Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Marcus McCarther---Collective Marginality
In his video Life As A Shorty, Fashawn is able to articulate the identity of a young male growing up in his neighborhood. His story is a universal story in American culture. Most people can relate to the lyrics and imagery displayed in the video. Largely because of rap music, one can tune in to the voices and find faces of America’s Black youth at any point in the day (Kitwana, 342). Although this statement is true, I find it to be problematic. Not all rap music is specifically catered or representative of Black culture or people. There is conscious hip-hop that I feel is entirely underrepresented in hip-hop discourse. This may be for economic reasons but mainstream record companies suppress messages of Black uplift and empowerment. And in the same way as the mainstream media establishes the parameters for national discussion for the nation at large, rap music sets the tone for Black youth (Kitwana, 344). Hip-hop is the embodiment of connective marginality. Connective marginality is the term given as a conceptual frame that encompasses various social and historical realms that form the context for youth participating in hip-hop outside the United States (Osumare, 69). Mired in the historic context of American racism, the global meanings of blackness may signify parallel issues of marginality and difference marked already in other countries (Osumare, 62). This song and video are successful at articulating a message that is both representative and universal at the same time. Fashawn says, “life as a Shorty shouldn’t be so rough.” Given the fact that many of our youth come of age in urban centers blighted with poverty and an educational system overwhelmed and underfunded, it sometimes follows that our kids see themselves as damaged or deficient (Watts, 595). Some might watch this and think this is what it must me like to live in the ghetto but I challenge that. This is what it might be like for many living in lower class, impoverished environments. However, these same experiences might take place in an upper-middle class neighborhood in Orange County, California or even Tokyo, Japan.
Babak Afshinnik---Gangster vs. Conscious Rap
The song I chose is Tupac’s “Never Had A Friend Like Me.” This song embodies both Gangster and Conscious rap in it lyrical dimensions. Few artists are capable of producing a song that can possess Gangster and Conscious rap lyrics and far fewer can achieve this with the balance and taste Tupac brought. Conscious rap attempts to tell a story/narrative from an introspective stance that incorporates metaphoric/descriptive prose to impart a refined sentiment/quality to the music Gangster rap, in contrast to conscious rap, is more unrefined. Although a story is often told in Gangster rap, the main focus isn’t one of introspection and reflection but rather reaction and flows that speak of the present at hand and ho that experience comes across is the core of Gangster rap. Tupac’s “Never Had A Friend Like Me”comes across as both Gangster and Conscious rap in its entirety.Tupac blends elements of Gangster and Conscious rap with the verses, “…See at night I watch the sky take another breath I smoke my Newport to the butt Like it's the last motherfucker left just me and you evading enemies let you get my last shot of Hennessy ain't never had a friend like me remember memories so vividly was once a little dust kicker now becomes a G who can I call when they all fail collect calls to my dogz from the county Jail sendin' me mail heard the blocks in the same shape ain't nothin' changed niggaz slangin' at the same place the same faces we suppose to alwayz hate our foes this lifestyle is forever watch the game unfold shedding crocodile tears just got life plus and you wonder if these white judges like us just stay strong we'll appeal nigga you'll be free down with cha to the very end cause you ain't never had a friend like me.” In this verse, Tupac touches on many elements of Gangster and Conscious rap. Tupac’s choice to speak of Hennessy and Newport’s is reminiscent of Gangster rap. Tupac’s discussion of the block and how things haven’t changed is a social commentary on the pace of life in the hood and this draws from elements of Conscious rap. Tupac’s reference of to a white judge is a commentary aimed at the racial prejudice blacks and minorities feel in America, especially in the judicial system.
Margaret Guitron---Machismo
Broken down into its components, the machismo is the being or the expression of being “macho.” In Hip-Hop we see that machismo or the expression of being “macho” is done so to give power to the “devalued black man.” Machismo can be expressed through either the flaunting of sexuality, money, physical power (i.e. strength), or the devaluing of women.
