Hip Hop's Effects on Violence - Essay Example

?Hip Hop’s effects on violence. The origins of hip hop are lost in the mists of time, and probably back to the Black oral tradition of semi sung, semi spoken storytelling against a background of percussion and dancing. What is certain, however, is that it grew to prominence in the South Bronx area of New York amongst mainly black and Latino communities in the 1970s. These communities were, and to some extent today still are, an underclass. The the expression of their interests, and their group identity had from the very start a necessary focus on the realities of life in an underprivileged group that suffered discrimination and disadvantage alongside much wealthier and more established cultural groups. The resulting new genre of music was raucous and disrespectful, using its own dialect to shout out an alternative lifestyle to the one that they saw in mainstream society. Since then interest in the movement has grown, and hip hop attracts unwavering support from millions of people across the whole world, but at the same time also it is heavily criticized for its focus on drugs, crime, and especially violence. It cannot be denied that violence lies at the heart of many hip hop lyrics, but the question that must be answered is what relationship hip-hop has to the real violence that occurs in the world’s cities today. Does hip-hop encourage that violence, or even cause it? Or can we see hip-hop as something that resists a greater violence that has been meted out to African Americans and other minorities for several centuries? This paper argues that the latter argument is more convincing, and that furthermore hip-hop has a potential to bring understanding between racial groups which no other movement is likely to bring forward at the present time. The first matter to clarify is the nature of what we call “Hip-hop.” It is a type of music, involving spoken and sung texts and strong steady rhythms. Hip hop is not just music, however, it is a whole culture, embracing graffiti art, dancing styles, and even fashion. The typical hip-hop look consists of baggy pants, sneakers, and Malcolm X caps which are worn backwards (Smitherman, 1997, p. 3) There is also a tendency for women to sport elaborate hairstyles, expensive designer outfits, well-manicured nails and striking makeup. For men there is a preference for ostentatious jewelry and if possible also fast cars. These artefacts are symbols of power, and the stars of hip hop culture sport these trophies to indicate how successful they are and how far they have come from poverty. Some critics see these expensive trinkets as genuine indicators of status while others regard them as ironic quotations from mainstream society, underlining rebellion and activism rather than consumerism and complacency: “Hip-hop’s triad of graffiti, dance, and rap are post-apocalyptic arts, scratches on the decaying surfaces of post-industrital urban America; they are not monuments to some romanticized ‘human spirit’, but fundamentally anti-monumental arts.” (Potter: 1995, p. 8) There is indeed something rebellious about hip hop. The body language of fans is often very insolent, with direct staring and head jerking, and many of the moves in the dance routines are quirky and acrobatic, drawing attention to the dancer and singling him out as a person to be admired. There is great loyalty amongst fans, and much is made of terms like “bro” which signifies brother and can be used both within racial groups and transcending these boundaries. When people think of hip-hop they think of instances where songs, or singers have been banned from radio stations because of offensive language, violent references and in particular criticism of the American state and its institutions. This is, however, nothing new, and from the hippies and the Beatles in the 1960s to the Sex Pistols in the punk era, posturing against authority is absolutely typical of youth culture. One aspect of hip-hop which is of great concern is the fact that it is often associated with gun culture and drug related activity. This brings fans into direct conflict with the police: “Nothing, perhaps, has incited so much negative reaction as hip-hop’s anti-police raps, despite the fact that the ongoing brutality and violence perpetrated by the police continues to be a fact of urban life.” (Potter, 1995, p. 88) Certainly anti-police lyrics and poems may appear shocking and dangerous from the safety of a comfortable middle class suburban area. From the perspective of the inner city ghettos however, where street violence is common, and police retaliation often harsh, violence is the only form of resistance left to marginalized young people. For them it symbolizes resistance to oppression, and this echoes previous historic struggles between African American citizens and cruel oppression during the civil rights movement. For this community resistance is part of their history and part of their lived experience, and this is why it occurs as a theme in their music and culture. Another heavily criticized aspect of hip-hop is the often violent language which is used to describe relations between the sexes. Women are called “bitches” or “whores” and there are very negative expressions for homosexuals and for all aspects of human sexuality. It has to be pointed out, however, that these words do not necessarily have the connotations in black urban society that they might have in a white context. The word “bitch” for example, which would be interpreted as an insult in most average households, actually could be defined as “a woman who gets what she wants” in a hip-hop context. (Krohn and Suazo: 1995, p. 140) Some romantic element of this seems to lie at the very heart of the rap genre: “…the term “rap” was originally used in the African American speech community to refer to romantic, sexualized interaction … By the late 1960s when the term crossed over into mainstream public language, it had lost its sexual innuendo and came to mean any kind of strong, aggressive, highly fluent, powerful talk.” (Smitherman: 1997, p. 4) The key feature here is that it is the talking itself which is seen as powerful, and not necessarily any violent, criminal or homophobic action. Rappers use shock tactics and transgressive language to make it absolutely clear that they do not buy into the petty rules and regulations of polite middle