These kids today with the hippin’ and the hoppin’. . .they don’t know about the jazz!
The subject line is something from the Simpsons. . .Bart and Lisa are waching some shoe that features Bill Cosby, and Cosby does the above bit about kids and hip-hop.
And hip-hop is the subject of my inquiry today. As I’ve admitted before, I just don’t get hip-hop. This in itself isn’t all that special, but since hip-hop seems to pervade current comp theory, I’d like to maybe do some meta on myself and see why I dislike hip-hop. The motive behind such a project is this: I want to be able to approach the theory that’s been inspired by hip-hop with an open mind, but I sort of think that my dislike/apathy/ignorance of hip-hop will interfere–it’ll make it hard to say "yes" to the text, in Jeff’s terms. So. . .why do I dislike hip-hop?
- I’m a racist. Well, that’s an oversimplification. And maybe this is just some backwash from 7010, too. However, I acknowledge that I do think of hip-hop as being sort of an exclusively black phenomenon, which I know rationally is not the case. It’s not that I think is hip-hop is bad because of its (perceived) association with black culture so much as I feel that hip-hop doesn’t really address my own social/personal concerns. I’m not, you know, slinging rock or whatever.
- Here’s something. I notice I automatically associate hip-hop with gangsta/ster rap. Is that association valid? On one hand, all the rappers I can name–well, a healthy majority thereof–are gangsta/ster rappers. On the other hand, I admit my ignorance–are rap (whether of the gangsta/ster variety or otherwise) and hip-hop synonomous? I dunno. . .my impression from reading about Afrika Bambaatta/DJ Herc et al is that they weren’t necessarily rappers as much as dj’s. Why/when did rap/hip-hop diverge?
- Part of my social discourse is built around disparaging hip-hop. When you hang out an indie-rock record joint where all the staff (most of whom are your friends) hate hip-hop, you don’t suddenly announce a fondness for Jay-Z (to pick someone at random) without risking a certain tirade of mockery.
- It has little or no impact on me. Which is to say that, when I have listened to hip-hop/rap (assuming they’re the same which I admit I can’t claim authoritatively) it does nothing for me. I’ve heard Kanye West’s The College Dropout, Dre’s The Chronic, Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (I liked Andre 3000’s poppier half, but not Big Boi’s more conventional half), Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, some Missy Elliott album (don’t remember which one; it’s the one that has "Pass that Dutch" on it), 50 Cent’s first album (title forgotten). . .and maybe others that’ve slipped from memory. And you know what, except for isolated moments, none of it *does it* for me. [I really want to use Wysocki’s Kantian models here but I don’t know how.]
- Except for Eminem. This is where my white liberal guilt kicks in, since the only hip-hop I like is by the white guy. I don’t know why I like Em’s stuff over, say Snoop’s, but I do. Is it the production? Maybe. Internal rhyme? Sure, why not. But I feel like a poser (or even a poseur) by admitting a fondess for Eminem; as if liking, you know, actual black artists in the same genre would give me cachet to approve Eminem.
- On the other hand, I also really dig Gnarls Barkley’s CD. It’s a good thing. And (shame on you, indie rock guy) I’ve been known to get into the Black Eyed Peas just a little, even though they’re probably the most mocked hip-hop outfit this side of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. (Does anyone else feel like the Peas have a lot in common with the B-52s?) I sort have of the feeling (or maybe it’s an assumption) that these acts aren’t "real" hip-hop.
- So, what is "real" hip-hop? I’m the least qualified person in the world to answer this, but I’m gonna try to parse what I think "real" hip-hop is. To me, it’s not so much a generic or aesthetic convention (although it is that too) but rather a political/social one. A lot of what I’ve read about hip-hop (which isn’t much) center it in terms of rebellion & revolution, but not just in the work of the obviously political groups like Public Enemy–it’s written abuot as though at some point hip-hop held the promise of genuine sociopolitical change within its beating heart.
- What about hip-hop is so compelling to comp theorists? Is it just the use of samples and reappropriation and remixing? By "just" I don’t mean to belittle these important developments in comp theory, but rather to ask: Do the theorists who’ve written about hip-hop really like it or is it only that they see in itan interesting topoi for thinking about writing? Other artists have sampled and remixed, and to much more controversial effect at times–I’m sort of thinking of Eno/Byrne’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, or the entire ouevres of Negativland or Emergency Broadcast Network. Or we can go back further to Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr’s "Revolution #9." My question is what about hip-hop’s use of samples is more compelling than the way other artists have used it?
My head has begun to hurt so it must be time to stop writing.
Hrm, see I dislike hip hop in part because I see it as a HUGE cultural appropriation in my community. White people have shaped it, and yet we call it a black thing. Really, wtf people? Well, that and Indie just appeals to me more in general if I’m going to veer away from pop.
Perhaps you like Eminem because he speaks DIRECTLY to the disconnect you mention in number 1. I used to lecture on that, it was fun.
Hip hop is just one way of getting at a literacy that students have that isn’t normally brought into the classroom. There are others, they are just as effective I’d imagine. I think the greater point is getting at something they know that is a good example of what you’re trying to teach, and use it to teach it. Or something.
Comment by Jill — 29 October, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
Another way to read the usage of such examples is they are not about “authenticity” but are models chosen for other reasons. So, in the case of hip hop, it really doesn’t matter whether one is black or white or purple or whatever, and it doesn’t matter whether hip hop resists or conforms to a hegemonic position. Instead, the model proposes a compositional model (usage of other texts, sampling, research, juxtaposition of one’s research). One doesn’t have to be a fan of the music to utilize the model. If - staying with music - country, classical, rock, jazz, or spoken word, too, produce models worthy of appropriation,then one should explore those models. In Writing New Media, Sirc’s main model, in fact, is Benjamin’s Arcades project, and then he uses that in relationship to a content/compositional model on hip hop. Johndan, instead, looks to the role databases play as compositions.
The main point, and when we read Dworkin and Haynes we’ll see other models, is that the models for composing come from a variety of places, not from the very specific instiutional (and as we noted) economic reasons we have used for adapting the essay or any one of the modes.
There are serious consequences here - particularly when we constantly harp about “real world” writing, and we teach very non-real world activities like this class’ odd favorite trope, five paragraph variations. Or simply an essay which asks a student to explain another essay to a generic reader.
Comment by jeff — 29 October, 2006 @ 4:34 pm