“The ghost of Mandela, hope my
flows they propel it, let these words be your earth and moon you consume every
message”[1]
To
what extent are rap/hip-hop music videos, like Kendrick Lamar's
"Alright," able to provide political/social commentary and how does this
impact upon different audiences?
Hip-hop is a multifaceted genre
which includes fruitful themes and complex social and political commentary,
dating as far back as the 1970’s. The genre focuses on the dominant idea of
liberation and the emancipation of the black man; this is particularly evident
in Kendrick Lamar's 2015 extended music video 'Alright.' His music essentially
provides a platform, not only for young African-Americans and the black youth
to self-identify with but also a wider audience through the universal themes
discussed by particular revolutionary hip-hop artists like Lamar, Public Enemy
and N.W.A. However the stereotypes associated with hip-hop provide a negative
platform for the genre due to the glamorisation and the fetishizing of the materialistic
aspects such as 'gangsta life' and violence, therefore elder audiences
especially, negatively associate the genre with the three ignorant foundation
words, 'drugs, sex and violence’ which is undoubtedly a “shallow
understanding of rap, which in many cases results from people’s unwillingness
to listen to rap lyrics, many of which counsel anti-violent and anti-drug
behaviour among the youths who are their avid audience.”[2] Lamar’s
lyrics address significant, complex debates from racial discrimination and the
dichotomy of race and class to the potential demise of hip-hop artists through
their materialistic demeanour, therefore Lamar is able to provide a universal
voice of reason as the “entire expressive culture of hip-hop resonate not only
with the anxiety of youthful social rebellion, but extant global
socio-political inequalities as well”[3]
whereby audiences are able to be positively impacted by his commentary.
Axiomatically, Kendrick Lamar's
extended music video is a clear representation of black lives, commenting on
social and political themes throughout the video stylistically, impacting
audiences through self-identification and the sympathetic theme of personal
relationships. The ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign is an international
activist movement, initiated in America, catalysed from the 2013 Trayvon Martin
case. However "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 identification (Sheppard et al 1975);”[4] in
Manchester thousands attended a solitary march and “sang the Kendrick Lamar
song Alright,”[5]
emphasising the significance of Lamar’s music as a form of identification for the
audience, thus reinforcing Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory of
both personal identity and personal relationships, due to the empathising and
sympathising of audiences. Furthermore, conventional hip-hop videos are merely
a path for diversion and entertainment, in terms of the latter theory, as “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.”[6] Music
videos are significant as "much of the particularity of music video
editing lies in its responsiveness to the music. It can elucidate aspects of
the song, such as rhythmic and timbral features, particular phrases in the
lyrics, and especially the song's sectional divisions.”[7] The alternative hip-hop genre
focuses on originality and creativity; Lamar’s video is therefore crafted
purposely in order to heighten his own social and political ideologies. The
monochromatic video subverts the stereotypical colour scheme and could symbolise the
theme of police brutality and racial discrimination through the literal and
metaphorical meaning of black and white imagery - focusing on the conflict and dichotomy
between the two races. In addition, this monochromatic tone reflects an almost
apocalyptic demeanour due to the dark, almost sombre appearing clouds and
sky. The chiaroscuro lighting juxtaposed with the low angle shots of the
sky and rising of the sun, portrays the idea of hope being surrounded or
perhaps even consumed, by the darkness and the corruption of the world,
emphasising this binary opposition of the good and the
evil. Levi-Strauss identified the idea of binary oppositions and the
conflicts within society; clearly through the stylistic element of the colour
scheme alongside the lyrics juxtaposed with the cinematography it
reveals the paradox within society and therefore reveals the dichotomy in terms
of racial discrimination. This apocalyptic sky is complemented with the
soundtrack of Lamar's “U,”[8]
which precedents 'Alright' on his album “To Pimp A Butterfly.”[9]
The screams from ‘U’ relate to the depressive state Lamar was in but how “with
money and being a celebrity how can [he] use it, how can [he] pimp it, can [he]
pimp it negatively or can [he] pimp it in a positive way.”[10]
There is light in dark situations however a change must be made in order to
find this light which is reinforced by the low angle shot of the church juxtaposed with
his lyrics, “Lucifer was all around me;”[11]
this low angle shot reveals the height of the church, the importance
of religion to Lamar and also “reveals the primary ethical and semantic
influence of the Bible on new world black cultures."[12] In
this case perhaps the 'evils of Lucy,' which is a line repeated several times
through ‘TPAB’, are the police force. The devil is a mythological figure yet
the evils of him are everywhere; this could relate to the idea of the corrupt
law and deception within the postmodern society. There are connotations of
police officers as societal princes and in terms of status are of a higher
authority, therefore the fact that they are carrying Lamar's car may heighten
the extent of Lamar's reign of authority. This links to Gramsci's idea of
hegemony as the law enforcement are positioned at a high status
yet subvert the stereotype through the corruption of their leadership
and dominance. Alternatively, this could represent the theme of
police brutality and the historical context of slavery as there is a
contrast between the white officers and the black males, revealing
the paradox within the history of slavery; this also relates
to Frantz Fanon's idea of 'Black Skin, White Masks' and how Lamar may
in fact be trying to appropriate and imitate the culture of the
coloniser through this flip of roles. The car could perhaps symbolise a coffin
as there are four males carrying the car like a coffin therefore implicitly
suggesting the effects of police brutality and how the law enforcement, who are
supposed to be the heroes, in terms of Propp’s stock characters, are the
ones leading these men to their deaths. This is then reinforced by
the officer holding the car being the same one who shoots Lamar at the end of
the video, suggesting that this image foreshadows police brutality
and the oxymoron in society and perhaps even the deception.
