Hip-Hop as Black Music - Essay Example

 Hip-Hop as Black Music Jeff Chang’s can’t stop won’t stop, is a wonderfully executed piece that provides us with a detailed history about the origins of hip-hop music. But, this piece is not about history alone, the author has taken care to cover almost all aspects associated with hip-hop music’s origin, transformation and retransformation. The first few chapters of the book dig out the exact origin of hip-hop which is an amalgamation of rap music, break-dancing and graffiti art. The social condition of New York in the 1970’s played a crucial role in hip-hop’s origination. According to Jeff Chang, the building of the Cross-Bronx road laid grounds for the birth of hip-hop music. The building of this road forced almost 60,000 people to relocate to other neighborhoods. Thus, while the white people moved to better places like the Westchester Country, the black and brown communities retreated to South Bronx which was annihilated economically. “Where once apartment buildings or private homes had stood were now hills of rubble, decorated with ripped-open bags of rotting garbage that had been flung atop them” (Chang, pg 10) and though there was an increase in social housing in the area, there were barely any jobs. Almost 80% of the youth were left jobless. Thus, gangs were formed by the American-African and Afro-Caribbean mostly to revolt against the “white-gangs” who were already present in the neighborhood. These youths were filled with rebellious emotions paving way for graffiti and rapping. Thus from Chang’s presentation of the historical settings it is evident that origin of this art form was in the impoverished South Bronx areas where “where a complex maelstrom of social and political forces at play in the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s left the African-American and Hispanic communities searching for a way out of a lives of poverty, gang-dominated crime, and drugs” (Gest, 2010). “According to many Hip Hop aficionados, Hip Hop culture consists of at least four fundamental elements: Disc jockeying (DJing), break dancing, graffiti art, and rapping (emceeing)” (Alridge and Stewart, 2005) and all of these were born among the many gangs that were formed in the poor areas of New York. One of the bases of the music is racism. Discrimination, loss of jobs, fake promises and deindustrialization paved the way for the “gang-culture”. Gangs like Black Panthers safeguarded the interests of the blacks and rebelled against the whites. Similarly, several other gangs came into existence. Puerto Rican revolutionaries and Bronx gangs joined hands with drug dealers and other illicit groups against the government. Thus, gradually and eventually a firm footed unity enveloped between the gangs. Chang also talks about some of the well-known pioneers and inventors of hip-hop music who started making their name in these gangs. DJ Kool herc was the inventor of hip-hop music and the best known DJ in the whole of New York City and was an immigrant from Kingston (Chang, pg-69). He created a new way of playing music, inspired by Jamaican sound culture, and became a renowned DJ. Along the same lines, Chang has also written about the emergence of another famous DJ- Afrika Bambaataa who previously led a gang called Black Spade. Here we are able to understand that the impoverished areas hosted a lot of parties where. The parties were held as an alternative to gang life. Herc created his own music and recited words according to beats, thereby becoming laying grounds for rapping. Thus, hip-hop slowly emerged as a party movement where most people presented new music forms. These youth who were jobless and impoverished slowly developed an identity and brought in hip-hop music. In the next section, Chang describes the politics associated with hip-hop music. The political atmosphere caused a transformation of hip-hop music from a party music to a more politically inclined art form. The music form was implicitly political in the sense that youth from diverse national backgrounds were engaged together in music and the music itself became a voice for the impoverished classes. The U.S policies in the 1980’s increased the gap between the blacks and the white economically.” The poverty that gave rise to the inventive beats of rap and hip hop culture is invested in post-civil rights economic, educational, and cultural policies that rendered the urban Black poor less than citizens within the U.S. populace” (Walcott, 2005). The music served as the voice for the oppressed classes and youth everywhere were in much awe of hip-hop artists. The words and the beats were enough to convey messages to others and became a handy tool for the oppressed. Now, they could stand up against the government in their own way and thus rap became a much more serious thing. Another source tells us that Hip-hop was unarguably a “black music” because barely any white artists were seen involved in the music. “The centrality of blackness to hip-hop authenticity is evident in the tricky dance of identity of white rappers in search of acceptance and credibility” (Low, 2011) White rappers interested in hip-hop music would dress up and style tier hair in a way that was “ore black and less white.” Even today we can see a dearth of white rappers probably because of the music is more afro-centric. However, a few brave white rappers tried to “fit-in” among the rap artistes and become ghettos. White rappers like Eminem have succeeded, but one can notice the way he resembles black artistes in his way of dressing and accessorizing as well. Chang points out the gradual transformation of hip-hop in its lyrical sense too. Taking advantage of the rapidly growing popularity of the hip-hop genre, misogyny, black womanhood and violence where the patriarchal and stereotypical views were presented in the music, became a rage. In the 1980’s the ghetto life was unsentimental and anti-woman in nature. Thus misogyny and anti-feministic views were very much associated with hip-hop music. Abusing women in music and mocking maternal instincts became fashionable. The emphasis was ”placed on the ghetto as an authentic site of “Blackness” in the Hip-Hop community, in turn, bred misogynistic attitudes about specifically black women, and it became acceptable to disrespect black women in that context” (Simmons, 2008). In order to achieve a substantial limit of fame as masculine rappers, demeaning women through rapping became an easy way to impose their masculinity and establish themselves as “rap gangstas”. Abusive words such as “bitch” and “ho” (whore) are common words used even today in rap music. Reading the history of the origin of hip-hop it is clear that the origin of the music was completely black, however things have changed now. Firstly, white rappers have made a mark in the music. Some of the well known rappers are Eminem, Beastie Boys and MC-Serch. Though their entry into the industry might have been hard but their music was well received. DJ-ing has also become a fairly common thing among the whites. Secondly, the completely misogyny attitude of the music has been almost eradicated. For example, almost all songs of Akon are about beautiful women and not against them. The music is a major influence in today’s society and is not contained in the Black society. The essence of the music has spread worldwide and rapping, Dj-ing has evolved to suit all languages and cultures. Today, the styles are accepted worldwide. The music is interacting with global markets and the significant baggy pants, over-sized tees and accessories have become style statement in some countries. In the past few decades, Hip-hop music has earned a lot of fame and recognition.” From New York, to Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and localities in-between, hip-hop culture is a Diaspora spanning ethnic, linguistic, and geographic boundaries” (Motley & Henderson, 2008). In spite of being drawn into controversies which was largely based on the anti-social character of the music, it remains one of the most popular forms of music. It is a kind of music that the youth connects with really well. The music is a medium that reflects economic, social, political and personal issues through simple words and beats. REFERENCE Alridge, D., and J. Stewart. "INTRODUCTION: HIP HOP IN HISTORY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE." The Journal of African American History 90.3 (2005): 190-195. Print. Chang, Jeff. Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005. Print. Gest, D. "preserving the birthplace of hip hop 1520 Sedgwick tower." Forum Journal24.4 (2010): 35-40. Print. Low, Bronwen E. Slam School: Learning Through Conflict in the Hip-Hop and Spoken Word Classroom. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2011. Print. Motley, C., and G. R. Henderson. "The global hip-hop Diaspora: Understanding the culture." 61 (2008): 243-253. Print. Simmons, A. "BLACK WOMANHOOD, MISOGYNY, AND HIP-HOP CULTURE: A FEMINIST INTERVENTION." Cultural landscapes 1.2 (2008): 27-48. Print. Walcott, R. "Post-Civil Rights Music or Why Hip Hop is Dominant." Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education 4.3 (2005): 1-8. Print. Read More