Ways helped answer some questions, but created new questions in the process. For example, the creative end and the business end, while distinct, are virtually inseparable. I realized that while I have written many lyrics, recorded over fifty songs and created many completely unique beats, I do not actually own any of these. Copywrites, royalty agreements and publishing agencies have assumed paramount importance in the Hip Hop industry.
Ways showed a true passion for making beats for Hip Hop music, that is, the meat and the bones of any good Hip Hop song. I liked the process he used to show how he began with a foundation beat and gradually added distinct elements. As with an individual rapper, the beat projects a certain image. The beat coupled with delivery creates a certain mood and intends to give the listener a certain feeling. Ways believes any good beat should to a climatic sound and continually draw the listener through all of the dynamic elements of the track. Moreover, the producer must be flexible to incorporate what the artist has already created and adds to the overall value by masking artistic flaws. However, it is quite obvious that ways producer heavily formatted commercial music, as the emphasis on both content and delivery is largely neglected. Ways assumes that the average listener is not trying to draw a message out of a Hip Hop song and is just looking for a party track to vibe with.
Ways spent a good deal of time explaining the business end of production and in turn, much about the nature of the Hip Hop business itself. He stressed the importance of getting published, copywriting music and establishing creative legality. Patent law, so to speak, allows for back royalties, but really only ensures the allowance of court action. Therefore, as a producer, or for that matter, as an artist, it is critical to enter into contractual agreements between artist and producer, in order to decide who receives what of the financial pie. Similarly, royalty points and royalty agreements are all a matter of negotiation. Ways explains, “the business element of Hip Hop is almost important than the creative end.” The nature of the business allows for separation between the legal and moral aspects, with Ways learning the hard way the importance of industry practices.
Listening to Ways’ previous productions, one cannot argue with the positive change in recording quality. The vocals come off clean and distinct, the delivery matches the beats, and climatic elements of the beat help propel the track forward. Clearly, in order to be taken seriously as a rapper, one must find a producer who truly complements that artist. However, while the insight Ways provided is invaluable, I almost questions ways intention for producing music in the first place. Which came first, the passion for the music, or the drive to make money?
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?
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?
First Is Forever
Matt Altstiel
10/10/06
GLOS 3900
First is Forever
Of the holy trinity of Hip Hop innovators: Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc and DJ Grandmaster Flash, it is Flash that should receive the most credit for Hip Hop as a form of musical expression. Instead of simply listening to music, Flash analyzed every aspect, elevating his expertise into a science. DJ Grandmaster Flash rightly has the distinction of transforming the DJ from a party thrower into an artist, the turntable from a record player into an instrument, and the MC into a rapper. While DJs came before him, the techniques and style Flash patented revolutionized not just Hip Hop, but the entire music industry. Through his technical wizardry, foresight, and recruitment of gifted rappers to augment his soundscapes, Flash set the tone for Hip Hop’s classic era.
Born in Barbados in 1958, under the name Joseph Saddler, Flash moved to the Bronx carrying with him a love for electronics and electrical devices.[1] He fiddled with these devices taking them apart trying to put them back together in order to find out their components worked. As a result of his tinkering, Flash, by his own admission, “was public enemy number one back then to my mom and my sisters.”[2] Unable to buy the electronics he needed to experiment with, Flash would scour the abandoned lots and cars of his neighborhood hoping to use and revive their discarded parts. Sensing real talent, his mother sent him to Samuel Gompers Vocational High School. Here he learned the significance of resistors, capacitors, meters, and waves, figuring out how to construct an effective sound system. Like many future Hop Hop artists, Flash “transformed obsolete vocational skills from marginal occupations into the raw materials for creativity and resistance.”[3]
Around this time, the now famous jams of DJ Cool Herc, Pete DJ Jones and DJ Grandmaster Flowers revived the Bronx party scene. Rather than partake in the dancing, the drugs, and the women these parties offered, Flash would chill in the back and watch the DJs at work.[4] The music of DJ Kool Herc resonated strongly with Flash, but the effortless style and precision of Pete DJ Jones drew Flash to seek apprenticeship with Jones instead. Employing two turntables and two duplicate sets of records Jones could prolong the songs he was playing. Flash recognized the same concept could be used to combine and extended the breaks he loved from Herc’s musical choices. The concept of precuing the music in his headphones also allowed Flash greater control over his DJing.[5] These early lessons laid the foundation for Flash’s future turntable discoveries.
Spending countless hours in his bedroom, his ears glued to the turntables, Flash created several startling DJing innovations. By using two duplicate copies of the same record, marking the precise start and end of the break with a magic marker, Flash could continually cue and recue the break without lifting the needle. This eliminated the guess work that made Herc’s performances sound sloppy and could transform a break of as little as five seconds, into a continual break lasting minutes.[6] Dubbed the Quick Mix Theory and the Clock Theory by Flash, these techniques changed DJ’s from passive to active actors upon the music.[7] Along with these innovations Flash produced effects like: Cutting (repeating phrases and beats by moving the record back and forth); Back Spinning (another process for repetition involving spinning both records backwards to a beat or phrase; which repeats it); and punch-phrasing (playing parts of a vinyl on one turntable in quick volume surges simultaneously while the other vinyl plays on the other turntable).[8]
While perfecting his DJing techniques and performances aspects over a three year period, Flash kept his innovations largely a secret, exposing them only to a privileged few number of friends and family. Finally in 1975, he decided his musical experiments had waited long enough. Unprepared for and unimpressed with this new sound, the Bronx party crowd refused to dance. Without the vocals of the original songs, the breaks alone were not enough to compel the crowd to dance.[9] Nevertheless, Flash had turned the DJ into a performance artist and turntablism into an art. Later on “Flash was the first to debut track DJing skills like mixing records behind his back or beneath tables, and kicking mixing faders with his feet.”[10] Such performance techniques helped form the arsenal of any modern, good performance DJ.
In the meantime, however; an additional component was needed to drive the crowd and divert attention solely from Flash, vocals. The intricate breaks Flash had perfected changed the nature of the MC, requiring the MC to get a message across to the audience. Flash offered any MC a chance to spit over his beats to wow the crowd as a sort of early precursor to the open mic concept. Certain MCs such as Cowboy, Mele Mel and Kidd Creole were naturals at rocking the mic and driving crowds into a frenzy. These rappers became staples of Grand Master Flash’s sets and pioneered phrases like: “Say ho”, “Throw yo hands in the air, and wave em like ya just don’t care,” and "Clap your hands to the beat!”[11] Nearly every Hip Hop record made since then utilizes at least one of these phrases. Recognizing the importance of interplay between the DJ and the MC, Flash helped choreograph increasingly difficult and intricate shows. Flash explains, “I got ridiculed for a couple of years. ‘You’re the guy that ruins records!’ But all the DJs had to change their style,”[12] Flash and his MCs, now known as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five increased the popularity of the Hip Hop scene, and, of its mecca, the Hip Hop club. Luring audiences away from other major DJs of the time, Flash succeeding in bringing both crews and crowds together for wild battle showdowns, which in turn help Hip Hop’s popularity explode.
Hip Hop’s popularity burst onto the nation’s consciousness with the first commercially successful rap single, Sugar hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.” However, it was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s album The Message, that vaulted Hip Hop into respectability as an independent form of music. While much of this classic album lends itself towards the familiar party vibe heard in very early Hip Hop, it represents one the first albums to feature exclusively turntablist tracks.[13] For the first time in Hip Hop, attention was diverted away from the actual music and towards the song’s lyrical content. Many future Hip Hop songs drew from “The Message” by reusing its themes of urban dislocation and frustration. Peter Relic reflects, “The tracks on The Message, retain the vigor a music that had yet to be fully commodified; made at a time when Hip Hop was roundly dismissed as a fad, and stand as a monument to what made Hip Hop great in the first place.”[14] Indeed, The Message remains as innovative and fresh as any classic pre-1985 album ever made.