To further reinforce this, Lamar raps using the semantic field of
death, ‘R.I.P’ and ‘write another eulogy’, perhaps Lamar is simply trying to compete
with other rap artists here or maybe this semantic field relating to death is
in relation to the police officers holding the car as these are the ones
essentially guiding black men to their deaths through the idea of police
brutality. Artists convey their thoughts on this explicitly, Cole voices his
opinion on the 2014 Michael Brown case in his single “Be Free,”[13] and
he’s “tired of being desensitised to the murder of black men.”[14]The
media have essentially created a norm out of the murders, “Gerbner argues that
the drip feeding of similar negative media messages influences the viewer’s
perception of reality and makes them susceptible to adopting a negative view on
the world, Gerbner calls this Mean World Syndrome," [15] thus
the idea of inoculation is present. Therefore through the works of conscious
hip-hop artists such as Cole and Lamar, universal audiences are positively
impacted by their music through both sympathising and empathising with the
lyrics.
Lamar also adopts a nostalgic
tone within the extended video and references influential artists such as Tupac
and Eazy E, who were similarly socially and politically charged; this
emphasises the zeitgeist and rebirths traditional political hip-hop to impact
contemporary audiences. Following the title of the video the song initiates
with silence, which forces the audience to simply marvel at the mise-en-scene.
Four black males are within the car that Lamar is driving, all of which belong
to the independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment; the shot
pans from the passenger seat round to the front of the car to Lamar,
whilst doing so we see the TDE logo as a sticker on the front window; beneath
this there is a ‘STD's F*** YOU!’ sticker, perhaps in relation to Eazy E and
how he died of aids. This subtle iconography may be embodying the
nostalgia that Lamar and Co are going through as they may be 'taking a trip
down memory lane' here. To further reinforce this idea, Lamar says,
“R.I.P Pac Doe,”[16]
this post-production sound is almost like a backing echo and a
pastiche of Tupac - this is further emphasised when Lamar conveys his personal
ideologies in a 2015 YouTube video; “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.”[17] Lamar
almost mirrors Tupac who believed that “everything wasn’t meant to be
analysed,”[18] life
should be simpler than it is now and he believes that adults are the ones to
complicate the world. It almost becomes a memorial and a commendation of
the rap legends as he recites 'on my dead homies,' he mirrors Tupac through the
idea of the “ghetto lullaby”[19] which
could be in relation to Tupac's “Ghetto Gospel”[20]
and could emphasise the mirroring of both 'Alright' and 'Ghetto Gospel' through
the idea that both are an outcry to end the war on the streets; the racial
discrimination and dichotomy in society. Tricia Rose believes “if the late
Tupac Shakur were a newly signed artist today, [she believes] he’d likely be
considered a socially conscious rapper and thus relegated to the margins of the
commercial hip-hop field.”[21] Artists today are producing music
that meets societal expectations, however Lamar arguably subverts this as he
socially comments through his music on a similar level to Tupac, or perhaps
even further. At the beginning of the video “Cartoon and Cereal”[22]
is played over the rioting of black youths, portraying very defiant
behaviour. Lamar recites, “making myself realise what my foundation was,”[23]
before the introduction of the hook of 'Cartoon and Cereal' emerges; here this
may relate to the idea that this song was the foundation for his first major
studio-debut album “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City,”[24]
however this failed to appear on his debut. The theme of this song relates
to Karl Marx's idea of the 'Opiate of the Masses,' as the idea of
sugar and cheap entertainment is something that consumes our society and an
audience lets them enslave their mind. This 'opium,' and this idea of being a
slave to the media relates to societal issues as Lamar is attempting to reveal
the issues within society through his video, 'Alright.' It almost bases its
idea around Stanley Cohen’s ‘moral panics’ as the media is
effectively providing audiences with the view that all black people are defiant;
however the power of the mass media has created this problematic
state. Literary texts such as Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”[25]
convey similar themes such as slavery – the novel is fragmented into 3 parts
highlighting the cycle of slavery; “this is not a story to pass on”[26]
and one that cannot be repeated but can never be forgotten, like the character
of ‘Beloved’ herself, thus the historical commentary within Lamar’s music,
addressing the issues of slavery and “the emancipation of a real n****,”[27]
highlights the importance of remembrance. New and digital media also offers the
cultivation of the hip-hop genre as “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.”[28]
This highlights the significance of hip-hop music and the intertextuality with other
music emphasising the zeitgeist and how Lamar is an artist who can successfully
comment through his music, providing a positive influence for audiences.
