Annotated Playlist - Gangsta/ Conscious Rap, Ghettocentism, Globalization, & Authenticity

Traci, Rhummanee, Danny, Sarah, and Scott
Tuesday Section

[MURS - "The Science"] (Gangsta/Conscious Rap)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbXoKzhUG9g

Conscious rap is defined as a sub-genre of hip hop that focuses on societal issues. In this song, Murs explains his hypothesis "on why [his] people on the whole seem to be such a mess". He brings up how crack has fallen into the hands of African Americans and how they "sell [themselves] back into slavery willingly". Meaning that they are on an endless cycle of servitude to the government because they are constantly going back to jail. And to Murs, this is a problem because they think it is an issue of black and white but Murs says, "it's so much more... it's not about race" it is about the rich staying rich and the poor staying poor. The government wants to keep the African American community down so that they will continue to make money while they are sitting in jail. Taxes are required to keep prisons running and while crack is around in the poorer communities, the money will be continually giving to the government to run those prisons.

Murs also discusses the problem of welfare and how there is "no independence, [they] become victims dependin' on the system". The individuals that continually rely on welfare have a hard time getting out of the system and according to Murs, they are "toiling on the past feeling sorry for [themselves]". But he also says that they do what they can to make it out of the system which, as stated by Murs, "is the origin of rap". Murs is a socially conscious rapper and I hope he will continue his career this way.

QUESTION: Do you think that modern rappers have lost sight of their past and can no longer "drop science"?


[2Pac - "Ambitionz Az a Ridah"] (Gangsta/Conscious Rap)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p9jSRxguAA

Many of us think of Tupac Shakur as a conscious figure. However, he also has songs that many people would think of as gangsta rap. "Ambitionz Az a Ridah", from the 1995 album "All Eyez On Me" is one of those songs. The hook is as follows:

"I won't deny it, I'm a straight ridah/
You don't wanna fuck with me/
Got the police bustin at me/
But they can't do nuttin to a G"

2Pac calls himself a "G", a gangsta in the hook and is making the statement that he is not one to be messed with. Even the police can't touch him. This confident attitude demands respect. Eric K. Watts writes about a street code that many youth adhere to in order to "campaign for respect". There are things that young people do or say about themselves in order to gain respect from peers. This street code, now heard in many songs is an example of how consumerism has a stake in hip-hop music. Without taking into account what is "real" or "authentic", people want to hear about this lifestyle and so it keeps coming up time and again in hip-hop through its commercialization.

Eric K. Watts' article touches on how shock appeal makes for good consumerism. The idea is that the lifestyle that is often portrayed in what we think of as gangsta rap is appealing, since this music gives insight to a different type of reality. However, as shocking as it may seem to some, it can be a true for those telling the story. One of the lines in the song goes, "Blast me but they didn't finish, (buck buck buck buck buck), didn't diminish my powers, so now I'm back to be a motherfuckin' menace, they cowards". In actuality, there were threats made on Shakur's life, and now he's just speaking on it in a song. Once this images or ideas becomes marketable however, it is repeatedly brought up when talking about rap, a sort of ghettocentric idea. As Watts says, "it's more meaningful to say that gangsta rap is neither fact, fiction nor some exotic combination, but part of an overdose of commercialized reality."

QUESTION: Is gangsta rap hip-hop? Is there a place in hip-hop for both forms of rap?


[Too Short - "The Ghetto"] (Ghettocentrism)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOnPJegjUts

In the video by rap artist Too Short hailing out of Oakland, California he narrates a song in the form of rap depicting life in the ghettos of Oakland. In his opening lines he describes life in the Oakland ghetto as he sees it employing his own interpretation from his own eyes of life in the ghetto. Too Short paints a picture for us about the rough life and decrepit condition of the place that he lives:

“Even though the streets are bumpy, lights burned out

Dope fiends die with a pipe in their mouths

Old school buddies not doing it right

Every day it's the same

And it's the same every night

I wouldn't shoot you bro but I'd shoot that fool

If he played me close and tried to test my cool

Every day I wonder just how I'll die

Only thing I know is how to survive

There's only one rule in the real world

And that's to take care of you, only you and yours”

While this is a great artistic technique of showing through “telling”, this paints us a small picture of life in the ghetto, making it reliant upon old stereotypes as defined by the term ghettocentrism. What is not depicted here are the success stories that come out of the ghetto: the volunteers; the churches; the students that achieve a high GPA and attain scholarships to attend college away from the ghetto; the girl who values an education over getting pregnant; the mothers who work hard to put their kids through school and bread on the table. Those are items not encapsulated within the term ghettocentrism, as one would think that because one aspect of the ghetto is depicted a certain way that it must entirely be experienced that way by everyone regardless of their particularity. There is however an underlying sense of despair however, that enough is not being done to resolve the problems in the ghetto, which I am sure everyone can agree with, as Too Short points out so skillfully:

“Mama's next door getting high

Even though she's got five mouths to feed

She's rather spend her money on a H-I-T

I always tell the truth about things like this

I wonder if the mayor overlooked that list

Instead of adding to the task force send some help

Waiting on him I'd better help myself

Housing Authority and the O.P.D.

