Academic Texts/Books:
Angelou, M. (1969). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. United
States. Random House.
-metaphor, that of a bird struggling to escape its cage, is a central
image throughout the work, which consists of a sequence of lessons about resisting
racist oppression. Angelou's treatment of racism provides a thematic unity to
the book. Literacy and the power of words help young Maya cope with her
bewildering world; books become her refuge as she works through her trauma.
-links to J Cole Caged Bird.
Bloom, L. (2014). Suspicion
nation: The inside story of the Trayvon Martin injustice and why we continue to
repeat it. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.
“And yet Trayvon, somehow, on that wet, black,
low-visibility night, saw through the bulk of Zimmerman’s body, through
Zimmerman’s shirt, through his jacket to a matte black gun concealed in a matte
black holster clipped inside his waistband. Can anyone possibly believe this
story?”
-this ironic statement commented by Bloom
exaggerates the situation and creates this hyperbole of the truth
-the exaggeration almost adds more depth to the
story and reveals the harsh reality of the Trayvon Martin case
Chang, J. (2005). Can't
stop, won't stop: A history of the hip-hop generation.
New York: St. Martin's Press.
“’Keeping it real’ has become just another fad word. It sounds cute. But
it has been pimped and perverted. It ain’t about keeping it real. It’s about
keeping it right”
-Chang focuses on the fact that the hip-hop genre is glamorised by the
negative music and the fact that this music gets the most recognition shows
that the media is not the problem but audiences themselves as negative music is
what they essentially want to hear
-Artists that socially comment on their music and have a positive
influence essentially target a more niche market
Charnas, D. (2010). The big payback: The history of the business
of hip-hop. New York, NY: New American Library.
“When America
desegregated, the music business itself remained one of the most segregated
industries in the country.”
-Reveals the influence of
music and how it has an impact on audiences therefore remained apart from the
rest of society
Chuck, D., Jah, Y. (1998). Fight the Power:
Rap, Race and Reality. Delta
“For too long I’ve felt that this art form is
tossed aside as a Ghetto game for black youth and that limited opinion is
ignorant”
“Many in the world of hip-hop have begun to believe
that the only way to blow up and become megastars is by presenting themselves
in a negative light”
“Tupac had a plan to bring everybody to the table
with the ‘thug for life’ image, and then he was going to flip the tables at the
last minute”
“Once I realised that I’m a voice that people
listen to, I realised I had to fill my voice with something of substance”
“My goal is to be used as a viaduct, as a
dispatcher of information. Television is the last plateau. We need programs
representing our voice and interpretation, which come out and say the things
that need to be said, and can be challenging and entertaining at the same time”
“It’s such a serious issue because the derogatory
programming leads to a point where life imitates art, and a blur develops
between fantasy and reality. I believe that television is one of the main
reasons for the criminal mindedness of Black youth”
-this could be seen as an endless loop as the blame is circular from one
blame to another
Dates, J., Barlow, W. (1993). Split Image:
African Americans in the Mass Media. Howard University Press
Historian Joseph Boskins statement – “To make the
black man into an object of laughter, and conversely, to force him to devise
laughter, was to strip him from masculinity, dignity and self-respect”
“The dominant culture must constantly strive to
expand its hegemony while fending off challenges and interventions from the very
classes and groups it seeks to subjugate”
“Hall argues that the terrain of culture is
polarized around popular forces versus the power bloc, rather than class
against class. In his studies of representation and ideology, Hall and others
have noted the importance of the rituals of social behaviour in which
ideologies imprint or inscribe themselves”
“Hall also argues that there are a range of
possible responses to mediated images that allow for negotiated as well as
oppositional readings, hence a decoding of media messages that differs from
what the sender encoded for transmission”
“Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of heteroglassia –
unpredictable multiple voices that that interact with one another to form a new
totality – focuses attention on the dialogic nature of cultural message”
“Historian Robert Toll ably summarised the social
dynamics of antebellum minstrelsy: ‘Black face performers were like puppets
operated by a white puppet master’”
Dyson, M. E. (2004). The Michael Eric Dyson reader. New
York: Basic Civitas Books.
“hip-hop culture, to the chagrin of a whole lot of
black folk, has literally darkened the face – some would say given it a black
eye – of popular music”
“as it became obvious that rap was here to stay, a
permanent fixture in black ghetto youths’ musical landscape, the reaction
changed from dismissal to denigration, and rap music came under attack from
both black and white quarters”
“the most influential and important rap song to
emerge in rap’s early history, ‘The Message,’ by Grandmaster Flash and The
Furious Five.”
