Hip Hop From Subculture to
Popculture
An Analysis of the Mainstream
Appeal of Hip Hop Culture
2
1 Introduction
In this paper I will discuss hip hop culture, and especially rap music, in order to
understand the origin of hip hop as a subculture and why this subculture has grown to be
so popular to so many people. My perspective is hip hop as an African-American
subculture, and I will furthermore discuss postmodern elements of hip hop culture. From
the beginning, hip hop music was used as a rebellion against, or resistance towards, the
dominant white American society, and as a form of creating a common identity for young
African-Americans. Hip hop music consciously draws on the heritage of AfricanAmerican music by sampling the music and by sharing the same forms of resistance, such
as the stylistic rebellion of bebop over the political resistance of soul music to the
provocative sexual funk. Postmodern elements are reflected in hip hop culture through
the bricolage of sampling, through graffiti as a form of art, through the deconstruction of
traditional hierarchies, and the use of intertextuality and double-coding in rap music.
Through analyses of rap music and hip hop magazines I will attempt to place hip hop
culture within a socio-cultural as well as a postmodern context. Although hip hop culture
today is a worldwide youth culture, my focus will lie on American hip hop culture.
The aim of the study is to explain the development of hip hop culture from an
ethnic subculture to a mainstream popular youth culture. In order to do so, I will attempt
to define what it is about hip hop that attracts a mass audience with no apparent
connection to the subculture’s urban African-American origin. African-American music
has always appealed to a white audience. But where the mainstreaming of AfricanAmerican music traditionally caused black artists and audiences to seek new musical
expressions, hip hop has remained a “black” culture in spite of the interest of white artists
and audiences. Growing up in a postmodern mass society, young people are attracted to
the authentic, in search of a more exclusive identity than that offered by the dominant
culture. My thesis is that the expansion of hip hop culture from an ethnic subculture to a popular
youth culture is due to the emphasis on authenticity in hip hop, which appeals to the large
mainstream audience. At the same time, this focus on authenticity maintains the interest of black
artists and audiences.
Hip hop music and especially rap music will form the basis of this study of hip hop
culture. When discussing hip hop culture, music will inevitably take up the majority of
concern as hip hop is a music-based culture. The music of hip hop culture is often plainly
3
referred to as “hip hop” and is mainly associated with rap music. Some define the term
“hip hop music” as including all music created by sampling, with a dominant beat,
whether it be rapped over or sung to. The problem is that much pop music today is based
on the same beats and using the same techniques, though no one would refer to such
music as hip hop. As rap music will be the predominant concern of this research I will
apply the term hip hop music as meaning rap music. As the terms used for the music and
culture are the same I will briefly define the difference between hip hop culture and hip
hop music. Hip hop music is the main element of hip hop culture, which apart from the
music encompasses stylistic features such as graffiti as well as a distinct fashion that has
been mainstreamed as street-wear. Gestures, such as handshakes and hand-signs, as well
as certain values and attitudes are also associated with hip hop culture. Hip hop music is
the expression of hip hop culture. The political ideas and values that exist in hip hop
culture are expressed through rap music. Therefore hip hop culture and rap music are
intertwined and inseparable when discussing hip hop as a subculture.
Rap music is often divided into different genres, varying in numbers and categories
depending on the source. I will, to simplify my task, operate with two genres only, well
aware that the diversity of the music invites a narrower definition. The two genres I have
chosen to divide rap music into are message rap and gangsta rap, both well known rap
genres. Message rap is often tied to African-American history whereas gangsta rap is
often non-historical and nihilistic in its expression. Message rap will here include
politically conscious rap and afrocentric rap. Public Enemy, a rap group I will refer to in
the study, is an example of a group that performs message rap. Gangsta rap will include
ghetto-rap, booty-rap, and mack-rap. I will use the group N.W.A. as an example of a
gangsta rap group as they formed the genre in the late 1980s. Furthermore, I will refer to
2Pac and Eminem, both of whom are usually associated with gangsta rap but can be
placed in other contexts as well. The rapper Eminem will be the artist that receives the
most attention in this paper, as he is the most popular rapper today, and attracts a large
mainstream audience.