In Nelly’s “Tipdrill” music video, for example, we as viewers are witness to several acts of machismo through the devaluing of women. Throughout the whole video there are scantily dressed women dancing around what seems to be a summer pool house. These women’s rear ends are what is the central theme of the song; we hear such lyrics as, “it must be your ass ‘cause it ain’t yo face.” Such lyrics strip women into mere body parts, disposable to men’s use. Along with these lyrics, we see some very explicit images where women’s booties are being slapped around, men are grinding behind them, and some women are grinding on each other in a Jacuzzi. It is very obvious that women’s central role in the video is to sexually entertain; at one point a girl is being thrown dollar bills at her by Nelly. The video concludes with Nelly swiping a credit card through a woman’s butt cheeks all whilst he smiles big for the camera in approval. Overall, we see the power that Nelly and his crew of men have over these women: slapping them around, throwing money at them, and using them to their desire. We get a sense that they own them with their money…the same could also be said of the women owning the men through their sexuality but in the end what we see is that the exchange of goods is not equal as these women are being heavily degraded in dignity. Every act of woman’s submission in this video is used to bring forward the power that the video’s men have over women, all indicative of machismo.
Nebiyu Wondyfraw--- Social Commentary / Social Discourse
Dance, disco, having a good time, this is what rap was prior to “The Message” by Grandmaster flash. This music video caused a shift in hip hop from feel good music to an outlet for the struggles of the urban community. The music video was a call to the American public to listen and understand what was really going down in the very environment for which most of the hip hop artists were coming from. In many ways “The Message” was the seed of conscience rap that laid the foundation for future social commentators like Chuck D., NWA, and Tupac.
Grandmaster flash vividly paints a picture of what was going on in the urban communities during the Reagan era of the 1980’s. There was an explosion in crack cocaine dealing and many people of the urban community were suffering through economic struggles such as inflation. Furthermore, the trickledown economics of the time seemed to be causing an increase in the separation between the have and the have-nots. Grandmaster explains that the streets of the time were filled with the homeless, pimps, and drug addicts. In addition, children were spending most of their time watching tv all day, smoking, and not getting a proper education, contributing to the endless cycle of the youth growing up to live a life on the streets. By stating “ Don’t push me cause I’m close to the edge, I’m trying not to lose my head,” he was warning all of America in the chorus that the urban community of the time was a ticking time bomb and that if changes were not made, then all of America better brace themselves for the consequences. The song was Grandmaster Flash forcing the uninformed public to listen and visualize what really was going on in the streets, instead of just pretending that it does not exist. It was the genesis of the union of hip hop and social awareness that served a purpose that was far greater than just dancing and selling records.
Do you think the mainstream success of hip hop has led to the decline of socially conscious rap?
Leo Thom--- Social Commentary / Social Discourse
Today’s popular hip hop scene is typically dominated by hyper-masculine figures who berate the female sex to prove the gangster lifestyle their lyrics portray. Much of the time, the content within popular rap is anything but substantial or conscientious, with the usual references to one’s masculinity, sexual prowess, and wealth being somewhat ubiquitous of the top ten rap hits at any given time. Commercial and popular success are often directly correlated with how “real”, or authentic, a rapper is, with a misogynistic attitude being one of prerequisites for obtaining street credibility. The lack of respect for women in contemporary hip hop is alarming and a cause for concern, with women being viewed as either tools for sexual pleasure or annoyances that need to be dealt with.
However, highly influential rapper Tupac Shakur was one of the few artists who not only openly respected women, but also produced female-positive songs including “Dear Mama” and “Keep Ya Head Up” to much commercial and critical acclaim. Although Tupac did indeed live the gangster lifestyle depicted in his music, his street credibility, fan base, or record sales did not falter because of his female-positive messages. Arguably, because Tupac was considered authentic by his peers and listeners, his messages of female empowerment did not fall upon deaf ears.