“’The Message’ along with Flash’s ‘New York, New
York,’ pioneered the social-awakening of rap into a form combining social
protest, musical creation, and cultural expression”
“a shallow understanding of rap, which in many
cases results from people’s unwillingness to listen to rap lyrics, many of
which counsel antiviolent and antidrug behaviour among the youths who are their
avid audience”
Ghansah, R. (2013). When the Lights Shut Off:
Kendrick Lamar and the Decline of the Black Blues Narrative. LARB
“In the summer
of 1945, Ralph Ellison wrote a review of Richard Wright’s ‘Black Boy’, Wright’s
semiautobiographical novel about his tough boyhood in Mississippi. In Ellison’s
piece he suggested that ‘Black Boy’ is shaped more by the blues tradition”
“Ellison would
explain that, ‘The blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes
of a brutal experience alive in one’s aching consciousness’”
“What makes him
important is the way in which the autobiographical ‘good kid m.a.a.d city’ is so novelistic and so eloquently anchored in the
literary blues tradition of which Ellison wrote”
“Lamar is equal
parts oral historian and authorial presence”
Gilroy, P. (1991). 'There ain't no black in the Union Jack': The cultural politics of race and nation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
"the social movements which have sprung up in different parts of
the world as evidence of African dispersal, imperialism and colonialism have
done more than appeal to blacks everywhere in a language which could invite
their universal identificated (Sheppard et al 1975)"
-essentially social movements have become something that has created a
universal interest for black people and things like hip-hop music and rap music
has allowed black people to come together to address the issues that they face
"The back-to-Africa movements in America, the Caribbean and now
Europe, Negritude and the birth of the New Negro in the Harlem Renaissance
(Perry, 1976, Berghan, 1977) during the 1920s all provide further illustrations
of a multi-faceted desire to overcome the sclerotic confines of the nation
state as a precondition of the liberation of blacks everywhere (Padmore,
1956)"
-These are the movements that enabled blacks to be liberated and
therefore overcome their constraints as anything less than human. This is how
the liberation of black people started, essentially from these movements
"Analysis must for example be able to suggest why Afrika Bambaataa
and Jah Shaka, leading representatives of hip-hop and reggae culture respectively,
find it appropriate to take the names of African chiefs distinguished in
anti-colonial struggle"
-what is interesting within the hip-hop and rap genre especially is how
black rappers address people as a 'nigga' and therefore brings about a negative
word however showing they are not afraid of the word anymore and changing it
into a positive thing. However, the constant referral back to slavery and
African tribes is almost hypocritical as black artists should feel liberated
from their past ancestors and therefore be able to move past it. The counter
argument to this is of course the fact that people should not forget their past
and where they came from, therefore black rap artists may feel as though they
need to educate the ignorant.
"Hip-hop culture had its origins in the adaptation of Jamaican
sound system techniques and styles to the dance sub-culture of South
Bronx"
"soul and reggae still reveal the primary ethical and semantic
influence of the Bible on new world black cultures"
-a large amount of black artists always come back to God and the Bible
within their music, Lamar is an artist who particularly mentions God and within
his songs there are sometimes even biblical references. It's interesting
because grime artists also refer to God, Krept and Konan are great examples of
artists who always come back to God and looking up to him as a higher power.
Kaplan
Gray, J., Sandvoss, C., & Harrington, C. L.
(2007). Fandom: Identities and communities
in a mediated world. New York: New York
University Press.
"One could love [music], but its embededness in social functions
made more likely that one loved that which the music enabled. But
commodification encouraged an attachment to music's own singular effects"
-Commodification was the thing that made music worth something, this
could be argued as something that has made music less valuable - example
Immortal Technique and underground rap - institutionalisation - Kendrick
Lamar's TPAB song, Institutionalised explains the effects of institutions on
the rap industry.
Hall, S., Evans, J., & Nixon, S. (2013). Representation.
London: Sage.
"Stuart Hall (1982) has underlined this splitting in the 'imperial
eye' by suggesting that for every threatening image of the black subject as a
marauding narrative, menacing savage or rebellious slave, there is a comforting
image of the black as a doule servant, amusing down and happy
entertainer"
-two sides of a black person are seen in the media, especially within
journalism. A black athlete is seen as a positive and praised elitist and the
black criminal is seen as the stereotype that most conform too.
Lee, H. (1960). To Kill A Mockingbird. United States. J. B.
Lippincott & Co
This novel focuses on the
discrimination of black people in America – from a white author this makes this
novel interesting as a white man defends a black man, something that was seen
as ‘wrong’
“Shoot all the
blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a
mockingbird”
The most iconic and
significant quote of the novel, represents the black male, Tom Robinson as a
‘mockingbird’ someone who is innocent and needs protection rather than a
meaningless character. The moral is it’s a sin to lie so it’s a sin to wrongly
accuse someone just because of the colour of the skin.
Morrison, T. (1987). Beloved. United States. Alfred Knopf.
This novel revolves around
the theme of slavery and reveals similarities between Kendrick’s speech and
hers. This novel is fragmented and split into 3 parts at the beginning of each,
the house 124 Bluestone Road is analysed.
“124 was
spiteful”
“124 was loud”
“124 was quiet”
“This is not a
story to pass on”
The symbolism of 124 could
be representative of slavery; the effects of slavery were ‘spiteful,’ slaves
would attempt to speak out and become ‘loud’ but would always get silenced and
are ‘quiet.’ Or, the effects of slavery being ‘loud’ could represent how it is
a moment in history that can never be forgotten and was happening as part of
society, the idea of this being ‘quiet’ now could represent the emancipation of
slaves.
Osumare, H. (2007). The
Africanist aesthetic in global hip-hop: Power moves. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
“rap music and the entire
expressive culture of hip hop resonate not only with the anxiety of youthful
social rebellion, but extant global socio-political inequities as well.”
