Vol.7 Hip-Hop as Culture

8/4/2019 Vol.7 Hip-Hop as Culture

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H.H. AS CULTURE.FINAL 9/25/06 12:25

!Hip"Hop As Culture#

!So extensive and subtly pervasive are the idea

that set art upon a remote pedestal a person would

be repelled rather than pleased if told that he enjoyed

his casual re"creations in part least because of their

aesthetic quality# John Dewey

Dewey suggests that a true work of art does not exist in a realm apart

from everyday experience$ an argument particularly pertinent to the discussion

of African"American music% How do you de&ne Rap Music? If you say that it

and Hip"Hop are one and the same$ your answer is wrong$ and you have

probably not considered the true meaning of culture% Rap is the wrapper of

the candy that is Hip"Hop% It can be big business$ selling its soul for money% Rap

is Hip"Hop doing Hollywood$ just as Debbie did Dallas%

True Hip"Hop devotees are repelled by rap% Rap degrades Hip"Hop as a

pimp's misogyny degrades a virtuous woman% Hip"Hop is a way of life; rap is a

mere illusion% The casual observer sees the trappings of rap music$ like the

baggy pants of an African American youth$ as simple symbols of rebellion% On

the contrary$ the expression of Hip"Hop expression is$ on every level$


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integrated into the weave of human existence%

Hip"Hop is the voice of Generation X; it is its way of life % The pride we

have in our music exudes from every pore$ and shapes our reality% As my own

perception grows$ the chasm between the reality of African American cultural

experience and the Melting Pot myth becomes increasingly apparent% Peoples

of diverse cultures and backgrounds are not being integrated into a

homogenous group but rather quite the reverse% As I pursed Bachelor's and

Master's degrees in the Fine Arts$ I searched$ not only for African American

paintings$ but also for black thought% A black aesthetic and pedagogy for the

oppressed%

While Rap music is taken on by the world$ the culture$ philosophy and

politics of Hip"Hop have been recognized by few% To pursue the multi"faceted

phenomenon that is Hip"Hop$ it must be realized that more than just music is

at stake% True understanding beyond the message's medium involves the

acceptance of a black aesthetic$ black culture% A new way of perceiving the

world$ a new way of quantifying beauty%

As an art form$ Hip"Hop is revolutionary% It seeks to create an economic

base for aspiring businessmen$ to redeem the black dollar and to make sense of

black anguish% It becomes a way of life and incorporates a set of criteria by

which one may judge whether or not an art work is unconditionally black%

Black beauty is revealed through the paradigm of Hip"Hop$ and Eurocentric

standards hold no sway% It is not art for the sake of art but art grown from

necessity%


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Asians$ Hispanics$ and Europeans alike " the world loves Rap music% The entire

planet dances to an African American rhythm% Other peoples try to be rappers$

to be part of the genre$ but frequently their imitations just don't work%

!Whites can imitate or copy soul but they can't create out of context# (James Stewart$

Black Fire$ an Anthology of Afro"American Writing% Eds% LeRoi James and Larry Neal$

New York$ William Morrow & Company Inc%)*+,-

The Beastie Boys exemplify misplaced aggression within the Hip"Hop

movement% The false anger in their music is typical of the interpretations made by

non"oppressed peoples of Hip"Hop% They thought that the genre could be learned and

mastered% They did not realize that Hip"Hop is more than music$ but a lived

experience% A stand up comedian once said$!Since white people are burning down

black churches$ black people should burn down the House of Blues% White people have

no business singing the blues% They are not oppressed#

Capitalist society always &nds a way to make money from black talent% Black

artists are not controlling the incorporation of their culture into the world of business%

You are no more than a Rap fan if you do not have a personal philosophy of Hip"Hop;

if you have not been in touch with H%E%R%$ wonderfully coined by !Common as !Hip"

Hop and her Essence are Real#; if you do not change your politics and they way you

see American Culture%

Euro Americans have tended to view the artist as working in a realm that has

little connection with their communities$ with politics and even with the pro&t motive%