In 1985, Grandmaster Flash recorded another seminal album entitled They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. According to Peter Relic, this album “was one of the earliest Hip Hop releases on a major label, setting the stage for Elecktra’s later greater success with Brand Nubian and Missy Elliot. Furthermore, “it stands as a close to Grandmaster Flash’s initial run as a hip hop original.”[15] While Flash’s pioneering human techniques were generally replaced by mechanical studio effects such as a sampling, these effects sought to mirror the sound and style of Grandmaster Flash. The resurgence of the art of turntablism marked a return to prominence for Flash, as he was given credit for the lengthy number of innovations he had created in order to make Hip Hop music possible. Ever the pioneer, Grandmaster Flash and his group the Furious Five, became the first Hip Hop group nominated for admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.[16]
Judging his lengthy career and many stylistic innovations which revolutionized Hip Hop, one can respect Grandmaster Flash’s place within the Holy Trinity of Hip Hop pioneers. His numerous DJing techniques changed the role of the DJ forever, making turntablism an essential element within Hip Hop. His extended break sequences now known as instrumentals allowed the MC to become a rapper, and party slogans to change into important messages. Flash helped bring Hip Hop to the national consciousness and ensure its survival as more than a passing fad. His albums The Message and They Said It Couldn’t Be Done should be required listening for any Hip Hop fan interested in this genre’s origin. His group, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five created much of the current lexicon of Hip Hop and established parameters for Hip Hop performance. Flash’s innovative career continues to influence Hip Hop and in the words of Q-Tip “Keep it movin.”
Bibliography
Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. New York, NY: Picador, 2005
"Grandmaster Flash Interview." Fresh Air. NPR. WHYY, Atlanta. August 29, 2005
Grandmaster Flash Biography. 2002. Sing365.com. 8 Oct. 2006
Miles, Milo. Grandmaster Flash: Biography. 2004. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Rollingstone.com. 8 Oct. 2006 <http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/grandmasterflash/biography.>
Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from The Message.” 2005. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The Message. Sugar Hill Records, 1982.
Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.” 2005. Grandmaster Flash. They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. Elektra, 1985.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
[1] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P.112.
[2] NPR “Fresh Air” August 29, 2005
[3] Rose, Tricia. Black Noise. P. 34-35
[4] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 112
[5] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 112-113
[6] Grandmaster Flash Biography. 2002. Sing365.com.
[7] NPR “Fresh Air” August 29, 2005
[8] Grandmaster Flash Biography. 2002. Sing365.com.
[9] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 113
[10] Grandmaster Flash Biography. 2002. Sing365.com.
[11] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 113
[12] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 114
[13] Miles, Milo. Grandmaster Flash: Biography. 2004. Rollingstone.com
[14] Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from The Message.” 2005.
[15] Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.” 2005
[16] Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.” 2005
10/10/06
GLOS 3900
First is Forever
Of the holy trinity of Hip Hop innovators: Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc and DJ Grandmaster Flash, it is Flash that should receive the most credit for Hip Hop as a form of musical expression. Instead of simply listening to music, Flash analyzed every aspect, elevating his expertise into a science. DJ Grandmaster Flash rightly has the distinction of transforming the DJ from a party thrower into an artist, the turntable from a record player into an instrument, and the MC into a rapper. While DJs came before him, the techniques and style Flash patented revolutionized not just Hip Hop, but the entire music industry. Through his technical wizardry, foresight, and recruitment of gifted rappers to augment his soundscapes, Flash set the tone for Hip Hop’s classic era.
Born in Barbados in 1958, under the name Joseph Saddler, Flash moved to the Bronx carrying with him a love for electronics and electrical devices.[1] He fiddled with these devices taking them apart trying to put them back together in order to find out their components worked. As a result of his tinkering, Flash, by his own admission, “was public enemy number one back then to my mom and my sisters.”[2] Unable to buy the electronics he needed to experiment with, Flash would scour the abandoned lots and cars of his neighborhood hoping to use and revive their discarded parts. Sensing real talent, his mother sent him to Samuel Gompers Vocational High School. Here he learned the significance of resistors, capacitors, meters, and waves, figuring out how to construct an effective sound system. Like many future Hop Hop artists, Flash “transformed obsolete vocational skills from marginal occupations into the raw materials for creativity and resistance.”[3]
Around this time, the now famous jams of DJ Cool Herc, Pete DJ Jones and DJ Grandmaster Flowers revived the Bronx party scene. Rather than partake in the dancing, the drugs, and the women these parties offered, Flash would chill in the back and watch the DJs at work.[4] The music of DJ Kool Herc resonated strongly with Flash, but the effortless style and precision of Pete DJ Jones drew Flash to seek apprenticeship with Jones instead. Employing two turntables and two duplicate sets of records Jones could prolong the songs he was playing. Flash recognized the same concept could be used to combine and extended the breaks he loved from Herc’s musical choices. The concept of precuing the music in his headphones also allowed Flash greater control over his DJing.[5] These early lessons laid the foundation for Flash’s future turntable discoveries.
Spending countless hours in his bedroom, his ears glued to the turntables, Flash created several startling DJing innovations. By using two duplicate copies of the same record, marking the precise start and end of the break with a magic marker, Flash could continually cue and recue the break without lifting the needle. This eliminated the guess work that made Herc’s performances sound sloppy and could transform a break of as little as five seconds, into a continual break lasting minutes.[6] Dubbed the Quick Mix Theory and the Clock Theory by Flash, these techniques changed DJ’s from passive to active actors upon the music.[7] Along with these innovations Flash produced effects like: Cutting (repeating phrases and beats by moving the record back and forth); Back Spinning (another process for repetition involving spinning both records backwards to a beat or phrase; which repeats it); and punch-phrasing (playing parts of a vinyl on one turntable in quick volume surges simultaneously while the other vinyl plays on the other turntable).[8]
While perfecting his DJing techniques and performances aspects over a three year period, Flash kept his innovations largely a secret, exposing them only to a privileged few number of friends and family. Finally in 1975, he decided his musical experiments had waited long enough. Unprepared for and unimpressed with this new sound, the Bronx party crowd refused to dance. Without the vocals of the original songs, the breaks alone were not enough to compel the crowd to dance.[9] Nevertheless, Flash had turned the DJ into a performance artist and turntablism into an art. Later on “Flash was the first to debut track DJing skills like mixing records behind his back or beneath tables, and kicking mixing faders with his feet.”[10] Such performance techniques helped form the arsenal of any modern, good performance DJ.
In the meantime, however; an additional component was needed to drive the crowd and divert attention solely from Flash, vocals. The intricate breaks Flash had perfected changed the nature of the MC, requiring the MC to get a message across to the audience. Flash offered any MC a chance to spit over his beats to wow the crowd as a sort of early precursor to the open mic concept. Certain MCs such as Cowboy, Mele Mel and Kidd Creole were naturals at rocking the mic and driving crowds into a frenzy. These rappers became staples of Grand Master Flash’s sets and pioneered phrases like: “Say ho”, “Throw yo hands in the air, and wave em like ya just don’t care,” and "Clap your hands to the beat!”[11] Nearly every Hip Hop record made since then utilizes at least one of these phrases. Recognizing the importance of interplay between the DJ and the MC, Flash helped choreograph increasingly difficult and intricate shows. Flash explains, “I got ridiculed for a couple of years. ‘You’re the guy that ruins records!’ But all the DJs had to change their style,”[12] Flash and his MCs, now known as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five increased the popularity of the Hip Hop scene, and, of its mecca, the Hip Hop club. Luring audiences away from other major DJs of the time, Flash succeeding in bringing both crews and crowds together for wild battle showdowns, which in turn help Hip Hop’s popularity explode.
Hip Hop’s popularity burst onto the nation’s consciousness with the first commercially successful rap single, Sugar hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.” However, it was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s album The Message, that vaulted Hip Hop into respectability as an independent form of music. While much of this classic album lends itself towards the familiar party vibe heard in very early Hip Hop, it represents one the first albums to feature exclusively turntablist tracks.[13] For the first time in Hip Hop, attention was diverted away from the actual music and towards the song’s lyrical content. Many future Hip Hop songs drew from “The Message” by reusing its themes of urban dislocation and frustration. Peter Relic reflects, “The tracks on The Message, retain the vigor a music that had yet to be fully commodified; made at a time when Hip Hop was roundly dismissed as a fad, and stand as a monument to what made Hip Hop great in the first place.”[14] Indeed, The Message remains as innovative and fresh as any classic pre-1985 album ever made.