“Connective Marginalities: Hip Hop Around the World
From global street culture to the World Wide Web, hip hop culture is not
difficult to locate. The Internet provides copious sites across the map where
one can travel to diverse international hip hop scenes at the click of a
computer mouse in the comfort of one's own home”
-The effects of new and digital media makes it easier for audiences to
be involved with political music and to locate and even be part of it
“Hip hop's global resonance reflects connective
marginalities both in sites that one might anticipate as well as the less
expected.”
Rome, D. (2004). Black
demons: The media's depiction of the African American male criminal stereotype.
Westport, CT: Praeger.
“we do not come to the experience of mass media and
popular culture as blank slates waiting to be written upon or voids waiting to
be filled”
-the media cannot be to blame for their influence
as it is always down to the individual in terms of what they want to be
influenced by
“The public perception of African Americans as
inferior provides the basis of acceptability for the most outrageous
lies”
-we conform to the idea that African Americans are
at the heart of all criminal activities due to the stereotype, therefore Rome
suggests that this has become the basis and is what society is built to believe
now; this links to the Marxist theory of Hegemony, Gramsci believes that
individuals of a higher status are able to create an influence of social
conformity and therefore the mass media and the representation of black people
has been stereotyped and commodified to be socially accepted – it paces back to
the 1619 and the history of slavery
Rose, T. (1994). Black
noise: Rap music and black culture in contemporary America.
Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.
-she speaks from a “pro-black, biracial,
ex-working-class, New York based feminist, left cultural critic” point
of view
“Rap’s contradictory articulations are not signs of
absent intellectual clarity; they are a common feature of community and popular
culture dialogues that always offer more than one cultural, social or political
viewpoint”
-this idea of rap holding polyvocal conversations
is an extremely valid point made by Rose, however her basis of saying that rap
as a whole is an embodiment of empowerment is an over emphasised statement that
almost commodifies all rap being able to hold positive social expression.
“Rap music is a genre that was born out
of slave spirituals, blues, jazz, and ‘‘soul’’ as a musical expression of
African American tradition”
Rose, T. (2008). The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We
Talk About Hip Hop--and Why It Matters. Basic Civitas Books.
“if the late Tupac Shakur were a newly signed
artist today, I believe he’d likely be considered a socially conscious rapper
and thus relegated to the margins of the commercial hip-hop field”
-Rose believes that artists today are producing music that meets
societal expectations, however I disagree with her viewpoint as Lamar subverts
this as he socially comments through his music just like Tupac did
“The gangsta life and all its attendant violence,
criminality, sexual deviance, and misogyny have, over the last decade
especially, stood at the heart of what appeared to be ever-increasing hip hop
record sales”
“Between 1990 and 1998, the Record Industry
Association of America (RIAA) reported that rap captured on average, 9-10
percent of music sales in the United States”
“Hip hop came of age at the beginning of a new
technological revolution. After the late 1970s, when hip hop emerged onto the
public scene, all forms of media technology exponentially expanded”
“Mass media consolidation was rendered even more
profound for the record industry after the Telecommunications Act of 1966”
“we live in a popular culture world in which
violent stories, images, lyrics, and performances occupy a wide cross-section
of genres and mediums.
David Cameron, bbc.com, June 7th, 2006 - “I would say to Radio 1,
do you realise that some of the stuff that you play on Saturday nights
encourages people to carry guns and knives?”
-the belief that rappers and hip hop artists are advocates of violence
Russell, K. (1999). The Color of Crime: Racial Hoaxes, White Fear, Black Protectionism, Police Harassment and Other Macroagressions. NYU Press.
“black success stories do not counterbalance images of black deviance
[...] In many instances Black superstars are not perceived in terms of their
blackness”
“become colourless, while those blacks who conform to the criminal
stereotype remain ‘black’”
-this highlights the problems within society and how status controls
most. It relates to the Marxist term of the bourgeoisie and how the higher
classes and the ruling status’ hold dominant power and change conventions
Terkourafi, M. (2010). The Languages of
Global Hip-hop (Advances in Sociolinguistics). Continuum International
Publishing Group.
“globally
hip-hop artists offer incisive critiques of dominant cultures, engage with
local issues of ethnicity and power, and address in different ways the
legitimacy of their appropriation of what is traditionally deemed to be a Black
genre”
Moving Image Texts
8 Mile. (2002). USA, Hanson. C
This film focuses on discrimination within the
hip-hop genre and predominantly revolves around the cultural appropriation
within rap music. Eminem is a white rapper and although his social commentary
is most relatable to his life and his own suffering, he is a great example of
how artists have power as Eminem was able to make something out of nothing, he
was able to dominate in an already saturated market that did not accept whites
but he made it in a ‘black man’s world’ essentially
Ab-Soul. (2016). Huey
Knew.
-references Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton - the
rapper immortalizes the iconic photo of Newton sitting in a wicker
chair, wearing a leather jacket with guns in hand
-throughout the video, the screens surrounding Ab-Soul flash images of
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, instances of police brutality
and Donald Trump, whose race-baiting rhetoric has dominated headlines for
months
"Pale white horse when I black out"
-pale white horse is a metaphor for the Armageddon
"Even white lives matter when I black out"
(2016). Drake or Kendrick? Obama quizzed on rap
battles, Star Wars. Pal Tube
“I have to go with Kendrick […] His lyrics are outstanding, his last
album was outstanding, best album of the year”
To get such high acclaim off Obama really emphasises how much Lamar is
respected as a rapper and an artist
Dr. Dre, Anderson .Paak. (2015). Animals.