In chapter two I will give a brief narration of hip hop culture from the origin in the
1970s to the mainstreamed youth culture of today. In chapter three I will give a detailed
description of subcultural theory in order to explain the foundation of this study, and I
will discuss the hip hop audience and its relation to the subculture. Chapter four will
define hip hop as an African-American subculture based on the theory discussed in the
previous chapter. In chapter five I will analyze the notion of authenticity in rap music, hip
hop advertisements, and audience discourse. Chapter six is a discussion of the hip hop
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image and of the way hip hop is represented as an African-American cultural form. In
chapter seven I look into the critical attitudes towards rap music and discuss the relation
between criticism and musical ethnicity, as well as the responses to criticism from one of
the most controversial artists, Eminem. Chapter eight explores the relations between
postmodernism and hip hop culture. Chapter nine is an analysis of intertextuality and
other postmodern elements in Eminem’s music. Finally, in chapter ten I will discuss the
appeal of hip hop to the mainstream audience in order to understand the expansion of the
subculture into popular culture.
2 A Brief History of Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture
Rap music represents the latest form of African-American music. From the earliest forms
of African-American song and music traditions there has been an element of resistance in
the music. As black music and music in general became a commodity, the record industry
increased its role in developing and forming music in order to accommodate the product
to the market. Neal suggests that rap music represents a counter-narrative to the
expanding black middle-class and the capitalistic music industry because it originated
“on the street” and was initially formed by black youth itself without any corporate
interests (125-126).
Hip hop is usually dated back to New York, 1974. The traces of postindustrialization was the same as in other urban areas, the white population had largely
abandoned the city in pursuit of the suburbs, and left behind was an urban population
consisting mainly of racial minorities. At the same time the range of jobs were shifting
from manufacturing to service- and information-oriented jobs decreasing the amount of
jobs available to uneducated workers. The increase in unemployment led to higher costs
of social services. President Ford refused to give financial support to the economically
challenged cities, an act that came to be crucial to the formation of ghettos. Tricia Rose
describes how the people in the lowest income group (who are disproportionably
represented by Hispanics and Blacks) became poorer as people in the highest income
group became wealthier thus increasing class differences (Black Noise 28). In Bronx the
streets were ruled by African-American and Puerto Rican street gangs (Fricke and Ahearn
2-20). The concentration of racial minorities in Bronx was due to poor city-planning and
an attempt to clear “slums” around the city through relocating the inhabitants to housing
5
1
projects in South Bronx . High unemployment rates and little or no entertainment
available, lead to territorial fights and gang violence (ibid). Poverty was one of the aspects
that kept the Bronx youth out of the disco nightclubs, and caused the rise of underground
parties, lead by disc jockeys that spun disco and funk records. Much contemporary
rhythmic music contained “break beats”, which is a pause in the singing where the beat
plays alone. The DJ or “turntablist” would play this break beat over and over, and it
would invite to a certain kind of dance, later to be known as break-dancing. Kool DJ Herc
and Grandmaster Flash were pioneers of this type of DJ’ing, and are regarded the
forefathers of hip hop (Fricke and Ahearn). In the beginning the DJ would sometimes
speak rhymes over the beats, later “microphone controlling” would become a feature in
itself and the MC (microphone controller/Master of Ceremonies) or rapper was born. The
competitive element of hip hop was introduced by gang-members, who would compete
in break-dancing or rapping. In this light, hip hop was from the beginning anti-violent
and was in fact an attempt to decrease the violence between street gangs. The fourth
cornerstone in hip hop culture (the three first being Dj’ing, MC’ing and break-dancing)
was graffiti. “Tagging” had for a long time been used by gangs as a way of marking
territory and spreading news, as Kohl describes in Names, Graffiti, and Culture but now it
also became an integrated part of hip hop culture, as a way of marking territory, but also
2
as a purely stylistic element. The culture, being based on “hip” music and dancing, was
later given the name “hip hop” by Afrikaa Bambata, who was a prominent figure in early
hip hop, stressing the importance of hip hop as a multicultural and anti-violent lifestyle.