In 1985, Grandmaster Flash recorded another seminal album entitled They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. According to Peter Relic, this album “was one of the earliest Hip Hop releases on a major label, setting the stage for Elecktra’s later greater success with Brand Nubian and Missy Elliot. Furthermore, “it stands as a close to Grandmaster Flash’s initial run as a hip hop original.”[15] While Flash’s pioneering human techniques were generally replaced by mechanical studio effects such as a sampling, these effects sought to mirror the sound and style of Grandmaster Flash. The resurgence of the art of turntablism marked a return to prominence for Flash, as he was given credit for the lengthy number of innovations he had created in order to make Hip Hop music possible. Ever the pioneer, Grandmaster Flash and his group the Furious Five, became the first Hip Hop group nominated for admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.[16]
Judging his lengthy career and many stylistic innovations which revolutionized Hip Hop, one can respect Grandmaster Flash’s place within the Holy Trinity of Hip Hop pioneers. His numerous DJing techniques changed the role of the DJ forever, making turntablism an essential element within Hip Hop. His extended break sequences now known as instrumentals allowed the MC to become a rapper, and party slogans to change into important messages. Flash helped bring Hip Hop to the national consciousness and ensure its survival as more than a passing fad. His albums The Message and They Said It Couldn’t Be Done should be required listening for any Hip Hop fan interested in this genre’s origin. His group, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five created much of the current lexicon of Hip Hop and established parameters for Hip Hop performance. Flash’s innovative career continues to influence Hip Hop and in the words of Q-Tip “Keep it movin.”
Bibliography
Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. New York, NY: Picador, 2005
"Grandmaster Flash Interview." Fresh Air. NPR. WHYY, Atlanta. August 29, 2005
Grandmaster Flash Biography. 2002. Sing365.com. 8 Oct. 2006
Miles, Milo. Grandmaster Flash: Biography. 2004. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Rollingstone.com. 8 Oct. 2006 <http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/grandmasterflash/biography.>
Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from The Message.” 2005. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The Message. Sugar Hill Records, 1982.
Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.” 2005. Grandmaster Flash. They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. Elektra, 1985.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
[1] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P.112.
[2] NPR “Fresh Air” August 29, 2005
[3] Rose, Tricia. Black Noise. P. 34-35
[4] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 112
[5] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 112-113
[6] Grandmaster Flash Biography. 2002. Sing365.com.
[7] NPR “Fresh Air” August 29, 2005
[8] Grandmaster Flash Biography. 2002. Sing365.com.
[9] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 113
[10] Grandmaster Flash Biography. 2002. Sing365.com.
[11] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 113
[12] Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. P. 114
[13] Miles, Milo. Grandmaster Flash: Biography. 2004. Rollingstone.com
[14] Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from The Message.” 2005.
[15] Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.” 2005
[16] Relic, Peter. “Album Liner Notes from They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.” 2005
Hip Hop Final
Matt Altstiel
GLOS 3900
12/19/06
In search of Hip Hop…
In the song “Keep It Movin” rapper Q-Tip explains, “Hip Hop can never be a way of life. It doesn’t tell how to raise a child or treat your wife.”[1] Quite differently, MC Zion I tells the listener, “On the real though, there’s so many things you could say about Hip Hop. Hip Hop is life.”[2] Obviously, even between highly respected MCs, there exists a broad variance in opinions as to what exactly Hip Hop means. This paper seeks to answer the nebulous questions: What exactly is Hip Hop? What is included within Hip Hop and what lies outside of it? And finally, is Hip Hop even a culture?
This paper will confront these questions by elaborating on each of Hip Hop’s four elements: Rap Music (MCing), Turntablism (Djing), B-Boying (Breakdancing) and Aerosol Art (Graffiti). Also worth addressing are exponential elements of Hip Hop such as: journalism, scholarship, audio-visual production, theatre and fashion. While not specifically relating to the four elements, the exponential elements nevertheless complement and add to Hip Hop. This paper will explore Hip Hop as a catalyst for social change from its inception up to the present. Furthermore, as a socio-cultural movement, Hip Hop maintains a very special relationship with government and government structures. Finally, this paper attempts to answer the above questions through the political lens of race, gender and class.
What is Hip Hop?
Hip Hop is the popularized term for a street culture originating in the South Bronx of New York City. Hip Hop definitely has a place of origin and a history of cultural diffusion; however its elements in general originated quite independently. Only after prolonged interaction and convergence of elements, could one claim that culture of Hip Hop was born. Indeed, Raquel Rivera contends, “main expressive elements were not developed by the same people at the same time, nor do they all share common antecedents.”[3] Although commonly referenced within the media, Hip Hop did not emerge suddenly as the “Big Bang Theory” suggests.[4] Rather, only when the media recognized the marketing potential of Hip Hop, did it “explode” onto the nation’s conscious.
To answer the third question directly, Hip Hop is a transnational culture, the product of globalization and diffusion. At the same time, Hip Hop, perhaps more than any other musical form stresses precise localities and regionalism. One can find manifestations of Hip Hop practically in every region of the world, be it here in Minneapolis or over in Nairobi, Kenya. While global in nature, Hip Hop prioritizes local issues, lifestyles and identities. For instance, major Hip Hop localities can be said to produce a particular style, sound and expression of Hip Hop. When describing Hip Hop, one should not use the term, “Hip Hop Nation.” Instead, the term “Hip Hop Zone” comes closer to the true nature and spirit of this cultural form. Interestingly, “authenticity”, regarding the convergence of the four elements, often appears most strikingly in emerging Hip Hop Zones.[5] Both inclusive and exclusive at the same time Hip Hop presents a unique cultural dichotomy unlike nearly any other mass-mediated culture. Therefore, as Hip Hop has grown on the global scale, it has constantly changed in order to reflect local realities and cultural priorities.
While Afrika Bambaataa added the fifth element, knowledge, as core tenement of Hip Hop, most scholars, practitioners and fans recognize the four element model. Graffiti, the visual and written form of Hip Hop arguably originated first, and unlike the other three elements, originated outside of New York. B-boying coincided with the rise of the party DJ, as dancers would try to out do one another in competition during the break section of records. In a reciprocal relationship, DJing as a Hip Hop form, arose from DJs extending the popular break sections in order to compel partygoers to dance. Finally, MCing emerged when Djs recognized the need of a rapper to help direct crowds and drive songs beyond the simple break beats. Through Hip Hop pioneers, early elements gained their modern form.
The Four Elements
Graffiti, or aerosol art, represents the ultimate post-modern art form. Choosing a train, building or billboard as the canvas, the writing, in the worlds of Joe Austin, “is not a cultural aberration, but rather a long standing aesthetic tradition connected with social trends and cultural innovations.”[6] Although originating in Philadelphia by 1959, Graffiti took on its present forms and meanings primarily in New York. For writers, much like many disaffected youth of the so called “Hip Hop generation” graffiti mirrored the “fractured and disjunctive identities of the modern urban self.”[7] Simple tags became more and more complex as writer’s sought to increase their visibility. Often writer’s sought to enhance their reputation and visibility “getting up” in the middle of the night, “bombing” subway cars in order to go “all city.”[8] Equally loved and loathed at the same time, Graffiti perhaps unlike any other form within Hip Hop went through periods of repression and celebration. Chang describes Graffiti as both “moving violations, mini riots” and “an art so strong it hurt people.”[9] Graffiti, at first represented the most commercially accessible, public form of Hip Hop culture.