-reveals how African-Americans in Compton and America in general
are being mistreated, with police resorting to inflict ruthless violence and other
inhumane acts. This song also illustrates how the media always pays more
attention on the wrong doings instead of the peaceful acts the African-American
community commit
"And the old folks tell me it's been going on since back in the
day, But that don't make it okay, And the white folks tell me all the looting
and the shooting's insane, But you don't know our pain"
-portrayal of blacks from past to present
Dre. Dre, Anderson .Paak, Justus,
Kendrick Lamar. (2015). Deep Water.
-mention Eric Garners death and focus on the unforeseen difficulties
within the rap game
-the metaphor of life being 'deep water' and like an aquarium where some
people sink and some swim is an interesting idea that focuses on how hip-hop
artists flourish and some sink by becoming slaves to the materialistic
lifestyle
(2013). Eminem Talks about Kendrick Lamar. Eminem World
“I love what Kendrick is doing, he’s continuing the tradition of making
rap exciting”
Big Sean – Control Verse = Eminem believes that Lamar “didn’t say
anything that any other MC wasn’t already thinking” he also thinks that this
whole idea of competition and these so-called “diss tracks” are “what
makes hip-hop, hip-hop”
For Eminem to essentially praise Lamar for competing with him, it shows
how humble he is and shows he and Lamar are very similar in terms of the fact
that they “just rap.” Eminem repeats this at the beginning of
the extract saying that all he does is rap and he doesn’t really care about
anything else – Lamar says a similar thing in HOT 97 interview and how he
doesn’t use social media or saturate the media with his lifestyle and his
social life because all he wants to do is make music
(2016). Find Your Words. Kaiser Permanente Thrive
This video was released for the Find Your Words
Campaign focusing on mental health and depression. In the video a young black
male is seen walking through a rather conventional urban setting whilst
reciting Lamar’s lyrics from ‘i.’
This clearly reveals the significance of Lamar’s
lyrics and how powerful they are to inspire an organisation to include his
lyrics – proving that hip-hop music can have positive influences on an audience
Description - “Depression affects millions,
but few talk about it. By having a conversation, you can help break the stigma,
making depression easier for others to open up about” – the healing
powers of hip-hop music can be the answer
Every single comment on the video is positive,
respecting Lamar as a genius and a healer – the video has reached almost 60,000
views in 2 weeks, spreading it’s message positively.
N.W.A. (1998). F*** The Police.
Violence, guns and
gangs. The video being shot through the scope of a gun makes the video embody
violence in a more prevalent way. The video shows police officers attacking the
group, revealing discrimination, police brutality and segments from other
moving texts such as 8 mile; the video essentially compiles all the different
aspects of discrimination together to reveal the issues within rap music and
socially comment in the most explicit possible way
Immortal Technique. (2003). Point
of No Return.
"This is the point from which I could never return, And if I back
down now then forever I burn"
-becoming a revolutionary, there is no going back, the idea of reforming
and making a change and become that revolutionary figure. The 'point of no
return' has sexual connotations and could emphasise how the government politics
is essentially 'fucking us over.'
-American rapper, urban activist; lyrics focus on global politics and
his lyrics comment on politics, socialism, class struggle, religion, poverty,
government, imperialism, economics and institutional racism.
-Immortal Technique has aims to retain control over his production, and
has stated in his music that record companies, not artists themselves, profit
the most from mass production and marketing of music. He claimed in an
interview to have sold close to a combined total of 200,000 copies of his first
three official releases
J Cole. (2014). Be Free.
-mourning over the Michael Brown case
"All we wanna do is take the chains off, all we wanna do is break
the chains off, all we wanna do is be free"
-psychological binding of slavery in the world today between the
problems of police brutality
-the chains of brutality and injustice on a whole ethnicity of people
Dreamvillian Website - "I'm tired of being desensitised to
the murder of black men"
J Cole, Omen. (2015). Caged
Bird.
"freedom is just an illusion"
-the idea of not being free and the whole race being targeted, can you
ever truly be free in a society where the ruling elites are running
J Cole. (2013). Chaining Day.
-rappers are slaves to the materialistic lifestyle, the idea of the
hip-hop industry revolving around affluence and materialism rather purpose
Kendrick Lamar. (2015). God Is
Gangsta.
Lamar combines ‘U’ and ‘For Sale?’ in this video
and confronts his demons and temptations within the video, revealing the harsh
reality of suicidal thoughts and temptations and also the effects of the
evilness within life – “the evils of Lucy was all around me”
(2015). Kendrick Lamar Discusses Tupac. Kendrick Vs Pac
Lamar is shown segments from previous Tupac interviews where he
discusses what Tupac says and connects with it
“When are we gon’ understand that we are put on earth to love, that’s
all it’s about. Everyone wanna figure out how complicated life is and break it
down […] it’s gon’ keep going on. War gon’ keep going on, frustration gon’ keep
going on, anger gon’ keep going on until we go back to this one word..
love.”