Tupac’s social commentary through his song “Keep Ya Head Up” touches upon the hardships many women face in the ghetto community, namely sexual abuse and single-motherhood. The artist questioned the behavior he saw in the ghettos:
And since we all came from a woman / Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman / I wonder why we take from our women / Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
Using his influence in the hip hop community, Tupac, an ever conscious artist of social dilemmas, was able to comment on the troubling issue of the degradation of the female image in the ghetto. Amid the plethora of artists that spout misogynistic, almost predictable lyrics, Tupac was one of the leading forces behind female-empowerment through hip hop.
Discussion Question Has there been any male rappers, as of late, taking up Tupac's cause for female empowerment through hip hop? Why do you think Tupac was so influential on the conscious level, yet able to maintain his "thug life" image?
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Tuesday Section: Tony Quach, Gabrielle Alvarez, Marquis Nicolis, Larisa O'Loughlin for vocabulary terms: Globalization, Connective marginalities, Power moves
Gabrielle Alvarez: Jovanotti – Il Rap (1992), “globalization”
Everyone can agree on the fact that hip-hop has gone global, and not just in a form of borrowing United States hip-hop and putting a foreign face on it. All aspects of hip-hop culture, including rap, b-boying, clothing style, and graffiti elements, have spread to countries all over the world and each one has incorporated their own influential touch. As Osumare describes this phenomenon in the context of "connective marginality," different cultures are able to do this because the meaning of hip-hop in general is centered around four main characteristics: youthful rebellion, historical oppression, class, and micro culture. Hip-hop expresses each of these realms in creative ways that can be unique to many different artists from all around the world. Complications can arise because these realms, experiences, and the reasons behind them are often interconnected among different nations, but in the end it leads to further integration and influence of the music.
Driving the globalization of hip-hop across national divides are the processes of advanced technological communication, and consumerist commercialization. However, even with the root of hip-hop holding a United States background, other countries have still embraced the culture as not just music but as a physical and personal movement. The example I use is Italian hip-hop and Italian rapper Jovanotti's "Il Rap." Hip-hop spread to Italy in the mid 1980's and popularized in the early 1990's. The song "Il Rap" illustrates early mainstream Italian rap music, which still had an extremely large American component. As one of Italy's first popular rappers, Jovanotti used this track to boost hip-hop in Italy by sampling the United States' Public Enemy. As the country was exposed to more music and more hip-hop artists gained fame, the globalization process became much more apparent. Italian rappers began to rap about everything from personal struggles in their own lives to political situations concerning the Mafia, and about homelessness, poverty, and other social issues that were specific to Italian communities. Furthermore, many artists have individualized their expressionist music by rapping in local dialects that have been known to be as exclusive as within a single family. Italian rap started with heavy American influence, but like globalized hip-hop in other countries, has become one single culture with Italian elements.
Discussion: Hip-hop developed in the United States and has globally allowed the youth generation to express themselves in a revolutionary way. How do you think other countries incorporate elements such as Africanist Aesthetics and other such dynamics into their music? Can they use these means of expression in the same way that Americans can, particularly African-Americans that have long-standing historical and political struggle connections within hip-hop culture?
Marquis Nicolis: Tres coronas – Ahora o Nunca, “globalization”
Prior to the 1980s, hip-hop music was largely confined within the context of the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began its spread and became a part of the music scene in dozens of countries. In the beginning of 2001, in the streets of Queens, New York City a rap group was formed under the name "Tres Coronas" (which literally translates to Three Crowns) by three young rappers from Colombia (P.N.O. and Rocca) and Dominican Republic (Reychesta). With their only goal in mind to “crown” in the world of rap in Spanish and Latin America Tres Coronas began to release various mixtapes that were independently sold in certain parts of the United States, Colombia, France and Spain.