B-boying, dance form of Hip Hop, like Graffiti attained its peak popularity relatively early within Hip Hop’s history as a unified culture.[10] Also similar to graffiti, the form allowed for greater convergence of differing racial and ethnic groups.[11] However, unlike Graffiti, B-Boying was a distinctly phenomenon of the “Boogie Down Bronx”. Channeling the energy of the music, B-Boy and B-Girls incorporated flashy, gravity defying moves in a freeform competition. Dancing ciphers allowed Bronx youth to showcase individual style and earn the respect and admiration of their peers. Certain crews made up of talented young b-boys formed crews. The most famous of these crews, The Rock Steady Crew headed by b-boy Crazy legs went on to achieve international fame and helped bring Hip Hop into a national media spotlight. Like all four elements, b-boying traveled to other places such as Los Angeles, which added additional styles like popping and locking.[12] Breakdancing, above all, was a means of creative expression, a way to earn recognition on one’s own terms.
DJing and Turntablism showcase both performance ability and comprise one of two auditory forms of Hip Hop culture. Chang refers to Djing as “Style as Science.” Indeed, the holy trinity of Hip Hop: Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and DJ Kool Herc, all achieved initial or principal fame as DJs. Djing allowed the musical genre of rap to emerge as Grandmaster Flash, among other introduced turntable techniques such as: “the Quick Mix Theory and the Clock Theory. These techniques changed DJ’s from passive to active actors upon the music.”[13] Allowed to manipulate music, DJ’s invented their own style, developing the looping break sequences essential to rap music. Furthermore, these pioneering DJs introduced a music that made breakdancing and MCing possible. DJs honed their craft adding performance aspects, releasing DJing albums and competing in global competitions giving rise to a unique sub-culture within Hip Hop. “Digging” through stacks of old records and creating wholly new music, DJs have changed the turntable into a verifiable instrument.[14]
For the average Hip Hop fan, rap music represents the most easily identifiable and tangible element of the culture. Like all other elements of Hip Hop, MCing can be perceived as a competitive art form. Following traditional African American and Latino oral traditions such as: toasting, the dozens and Te Lo Presento; MCs weave words around the confines of beats to display lyrical talent and wit.[15] The origin of MCing tied directly into DJing, as pioneers like Grandmaster Flash originally used the MC to complement his sonic arrangements.[16] However, MCing and rap music has evolved into its own very distinct element and has had the most enduring success as the elemental form most synonymous with Hip Hop.
Arguably, Hip Hop, conceived as the intersection of the four previously mentioned elements finally coalesced in 1982 with the film, Wild Style.[17] Capturing all of the elements, the film captured all four distinct elements operating within the same scene as compatible components.[18] The legacy of creation and intersection left no doubt of Hip Hop’s emergence of a complete culture; replete with history, and sense of location and a mechanism for growth.
Exponential Elements
As any culture grows, it incorporates additional peripheral elements into its fold. The Anthropology of Hip Hop, and the discursive literature associated with the coarse add legitimacy to Hip Hop as a verifiable culture, one capable of producing its own scholars. Similarly, Hip Hop has produced it own unique styles and clothing companies seek to articulate these cultural realities into fashion. Well known magazines such as Vibe and XXL capitalize and project Hip Hop’s mass cultural appeal to a wide audience. Hip Hop has produced its own methods of consumption. For example, Rap music labels export the message of rap recording artists across the globe; aspiring DJs buy Nu-mark turntables and suburban kids, in the words of Hip Hop journalist Wimsatt, “Bomb the Suburbs.”[19] Hip Hop, in large part to the consumption of rap music, is a multi-billion dollar cultural industry. Clearly, the scope of Hip Hop contains wide variance, allowing much to enter into its inclusive realm. The point to be made is this: Hip Hop has greatly expanded from its original cultural frontiers.
Hip Hop as a Social Catalyst
As a culture born out of urban frustration, poverty and cultural invisibility, it should be little wonder that Hip Hop has the ability to challenge social conditions. Rose comments, “A large and significant element in Hip Hop’s discursive territory is engaged in symbolic and ideological warfare with institutions and group’s that oppress.”[20] Rose further comments that rap music in particular, combats oppressive forces by stressing the power of African American alternatives. Indeed, Chang, Rivera, Riviere, and Flores all articulate the gap between lived experience and ideological forces of traditional power structures.[21] Course materials highlight the cultural form’s ability to traverse racial and ethnic boundaries and unite disparate groups of people into a common cause. Therefore, Hip Hop is a cultural force capable of engaging and addressing inequality regardless of its ethno/social/cultural origin.
Hip Hop’s unique timing as a cultural movement originating in the 1970’s, marked by steady growth in the 1980’s positioned it at the end of the American Civil Rights Era, and right in the middle of the Anti-Apartheid struggle. Chang comments that Hip Hop allowed, “The post-civil rights children a desegregation battle to call their own.”[22] Hip Hop artists and youths within the generation urged and succeeded in convincing governmental and corporate apparatuses to divest from South Africa. The song, “Sun City” featured a coalition of artists and entertainers united in prioritizing the plight of Black South Africans under an oppressive system.[23]
Similarly, many rap artists and activates emboldened by the success of the anti-apartheid movement would turn towards a politicized, Black-nationalist agenda in protest of institutional American racism. Given a framework and mission statement, rap’s “prophets of rage with a difference, retained the mass mediated spotlight on the popular cultural stage while functioning as a voice of social critique and criticism.”[24] Late 1980’s, early 1990’s rap and Hip Hop took on a decidedly confrontational stance, more willing to question the authority that had led the New York City financial crisis, the L.A. Riots and growing economic inequality.
More recently, Hip Hop’s second so called “Golden Age” (the very late 1990’s and early 2000’s) marked a shift to “conscious” Hip Hop.[25] Mos Def, Common, Talib Kweli, Black Thought, Dead Prez among other sought reinsert intelligent, highly politicized dialogue back into Hip Hop. Decidedly pro-Black in lyrical content, these rappers continued in the lyrical tradition of Public Enemy and Brand Nubian. However, the term itself, “Conscious” rap carried with it loaded connotations that caution overtly political Hip Hop messages.
Hip Hop and Authority
Hip Hop’s origins as a largely African American and Latino cultural form have necessarily put it odds with the United States government, and local governmental apparatuses. Although in an unequal struggle with brutality unfair governmental practices, Hip Hop serves as a medium of dialogue between two very different sets of social groups. American branches of government have tried to censor Hip Hop through legal means such as prior restraint. Civil suit court action directed at 2Live Crew and Tupac, as well as law enforcement reaction towards Ice T and N.W.A affirm this antagonistic relationship.[26] While the speech present within Hip Hop lyrics is no more subversive than other musical genre’s, rap music has consistently been accused of violating first amendment rights.
Rather than seeking to address the problems rap music diagnosed, the legal establishment suppressed its articulation, preventing the viability of social change.[27] Put another way, “the relationship between listening to and committing subsequent acts of violence appears to more closely resemble a statistical accident than a causal equation.”[28] The unwillingness or inability of legal authority to understand the reality of urban African American life further entrenched the politics of racism.[29] Each branch of the federal, and in many cases local government has tried to systematically hinder the development of Hip Hop, especially in regard to rap music. The establishment of New York City’s “Rap Binder” and uneasy relationship between “The Hip Hop Cop” and rap artists well illustrates Hip Hop’s distrust of legal authority.[30]
Race, Gender and Class within Hip Hop
While it cannot be argued that Hip Hop’s origins and inspiration draw heavily from African American culture, Rose’s overly Afro-centric portrayal of Hip Hop underscores on going issues of race and class within Hip Hop. Rose correctly asserts that rap follows a long line of “African American social criticism”, but ignores Hip Hop’s potential to represent other cultural realities.[31] Rivera brings up an important point, echoed by Juan Flores that, “the myth that Hip Hop being an African American realm and representing a rupture in Puerto Rican tradition has served to weaken Puerto Ricans’ perceived entitlement to Hip Hop.”[32] Indeed, Hip Hop emerged from the South Bronx, a place home to African Americans, but also many Latinos, poor European Americans and other ethnicities. Furthermore, such an Afro-centric view of Hip Hop neglects the significant contributions of non-African Americans in the more diversified realms of Breakdancing (b-boys and b-girls), Graffiti and Turntablism.