Following on from this idea of the
‘zeitgeist,’ Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power”[29]
music video perfectly demonstrates social and political commentary through
their lyrics; their style being somewhat different from Lamar yet conveying the
similar message, audiences are therefore able to become impacted by the themes
explored within the video, such as racial discrimination. “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.”[30] Chuck
D voices that “once [he] realised that [he’s] a voice that people listen to,
[he] realised [he] had to fill [his] voice with something of substance”[31]
and his “goal [was] to be used as a viaduct, as a dispatcher of information,”[32]
proving their ideologies to provide a positive influence upon audiences.
Therefore “we decided that rappers like Chuck D and Tupac 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.”[33]
Like 'Alright,' African Americans are being presented in both music videos. The
video begins with a news-type clip about the 1963 march on Washington. This
provides the video with verisimilitude and emphasises the political commentary
that Public Enemy embodied, the extract also finishes with 'The End' almost
like a traditional cartoon would. This may therefore represent the irony of the
situation and reveals Public Enemy's ideologies as they believe that this march
did not change anything as African Americans are still being discriminated,
therefore could represent the negative aspect of the situation. The zeitgeist
is clear to notice here as this 1989 text embodies the idea of hip-hop being a
political platform for artists to express themselves, which Lamar explores in
his own work. The use of the Jazz beats at the end of 'Fight the Power' is also
mirrored throughout the whole of Lamar's album ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ and this
referral back to the roots of hip-hop, through these Jazz beats, reflects the
political commentary within hip-hop music today and how artists are more
socially able to explore political themes. This idea that Chuck D raps,
"our freedom of speech is freedom or death,"[34]
dating back to the late 18th century - the original slogan was of
Revolutionary-era France, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death."[35]
The difference between the way that Public Enemy express themselves and Lamar
does is the main focus on love of everyone; Lamar's ideologies revolve around
the idea of God and love of everything, whilst Public Enemy were against
cultural appropriation as they had Farrakhan-transplant views on Jews, women
and gays, which jaded their message.
There are arguments to suggest
that not all hip-hop music has positive effects on audiences through the
glamorisation of the lifestyle and the artists simply becoming slaves to the
industry, however artists like Lamar who belongs to an independent record label,
comments on the negative effects of institutionalisation and how fruitless
artists are merely corrupted by the idea of capitalism. “When America
desegregated, the music business itself remained one of the most segregated
industries in the country,”[36] the
music industry is the controller of artists who "had to rely heavily on
record labels, which agreed to sell an artist's music, under certain conditions
which usually gave the record label more money from each sale than the
artists.”[37]
Mainstream artists fall victim to the fame and believe they have to commodify
to the stereotypes of rap and hip-hop therefore are dominated by the
institution as they believe “the only way to blow up and become megastars is by
presenting themselves in a negative light,”[38]
linking to the Marxist idea of alienation as the artists are no longer
responsible for their music. The underground rapper, Immortal Technique,
highlights “the opposition between the major label ‘super powers of the
industry’ and the ‘underground third world of the street.’”[39]
It is believed that “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.”[40]
But the bricolage of hip-hop has changed significantly with artists providing a
positive impact on audiences; Lamar’s song “i”[41]
has been used in the “Find Your Words”[42]
Campaign, focusing on mental health and depression. Eminem also portrays his
struggles of penetrating into the hip-hop scene and this is evident within “8
Mile.”[43] Rappers
have become a slave to the industry and those that have not become consumed
have been able to become insightful, J Cole’s album “4 Your Eyez Only,”[44]
“channels Be Free, finding a new niche and renewed purpose as a mouthpiece for
black frustrations, throwing himself headfirst into rap activism,”[45]
whilst Ab-Souls’ “Do What Thou Wilt”[46]
album portrays political commentary, basing itself around Thelema and the law
of Themela. Although most mainstream hip-hop artists are consumed by the fame
and fortune, conscious rap activists such as Lamar, Cole and Ab-Soul are able
to provide audiences with positive political commentary, enabling an audience
to become enlightened by the lyricism within their artwork.