Within the construct of the "global-hood," hip hop examines how an expressive culture that began in the impoverished working-class black and Latino communities in New York has developed into a performative and social phenomenon that incorporates verbal skills and other creative elements such as dance and music. Central to Osumare's argument is the concept of Connective marginalities, a term, and multiple layers of meaning that draw from its sociocutural context and audience. Moreover, in this video ahora or nunca t by tres coronas has concept of connective marginalities continues to reflect the cross-cultural performative stage that allows for the exploration of cultural identity by the hip-hop artist. In a sense hip-hop connects minorities of any country, which allows them to use hip-hop as tool for speaking about poverty and other inequalities such as low unemployment, gangs and the civil war in Columbia between locals and the government army. Nonetheless, hip-hop has become an influential voice for youth around the globe. “Given the impact and pervasive confluence of global communications and postmodernism, It should come as no surprise that hip-hop youth culture has proliferated internationally,” and we such groups such as Tres Coronas
Hip hop "has become international in breadth and depth, with thousands of cultures throughout the globe having embraced it in various forms ... American hip-hop music has reached the cultural corridors of the globe and has been absorbed and reinvented around the world.
Discussion: Although hip- hop has been has sometimes taken for granted in the U.S., how has hip- hop globally come to represent empowerment of the less fortunate in the developing countries. In other words how can it be seen as or represented as there own American dream?
Tony Quach: Eminem – My Name Is, “power moves”
Eminem in 1999 released “My Name Is” on the album The Slim Shady LP under Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment record label. The controversial and often offensive lyrical content made waves with the media and various activists groups calling for bans and censorship. In its first verse the song contains violence, gore, drug behavior, sex, suicide, pop culture, misogyny and religion. As an emcee, Eminem uses his lyrical talents to provide such shock value as an emcee “power move,” or a move to gain power when it moves beyond public acceptability. Eminem uses his glorified experiences with drugs, seemingly intense anger at the world, and thoughts of horrific violence in order to establish respect.
Post Hip Hop’s Vanilla Ice Era, it seemed impossible for a white emcee to make a case in rapping. Labeled by the mass media a gangster rapper, since his lyrics contain violence, misogyny, and drugs, he was not accepted warmly by the public, nor was he fully accepted by the hip hop community. A lot of hip hop fans believed he was going to be another white emcee trying to catch their glimpse of fame by using controversy as his fuel before the flame of his career burns out. Eminem’s lyrical attacks towards various pop culture icons in this song (Pamela Anderson, Spice Girls) originates from his emcee background where he developed his skills as a freestyle battle rapper. Battle rappers’ utilize improvisational lyrics as power moves in the form of grisly metaphors, threats of violence, homophobic declarations in order to “destroy” their opponents.
Discussion: Do you think Eminem’s recent albums still the original power move factors when compared to his earlier works?
Larisa O'Loughlin: Reggie Rockstone and Wyclef Jean – We Glad, “Globalization”
Why is it that Hip Hop has resonated with youth all over the world? How has Hip Hop, which originally started out as a form of expression within a society that marginalizes a people based on race, become an essential part of global youth culture? Osumare's answer is connective marginalities. Connective marginalities is a term in which Osumare uses to explain the connection Hip Hop has globally. It helps to explain the social and historical experiences in which certain youth identify with, particularly in Hip Hop. Connective marginalities are "resonances of social inequalities that can manifest as four configurations in different parts of the world- youthful rebellion, class, historical oppression and culture." (Osumare, 63)
The artist I chose to feature is Reggie Rockstone who is the Godfather of Hiplife, a genre of music in Ghana that combines jazzy/funky Ghanaian highlife, hip hop, reggae and dancehall. This style of music has been around since the 80's, but became popular by Rockstone in '94 when he ignited the Hiplife movement. He went to London in his early year and became a break dancer. He brought his knowledge of Hip Hop back to Ghana and used the youth population to test out tracks, that incorporated African and Hip Hop beats. This Hiplife movement was a youth movement which was heavily influenced by Hip Hop in its early years. The cultural and youth rebellion aspect of the connective marginalities are most present in Hiplife. One professor of anthropology notes that African Diasporic musical forms are fluid in many parts of Africa in that music from artists in the Diaspora have always had success due to the fact that they share many of the same aesthetics- such as storytelling. In Hiplife, you will also see that the youth have taken on the stance of being social critics, criticizing the government, the church or any institution in which they see as being harmful to society. In turn, Hiplife is seen as morally corrupt and a threat to tradition by some of the older generation in Ghana. It wasnt very easy to find a song that wasnt sung in Twi or Ga, but I found the song "We glad" by Reggie Rockstone and Wyclef Jean, a Haitian born American rapper. The theme of the song is rags to riches, which is also a popular theme in American Hip Hop. This song also has some underlying social commentary about the realities of many people in Ghana who are still waiting (but may never) for their chance to "make it" to the top.