Of the four elements of hip hop, three are directly music-related (Dj’ing, rapping, breakdancing) and music can be said to be the most important element of the culture.
However, I believe that there is a fifth element which encompasses all of the other four.
This element is style. As I will demonstrate in chapter four, style in terms of fashion and
display plays a crucial role to the formation and continuing existence of hip hop culture.
In 1979 the rap song Rapper’s Delight by The Sugarhill Gang was released as the first
rap single ever. Its major success and importance for following rap releases
1
Tricia Rose gives a detailed description of the rise of ghettos in New York in Black
Noise pp. 27-34.
2
Tagging is a less elaborate type of graffiti. It is usually in plain black writing and
consists of a signature or short message written on a wall. A signature can for instance be
“Spyder 35” meaning Spyder (nickname) of block 35. The messages are information to
other kids stating new identities (i.e. “Paul is Spyder 35”) or telling who is going out with
whom i.e. “Spyder 35 and Jenny T.L.F.E.” meaning Spyder and Jenny True Love For Ever.
6
notwithstanding, many New York hip hoppers felt disappointed that the group Sugarhill
Gang did not consist of authentic New York hip hoppers, but were a group formed by an
eager producer and were in fact from New Jersey. Through the 1980s hip hop grew from
being a local subculture to a nationwide and eventually international youth culture.
Although the culture, most evidently the music, spread throughout the US and Europe,
New York remained the centre and place of original hip hop. Style and looks came to
represent hip hop, introducing heavy jewelry as a (mock) signal of wealth and the cap
worn backwards symbolizing urban lifestyle, where no shade is necessary as the sunshine
does not reach the streets. Many rappers or rap groups featured special gimmicks as part
of their personal style ranging from Run DMC’s Adidas snickers and black hats to Public
Enemy’s gigantic alarm clocks worn in chains around their necks. In the fall of 1988 MTV
aired a new program, Yo! MTV Raps, which specialized in rap music, and the same year
Billboard magazine began featuring a hip hop/rap chart suggesting that rap was now
accepted as a mainstream genre (Neal 143).
Among the most important artists in the 1980s are Grandmaster Flash and the
Furious Five, whose rap single The Message from 1982 has become legendary because of
its societal critique. In fact, the song has given name to the genre “message rap” which is
politically conscious rap. Through the 1980s several rappers and rap groups experienced
major break-throughs to the mainstream audience. Most of the popular rap music was
entertaining, funny, sexy and not politically challenging. In the late 1980s Public Enemy
became one of the most important rap groups of all times to break through to a white
audience, featuring their Black Nationalist raps and uncompromising critique of
contemporary American society.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Los Angeles became a worthy contestant to New
York’s hip hop scene. Rap group N.W.A. (Niggas With Attitude) lead by rapper Ice Cube
and producer Dr. Dre became the exponent of “gangsta rap”, a genre that through the
1990s would become the most popular rap genre. Gangsta rap is characterized by its
depiction of gang life, often delving on crime and violence. Other popular themes are sex,
money, drugs, and alcohol, often accompanied by a sexist attitude. Fortunately, irony and
exaggeration are important elements of gangsta rap as well. Gangsta rap often has a
political agenda as well in criticizing racism and the dominant white culture; however,
the positive messages of this genre have often been overlooked because of the politically
incorrect content. The nineties became the decade where hip hop’s mantra of “keeping it
real” came to the test. The East versus West Coast feud, initially instigated by former
friends West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur a.k.a. 2Pac and East Coast rapper Biggie Smalls
7
a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G, ended with the two getting shot. Both murders remain unsolved.
Both rappers have since been immortalized in songs, documentaries, and books and
Tupac Shakur has, thanks to the huge amount of recorded material he left behind, both
released and sold more records after his death than before. In 1998 hip hop was the top
selling music genre in the US (McLeod, 146). The year after, in 1999, a new rapper
appeared on the stage. Produced by infamous and legendary Dr. Dre, Eminem was
bound to succeed. The high scale of his success, however, could not have been foreseen.