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The artist$ therefore$ tends to be celebrated as the paragon of rugged individualism%

The collective consciousness that is Hip"Hop seeks to reveal and remove all

forces that oppress Black Thought% Whites$ Asians$ etc%$ if they really seek to remove

Hip"Hop from the context of a Black Aesthetic$ must become abolitionist !James

Browns#% Only the arrogant could suppose that Hip"Hop can truly exist beyond its

context% A new Vanilla Ice is just a temporary fashion$ without the true philosophical

construct that would make his artistic claims credible% I am yet to see a real !John

Browne#$ a sincere artist with an understanding of the sacredness of Hip"Hop% African

Americans have paid a heavy price in lending their artistic soul to the world of social

intercourse%

When Elvis Presley was a young man$ the A&R at the record company wanted

him to !sound black#% So he went to a black church to learn how black people sang%

And what happened? He became the greatest white singer of all time% And have black

people received credit or gain for his interpretations of their creativity? No% Black

aesthetics and artistic style made Elvis great% He copied and polished the art form$ but

belittled the source from whence it came% Far from recognizing his debt$ Elvis said$

!The only thing that black people cam do for me is buy my records and shine my

shoes#

Non"black artists who become involved in the Hip"Hop genre are naive% They

see Hip"Hop as just for fun$ or even as a quick buck% The fact that they are producing

what they believe to be Hip"Hop does not validate their actions$ being a simple

byproduct of artistic freedom% Lacking African American authorization it is simple

adulteration% Artists should beware of building on a foundation of Hip"Hop% First$ they


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need to understand the source of their attraction$ to have a philosophical viewpoint$ to

realize that the music goes much deeper than might initially seem to be the case% Do

not let the hologram of Rap lead you astray! Just because you like the beat$ rhyme$

rap or song does not mean you like Hip"Hop% You have been taken in by the package$

the beauty of the .esh% Hip"Hop's beauty is much more than just skin"deep and it must

never be trivialized% Hip"Hop is the raw$ agonizing pain of African diamond making

process% To embrace it is to embrace its past% Anything less is just entertainment and is

deeply disrespectful%

Because one tends to consider music as !entertainment#rather than !&ne art# it

is very di/cult to deconstruct Hip"Hop as an art"form$ unlike$ for example$ poetry$

which is taken seriously% Hip"Hop must be considered with the same gravity as any

other performing art$ and at the same time$ black people must begin to de&ne their

own worth% We cannot prevent the attraction of other cultures towards the art form$

but we can take responsibility for creating a pedagogy and philosophical construct that

will end the classi&cation of Hip"Hop as amateur% In the process$ we will become our

own authors$ and the conceivers of our own artistic inheritance% We should make an

institution of Hip"Hop$ and validate it through centers of higher learning$ not to

su0ocate it or prevent further evolution$ but to protect it from the propaganda

generated by its capitalistic exploitation on the part of big business and of other

cultures% The following quotations show that I am not alone in my interpretation:

!The mobility of trade and populations$ due to the economic system has

weakened or destroyed the connection between works of art and genius loci of


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which they were once the natural expression% As works of art have lost their

indigenous status$ they have acquired a new one"that of being specimens of

&ne art and nothing else% Moreover$ works of art are now produced like other

articles for sale; in the market economic patronage by wealthy and powerful

individuals has at many times played in the encouragement of artistic

production%#John Dewey

Art as Experience

And a New York artist writes on a gra/ti wall;