Discussion: Do you think Hip Hop could be popularized in another country without having elements of the four connective marginalities?
GROUP SONG: Far East Movement – Like a G6
Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Far East Movement are a group of rappers and entertainers that have worked with various hip hop acts and artists. They performed at Power 106’s Powerhouse 2009 alongside such artists such as Jay-Z, Lil Jon, Kid Cudi, SeanPaul, New Boyz, Pitbull and Flo Rida. Hip hop and its constant evolving state has given birth to such sub genres as electro hop, hip hop rapping with dance heavy beats. Osumare discusses that hip hop and dance appeal to the Africanist Aesthetic. The blend of Asian and American cultures truly shows its globalization. Osumare’s concept that hip-hop all over the world still includes connective marginalities or youth rebellion, expression, oppression, culture and class are all included in the scope of hip hop. The video depicts a culture of partying and regardless of socio-economic class, people gather in celebration with music, food and drink for all sorts of occasions, and as FM explains in their lyrics, “This is how we live, every single night.”
Discussion: "Like a G6" shows how hip-hop culture can be influential in both directions: American hip-hop doesn't just influence other countries. This song shows how Asian influence is brought back on to the United States. Do you think that all of the cross-cultural influences and integrations change the central meanings and expressions that hip-hop originally developed for? How do you think dynamics between countries, like war etc., might influence the way countries can affect each other in terms of the music?
Gabrielle Alvarez: Jovanotti – Il Rap (1992), “globalization”
Everyone can agree on the fact that hip-hop has gone global, and not just in a form of borrowing United States hip-hop and putting a foreign face on it. All aspects of hip-hop culture, including rap, b-boying, clothing style, and graffiti elements, have spread to countries all over the world and each one has incorporated their own influential touch. As Osumare describes this phenomenon in the context of "connective marginality," different cultures are able to do this because the meaning of hip-hop in general is centered around four main characteristics: youthful rebellion, historical oppression, class, and micro culture. Hip-hop expresses each of these realms in creative ways that can be unique to many different artists from all around the world. Complications can arise because these realms, experiences, and the reasons behind them are often interconnected among different nations, but in the end it leads to further integration and influence of the music.
Driving the globalization of hip-hop across national divides are the processes of advanced technological communication, and consumerist commercialization. However, even with the root of hip-hop holding a United States background, other countries have still embraced the culture as not just music but as a physical and personal movement. The example I use is Italian hip-hop and Italian rapper Jovanotti's "Il Rap." Hip-hop spread to Italy in the mid 1980's and popularized in the early 1990's. The song "Il Rap" illustrates early mainstream Italian rap music, which still had an extremely large American component. As one of Italy's first popular rappers, Jovanotti used this track to boost hip-hop in Italy by sampling the United States' Public Enemy. As the country was exposed to more music and more hip-hop artists gained fame, the globalization process became much more apparent. Italian rappers began to rap about everything from personal struggles in their own lives to political situations concerning the Mafia, and about homelessness, poverty, and other social issues that were specific to Italian communities. Furthermore, many artists have individualized their expressionist music by rapping in local dialects that have been known to be as exclusive as within a single family. Italian rap started with heavy American influence, but like globalized hip-hop in other countries, has become one single culture with Italian elements.
Discussion: Hip-hop developed in the United States and has globally allowed the youth generation to express themselves in a revolutionary way. How do you think other countries incorporate elements such as Africanist Aesthetics and other such dynamics into their music? Can they use these means of expression in the same way that Americans can, particularly African-Americans that have long-standing historical and political struggle connections within hip-hop culture?