In a matter of few years, Eminem has become one of the most popular rappers ever as
well as one of the most controversial artists today. What makes him stand out from other
talented lyricists in hip hop is his race. Being far from the first white artist in hip hop, he
is certainly the first white solo artist to achieve this level of success and, importantly,
credibility from both white and black audiences.
3 Subcultural Theory
A “subculture” is a theoretical definition of a cultural phenomenon and in order to
describe or analyze a subculture; one has to construct it first. Sarah Thornton begins her
introduction to The Subcultures Reader by attempting to define the concept of subculture.
Over time, various approaches to the study of subcultures have been suggested; however,
all agree that a subculture can not easily be defined using external borders such as
geography, race, age, and class. The study of subcultures origins from the sociological
department at Chicago University where an interest in the diversity of cultural formations
within the city lead to the formation of the “Chicago School” which came to form the base
of subcultural understanding. The idea of the mass society or mass culture came from the
Frankfurt School. Subcultures are often defined as oppositional to the mainstream, mass,
or public society, which again leads to problems in defining concepts as the terms
“mainstream”, “mass”, or “public” all refers to the surrounding society but have different
values imbedded. Thornton differentiates between “the mass” and “the public” by
inferring that the public defines a more politically engaged and aware group of people
whereas the mass refers to a group of uncritical consumers. The term “mainstream” may
seem more appropriate to define a product than a group of people, but can also be used
about the consumers of mainstream products. From a hierarchical perspective “the mass”
and “the mainstream” ranges lower than “the public”. In this paper I will apply the term
mainstream society as including all of the above three concepts and as meaning the
8
general set of norms and behavior widely accepted outside subcultures. The mainstream
society generally refers to the white middle-class, as this group is the dominant within
American society.
A variety of suggestions are offered to explain how and why subcultures arise and
what it is that tie people together in a subculture. It seems obvious why subcultures arise
as the need for alternative spheres accompanies the need or want to express deviant
behavior. Most people would look for peers when possible rather than conforming to
standards which for some reason does not comply with ones interests. Albert Cohen of
the Chicago School sums it up: “The crucial condition for the emergence of new cultural
forms is the existence, in effective interaction with one another, of a number of actors with
similar problems of adjustment.” (48). How subcultures arise, however, is a more
complicated issue and will most likely differ from subculture to subculture. One possible
common feature may be that subcultures tend to arise from a community of people,
community here meaning a subsidiary culture within society, though not as deviant from
society as a subculture. An example could be hip hop which in its early years was a
subculture within the Urban African-American community, which in turn is a community
within the larger American society. It is important to distinguish between subculture and
community even though these two terms seem close to each other. A community is easily
distinguished within society and are often defined by physical boundaries such as city
limits, religion, race, or class whereas a subculture or its participants often are determined
by inner characteristics such as interest in a certain type of music, shared values, politics
and the like, or, participation in a subculture may be determined by a common wish to
rebel against the dominant society. Albert Cohen suggests a need for subcultures to be in
opposition to society in order to retain their own status hierarchy. As outsiders may
consider the participants of a subculture to hold a low status from an outer hierarchical
viewpoint, participants of a subculture may choose to inverse this by awarding the very
behavior, style, or beliefs not valued by society to have a high status within the
subculture. Participants may thus be inclined to act in ways consciously perceived
provocative to society in order to maintain society’s dislike as that is a way of achieving
status within the subculture (53).
How then to define a subculture? And more difficult still, how to define the
members or participants of a subculture? If a subculture is a culture placed outside or
within the surrounding society and often regarded, from and outside perspective
anyway, as secondary to or lower than the general society, does this also count for the
people within the subculture? Subcultures are often understood to include people who
9
are at the lower end of society’s hierarchy such as poor people, young people, and
minorities (religiously, racially or sexually deviant). The term subculture is rarely used to
define the successful upper-class businessmen who form fraternities from which they
network or lobby.