! The market is saturated with sorry ass raps$ they insult the art of those who

rap$ it's o0ensive and rude to those of the Hip"Hop attuned$ to water down

this art is too damn crude% The goal of exploitation contorts reality you see$

stereotypical images that don't fool me! But me not fool$ fool is you$ who

drools$ and purchase rap tapes that glorifying crime% in order to make 1papes'

and keep'em intrigued all the time &lling your head with guns and hoes$ drugs

and foes$%%%%&lling your mind with gang banging$ pimping$ crotch grabbin and

limpin gangsta rap is played like a cheap whore$ same gun slingin hoe hoppin

lyrics which bore% However$ sales of this shit remains steady% Keeping the

pockets full of loot for many$ sellin urban strife and makin it trendy?#by:Echo

unlimited Buchgallery2fall )**3%

Hip"Hop cannot be contained in record stores or radio stations% It goes

beyond that% It is the embodiment of lived experience$ of political ideals and


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deep convictions now incorporated into the behavior and philosophy of the

generation that gave it life% In the words of female Hip"Hop artist Bahamadia

!I try to make good music and get to the essence of what I live Hip"Hop#We

take this to indicate that her music comes from her experience and that Hip"

Hop has awoken her to the process of self"discovery and to the purpose and

ful&llment of music% There is a spiritual and social experience that comes from

deep within the African American community% Its essence is generated from

the people$ and exists within their world% Hip"Hop is the external proof of that

which cannot be seen$ of that which has been tempered in the crucible of

slavery and then molded through social and cultural experience into something

lovely; artistic expression% The coal that is now more valuable than gold this

Beauty$ is Hip"Hop% Art is not just the creation or the product% It is the

experience%

The generation a4er the Baby boomers is referred to by many as

!Generation X#5 the unknown generation$ seemingly without a purpose or at

least without an evident one% Contrary to popular belief$ many people are

receiving their political agenda from the art form that is Hip"Hop% An MC or

rapper is not a mere entertainer% He or she is a street philosopher% Yes! A

philosopher or politician$ seeking to understand and explain the reason and

nature of his existence% This is his purpose% America has tried to recreate the

Hip"Hop artists in the guise of racist rather than philosopher $ because a racist

does not need to think about the reason for his belief% Racism is born from

base passions and primitive feelings$ which are embodied in superstition% It is


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far removed from holding an established philosophy and logic% The black

philosopher questions dominant American paradigms and challenges the so"

called European paradigms% In the process he becomes an historian as well as

philosopher or politician$ as he seeks the origin of their thoughts in working a

rede&nition of himself and his culture% Review a song of Public Enemy and you

will understand what I mean%

!Elvis was hero to most$ but he never meant shit to me

the sucker was simple and plain motherfuck him and

John Wayne#!Fight the Power# Public Enemy

Hip"Hop has become the vehicle for the African"American segment of

generation X to understand its past$ present and future% It is a culture$ and I

have not been the &rst to identify MC2Rappers as philosophers% KRS One and

Chuck D% stand out as examples of those worthy of the lo4y title%

When Public Enemy released the song ! It Takes a Nation of Millions to

Hold Us Back#$ their aim was to attack the negative$ oppressive forces of

America% Even though they never sold as many albums as the popular

commercial artists$ an astonishing level of awareness rose within Black culture%

To have such an a0ect on one's public is a much truer measure of talent and

artistic and cultural integrity than sales numbers$ and anyone person who does

not realize that is far from being a true artist%

The Diamond making experience of slavery has furnished us with the


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material to create Hip"Hop% African"American youths mine their experience of

gospel2spiritual$ blues$ Jazz and funk% Hip"Hop has gained distinctiveness

within itself$ even though it continues to display the pain$ agony$ torment$

happiness and joy of the Diamond"making process% No other culture could

have generated Hip"Hop% The best they could hope to do would be to imitate

that which has already been established%

!Any man who is a foundation layer$ be careful how he builds$ less he

builds upon another mans foundation%# Romans )6:78

This reminds me of a letter that Aaron Douglas wrote to Langston

Hughes%

!Your problem Langston$ my problem$ no our problem is to

conceive$ develop$ and establish an art era$ not white art

painted black% Let's have our arms and plunge them deep$ deep through

laugher$ through pain$ though sorrow$ through hope$ through

disappointments into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth

material crude$ rough$ neglected% Then let's sing it$ dance it$ write it$ paint it%

Let's do the impossible$ let's create something transcendentally material$

mystically objective$ earthly$ spiritually$ earthly dynamic%#

Wendell Wilcax$ Gertrude Abercrombie:

A Retrospective Exhibition$ brochure )*98

Hip"Hop can never be separated from its past; that would be akin to


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removing slavery from America% Anyone that could even imagine that this is

possible has never been in contact with the art that is Hip"Hop% It is not a

commodity that can be bought and sold% Hip"Hop is a culture that should be

embraced and appreciated by anybody that claims to love rap%

When minority students go to Art School$ they are taught Western

Pedagogy% They study Picasso$ Matisse$ Gaugin$ Van Gogh and other European

artists% Those that are truly aware will be repelled because they are not

re.ected in the art they study% Their learning experience will not be totally

free% For minority students to experience intellectual freedom$ art directors

must encourage them to &nd artists from their own culture and to develop an

aesthetic appreciation from their own cultural base% I speak from personal

experience% In the pursuit of a Master 's degree I attended Virginia

Commonwealth University$ and found myself to be the only non"white male

on the program% The other students were not willing to expand their horizons

beyond the traditional Western approach% They were afraid of coming face to

face with their own ignorance of non"Eurocentric knowledge% I o4en felt alone$

and socially and academically distant from the other students$ and this did not

change even as I expanded my knowledge of history$ criticism and theories of

art% Not even the professors were aware of the damage that their teachings

were doing to my psyche; the Eurocentric viewpoint in universities has never

been challenged%

This subtle form of oppression is the worst of all; it su0ocates the black

mind% It educates a non"white away from himself$ giving the student the


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perception that he has no cultural foundation to use as a frame of reference $

and leaving him with no choice but to rely upon a western foundation % The

student cannot soar; he is shacked by the need to base his theories on his

white forerunners% He lacks the possibility of what some call !Black Thought#;

the ability to think as a black man$ and only as a black man can% Western

society has been so dominant that it has been able to de&ne itself without

outside input% Those of us who do not belong have come of age in a land of

racial hypocrisy% African intellectual heritage has largely been pilfered by the

Western thinkers% The West has raped and plundered and le4 nothing but its

own inheritance to generations%

To &nd ways to connect myself with my own culture$ while learning in

schools seeped in Western indoctrination$ I had to excavate alone% First$ I

reclaimed the power of self"de&nition; I became deeply suspicious and

paranoid of everything that the public school taught% Second$ I came to de&ne

myself according to Africa's historical contributions% Third$ I realized that once

I had reclaimed the power to de&ne$ I would have to retrain the way I

processed the information that I was given% In the Fine arts$ one is taught that

elements and principals of design are essential to having a successful piece of

work% The naive observer does not realize that this is a Western theory of art%

African art is based on the lifestyle of the culture$ not set upon a pedestal to be

viewed% It is born of the sacredness of the life experience of its creators $ and

this is acceptable and successful and not judged through Western visual

principles% Western aesthetics are irrelevant to most minorities seeking self"


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identity through intellectual means%

Even now$ the art curriculum within a majority of school systems still

emphasizes instruction of!Elements and Principles of Design# as the basis of

the curriculum$ thus neglecting distinct cultural conceptions of art% Original

thinkers$ who have revolted against accepted norms of learning$ are entirely

excluded$ as Aaron Douglas indicated when he wrote to Langston Hughes !We

must develop art$ not white art painted black#% This is equally true for History$

Science and English% Western culture has always occupied the dominant

position in the education curriculum$ from kindergarten to higher education%

Therefore$ when we look at the art form of Hip"Hop$ we have to look at our

motivation for the new styles and trends we created $ and be sure than they are

not just attempts to compromise our cultural integrity and get rich (i%e%

crossovers$ or artistic suicide-% We must be united and form pedagogy based

on this phenomenon a Gospel of Liberation% Music has always been a gi4 to the

African people$ and we can either use it to our advantage or slowly be

submerged into absurdity% The revolution is occurring right now$ but its voice

is passive% The weapon that is Hip"Hop could be a much more powerful social

and political medium than it already is% The radical struggle for transformation

is camou.aged within it%

Documents

Vol.7 Hip-Hop as Culture