In part to Hip Hop’s cultural tradition and in part to the commercialization of Hip Hop culture, African Americans represent the paramount for Hip Hop authenticity. The stories of inner city life rather than tell messages and spread truth have been comodified, sensationalized and sold to mainly white, suburban youths. Chang asserts, “Media monopolies favored artists who did not merely produce hits, but synergies of goods.”[33] The current state of Hip Hop through mass media has marginalized other racial/ethnic groups while reinforcing negative social stereotypes of the poorest ethnic/class demographic. In essence, this mass media driven shift has blurred the realities of race and class, merging the two into one.
Rose, Rivera and Rivere help articulate the role of women within Hip Hop. Rap and Hip Hop as a culture is a highly gendered space prioritizing male viewpoints over females through female objectification. Often while the media has recognized the growing influence of social dynamic of certain non-European populations, it has come at the expense of the “butter pecan mami” or exotic cultural other.[34] Often lost in translation, female viewpoints “construct women’s independence and male and female co-dependence as compatible forces.”[35] Drawing from the Lyricism workshop, Hip Hop artists Desdamona affirms, “I hear from men, ‘you’re really good, for a female rapper.’ Why can’t I just hear I’m a good rapper, period.”[36]
Conclusion
Through this paper the reader can clearly answer the questions posed in the beginning of the paper. Hip Hop is a global movement originating form a unique spatio-temporal region that has managed to accommodate and connect a wide variety of ethnicities and social classes while emphasizing local desires. Incorporating new influences, new styles and a larger audience, global Hip Hop has morphed its parameters even at home (the South Bronx).[37] Hip Hop is the four elements. Hip Hop is mode of reproduction and consumption. Hip Hop is a method for achieving social justice , and yet at the same time can be an objectifying, ethnocentric way of viewing the world. Indeed, Hip Hop is paradoxical since no one person can truly say what Hip Hop includes, and what Hip Hop cannot. Above all, however; Hip Hop is a culture, and perhaps its greatest strength is its capacity for growth and change.
Works Cited
Altstiel, Matt. “First Is Forever.” Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective 10 Oct. 2006: 2.
Altstiel, Matt. “The New Revolution of Rap and The Law.” Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective 20 Nov. 2006: 3-4.
Altstiel, Matt. “Viva La Revolucion.” Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective 17 Oct. 2006: 1.
Austin, Joe. Taking the Train: How Graffiti Art Became an Urban Crisis in New York City. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.
A Tribe Called Quest. “Keep It Movin.” Anthology. Jive Records, 1999.
Black and Blue: Legends of a Hip Hop Co. Dir. QD3. Perf. Derrick Parker. 2006. DVD. Image Entertainment, 2006.
Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. New York: Picador Press, 2005.
Ferrell, Jeff and Hamm, Mark S. “Raps, Cops and Crime: Clarifying the ‘Cop Killer' Controversy.” Rapping about Cop Killing. 2004. Institute for Jewish Policy Research. 20 Nov. 2006. <http://www.axt.org.uk/HateMusic/Rappin.htm>
Flores, Juan. From Bomba to Hip Hop. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
Freshest Kids, The: A History of the B-Boy. Dir. Israel. Perf. Crazy Legs, Ken Swift, Frost Freeze, Afrika Bambaataa. 2002. DVD. California, Brotherhood Films, 2002.
Ill Chemistry. Lyricism and the Lyricist. Carlson School of Business Management, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 7 Nov. 2006.
Rivera, Raquel Z. New York Ricans From the Hip Hop Zone. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
Riviere, Melisa. The New Revolution of Rap. Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective. Blegan Hall, University of Minnesota: Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 19 Oct. 2006.
Riviera, Melisa. Course Materials and Course Notes. Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective. Blegan Hall, University of Minnesota: Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 7 Sept. 2006 – 13 Dec. 2006.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
Scratch. Dir. Mike Prey. Perf. DJ Mix Master Mike, DJ Q-Bert, DJ Shadow, Frank Cuevas. 2001. DVD. Palm Pictures, 2002.
Style Wars. Dir. Henry Chalfant and Tony Silver. Perf. Graffiti Writers. 1984. DVD. New York: Plexifilms, 2005.
Wild Style, Dir. Charlie Ahearn. Perf. Easy A.D., Patty Astor, Busy Bee. 1984. DVD. Rhino/Wea, 2002.
Wimsatt, William Upski. Bomb the Suburbs. Chicago: The Subway and Elevated Press Company, 1994.
Zion I. “Bird’s Eye View.” True & Livin’. Live Up, 2005.
[1] A Tribe Called Quest, Anthology
[2] Zion I, True & Livin’
[3] Rivera, pg. 51
[4] Rivera, pg. 51
[5] Rivera, pg. 15-16
[6] Austin, pg. 38-39
[7] Austin, pg. 43
[8] Austin, pg. 51, Style Wars, 1984
[9] Chang, pg. 122, 153
[10] The Freshest Kids, 2001
[11] Rivera, pg. 59
[12] The Freshest Kids, 2001
[13] Matt Altstiel, “First Is Forever”
[14] Scratch, 2001
[15] Rose, Black Noise; and Rivera, New York Ricans From the Hip Hop Zone
[16] Chang, pg. 113
[17] Chang, pg. 187
[18] Wildstyle, 1984
[19] Wimsatt, Bomb the Suburbs
[20] Rose, pg. 101
[21] Course materials, et al, and Rose, pg. 102
[22] Chang, pg. 216
[23] Riviere, Lecture 19 Oct. 2006
[24] Rose, pg. 101
[25] Chang, pg. 447-448
[26] Riviere, Lecture 19 Oct. 2006
[27] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[28] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[29] Matt Altstiel, “The New Revolution of Rap and the Law”
[30] Black and Blue: Legends of a Hip Hop Cop, 2006
[31] Rose, pg. 123
[32] Rivera, pg. 10 and Flores, From Bomba to Hip Hop
[33] Chang, pg. 447
[34] Rivera, pg. 142-143
[35] Rose, pg. 176
[36] Ill Chemistry, Lyricism and the Lyricist workshop
[37] Matt Altstiel, “Viva La Revolucion”
GLOS 3900
12/19/06
In search of Hip Hop…
In the song “Keep It Movin” rapper Q-Tip explains, “Hip Hop can never be a way of life. It doesn’t tell how to raise a child or treat your wife.”[1] Quite differently, MC Zion I tells the listener, “On the real though, there’s so many things you could say about Hip Hop. Hip Hop is life.”[2] Obviously, even between highly respected MCs, there exists a broad variance in opinions as to what exactly Hip Hop means. This paper seeks to answer the nebulous questions: What exactly is Hip Hop? What is included within Hip Hop and what lies outside of it? And finally, is Hip Hop even a culture?
This paper will confront these questions by elaborating on each of Hip Hop’s four elements: Rap Music (MCing), Turntablism (Djing), B-Boying (Breakdancing) and Aerosol Art (Graffiti). Also worth addressing are exponential elements of Hip Hop such as: journalism, scholarship, audio-visual production, theatre and fashion. While not specifically relating to the four elements, the exponential elements nevertheless complement and add to Hip Hop. This paper will explore Hip Hop as a catalyst for social change from its inception up to the present. Furthermore, as a socio-cultural movement, Hip Hop maintains a very special relationship with government and government structures. Finally, this paper attempts to answer the above questions through the political lens of race, gender and class.
What is Hip Hop?
Hip Hop is the popularized term for a street culture originating in the South Bronx of New York City. Hip Hop definitely has a place of origin and a history of cultural diffusion; however its elements in general originated quite independently. Only after prolonged interaction and convergence of elements, could one claim that culture of Hip Hop was born. Indeed, Raquel Rivera contends, “main expressive elements were not developed by the same people at the same time, nor do they all share common antecedents.”[3] Although commonly referenced within the media, Hip Hop did not emerge suddenly as the “Big Bang Theory” suggests.[4] Rather, only when the media recognized the marketing potential of Hip Hop, did it “explode” onto the nation’s conscious.