Marquis Nicolis: Tres coronas – Ahora o Nunca, “globalization”
Prior to the 1980s, hip-hop music was largely confined within the context of the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began its spread and became a part of the music scene in dozens of countries. In the beginning of 2001, in the streets of Queens, New York City a rap group was formed under the name "Tres Coronas" (which literally translates to Three Crowns) by three young rappers from Colombia (P.N.O. and Rocca) and Dominican Republic (Reychesta). With their only goal in mind to “crown” in the world of rap in Spanish and Latin America Tres Coronas began to release various mixtapes that were independently sold in certain parts of the United States, Colombia, France and Spain.
Within the construct of the "global-hood," hip hop examines how an expressive culture that began in the impoverished working-class black and Latino communities in New York has developed into a performative and social phenomenon that incorporates verbal skills and other creative elements such as dance and music. Central to Osumare's argument is the concept of Connective marginalities, a term, and multiple layers of meaning that draw from its sociocutural context and audience. Moreover, in this video ahora or nunca t by tres coronas has concept of connective marginalities continues to reflect the cross-cultural performative stage that allows for the exploration of cultural identity by the hip-hop artist. In a sense hip-hop connects minorities of any country, which allows them to use hip-hop as tool for speaking about poverty and other inequalities such as low unemployment, gangs and the civil war in Columbia between locals and the government army. Nonetheless, hip-hop has become an influential voice for youth around the globe. “Given the impact and pervasive confluence of global communications and postmodernism, It should come as no surprise that hip-hop youth culture has proliferated internationally,” and we such groups such as Tres Coronas
Hip hop "has become international in breadth and depth, with thousands of cultures throughout the globe having embraced it in various forms ... American hip-hop music has reached the cultural corridors of the globe and has been absorbed and reinvented around the world.
Discussion: Although hip- hop has been has sometimes taken for granted in the U.S., how has hip- hop globally come to represent empowerment of the less fortunate in the developing countries. In other words how can it be seen as or represented as there own American dream?
Tony Quach: Eminem – My Name Is, “power moves”
Eminem in 1999 released “My Name Is” on the album The Slim Shady LP under Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment record label. The controversial and often offensive lyrical content made waves with the media and various activists groups calling for bans and censorship. In its first verse the song contains violence, gore, drug behavior, sex, suicide, pop culture, misogyny and religion. As an emcee, Eminem uses his lyrical talents to provide such shock value as an emcee “power move,” or a move to gain power when it moves beyond public acceptability. Eminem uses his glorified experiences with drugs, seemingly intense anger at the world, and thoughts of horrific violence in order to establish respect.
Post Hip Hop’s Vanilla Ice Era, it seemed impossible for a white emcee to make a case in rapping. Labeled by the mass media a gangster rapper, since his lyrics contain violence, misogyny, and drugs, he was not accepted warmly by the public, nor was he fully accepted by the hip hop community. A lot of hip hop fans believed he was going to be another white emcee trying to catch their glimpse of fame by using controversy as his fuel before the flame of his career burns out. Eminem’s lyrical attacks towards various pop culture icons in this song (Pamela Anderson, Spice Girls) originates from his emcee background where he developed his skills as a freestyle battle rapper. Battle rappers’ utilize improvisational lyrics as power moves in the form of grisly metaphors, threats of violence, homophobic declarations in order to “destroy” their opponents.
Discussion: Do you think Eminem’s recent albums still the original power move factors when compared to his earlier works?