Lamar almost mirrors Tupac’s 1988 interview as he discusses that things
should not be seen as complicated and everything isn’t meant to be analysed,
everything shouldn’t be so difficult as it is – it is as though Lamar is a
reincarnation of Pac
(2016). Kendrick Lamar does not want to surpass
Michael Jackson.The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon
Lamar was nominated for 11 awards this year and Michael Jackson holds
the record with 12 – Fallon informs Lamar that he almost beat Michael where
Lamar’s reply is simply no; “I cannot fathom being as great as Michael” he
doesn’t want to be greater than Michael without putting in the work
This reveals how humble Lamar is as an individual rather than a rapper,
it subverts that orthodox stereotype of rappers being money minded and fame
seeking celebrities, making Lamar the pariah of rap.
(2015). Kendrick Lamar – How to Clique a
Butterfly. Clique
“Not smoking or drinking doesn’t put down my manhood or coolness”
Lamar discusses how he doesn’t smoke or drink that much and he believes
that it doesn’t make you any cooler or any less of a man if you do or don’t
Kendrick Lamar. (2015). Institutionalized.
-wealth's corruptive powers and how people are brainwashed by becoming
rich. The poor and disenfranchised are institutionalized by prison,
racism, classism, and the rich and the powerful are institutionalized by fear,
dogma, and the almighty dollar. Everyone is a loser in this game, perspective
is the only answer.
theme across album of the caterpillar and the butterfly
Kendrick Lamar. (2012). M.A.A.D. City.
"Kendrick aka Compton's human sacrifice"
Kendrick Lamar. (2012). M.A.A.D. City.
"Kendrick aka Compton's human sacrifice"
(2014). Kendrick says Macklemore went too far +
who “i” is for the state of HipHop. Hot 97
Lamar believes that what is not being said in music is “making a
connection with people and showing that music is life”
“It ain’t all entertainment at the end of the day, it sells music but at
the same time it affects people”
“I could sit here talking slick on records all day but who’s gonna
relate to it when they gotta go back to this crazy world”
This shows that Lamar makes music for the people and not for the
industry; he wants people to relate to him and make that meaningful connection
with his music to understand him and understand the world around them
“Me being who I am and not being somewhat fearful of what the world
think or what the industry standard is, I’m gonna do it the way I wanna do it,
the way I’ve always been doing”
This reveals the institutional power and how Lamar holds his own power
making him part of this independent record label as being a somewhat good thing
as he makes music that he wants to make and says the things he wants to say
without meeting the industry standards and without being swayed by the
stereotypes of rap
(2015). Kendrick Lamar sits down with N.W.A. Billboard
Kendrick asks the group how they kept their sanity to which Dre
replies “for me personally it’s the love I have for the music. The
passion I have for this hip-hop thing” Cube “made a vow to
[himself] that [he] wouldn’t let the game change [him].”
Lamar considers himself an offspring off N.W.A and that rap generation,
he believes that “everything [he’s] done comes from [them.]” Dre
says that “your shit is top of my playlist – your attention to detail,
how precise you are” – Dre praises Lamar for being a lyrical genius
and being able to create the masterpieces that he does.
With N.W.A’s records “you could visit Compton from a safe
distance” Cube believes that you could always be controversial “they
could always say it but they were scared or their companies wouldn’t let them”
Cube – “We turned hip hop on its ear a little bit, we changed
its trajectory”
The legacy of N.W.A – Cube wants them to be remembered as “the
most dangerous group, a group that made it okay for artists to be
themselves”
Dre wants to inspire – “you can go against the grain, you can do
something outside the box and be big”
“We were constructive not destructive” – Ice Cube
Although being criticised for being so controversial they were able to
influence and able to empower other artists such as Lamar to speak the truth and
portray a message of influence and inspiration
(2015). Kendrick Lamar talks about u,
Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts. MTV
“With money and being a celebrity how
can I use it, how can I pimp it, can I pimp it negatively or can I pimp it in a
positive way. Positive for me is showing what I go through and showing what
I’ve been through with you and coming all the way back to I and saying that I
still love myself at the end of the day”
‘Institutionalised’ – “how can I use my
influence”
“how can I be a voice for all these
people around the world but can’t reach them and theyre the closest to me” – sisters cousins family
“I could either pimp this situation or
fall victim to it”
Kendrick speaks about his track ‘How Much a Dollar
Cost’ and explains how he believes that homeless people are angels that are
sent from god to test us and when he spoke to a homeless man he felt as though
when he said thank you, it was a thank you from god.
Kendrick Lamar. (2015). To Pimp
A Butterfly.
-whole album adopts the past zeitgeist, spirit of the age, bringing back
the Jazz beats and interesting harmonies
-focuses on ideas revolving around vanity and hip-hop artists today
-focuses on the theme of racial profiling, discrimination and the
African-American
-focuses on God, love, religion and himself as an artist and fruitful
lyricist
Kendrick Lamar. (2012). Swimming
Pools.