The Birmingham tradition of subcultural studies, in which elements from the
Chicago School and the Frankfurt School are merged, is based on cultural studies rather
than the sociological tradition of the Chicago School, and has a more pluralist perspective
on the mass society than the Frankfurt School. These more recent studies of subcultures
tend to focus on youth cultures and furthermore narrow the subject down to workingclass subcultures. Gelder (1997a) explains that the aim of the studies is to view
subcultures in relations with other, broader cultures such as the working class culture
(from which subcultures are believed to origin, also referred to as the “parental culture”),
the dominant culture and the mass culture (84). Phil Cohen of the Birmingham tradition
argues that there are two basic forms of subcultures, the plastic forms and the
infrastructural forms (94). The plastic forms are subcultures based on dress and music,
and the infrastructural forms are based on jargon and ritual. Hip hop contains elements of
both the plastic and infrastructural forms; this will be elaborated when discussing hip hop
as an African-American subculture. Cohen assumes that music and dress style are
produced outside the subculture rather than innovated within, but adopted by the
subculture as it express the beliefs or ideas of the subculture. This is not always the case
as hip hop has shown. However, Cohen did point to interesting ideas about the rise of
subcultures:
·
Subcultures are territorial, and it is through territorial placement that a
subculture becomes a concept in the minds of the participants (and others).
·
Subcultures can be oppositional to each other, and within one subculture
there can be territorial divisions, which can also be oppositional.
·
Subcultures always arise from working-class culture, never from the
middle-class, as a subculture always springs from a dominated
culture/community, not the dominating culture.
·
A subculture is an attempt made by youth to solve the problem of the
displacement of the parental culture. In other words, a subculture is the
replacement, by the youth, of the community feeling of the working class.
(96-97)
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The statements above make up the foundation of the Birmingham tradition and are all
relevant when discussing hip hop as a subculture. In the discussion of subculture within
the Birmingham tradition, opinions differ as to whether or not subcultures have an
impact on society in terms of influence, ideologically as well as practically. And as a
consequence of this, does a subculture offer a solution to youth’s problems (which is to
find a proper alternative to the working class culture, which is seen as dissolving) or will
they inevitably return to their “parental” culture when the subculture dies out or when
they become adults themselves? In order to understand this final statement, it is
important to remember that subcultural studies at this point deals with youth cultures,
and it is believed that the participants are people in their teens and early twenties, that is,
participants of a subculture will return to their parental culture when they settle down
and have to take a regular job in order to support their family. To retract from a
subculture and back into society is not as big a step as might be believed. Subcultural
participants will always have a double identity because they belong partly to the
subculture and partly to society. Although participants of a subculture may act in ways
not acceptable to society, this does not exclude that they know the “rules”, or the agenda,
of society and know how to act by it if necessary.
In Subculture – The meaning of style Hebdige offers two alternative ways for a
subculture to become incorporated into society, which is believed to be inevitable and the
ultimate end to the subculture (131). The first way is referred to as the “commodity form”,
and refers to the conversion of subcultural style, for instance dress and music, into
mainstream products such as it happens when a designer turn subcultural dress style into
fashion. The second way for a subculture to be devoured by society is through the
“ideological form”. The ideological form of incorporating a subculture into society is
through familiarization and identification, placing the participants of a subculture in
referential context with society. When a subculture is defined by society, when it becomes
named, and to a certain degree accepted by society, it enters the common frame of
reference and can no longer exist solely on its own terms. Media attention and portrayal
of subcultures are the most obvious factors of how ideological incorporation takes place.
The question remains: do some subcultures have the ability to resist or change society?
And should a subculture be judged by its ability to do so, in other words, is resistance the
most important element of a subculture?
More recent studies of subcultures contest the theories of the Birmingham tradition
and their class-based perspectives on subculture. Furthermore, the idea of the subculture
as a community of rebellion and resistance has been refused by some scholars.