All these guns just to handle me in the...[ghetto]”

[Narcicyst - "P.H.A.T.W.A."] (Globalization)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtoHCUMpNMY

The Narcicyst is a Canadian Iraqi rapper and social activist who has garnered much attention for his socially conscious raps, challenged what many people accept as the innate injustices of the world. At the most basic application of the term “globalization,” he has benefited from the saturation of Canadian both hip-hop’s trends and artists from just below the border in the United States. The spread of hip-hop across the globe is often achieved by the mere proximity of the nation to other hubs of production activity, allowing for exposure to talent and the means by which to express it. As Halifu Osumare additionally points out, hip-hop has evolved into a sort “youth identifier” despite its early – and continued – connections to the marginalization of black culture. Both of these elements are essential the appropriation of the musical genre across the globe.

Beyond the fact that hip-hop is a sample-based production, rappers on the international scene adopt similar styles to that of American rappers, so there are beats, rhythms and other common factors that transcend geographical difference. This shows the spread of culture, allowing for a common platform on which rap can be approached by a linguistically and culturally varying audience. The genre itsself developed in America as a response the marginality of the black population and its dismissal from pertinent political and social processes. As such, the activist element of hip-hop is one of the main elements that allows it to be reapplied spanning different cultures and communities. Because this is a movement of popular culture in which “inherited social inequalities find fertile ground among the youth who challenge their social and political contexts,” the audience is widened more so than can be achieved by using other venues.

The Narcicyst uses his song to approach controversial and global issues, issues that transcend physical location, many that are results of an increasingly globalizing and interconnected world. He makes the connection of a persecuted community from which hip-hop developed to assist by noting that, “Iraq is the new black.” He shift the context of the field while maintaining its original intent merely applied to a different group. P.H.A.T.W.A. is specifically global in the sense that not only has the artist successfully adopted and applied the characteristics of hip-hop to an alternate but reminiscent situation, he address an issue that is relevant in international media on the whole. By choosing to do this, people of varying countries who are even mildly politically aware are able to understand that he is highlighting the fact that the Iraqi population is not the target of a tremendous amount of unjust persecution – specifically in the United States of America as a result of 9-11. Question that in a schema in which many Americas treat airport security with dismissal, he questions why people who bear an appearance that would signify Iraqi descent are specifically the ones getting denied. Just as rappers in America challenge how the black population is exploited for the culture and music without any great return, so too is the Middle East, where the U.S.A, “pump pain and oil while they murder.” Exploitation as a common element allows for the message to transcend nationality, culture and class, allowing a wider audience the ability to relate.

Lastly, he mimics the appropriation of black culture by the white population through titling his song “Phatwa” rather than fatwa. Fatwa is a religious opinion given by anyone about Islamic law, but in western culture it is often thought to be a death sentence issued to a traitor or infidel. By renaming is Phat, meaning cool or socially acceptable, he shows the shallowness of America’s understanding of the world and the further exploitation of culture.

QUESTION:

1. Why is hip-hop among the first styles of music to cross so many borders? What makes it so special?

2. Do you think there a certain countries/peoples to which hip=hop will not be able to translate?

[Binary Star - "Reality Check] (Authenticity)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnD_CXnXEB8

Authentic Hip Hop is an art form that deviates from mainstream tends and stays true to the cultural and musical ideals of hip hop that are rooted in self expression and social critique. Authentic hip Hop cannot be made for the purpose of making money, rather it must convey or critique some aspect of an individual or social reality.

"Every verse is intricate, this ain't a circus in a tent

We don't get down like them clowns and the kids

I'm use to being indegent, who said its all about the Benjamin's?

I wanna fortune, I wanna make music and hit the lottery

Fortunately my music is never watery

that's how its gotta be, as far as I can see

Maybe you should grab a telescope to see my view is like astronomy

It ain't all about economy

so the fact that these wack emcees is making G's don't bother me

Honestly, my number one policy is quality

never sell my soul is my philosophy."

This verse exemplifies authentic Hip Hop because One Be Lo rejects the notion of selling out and embraces honest expression. One Be Lo’s lyrics outline his ideals with regard to success in Hip Hop. In One Be Lo’s opinion, sacrificing lyrical content for money is wrong. Authentic Hip Hop can still make money as long as it remains an art form and is not made for the sole purpose of making money.

[Hieroglyphics & Goapele - Soweto] (Group Song)

From a conscious rap perspective, this song is conscious as exemplified in the lyrics, "Virgin territories, those exposed to man made woes". This can be interpreted to mean that lands that were untouched have now been destroyed by man made things such as factories, oil extractors and even buildings. This is a problem because the beautiful land that once was is now no longer there. The artist's statement of this is his acknowledgment of how some lands are treated. It can be seen as gansta rap to some, particularly those with ghettocentrismic views, because it promotes substance abuse which is a common problem in urban areas as exemplified in the line, "always smokin blunts and gettin drunk".

QUESTION:
1. What is conscious or gangsta rap?
2. How is one or the other more authentic (if at all)?