At the close of ‘Alright,’ Lamar recites his lyrical
poem as he falls and it could potentially reference Swimming Pools as he falls
in this video and he falls into this endless loop because things cannot change
easily and Lamar is aware that he is only one person who is unable to adapt a
whole world. This symbolism therefore could suggest how everyone must fall to
accept who they are and it is those artists who get back up and become
righteous who are the ones that are most respected, whilst the ones that fall
into the institution of the rap industry become slaves to the industry rather
than independent artists who rap for the music and not for the money
Kendrick Lamar. (2009). Vanity
Slaves.
"My cousin from the South, slavery start in the South and I bet
ya, He overcompensates for the life of his ancestors"
-the idea of the new slave, which is the vanity slave, the materialistic
being now
KRS-One. (1993). Sound of da
Police. Showbiz.
-the lyrics refer to police, in places like the Bronx: they’re a protest
against institutionalized racism, oppression and violence against the black
community
"Be an officer? You wicked overseer!"
"Take the word overseer, like a sampleRepeat it very quickly in a
crew, for example Overseer, overseer, overseer, overseer. Officer, officer,
officer, officer. Yeah, officer from overseer"
-the comparison between a police officer and an overseer reveals the
extent of police brutality and how the officers are now considered as corrupted
individuals, who simply punish African-Americans. Officer and Oversee; pseudo
etymology as the two words come from completely different language families
N.W.A. (1988). Fuck tha Police.
Young, A; Carraby, A.
-protesting police brutality and racial profiling; expressing violence
against the police
-anthem similar to 'Alright' and 'Fight the Power' and 'Sound of da
Police.'
"A young nigga got it bad ‘cause I'm brown. And not the other
color, so police think
They have the authority to kill a minority"
They have the authority to kill a minority"
- 1986 emergence of crack cocaine - racial profiling and discrimination
reached it's peak in the late 80s.
(2014). Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap. Green Hits Production
Big Daddy Kane mentions how rappers are rhyme
artists, Dr Seuss could be classed as a rapper because he rhymes – all it comes
down to is originality
(2015). Straight Outta Compton. USA, Gray. G. F
The film is a biopic which reveals the lives of
N.W.A – the film reveals how black males are wrongly stereotyped and targeted
for no reason, there is a scene within the film showing the group walking out
of the studio and getting searched by an officer for no reason and being told
to lay on the ground. The fact that black people are targeted solely due to the
colour of their skin shows that discrimination is an issue within America
The film also focuses on how N.W.A were a
controversial rap group that were not swayed by the media but by themselves as
individuals revealing how the social commentary in rap was something that
started from the individual rather than the institution
(1988). Tupac Interview at 17 years old, 1988. HisLifeAsTupac
“I like to think of myself as being socially aware”
Tupac speaks about how at 17 he is a teenager who understands life and
he believes that adults are “leaving the world in a bad shape for us to
fix up” yet “we are given no respect.” The
interviewer asks him why he thinks this is the case to which he replies “fear.
Adults are scared of watching us grow up. Scared of what we’re gonna do with
the power.” He thinks that “adults complicate things and children don’t.” Tupac
believes that “everything wasn’t meant to be analysed,” life
should be simpler than it is now and he believes that adults are the one to
complicate the world
Tupac. (1991). Trapped.
Shock, G.
-focuses on police brutality
"They got me trapped"
-the black male is trapped within a society where there is a social
divide between the white and black community, the main idea of a moral panic
within the black community.
Websites
Ahmed. I., Drake. D., Callahan, N.,
Werthman. C., Baker. E., Kenner. R,, Tharpe. F,. Scott. D,. (2016). The
Best Rapper Alive, Every Year Since 1979
1979 - “Grandmaster Caz –
The first person to DJ and rap simultaneously, raps were stolen for ‘Rappers
Delight’”
1990 – “Ice Cube –
Soon after his acrimonious split with N.W.A […] he knew he had to make a solo
album”
“The rhymes on ‘AmeriKKKa’s Most
Wanted’ went beyond gangster life and dug into the underbelly of American
apartheid. This was the record that predicted the L.A. riots two years before
they happened. There is also a lot of talk about ‘selling out’ and a tension
between mainstream pop culture and hip-hop that now feels anachronistic but was
obviously a real concern at the time”
1996 – “Tupac –
1996 is a case study for every aspect of why 2Pac is so celebrated. He was a
viable, competent artist in multiple arenas, and he had the discipline to
incorporate his varied and conflicted missions into a single mantra”
2000 – “Eminem –
his music hit a nerve on critical, commercial and cultural levels”
“Singles like ‘Way I Am’ showed
Eminem for what he was. An angry white male? Sure. But also the only rapper who
could score a massive pop hit by following the words of ‘The 18th Letter’”
2013 – “Kendrick Lamar –
the release of ‘good kid’ cemented Kendrick’s status as the Best Rapper Alive
and earned comparisons to other legends who jump-started their careers with
unforgettable major-label debuts”
“As the critical praise poured in and
K-Dot fans supported their artist – a music-biz mantra that’s more often said
than followed – a mainstream audience slowly started to appreciate this West
Coast rapper with left-field sensibilities to the point where hip-hop as a
whole started looking at him differently”
2015 – “Drake” –
honourable mentions Kendrick Lamar, J Cole and Future
“Much has been written about ‘To Pimp
a Butterfly’ and the response the album garnered from fans, critics, DJs, and
other musicians. If TPAB wasn’t the best rap album of the year, it’s tough to
argue that it wasn’t the most important. It’s perhaps the most ambitious rap
album of the past half-decade. No other album this year made us look into
ourselves as deeply or as far outwardly. It questioned nearly everything
(blackness, whiteness, religion, social responsibility), which in turn made us
question everything: the role of rappers, the role of rap music, respectability
politics, the role of music press, the idea that art can be at once great and
distasteful. The album cast a shadow over the entire year, out of which came
one of 2015’s brightest gems ‘Alright.’”