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Subcultures need not stem from the working-class and the purpose of the subculture need
not be that of a counter-culture to society. The search for identity and belonging among
young people from all classes may be purpose enough for a subculture to arise. Epstein
(2002) suggests that the feeling of alienation common among adolescents alone can lead to
the formation of subcultures. He defines alienation as “the various ways in which an
individual can be estranged from society in general, from particular institutions, such as
education or religion, and even from herself and others, such as peers.” (4) Epstein
divides alienation into two categories of estrangement. The first type of alienation is
caused by social structures such as class and ethnic differences and is related to ideology
such as Marxism or religion. The second type of alienation is social-psychological and is
based on the individual’s feeling of estrangement in certain situations. This alienation is
measured by feelings of powerlessness, meaninglessness and lack of coherence. The
impact of alienation in the subcultural attraction of the mainstream audience will be
elaborated further on in chapter ten.
There is a tendency to favor a certain “authenticity” when defining a subculture,
which invariably leads to the early death of a subculture, as authenticity here seems to
count only the small group of pioneers who formed the original subculture, not allowing
the broader audience or consumer of the subculture to take part in the subcultural
identity. In fact, as mentioned earlier, Hebdige suggested that a subculture is often
pronounced dead as soon as it enters the consumer-capitalist sphere of the mainstream
market. However, the possibility of subcultures surviving, and even playing an active
role in becoming an integrated part in society, does not seem to be accounted for within
the Birmingham tradition. Facing the reality of subcultures as part of a consumer culture,
it would make sense to divide the subculture in two groups. The first group is the place
where the subculture as commodity or ideology is produced; the second is where it is
consumed. By using this approach to subcultural studies, the consumers receive a place
within the subculture.
3.1 The Audience.
The mass audience does not really exist. Present day theory tends to focus more on the
various groups or segments which constitute the mass, such as demographically, socially,
ethnically, or geographically defined groups. The ethnicity of the audience is an
interesting aspect when discussing the appeal of hip hop to a broad audience, as hip hop
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culture has a very strong notion of ethnicity in terms of “blackness”. Class is also an
important aspect in the audience, as hip hop traditionally is regarded as a working-class
based culture. However, in the case of hip hop audiences there has been very little
research done in terms of differentiation within the audience, primarily because statistics
3
of ethnic or class differences in the audience are impossible or hard to find . According to
Nuzum, record companies in the 1950s took the first step towards segregating the
audience by race through continuingly releasing “black music” (here meaning music that
was believed only to be bought by black listeners, not the popular mainstream music by
black artists that was also enjoyed by a white audience) on 78 RPM records and “white
music” on the new 45 or 33 RPM records (105). This happened in spite of the fact that
most record players produced since the 1940s did not play the 78 RPM records. The idea
was that most African-American listeners assumingly could not afford to buy the new
record players and thus it would be thoughtful to keep producing music for this
particular audience on old standard records. In reality, of course, what this action really
did was to prevent white listeners (and probably many black listeners) from buying this
music and thus maintaining the position of the clean “white” music as the mainstream.
To a certain degree this segregation still exists when defining audiences, when the black
audience is referred to as the “urban contemporary” market versus the pop music market.
It is commonly assumed that white youth make up a large portion of those who
listen to hip hop music and attend hip hop concerts. According to Bakari Kitwana in The
Rap on Gangsta Rap, white suburban male teenagers make up the majority of rap-record
buyers based on billboard statistics from 1991. However, this statement is contested by
Kitwana himself who argues that the relatively small number of people (24,000 annually)
in the demographic survey may not be representational for the entire population (16).
Furthermore, Tricia Rose states that such surveys only account for over-the-counter sales
and do not consider the flow of illegal copies and mixtapes (tapes with mixed rap songs,
often sold through mail-order in hip hop magazines) that circulate among less financially
capable music-listeners. However, she also states that it is likely that white teenagers
make up the majority of rap-listeners as the enormous record-sales require a larger
audience that can be found among black teenagers alone. As more recent ethnically based
music consumer statistics can not be accounted for, I will have to assume that the listeners
3
Tricia Rose (Black Noise) claims that such statistics are unavailable, however, Bakari
Kitwana refers to a 1991 Billboard statistic that shows that white male teenagers buy he
majority of rap albums (The Rap on Gangsta Rap). I have not been able to find that or more
recent statistics on this subject.