class society. This could be seen as an extension of the way that teenagers often resort to swearing amongst themselves in order to make themselves feel “free” and grownup, exercising their ability to break the rules set down by parents and teachers. The rebelliousness is a large part of the attraction for many younger fans. The fact remains, however, that some of the raps in hip-hop are extreme, and that violence is at times taken too far. Kitwana points this out when he writes: “Black-on-Black gun violence and murder, which result from what is now an essential underground economy, are far more serious problems than police brutality.” (Kitwana: 2002, p. 182) On the other hand, he is careful to remind us that there are good reasons why young black men resort to this lifestyle: “At the root are lack of employment options and inadequate economic infrastructure in urban communities.” (Kitwana: 2002, p. 182) Some of the more conservative elements in society, and that includes the police in some places, often make a direct link between the violence that they see in largely black communities, and the type of music that is played there. Similarly, unemployed black youths who can find no way to achieve economic success and status outside the underworld of drugs and crime tend to focus their aggression on the police, who appear to them as the most obvious representatives of an oppressive system. This confrontation is built into the system that both sides find themselves in, and does not necessarily reflect any personal animosity. There are signs that some key figures in the Hip Hop community are beginning to use the mainstream means of politics to defend attacks against the freedom of speech of its singers and authors. Columbia University set up a forum to engage in dialog about the impact of hip hop on culture and music in the widest sense, and across a global spectrum. (Chappell: 2001, p. 110) Those who have gained wealth and renown through hiphop are beginning to speak up for their rights but also to step up to their responsibilities as role models for younger people. Some of the most successful hip-hop artists such as Ict-T, Queen Latifah and Snoop Doggy Dogg have become mainstream popstars as well, which brings the genre to a much wider audience beyond working class urban African Americans and Latinos. This means that far from being a threat to mainstream societies, Hip Hop can be also a great unifier. Reese compares its worldwide reach and potential for influencing people for good to the Beat movement of the 1960s which was similarly provocative and yet creative at the same time. There is no doubt that a transformation from underground resistance movement to world-famous and leading cultural grouping brings many challenges. Some see the future prospects as rather negative: “The Hip Hop Nation grapples with the contradictions it lacks the political experience to resolve.” (Smitherman: 1997, p. 21) In fact, however, there are many examples of hip hop artists who promote a message of peace and racial harmony. The rapper Tupac Shakur, for example, sangs a song called “I Wonder if Heaven’s Got A Ghetto” including the words: “I see no changes, all I see is racist faces misplaced hate makes disgrace the racist… I wonder what it takes to make this one better place … take the evil out the people (then) they’ll be acting right cause both black and white are smoking crack tonight and the only time we deal is when we kill each other, it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other…” (Tupac Shakur, quoted in Reese, 2000, no page number) The sad fact is, however, that this singer died of gunshot wounds, in an attack that some have linked directly with his rapper career, his ritual taunting of other rappers, and his involvement in gang warfare. (Roy: 2002. p. 58) Soon after this tragedy, the death of rapper B.I.G. was rumoured to have been a revenge killing for the muder of Tupac Shakur. This aura of gangs and murder is, in the eyes of most fans just a posture but for some concerned parents and authority figures these all too real murders spell out a very harmful influence on impressionable young people. In conclusion, then, it is important to see the violence in hip-hop culture as predominantly a verbal tactic, designed to express the frustration of African American and other immigrant groups who experience discrimination and exclusion from mainstream society. Adolescents are drawn to protest music, because they, too, often find themselves excluded from the adult world of wealth and power, and the glamor of drugs and guns is a heady mix of fantasy for most fans. The drug dealing, gang behaviors and criminality of modern urban cultures is not a result of hip hop music, because they were there long before hip hop arrived. If anything hip-hop expresses a desire to make this desperate reality of many young citizens into an eloquent art form, and one that jumps up before a complacent mainstream society and demands attention. The point is that hip hop artists and fans live out their frustrations in music and fashion, and precisely not in the gangland warfare that they sing about. References Chappell, Kevin. “Hip-Hop at the Crossroads.” Ebony 56 (11), (2001) p. 110. Frosch, Dan. “Colorado Police Link Rise in Violence to Music.” New York Times Sep 3rd 2007. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/us/03hiphop.html Kitwana, Bakari. The Hip-Hop Generation: young blacks and the crisis in African American Culture. New York: BasicCivitas Books, 2002. Krohn, Franklin B. and Suazo, Frances L. “Contemporary Urban Music: Controversies and Messages in Hip-Hop and Rap Lyrics.” Et Cetera 52 (2) (1995, pp. 139-145. Potter, Russell A. Spectactular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism. New York: State University of New York Press, 1995. Reese, Renford. “From the Fringe: The Hip Hop Culture and Ethnic Relations.” Popular Culture Review XI (2) Summer 2000. Availabe at: http://www.csupomona.edu/~rrreese/HIPHOP.HTML Roy, Jody M. Love To Hate: America’s Obsession with Hatred and Violence. New York:Columbia University Press, 2002. Smitherman, Geneva. “ ‘The Chain Remain the Same’: Communicative Practices in the Hip Hop Nation.” Journal of Black Studies 28 (1) (Sep 1997), pp. 3-25. Available at: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~drrussel/www548/Smitherman%20J%20Black%20Studies.pdf Read More