Week 6: Understanding the Politics in Hip Hop

     First, I must give credit to Michael Eric Dyson for writing in words easy to comprehend but also make you think. I enjoy his references to philosophy and how it applies to the hip hop culture. I found the first chapter on authenticity very interesting, including his very in depth break down of "Hustle and Flow." His analysis of a movie that I pushed off to be a film destined for the five dollar rack at Wal-Mart makes me want to reevaluate my prior beliefs and watch the movie through Dyson's eyes.

     However, the chapter that caught my attention the most was Track 3: "It's Trendy to be the Conscious MC," which explains the "Culture, Rhetoric, Crack, and Politics of Rap." Here Dyson's responds to a interviewer about the impact of the Black Arts Movement [BAM] beginning in the 1960's with it's effects evident in present hip hop culture. BAM was fostered out of the conscious minds of its members who focused on the self determination and need for political liberty of their people (specifically black culture).

     As a fan of art, I found this section particularly interesting because it reaffirmed my belief that art drives many of the social constructs around us. Art is expression and everything that we do as an organized group must be expressed to all.  I found this metaphor helpful to understanding when ranking the importance of art, "It [art] was always found at the intersection of reflection and reaction or of critical consciousness and social intervention" (Dyson, 63).  Dyson makes a wonderful point on how our generation lacks in "vibrant political movements" (Dyson, 66). I am curious why this is so, there are so many injustices going on in the world, yet we tend to focus not on the big picture, the smaller one that almost always involves what is currently affecting us.  Rappers glamorize prison life and romanticize eras to the point that the true meaning of the story is lost.  Just like in class last week where we watched two videos on how "My President is Black" and yet "my Lambo is blue" political messages yes, but not a substitute for actual politcal movements. Perhaps we are lucky that here we don't have a large political movement taking place....yet.

     On a different note, I found the "Dance with the Devil" rap by Immortal Technique very interesting. My classmates and I weren't sure if he actually did take part in the rape he raps about, so I googled it (of course):

What is your thought process when making a conceptual song like "Dance with the Devil," "You Never Know," or "Peruvian Cocaine?"

They are each different, with 'Dance with the Devil' it was a true story that I made myself more of a part of when I wrote the song, it became an urban legend and what's sick is that people thought it was about rape and it was really about how we are killing ourselves and destroying the most valuable resource that the Latino/Black community has, our women. With "You Never Know" it was a story that was based on my life and what I went though but things had to be changed, moved out of chronological order, and something's had to be added. I have always been able to write stories, screen plays and such so it reflects in the songs I construct. With Peruvian Cocaine I wanted a posse cut but not the typical shit and I wanted to speak about the imagery that the corporate controlled media ties into it. I mean I have nothing against doing some random joints with other muthafuckaz that reflect whatever the fuck is going on in our minds at the time, but I wanted something different this once...So the result came with me getting a whole lot of people to commit to the idea of writing a story with me, my idea worked out because everyone's 8 bars seemed to flow together perfectly, the only person who wasn't there was CrayzWalz who came at the end and bodied the song with his final perspective on the mentality of muthafuckaz who really think they are going to get somewhere hustling, this ain't "Scarface" this ain't "Belly", this isn't Hollywood you little hood rat…you're going to live in a fuckin' cage for the rest of your life and you're arrest will be used to criminalize those people that come after you, we talkin' about real shit. 


For the entire article: http://www.brownpride.com/articles/article.asp?a=194


     I really enjoyed the double meaning behind his rap that I took so literally. I suppose this is why critical thinking is paramount in analyzing any work of art.