To answer the third question directly, Hip Hop is a transnational culture, the product of globalization and diffusion. At the same time, Hip Hop, perhaps more than any other musical form stresses precise localities and regionalism. One can find manifestations of Hip Hop practically in every region of the world, be it here in Minneapolis or over in Nairobi, Kenya. While global in nature, Hip Hop prioritizes local issues, lifestyles and identities. For instance, major Hip Hop localities can be said to produce a particular style, sound and expression of Hip Hop. When describing Hip Hop, one should not use the term, “Hip Hop Nation.” Instead, the term “Hip Hop Zone” comes closer to the true nature and spirit of this cultural form. Interestingly, “authenticity”, regarding the convergence of the four elements, often appears most strikingly in emerging Hip Hop Zones.[5] Both inclusive and exclusive at the same time Hip Hop presents a unique cultural dichotomy unlike nearly any other mass-mediated culture. Therefore, as Hip Hop has grown on the global scale, it has constantly changed in order to reflect local realities and cultural priorities.
While Afrika Bambaataa added the fifth element, knowledge, as core tenement of Hip Hop, most scholars, practitioners and fans recognize the four element model. Graffiti, the visual and written form of Hip Hop arguably originated first, and unlike the other three elements, originated outside of New York. B-boying coincided with the rise of the party DJ, as dancers would try to out do one another in competition during the break section of records. In a reciprocal relationship, DJing as a Hip Hop form, arose from DJs extending the popular break sections in order to compel partygoers to dance. Finally, MCing emerged when Djs recognized the need of a rapper to help direct crowds and drive songs beyond the simple break beats. Through Hip Hop pioneers, early elements gained their modern form.
The Four Elements
Graffiti, or aerosol art, represents the ultimate post-modern art form. Choosing a train, building or billboard as the canvas, the writing, in the worlds of Joe Austin, “is not a cultural aberration, but rather a long standing aesthetic tradition connected with social trends and cultural innovations.”[6] Although originating in Philadelphia by 1959, Graffiti took on its present forms and meanings primarily in New York. For writers, much like many disaffected youth of the so called “Hip Hop generation” graffiti mirrored the “fractured and disjunctive identities of the modern urban self.”[7] Simple tags became more and more complex as writer’s sought to increase their visibility. Often writer’s sought to enhance their reputation and visibility “getting up” in the middle of the night, “bombing” subway cars in order to go “all city.”[8] Equally loved and loathed at the same time, Graffiti perhaps unlike any other form within Hip Hop went through periods of repression and celebration. Chang describes Graffiti as both “moving violations, mini riots” and “an art so strong it hurt people.”[9] Graffiti, at first represented the most commercially accessible, public form of Hip Hop culture.
B-boying, dance form of Hip Hop, like Graffiti attained its peak popularity relatively early within Hip Hop’s history as a unified culture.[10] Also similar to graffiti, the form allowed for greater convergence of differing racial and ethnic groups.[11] However, unlike Graffiti, B-Boying was a distinctly phenomenon of the “Boogie Down Bronx”. Channeling the energy of the music, B-Boy and B-Girls incorporated flashy, gravity defying moves in a freeform competition. Dancing ciphers allowed Bronx youth to showcase individual style and earn the respect and admiration of their peers. Certain crews made up of talented young b-boys formed crews. The most famous of these crews, The Rock Steady Crew headed by b-boy Crazy legs went on to achieve international fame and helped bring Hip Hop into a national media spotlight. Like all four elements, b-boying traveled to other places such as Los Angeles, which added additional styles like popping and locking.[12] Breakdancing, above all, was a means of creative expression, a way to earn recognition on one’s own terms.
DJing and Turntablism showcase both performance ability and comprise one of two auditory forms of Hip Hop culture. Chang refers to Djing as “Style as Science.” Indeed, the holy trinity of Hip Hop: Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and DJ Kool Herc, all achieved initial or principal fame as DJs. Djing allowed the musical genre of rap to emerge as Grandmaster Flash, among other introduced turntable techniques such as: “the Quick Mix Theory and the Clock Theory. These techniques changed DJ’s from passive to active actors upon the music.”[13] Allowed to manipulate music, DJ’s invented their own style, developing the looping break sequences essential to rap music. Furthermore, these pioneering DJs introduced a music that made breakdancing and MCing possible. DJs honed their craft adding performance aspects, releasing DJing albums and competing in global competitions giving rise to a unique sub-culture within Hip Hop. “Digging” through stacks of old records and creating wholly new music, DJs have changed the turntable into a verifiable instrument.[14]
For the average Hip Hop fan, rap music represents the most easily identifiable and tangible element of the culture. Like all other elements of Hip Hop, MCing can be perceived as a competitive art form. Following traditional African American and Latino oral traditions such as: toasting, the dozens and Te Lo Presento; MCs weave words around the confines of beats to display lyrical talent and wit.[15] The origin of MCing tied directly into DJing, as pioneers like Grandmaster Flash originally used the MC to complement his sonic arrangements.[16] However, MCing and rap music has evolved into its own very distinct element and has had the most enduring success as the elemental form most synonymous with Hip Hop.
Arguably, Hip Hop, conceived as the intersection of the four previously mentioned elements finally coalesced in 1982 with the film, Wild Style.[17] Capturing all of the elements, the film captured all four distinct elements operating within the same scene as compatible components.[18] The legacy of creation and intersection left no doubt of Hip Hop’s emergence of a complete culture; replete with history, and sense of location and a mechanism for growth.
Exponential Elements
As any culture grows, it incorporates additional peripheral elements into its fold. The Anthropology of Hip Hop, and the discursive literature associated with the coarse add legitimacy to Hip Hop as a verifiable culture, one capable of producing its own scholars. Similarly, Hip Hop has produced it own unique styles and clothing companies seek to articulate these cultural realities into fashion. Well known magazines such as Vibe and XXL capitalize and project Hip Hop’s mass cultural appeal to a wide audience. Hip Hop has produced its own methods of consumption. For example, Rap music labels export the message of rap recording artists across the globe; aspiring DJs buy Nu-mark turntables and suburban kids, in the words of Hip Hop journalist Wimsatt, “Bomb the Suburbs.”[19] Hip Hop, in large part to the consumption of rap music, is a multi-billion dollar cultural industry. Clearly, the scope of Hip Hop contains wide variance, allowing much to enter into its inclusive realm. The point to be made is this: Hip Hop has greatly expanded from its original cultural frontiers.
Hip Hop as a Social Catalyst
As a culture born out of urban frustration, poverty and cultural invisibility, it should be little wonder that Hip Hop has the ability to challenge social conditions. Rose comments, “A large and significant element in Hip Hop’s discursive territory is engaged in symbolic and ideological warfare with institutions and group’s that oppress.”[20] Rose further comments that rap music in particular, combats oppressive forces by stressing the power of African American alternatives. Indeed, Chang, Rivera, Riviere, and Flores all articulate the gap between lived experience and ideological forces of traditional power structures.[21] Course materials highlight the cultural form’s ability to traverse racial and ethnic boundaries and unite disparate groups of people into a common cause. Therefore, Hip Hop is a cultural force capable of engaging and addressing inequality regardless of its ethno/social/cultural origin.
Hip Hop’s unique timing as a cultural movement originating in the 1970’s, marked by steady growth in the 1980’s positioned it at the end of the American Civil Rights Era, and right in the middle of the Anti-Apartheid struggle. Chang comments that Hip Hop allowed, “The post-civil rights children a desegregation battle to call their own.”[22] Hip Hop artists and youths within the generation urged and succeeded in convincing governmental and corporate apparatuses to divest from South Africa. The song, “Sun City” featured a coalition of artists and entertainers united in prioritizing the plight of Black South Africans under an oppressive system.[23]
Similarly, many rap artists and activates emboldened by the success of the anti-apartheid movement would turn towards a politicized, Black-nationalist agenda in protest of institutional American racism. Given a framework and mission statement, rap’s “prophets of rage with a difference, retained the mass mediated spotlight on the popular cultural stage while functioning as a voice of social critique and criticism.”[24] Late 1980’s, early 1990’s rap and Hip Hop took on a decidedly confrontational stance, more willing to question the authority that had led the New York City financial crisis, the L.A. Riots and growing economic inequality.