Artists who are able to socially
and politically comment through their music axiomatically receive controversy
and Lamar is no exception to this; however the bricolage associated with the
genre is formed from media representations and the definitive binary opposition
of the black man that is seen throughout the media industry; the good and the
bad. Most predominantly, within journalism two black men are constructed and
“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 double servant, amusing clown and happy entertainer.”[47]
It is also interesting to note that “black success stories do not
counterbalance images of black deviance [...] In many instances Black
superstars are not perceived in terms of their blackness”[48]
they essentially “become colourless, while those blacks who conform to the
criminal stereotype remain ‘black.’”[49]
However it could also be argued that the media cannot be blamed for the
stereotypes as “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,”[50]
but undoubtedly audiences are influenced by the images reflected. Unjustifiably,
“rap music also glorifies drinking, and sex. Two things which happen to be a
major problem among many children today,”[51]
and David Cameron also voices his opinion, posing a question to Radio 1,”do you
realise that some of the stuff that you play on Saturday nights encourages
people to carry guns and knives?”[52] These
are clearly ignorant assumptions of hip-hop music being an advocate of violence
as there are no statistics to provide evidence for this, according to ONS
figures “teenage pregnancies continue to fall,”[53]
therefore the correlation is non-existent. FOX news hold very conservative
ideologies and Lamar’s BET awards performance caused a great deal of
controversy through his performance atop of a police car; Geraldo Rivera
comments on this by voicing, "this is why I say hip-hop has done more
damage to young African-Americans than racism."[54]
Lamar then counteracts Rivera’s comments by passionately saying "how can
you take a song about hope and turn it into hatred."[55]
Audiences are therefore able to understand the positive message that Lamar is
portraying through his music and how he is attempting to provide positive
social and political commentary through his music to impact an audience in a
beneficial way.
Undoubtedly, Kendrick Lamar is a
rap activist, a conscious rapper and one that influences audiences
substantially. Surely, if Lamar’s commentary had a negative impact upon
audiences he would not have inspired a college course in Georgia, where the
teacher of the class realises that “hip-hop is about immediate feedback to the
world people observe around them;”[56]
he also would not have impacted the former president of the United States,
Barack Obama, “his lyrics are outstanding, his last album was outstanding, best
album of the year;”[57]
he would also not be part of “The National Mentoring Partnership”[58]
or the “Find Your Words”[59]
Campaign. These are not the actions of an artist that provides a negative
impact upon audiences and therefore highlights the importance of the genre as
something more than just music but as an art form that has healing powers,
impacting audiences through the social and political commentary. "Hip-hop
has been named the most influential musical genre to emerge since 1960, beating
the British invasion of the Rolling Stones and The Beatles"[60]
emphasising the significance of hip-hop music as a genre that’s polysemy
provides a positive impact upon audiences.
Word
Count: 3, 814
Word
Count (without quotes): 2, 528
[1] Kendrick Lamar. (2015). Mortal
Man.
[2] Dyson, M. E. (2004). p. 403.
[3] Osumare, H. (2007). p. 173.
[4] Gilroy, P. (1991). p. 305.
[5] Pidd. H. (2016).
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/11/black-lives-matter-solidarity-march-protest-manchester.
[6] Aidoo. D. p. 55.
[7] Vernallis. C. (2004). p. 27.
[8] Kendrick Lamar. (2015). U.
[9] Kendrick Lamar. (2015). To Pimp
A Butterfly.
[10] MTV. (2015).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu4Pz9PjolI.
[11] Kendrick Lamar. (2015). Alright.