Aidoo. D. Media Magazine MM45.
Bristol
“Hip-hop, grime, urban, rap, spoken word – the success of artists within
this multifaceted genre depends on how easy it is for everybody to understand
their lyrics and relate to their content.”
“The elder generation have an inclination of blaming rap for much of the
violence that goes on within the younger world. I see this as a
misinterpretation. It begs the ongoing question of whether the media create and
reinforce violent stereotypes, or whether media producers simply construct a
reflection of society’s ills”
Benjamin. M. (2016). Kendrick Lamar’s Music Has
Become the Soundtrack for Battling Depression
“’To Pimp A
Butterfly’ is essentially his couch while we the listeners play therapists; pens in
hand while observing his every word choice”
Davey. D. (2006). Is Rap Actually Music or is it a Bad
Influence?http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2006/08/23/is-rap-actually-music-or-is-it-a-bad-influence/
“Rap music
also glorifies drinking, and sex. Two things which happen to be a major problem
among many children today.”
-this
statement is an abomination, most increasingly because there are no statistics
to back up this statement, this is not a major problem as according to ONS
figures show that teenage pregnancy rates continue to fall
Dyas. P. Media Magazine MM42. Dunraven School, South
London
“Kanye West; admittedly a polarising
figure notorious for his own self-aggrandisement, arrogance and lack of
self-awareness, but often vulnerable, emotional and conflicted in his
lyrics”
-the success of Kanye West reveals not
only lyrics that represent his life as something of a struggle but expresses
the effects he faces through his own self-aggrandisement
“Childish Gambino rejects the violence
and gang associations of hip-hop culture, demonstrating a social
progressiveness and willingness to challenge conventional models of
masculinity”
Giovacchini.
A. M. (1999). The Negative Influence of Gangster Rap and What Can Be Done About It
“It is not
moral to preach and advertise some of the topics discussed in the lyrics, yet
they are all present in the world. It is also not considered moral to take away
the rights of the individuals to express themselves through music, as observed
in the rulings of the court cases dealing with these subjects. On the other
hand, it is not considered moral to degrade women, threaten to kill people, or
fire vicious insults, all of which are common in gangster rap”
-the
glamorisation within rap music is something that fruitful artists avoid, others
want to present themselves to appear in a ‘cool gangster’ light, however, the
most recognition is changing from rappers such as Lil Wayne to rappers like
Kendrick Lamar who hold higher significance through their lyrics
Eazy E – Real
Muthaphukkin’ G’s - “Along with these lyrics, the chorus includes a
background voice saying: "yo Dre? Sup" followed by the sound of a
gunshot then the voice again "boy you should have known by now." The
lyrics of these tracks and the images of the albums in general promote only
violence, sex, and living a "gangster life" in which no prisoners are
taken and only the toughest get ahead. Yet, society was taking it in like it
had value and created happiness”
-this is
essentially a diss track; with the origins of rap battles and the battle of who
has the best bars held the most significance and value
Ide. D,. (2013)- How Capitalism
Underdeveloped Hip Hop: A People's History of Political Rap
http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/capitalismhiphoppartone.html#.WAUmWeArLIV
“Many people mistakenly narrowly define hip-hop as a particular style of
music. The reality, however, is that Hip-hop is an extremely multifaceted
cultural phenomenon. As hip-hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc explains, "People
talk about the four hip-hop elements: DJing, B-Boying, MCing, and Graffiti. I
think that there are far more than those: the way you walk, the way you talk,
the way you look, the way you communicate."
-the idea that hip-hop is more than just music it speaks for something
more valuable
“Hip-hop was born from the ashes of a community devastated by a
capitalist economic system and racist government officials”
-the idea of speech and how music is an expression, an art that fights
back
“Within a few years the schism between the dominant, mainstream rap
spewed across the synchronized, consolidated radio waves and the dissident,
political, and revolutionary lyrics expressed throughout the underground
network would develop, separating hip-hop into two worlds”
“Rapper Immortal Technique frames this dichotomy in a political context
emphasizing the opposition between the major label ‘super powers of the
industry’ and the ‘underground third world of the street’”
-underground rapper Immortal Technique has a huge influence on a niche
target market – he’s an urban activist, he retains control over his production
as he educates through his music, telling audiences how the institution makes
more money than the artist.
