CH. 11 Mutual Denials in the Hip Hop Wars

Six important underlying belief of political positions, images and points of emphasis. “these six beliefs have become foundational assumptions on which battle over hip hop takes place.” (Rose 217)

1. Creative Disregard: Simple-minded rhymed rantings, hip hop is not music, the rhymes are not poetic, and everything about it is simple and requires no talent.

· Ex: “The Whisper Song” by Ying Yang Twins and “Laffy Taffy” by D4L and “Oh Lets do it” by Wacka Flocka Flame

· “dumbing down” rapper are encourage to “dumb down” music and keep the lyrics simple with basic beats and rhymes.

· Two sides: those who find no creative value in hip hop whatsoever and those who most profit from its creativity. “wind up collectively denying the importance of investing in the creative expansion and diversification of the genre.” (Rose 221)

2. Unadulterated Products: Mainstream commercial hip hop is obsessed with black gangster and ghetto street culture. Black music reflects the black ghetto.

· “This collusion of denial supports the belief that “authentic” black people are criminals, that being poor is a “black thing” and that corporate-sponsored rap has had no impact on hip hop content or in a way shapes our access to hip hop artist.” (Rose 223)

3. Profiting from Black Suffering:

· “buzz kill” raising awareness of the constant struggling that the black community is facing on a regular basis, especially to white fans.

· “Keeping our eye on black suffering and why ghettos are what they are and how they came into existence would challenge record executives, artist, and fans of all backgrounds to think about exactly what they are packaging, normalizing, and celebrating.” (Rose 224)

· Exaggerated expansion and hyper-aggressive machismo: two examples the “no snitching and “the hustler”

· Because of the mistreatment and murders of black community members, blacks lack trust and have a deep sense of fear due to the police officers in the neighborhood. This criminal code allows blacks to protect themselves from criminals and seek justice for crimes against law-abiding citizens. (Lil Kim and Busta Rhymes)

· Rose believes, “…refusing to give information about serious crimes only empowers criminal activity and vigilante justice; it does not reduce police brutality or racism.” (Rose 226)

· “the hustler” Hip hop perceives this to be a normal model of success, Rose thinks its an model of profitable dishonesty. “A Hustler represents a dog-eat-dog model of capitalism from the excluded.” (Rose 227)

· Both “no snitching” and “hustling” “contribute to the decline of trust and mutuality. Both are necessary ingredients for community survival.” (Rose 228)

4. Invisible White Consumption: “white consumption of black stereotypes is fine as long as it look like “authentic” black culture.”

· “color-blindness” an idea that hip hop is for everyone, idea that hip hop is the new multiculturalism

· Ex: Spike Lee’s 2000 film Bamboozled “reveals the complicated collusions of white desire for black “authenticity” and for stereotypes that are based in white supremacist ideas.” (Rose 229)

· Scholar Charles Gallagher and Researcher Jason Rodriquez

5. Sexism Isnt Really a Problem:

· Exploiting of women (especially black) is not a problem

· Women in hip hop obtain sexual freedom.

· Excuses: Hip hop has songs like “Dear Momma” and “Keep ya head up” by Tupac, “Momma loves me” by Jay-z, and “Runaway Love” by Ludacris

· Lil Kim or Nicki Minaj is an example of a woman who is “expressing sexual freedom”

· “So the problem isn’t really sexism; its sexually explicit culture, in which women are not “respected” while under male authority”

6. Homophobia is Okay: Homophobia is not worthy of our attention

· “…simple remain silent about or only occasionally mention hip hops homophobia, letting the emphasis on sexism or the “disrespect” of black women stand in for other kinds of hatred and discrimination perpetuated by hip hop.” (Rose 236)

· Doesn’t gain attention because pro-gangsta-pimp-ho profile is driven explicitly by its sexism and amplified by gangsta-style, sexist music videos. Few videos contain gay men or women, unless women are rubbing on one another. (Males fanstasy)

“In the absence of serious attention to these issues, the creative future of hip hop is in jeopardy, and a progressive musical community where justice matters, where trading violence, insult, and domination are rejected, is stymied. The powerful possibility of meaningful, gender equal, and collaborative cross-racial exchanges through music and culture is squandered, and progressive values are pushed to the margins, while myth of black dysfunctionality remain profitable and perilous for black people and for America as a whole.” (Rose 240)