[12] Gilroy, P. (1991). n/a.
[13] J Cole. (2014). Be Free.
[14] J Cole. Dreamville Website.
http://dreamville.com/?s=+tired+of+being+desensitised+to+the+murder+of+black+men.
[15] Bateman, A. (2016).
http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/using-theory-in-a-level-media-studies/.
[16] Kendrick Lamar. (2015). Alright.
[17] Kendrick Vs Pac. (2015).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpoeDYNHEUw.
[18] HisLifeAsTupac. (1988).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u19HmKx69GE&t=1050s.
[19] Kendrick Lamar. (2015). Alright.
[20] Tupac. (2005). Ghetto Gospel.
[21] Rose, T. (2008). p. 243.
[22] Kendrick Lamar. (2012). Cartoon
and Cereal.
[23] Kendrick Lamar. (2015). Alright.
[24] Kendrick Lamar. (2012). Good Kid
M.A.A.D City.
[25] Toni Morrison. (1987). Beloved.
[26] idib.
[27] Kendrick Lamar. (2015). The
Blacker the Berry.
[28] Osumare, H. (2007). p. 173.
[29] Public Enemy. (1990). Fight The
Power.
[30] Ide. D. (2013).
http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/capitalismhiphoppartone.html#.WFMRRvmLTIU.
[31] Chuck, D., Jah, Y. (1998). p. 5.
[32] idib.
[33] Williams, S. (2016). http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/11/hip-hop-s-history-with-police-brutality-why-we-shouldn-t-romanticize-the-ogs-and-live-in-the-now.html.
[34] Public Enemy. (1990). Fight The
Power.
[35] Four Freedoms. (1939-1941). http://fdr4freedoms.org/four-freedoms/.
[36] Charnas, D. (2010). p. 11.
[37] Mcleod, K. (2005). p. 28.
[38] Chuck, D., Jay, Y. (1998).
[39] Ide, D. (2013).
http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/capitalismhiphoppartone.html#.WFMelvmLTIU.
[40] idib.
[41] Kendrick Lamar. (2015). i.
[42] Kaiser Permanente Thrive. (2016).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJBXNzQjS4.
[43] Hanson, C. (2002). 8 Mile.
[44] J Cole. (2016). 4 Your Eyez Only.
[45] Pearce, S. (2016).
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/dec/10/j-cole-4-your-eyez-only-review-unsparing-unflinching-raptivism.
[46] Ab-Soul. (2016). Do What Thou
Wilt.
[47] Hall, S., Evans, J., &
Nixon, S. (2013).
[48] Russel, K. (1999). p. 4.
[49] idib.
[50] Rome, D. (2005). X, Series
Forward.
[51] Davey, D. (2006). http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2006/08/23/is-rap-actually-music-or-is-it-a-bad-influence/.
[52] BBC News. (2006).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5055724.stm.
[53] BBC Health. (2016).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35761826.
[54] Geslani, M. (2015). http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/06/fox-news-says-kendrick-lamar-has-done-more-damage-to-young-african-americans-than-racism/.
[55] TMZ. (2015).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh2aG57JrEc.
[56] Jones, J. (2014). http://college.usatoday.com/2014/09/01/georgia-students-study-kendrick-lamar-for-class/.
[58] Platon, A. (2016). http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/6866105/kendrick-lamar-meeting-president-obama.
[59] Kaiser Permanente Thrive. (2016).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJBXNzQjS4
[60] Radowitz, J. V., Webb, S.
(2015).
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/hip-hop-most-important-genre-5642569.
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Track
List
Ab-Soul. (2016). Do What Thou Wilt. TopDawgEntertainment.
Studio Album.
J Cole.
(2016). 4 Your Eyez Only. Dreamville,
Roc Nation, Interscope Records. Studio Album.
J Cole.
(2014). Be Free. Dreamville,
Interscope Records.
Kendrick Lamar. (2015). Alright. TopDawgEntertainment,
Aftermath, Interscope Records. Track 7 in studio album, To Pimp A Butterfly.
Kendrick Lamar.
(2015). i. TopDawgEntertainment,
Aftermath, Interscope Records. Track 15 in studio album, To Pimp A Butterfly.
Kendrick Lamar.
(2015). Mortal Man. TopDawgEntertainment,
Aftermath, Interscope Records. Track 16 in studio album, To Pimp A Butterfly.
Kendrick Lamar.
(2015). The Blacker the Berry. TopDawgEntertainment,
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