“Meanwhile, hip-hop activists who advocate for social change, formulate
political dissent, and fight for economic redistribution have been systematically
marginalized and excluded from the mainstream discourse. Corporate capitalism,
aided by neoliberal deregulation and privatization, have stolen the culture,
sterilized its content, and reformatted its image to reflect the dominant
ideology. Independent, political rap containing valuable social commentary has
been replaced with shallow, corporate images of thugs, drugs, and racial and
gender prejudices filled with both implicitly and explicitly hegemonic
undertones and socially constructed stereotypes”
“Public Enemy undoubtedly pushed political hip-hop to a new level. Their
intense, in-your-face rhymes promoted a historical revival amongst black youth
previously separated from prior cultural developments and struggles of the
past”
“political hip-hop took the form of cathartic, impulsive depictions of
violence stemming from the wrath manifested within oppressed black communities.
One example, Oakland rapper Paris, who adhered early in his career to a form of
Black Nationalism similar to Public Enemy's, would seek a sort of lyrical
revenge against individuals and institutions he found oppressive and
exploitative. Through songs like "Bush Killa," where he fantasized
about assassinating then President George H. Bush, he would decisively embrace
a black militancy that challenged the past legacy of King's non-violence: ‘So
don't be tellin' me to get the non-violent spirit, 'cause when I'm violent is
the only time you devils hear it!’”
“New School Hip Hop was defined by its seminal, independent spirit of
artists' attempts to manoeuvre within the confines of an ever-increasing
hierarchal, corporate, top-down structure”
Jones. J. (2014). Georgia Students Study
Kendrick Lamar for Class
The university professor Adam Diehl thinks that
“Hip-hop is about immediate feedback to the world people observe around them”
In the comments section:
- Michael Younger · Clayton,
North Carolina “College
courses named after a thug.... Brilliant. This would lead a career in stealing
cars.”
“I happen to be black and seem THUGS
like Lamar way too many times. He is another reason society is going backward
AND blacks are viewed negatively. And also the reason why Trayvon Martin, Eric
Garner and Michael Brown are dead.”
What happens to be most interesting
about this is the fact that this black male doesn’t support Lamar’s music and
it is exactly what he says in his Hot 97 interview where he says that “black
people do not support us” instead they have no respect for the music when it is
the very reason why the music is being produced
Mize. C. (2014). History of Rap – The True Origins
of Rap Music
“On August 11, 1973 in the Bronx, New
York history was about to be made. DJ Kool Herc”
“Rap music finally reached mainstream recognition in 1979. The
first rap song to get commercially released was “King Tim III (Personality
Jock)” by the Fatback Band.”
(2015). Modern Blackface: The
Cultural Appropriation of Rap. Standford University
“Rap emerged at
the heels of the Civil Rights Movement. It was a way to bring attention to
important social issues within the black community. It was the music that
helped characterize a revolution in race relations. It was a way to survive a
world where discrimination, racism, and notions of inferiority were still a
reality despite the fact that the Civil Rights Movement was legislatively
successful”
“Being
considered “too white” to rap was not an issue in the rap genre until the dual
emergence of the prevalence of white rapper appropriation and the alternative
rapper”
-the media
discriminated against black rappers for the content of their songs and the
social commentary discussed within their lyrics, however this idea of cultural
appropriation is something that makes the rap industry seems spoiled. They were
targeted and now they are doing the targeting. ‘F*** your ethnicity’ – Kendrick
Lamar is able to socially comment through his music and realise that your
ethnicity doesn’t define you
Platon. A.
(2016). Kendrick Lamar opens up about meeting president Obama
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/6866105/kendrick-lamar-meeting-president-obama
“No matter how high-ranking you get, you’re human”
“No matter how high the pedestal you reach, we all
still like a beat”
The truth behind situations, the respect that Lamar
has earned to be respected by the President
The National Mentoring Partnership – “mentoring saves lives”
The influence of Lamar, having a positive effect on
the youth as a mentor as a guide to reach somewhere far in life
(2016). Why Rap Music is a Bad
Influence – Yes. Pitlane Magazine
-blog posts and website articles slating rap for
being a bad influence are simply words on a page, backed up with no respectable
online statistics or facts
Williams. S. (2016). Hip-Hop’s History with Police Brutality: Why We Should Live in the Now
“Hip-hop is no
longer black people’s CNN, but perhaps it’s become something different: more of a town hall for
the culture, a sounding board, a place to vent as opposed to a source of
information. And maybe that’s still enough to help galvanize a generation”
-Chuck D’s
famous quote
“We decided
that rappers like Chuck D and 2Pac had the preapproved pedigree to offer
criticism and insight; they’d earned a certain amount of cultural real estate,
in that regard, because they’d always embraced commentary in their music”
“Many of us
don’t feel that contemporary rap artists have the resume, so to speak, to truly
affect change”
“Celebrities
speaking out doesn't solve problems but it does make it harder for consumers of
all colors to ignore those problems when their favorite is calling for it to be
addressed”
-this
essentially reveals the influence that music has on audiences; this also
relates to the two step flow model and how the more celebrities talking about a
particular topic the more likely it is for the work to be seen and heard,
showing the influence and impact that artists have
“This
generation of hip-hop stars is more topical and outspoken than perhaps they get
credit for”
-the subtlety of most rappers and artists makes it more difficult to
define them as political rappers or controversial rappers for that matter –
rappers like Lamar are more explicit in their approach with lyrics much harsh
than perhaps Coles for example, yet the same message is being portrayed