More recently, Hip Hop’s second so called “Golden Age” (the very late 1990’s and early 2000’s) marked a shift to “conscious” Hip Hop.[25] Mos Def, Common, Talib Kweli, Black Thought, Dead Prez among other sought reinsert intelligent, highly politicized dialogue back into Hip Hop. Decidedly pro-Black in lyrical content, these rappers continued in the lyrical tradition of Public Enemy and Brand Nubian. However, the term itself, “Conscious” rap carried with it loaded connotations that caution overtly political Hip Hop messages.
Hip Hop and Authority
Hip Hop’s origins as a largely African American and Latino cultural form have necessarily put it odds with the United States government, and local governmental apparatuses. Although in an unequal struggle with brutality unfair governmental practices, Hip Hop serves as a medium of dialogue between two very different sets of social groups. American branches of government have tried to censor Hip Hop through legal means such as prior restraint. Civil suit court action directed at 2Live Crew and Tupac, as well as law enforcement reaction towards Ice T and N.W.A affirm this antagonistic relationship.[26] While the speech present within Hip Hop lyrics is no more subversive than other musical genre’s, rap music has consistently been accused of violating first amendment rights.
Rather than seeking to address the problems rap music diagnosed, the legal establishment suppressed its articulation, preventing the viability of social change.[27] Put another way, “the relationship between listening to and committing subsequent acts of violence appears to more closely resemble a statistical accident than a causal equation.”[28] The unwillingness or inability of legal authority to understand the reality of urban African American life further entrenched the politics of racism.[29] Each branch of the federal, and in many cases local government has tried to systematically hinder the development of Hip Hop, especially in regard to rap music. The establishment of New York City’s “Rap Binder” and uneasy relationship between “The Hip Hop Cop” and rap artists well illustrates Hip Hop’s distrust of legal authority.[30]
Race, Gender and Class within Hip Hop
While it cannot be argued that Hip Hop’s origins and inspiration draw heavily from African American culture, Rose’s overly Afro-centric portrayal of Hip Hop underscores on going issues of race and class within Hip Hop. Rose correctly asserts that rap follows a long line of “African American social criticism”, but ignores Hip Hop’s potential to represent other cultural realities.[31] Rivera brings up an important point, echoed by Juan Flores that, “the myth that Hip Hop being an African American realm and representing a rupture in Puerto Rican tradition has served to weaken Puerto Ricans’ perceived entitlement to Hip Hop.”[32] Indeed, Hip Hop emerged from the South Bronx, a place home to African Americans, but also many Latinos, poor European Americans and other ethnicities. Furthermore, such an Afro-centric view of Hip Hop neglects the significant contributions of non-African Americans in the more diversified realms of Breakdancing (b-boys and b-girls), Graffiti and Turntablism.
In part to Hip Hop’s cultural tradition and in part to the commercialization of Hip Hop culture, African Americans represent the paramount for Hip Hop authenticity. The stories of inner city life rather than tell messages and spread truth have been comodified, sensationalized and sold to mainly white, suburban youths. Chang asserts, “Media monopolies favored artists who did not merely produce hits, but synergies of goods.”[33] The current state of Hip Hop through mass media has marginalized other racial/ethnic groups while reinforcing negative social stereotypes of the poorest ethnic/class demographic. In essence, this mass media driven shift has blurred the realities of race and class, merging the two into one.
Rose, Rivera and Rivere help articulate the role of women within Hip Hop. Rap and Hip Hop as a culture is a highly gendered space prioritizing male viewpoints over females through female objectification. Often while the media has recognized the growing influence of social dynamic of certain non-European populations, it has come at the expense of the “butter pecan mami” or exotic cultural other.[34] Often lost in translation, female viewpoints “construct women’s independence and male and female co-dependence as compatible forces.”[35] Drawing from the Lyricism workshop, Hip Hop artists Desdamona affirms, “I hear from men, ‘you’re really good, for a female rapper.’ Why can’t I just hear I’m a good rapper, period.”[36]
Conclusion
Through this paper the reader can clearly answer the questions posed in the beginning of the paper. Hip Hop is a global movement originating form a unique spatio-temporal region that has managed to accommodate and connect a wide variety of ethnicities and social classes while emphasizing local desires. Incorporating new influences, new styles and a larger audience, global Hip Hop has morphed its parameters even at home (the South Bronx).[37] Hip Hop is the four elements. Hip Hop is mode of reproduction and consumption. Hip Hop is a method for achieving social justice , and yet at the same time can be an objectifying, ethnocentric way of viewing the world. Indeed, Hip Hop is paradoxical since no one person can truly say what Hip Hop includes, and what Hip Hop cannot. Above all, however; Hip Hop is a culture, and perhaps its greatest strength is its capacity for growth and change.
Works Cited
Altstiel, Matt. “First Is Forever.” Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective 10 Oct. 2006: 2.
Altstiel, Matt. “The New Revolution of Rap and The Law.” Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective 20 Nov. 2006: 3-4.
Altstiel, Matt. “Viva La Revolucion.” Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective 17 Oct. 2006: 1.
Austin, Joe. Taking the Train: How Graffiti Art Became an Urban Crisis in New York City. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.
A Tribe Called Quest. “Keep It Movin.” Anthology. Jive Records, 1999.
Black and Blue: Legends of a Hip Hop Co. Dir. QD3. Perf. Derrick Parker. 2006. DVD. Image Entertainment, 2006.
Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. New York: Picador Press, 2005.
Ferrell, Jeff and Hamm, Mark S. “Raps, Cops and Crime: Clarifying the ‘Cop Killer' Controversy.” Rapping about Cop Killing. 2004. Institute for Jewish Policy Research. 20 Nov. 2006. <http://www.axt.org.uk/HateMusic/Rappin.htm>
Flores, Juan. From Bomba to Hip Hop. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
Freshest Kids, The: A History of the B-Boy. Dir. Israel. Perf. Crazy Legs, Ken Swift, Frost Freeze, Afrika Bambaataa. 2002. DVD. California, Brotherhood Films, 2002.
Ill Chemistry. Lyricism and the Lyricist. Carlson School of Business Management, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 7 Nov. 2006.
Rivera, Raquel Z. New York Ricans From the Hip Hop Zone. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
Riviere, Melisa. The New Revolution of Rap. Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective. Blegan Hall, University of Minnesota: Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 19 Oct. 2006.
Riviera, Melisa. Course Materials and Course Notes. Anthropology of Hip Hop in a Global Perspective. Blegan Hall, University of Minnesota: Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 7 Sept. 2006 – 13 Dec. 2006.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
Scratch. Dir. Mike Prey. Perf. DJ Mix Master Mike, DJ Q-Bert, DJ Shadow, Frank Cuevas. 2001. DVD. Palm Pictures, 2002.
Style Wars. Dir. Henry Chalfant and Tony Silver. Perf. Graffiti Writers. 1984. DVD. New York: Plexifilms, 2005.
Wild Style, Dir. Charlie Ahearn. Perf. Easy A.D., Patty Astor, Busy Bee. 1984. DVD. Rhino/Wea, 2002.
Wimsatt, William Upski. Bomb the Suburbs. Chicago: The Subway and Elevated Press Company, 1994.
Zion I. “Bird’s Eye View.” True & Livin’. Live Up, 2005.