Larisa O'Loughlin: Reggie Rockstone and Wyclef Jean – We Glad, “Globalization”
Why is it that Hip Hop has resonated with youth all over the world? How has Hip Hop, which originally started out as a form of expression within a society that marginalizes a people based on race, become an essential part of global youth culture? Osumare's answer is connective marginalities. Connective marginalities is a term in which Osumare uses to explain the connection Hip Hop has globally. It helps to explain the social and historical experiences in which certain youth identify with, particularly in Hip Hop. Connective marginalities are "resonances of social inequalities that can manifest as four configurations in different parts of the world- youthful rebellion, class, historical oppression and culture." (Osumare, 63)
The artist I chose to feature is Reggie Rockstone who is the Godfather of Hiplife, a genre of music in Ghana that combines jazzy/funky Ghanaian highlife, hip hop, reggae and dancehall. This style of music has been around since the 80's, but became popular by Rockstone in '94 when he ignited the Hiplife movement. He went to London in his early year and became a break dancer. He brought his knowledge of Hip Hop back to Ghana and used the youth population to test out tracks, that incorporated African and Hip Hop beats. This Hiplife movement was a youth movement which was heavily influenced by Hip Hop in its early years. The cultural and youth rebellion aspect of the connective marginalities are most present in Hiplife. One professor of anthropology notes that African Diasporic musical forms are fluid in many parts of Africa in that music from artists in the Diaspora have always had success due to the fact that they share many of the same aesthetics- such as storytelling. In Hiplife, you will also see that the youth have taken on the stance of being social critics, criticizing the government, the church or any institution in which they see as being harmful to society. In turn, Hiplife is seen as morally corrupt and a threat to tradition by some of the older generation in Ghana. It wasnt very easy to find a song that wasnt sung in Twi or Ga, but I found the song "We glad" by Reggie Rockstone and Wyclef Jean, a Haitian born American rapper. The theme of the song is rags to riches, which is also a popular theme in American Hip Hop. This song also has some underlying social commentary about the realities of many people in Ghana who are still waiting (but may never) for their chance to "make it" to the top.
Discussion: Do you think Hip Hop could be popularized in another country without having elements of the four connective marginalities?
GROUP SONG: Far East Movement – Like a G6
Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Far East Movement are a group of rappers and entertainers that have worked with various hip hop acts and artists. They performed at Power 106’s Powerhouse 2009 alongside such artists such as Jay-Z, Lil Jon, Kid Cudi, SeanPaul, New Boyz, Pitbull and Flo Rida. Hip hop and its constant evolving state has given birth to such sub genres as electro hop, hip hop rapping with dance heavy beats. Osumare discusses that hip hop and dance appeal to the Africanist Aesthetic. The blend of Asian and American cultures truly shows its globalization. Osumare’s concept that hip-hop all over the world still includes connective marginalities or youth rebellion, expression, oppression, culture and class are all included in the scope of hip hop. The video depicts a culture of partying and regardless of socio-economic class, people gather in celebration with music, food and drink for all sorts of occasions, and as FM explains in their lyrics, “This is how we live, every single night.”
Discussion: "Like a G6" shows how hip-hop culture can be influential in both directions: American hip-hop doesn't just influence other countries. This song shows how Asian influence is brought back on to the United States. Do you think that all of the cross-cultural influences and integrations change the central meanings and expressions that hip-hop originally developed for? How do you think dynamics between countries, like war etc., might influence the way countries can affect each other in terms of the music?
Monday, July 19, 2010
Fake "American" Rappers
I saw this news story on the web today and thought about how interesting it was in relation to authenticity and whatever might constitute "real" hip-hop. These two struggling rappers in the UK - regular old college buddies just trying to make a name - were willing to do anything to get that fame and hit it big. They went so far as to create fake identities, saying they were poor kids from California that were trying to make a living in better country. They even faked American accents in their raps. The public bought it and they got huge.
Even though our discussion section got pretty heated and I have to agree with a lot of my classmates in saying that all arguments concerning authenticity can get shut down, I have to just throw it out there that I think this is a little ridiculous and really shows me what it means to lack authenticity. These guys really became a business in the sense that they weren't selling their lyrics per se, but they were selling their created story-image of poor youthful Americans.
Here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128567769
Even though our discussion section got pretty heated and I have to agree with a lot of my classmates in saying that all arguments concerning authenticity can get shut down, I have to just throw it out there that I think this is a little ridiculous and really shows me what it means to lack authenticity. These guys really became a business in the sense that they weren't selling their lyrics per se, but they were selling their created story-image of poor youthful Americans.
Here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128567769
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