[1] A Tribe Called Quest, Anthology
[2] Zion I, True & Livin’
[3] Rivera, pg. 51
[4] Rivera, pg. 51
[5] Rivera, pg. 15-16
[6] Austin, pg. 38-39
[7] Austin, pg. 43
[8] Austin, pg. 51, Style Wars, 1984
[9] Chang, pg. 122, 153
[10] The Freshest Kids, 2001
[11] Rivera, pg. 59
[12] The Freshest Kids, 2001
[13] Matt Altstiel, “First Is Forever”
[14] Scratch, 2001
[15] Rose, Black Noise; and Rivera, New York Ricans From the Hip Hop Zone
[16] Chang, pg. 113
[17] Chang, pg. 187
[18] Wildstyle, 1984
[19] Wimsatt, Bomb the Suburbs
[20] Rose, pg. 101
[21] Course materials, et al, and Rose, pg. 102
[22] Chang, pg. 216
[23] Riviere, Lecture 19 Oct. 2006
[24] Rose, pg. 101
[25] Chang, pg. 447-448
[26] Riviere, Lecture 19 Oct. 2006
[27] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[28] Hamm and Farrell “Raps, Cops and Crime”
[29] Matt Altstiel, “The New Revolution of Rap and the Law”
[30] Black and Blue: Legends of a Hip Hop Cop, 2006
[31] Rose, pg. 123
[32] Rivera, pg. 10 and Flores, From Bomba to Hip Hop
[33] Chang, pg. 447
[34] Rivera, pg. 142-143
[35] Rose, pg. 176
[36] Ill Chemistry, Lyricism and the Lyricist workshop
[37] Matt Altstiel, “Viva La Revolucion”
Hip Hop Response Paper #8
Matt Altstiel
12/15/06
GLOS 3900
like a bomb of consciousness and possibility. The combination of it all: the breaks, the rhymes, and the instrumentation fits together so perfectly. I could neither dismiss or ignore it as the principle sonic force in my life. Therefore, after 12 years of being an active Hip Hop listener and 3 years of being a practitioner, taking the Anthropology of Hip Hop was a logical choice. Coming in with a certain smugness, an air of superiority one projects when thoroughly engaged in a culture; I was curious to see what, ifanything I could possibly learn. Some of my assumptions were true; Hip Hop truly is beautiful, inclusive and a verifiable culture. Some of my assumptions were not. As an MC, I had relegated the other three elements: Break dancing (B-Boys and B-Girls), Turntablism, and Aerosol Art into second tier elements. Not realizing that each was an fundamental component, a part of the whole equation, I did not respect its history and its practioners to the same degree.
In many ways, this class taught me to open my eyes to the world around me. After the substantial section on Graffiti and Graf writers, the puzzling tags on the walls gained coherence and visibility. I could walk through Dinkytown admiring a particular masterpiece while at the same understanding the reasons behind a casual throw up on a park bench. Every musical, artistic style has its roots in the socio-temporal and Hip Hop is no exception. As a suburbanite, tags had been menacing, tangible reminders of urban decay but they became shouts of freedom for the oppressed, real symbols of resistance within a hostile society.
Likewise, the culture of break dancing contained its mysteries. Widely popularized now through pop movies and drunk, white suburbanites at parties attempting to break-dance; how could B-Boying occupy one of the four elements of Hip Hop? Like graf writers, B-boys and B-girls could use this element as a crucial escape mechanism. Break dancing allowed for the development of personal style, personal accomplishment and respect from peers. Therefore, course materials and particularly the documentary The Freshest Kids were vital to providing the answers I sought about B-Boying. As one brought up on the glamour, glitz and camera tricks of music videos, rarely did any of the four elements, for me, merge into a single culture. The past and present work of the Rock Steady Crew helped turn my growing pessimism of Hip Hop into Hope. That is, hope for the future by transforming and resurrecting the glory of the past.
When I thought of the DJ, past images of High School dances entered my
brain. The image of the European DJ: playing house, trance and techno music, also informed my opinions. I had heard of Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc and of the X-cutioners, but never realized that DJing gave birth to he music and culture of rap. Little did I know that the very breaks, beats and scratches I had taken for granted, originated from these Hip Hop pioneers. The tremendous skill of the DJ, both as a musician and a
performer, helped drive trends and create innovations.
Coming into Hip Hop in 1994, little of the classics or early history was known to me. When I would strap on my backpack, put on my headphones and jet to class, I would throw in some Quest, Biggie or pre- Skanktonia Outkast if I was feeling Old School. Learning about the past makes one better aware of the present. Armed with this knowledge, I could better analyze the music I was hearing on several levels: musically, lyrically and thematically. The informed "conscious" raps of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Black Thought and Common follow the progression of intelligent rappers before them. Hence, as a rapper myself, I learned that I had a duty to respect the past, earn props and gain amprenticeship if I was ever going to get serious as an MC.
More than the "Bling", the violence and "Pimpin Hoes" one hears on commercial radio, Hip Hop is about love. This all consuming love is not about taking, it is about giving back. This love is about expanding horizons and possiblities, not about segregating and dividing people. This is love is real, and one can feel it everywhere, be it right here in Minneapolis or over in Japan. More than anything, this class taught me to know, respect and love Hip Hop, not just to see and hear it.
12/15/06
GLOS 3900
Hip Hop Class
The experience of Hip Hop, when listened to for the first time, explodeslike a bomb of consciousness and possibility. The combination of it all: the breaks, the rhymes, and the instrumentation fits together so perfectly. I could neither dismiss or ignore it as the principle sonic force in my life. Therefore, after 12 years of being an active Hip Hop listener and 3 years of being a practitioner, taking the Anthropology of Hip Hop was a logical choice. Coming in with a certain smugness, an air of superiority one projects when thoroughly engaged in a culture; I was curious to see what, ifanything I could possibly learn. Some of my assumptions were true; Hip Hop truly is beautiful, inclusive and a verifiable culture. Some of my assumptions were not. As an MC, I had relegated the other three elements: Break dancing (B-Boys and B-Girls), Turntablism, and Aerosol Art into second tier elements. Not realizing that each was an fundamental component, a part of the whole equation, I did not respect its history and its practioners to the same degree.
In many ways, this class taught me to open my eyes to the world around me. After the substantial section on Graffiti and Graf writers, the puzzling tags on the walls gained coherence and visibility. I could walk through Dinkytown admiring a particular masterpiece while at the same understanding the reasons behind a casual throw up on a park bench. Every musical, artistic style has its roots in the socio-temporal and Hip Hop is no exception. As a suburbanite, tags had been menacing, tangible reminders of urban decay but they became shouts of freedom for the oppressed, real symbols of resistance within a hostile society.
Likewise, the culture of break dancing contained its mysteries. Widely popularized now through pop movies and drunk, white suburbanites at parties attempting to break-dance; how could B-Boying occupy one of the four elements of Hip Hop? Like graf writers, B-boys and B-girls could use this element as a crucial escape mechanism. Break dancing allowed for the development of personal style, personal accomplishment and respect from peers. Therefore, course materials and particularly the documentary The Freshest Kids were vital to providing the answers I sought about B-Boying. As one brought up on the glamour, glitz and camera tricks of music videos, rarely did any of the four elements, for me, merge into a single culture. The past and present work of the Rock Steady Crew helped turn my growing pessimism of Hip Hop into Hope. That is, hope for the future by transforming and resurrecting the glory of the past.
When I thought of the DJ, past images of High School dances entered my
brain. The image of the European DJ: playing house, trance and techno music, also informed my opinions. I had heard of Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc and of the X-cutioners, but never realized that DJing gave birth to he music and culture of rap. Little did I know that the very breaks, beats and scratches I had taken for granted, originated from these Hip Hop pioneers. The tremendous skill of the DJ, both as a musician and a
performer, helped drive trends and create innovations.
Coming into Hip Hop in 1994, little of the classics or early history was known to me. When I would strap on my backpack, put on my headphones and jet to class, I would throw in some Quest, Biggie or pre- Skanktonia Outkast if I was feeling Old School. Learning about the past makes one better aware of the present. Armed with this knowledge, I could better analyze the music I was hearing on several levels: musically, lyrically and thematically. The informed "conscious" raps of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Black Thought and Common follow the progression of intelligent rappers before them. Hence, as a rapper myself, I learned that I had a duty to respect the past, earn props and gain amprenticeship if I was ever going to get serious as an MC.
More than the "Bling", the violence and "Pimpin Hoes" one hears on commercial radio, Hip Hop is about love. This all consuming love is not about taking, it is about giving back. This love is about expanding horizons and possiblities, not about segregating and dividing people. This is love is real, and one can feel it everywhere, be it right here in Minneapolis or over in Japan. More than anything, this class taught me to know, respect and love Hip Hop, not just to see and hear it.
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