13
of hip hop are an ethnically diverse group, the majority of which being white teenagers.
th
On the Billboard Singles Top Twenty (April 14 2004) eight of the twenty songs belonged
4
in the hip hop/R&B group . Considering the fact that other genres such as pop, rock and
country are represented on the same list, this statistic emphasizes how widespread hip
hop music is today. The major popularity of hip hop music implies that the genre has a
large white audience, as whites make up the majority of the population.
Audience theory usually focuses on the relationship between sender and receiver of
media. In this research, the relevant audience is people who listen to hip hop music/radio
stations, attend concerts, watch hip hop films and music videos, buy hip hop magazines,
and in other ways consume or participate in, without producing, hip hop culture. It
makes sense to divide the audience into two groups. The first and primary group will be
the audience that “live” hip hop culture, defined as urban, working-class young people,
as opposed to the secondary group that mainly consist of middle-class suburban youth.
This latter group will be referred to as the mainstream audience because of their large
number and because they represent the dominant culture and thus the mainstream or
mass society. The division between “original” and mainstream audiences can be
described as the difference between active and passive audiences. The term “passive” is
slightly misleading because I believe that the act of listening to music always is an active
position. I use the word “passive” here to refer to the people who listen to hip hop music
but who do not participate actively in forming hip hop culture, understood as people who
do not perform hip hop arts, do not attend hip hop concerts (other than main-stream acts
such as Eminem, P. Diddy, 50 Cent and the like), do not attend or participate in “open
mic” sessions and rap-battles, do not buy or read hip hop magazines, do not watch hip
hop films (other than mainstream films such as Boyz ‘N the Hood, 8 Mile) and do not
5
attend hip hop clubs . The “passive” hip hop audience will mainly have an interest in
mainstream hip hop music, which I define as hip hop/rap acts played on MTV, and hip
hop music may be one out of many music genres they enjoy. The active hip hop audience
will participate more eagerly in hip hop culture by performing hip hop arts, attending
minor hip hop concerts, attending hip hop clubs, reading/buying hip hop magazines,
watching hip hop films, participating in debates on the internet (most artists’ homepages
have a discussion forum) or in magazines about hip hop, or participate in or attend “open
4
On www.billboard.com
14
mics” and rap-battles. Criteria such as the use of hip hop vernacular or fashion are too
complex to define an audience, as both fashion and slang regularly become mainstreamed
and are replaced by new styles. Though it is possible to talk about a specific hip hop
language this will be too intertwined with Ebonics and thus racially biased. This means
that white hip hop audiences may be actively engaged in hip hop culture but are racially
prevented from using hip hop vernacular. Eminem, for instance uses “black” language,
especially on his earlier recordings. This may have helped him gain street credibility but
he also had to prove that he was “worthy” of using the vernacular and has been accused
6
of being a “wigger” . Hip hop clothing style has become a commodity to a degree where it
has been turned into mainstream fashion. The baggy pants and extra large sweat-shirts,
the backward turned cap, and snickers are worn by teenagers all over the world, with
little or no relation to hip hop culture. Certain more distinguished features of hip hop
fashion are only worn by hip hop aficionados. This includes the exaggerated fake iced
(meaning diamond strewn) jewelry and watches, bandanas and other head-dresses, and
certain brands of clothes and shoes that through marketing are aimed directly at hip hop
audiences, including brands owned by famous rappers. Still, not all lovers of hip hop
wear this style and so it can not be used to define the audience.
4 Hip hop as African-American Subculture
Rap music draws heavily on African-American music traditions through sampling (often
without permission) from other genres of black music and by using music to establish
and express the distinctness of black contra white culture. Rap music is also in some
forms political and deals with the situation of the African-American population in
America. Rap has its roots in African oral tradition and the boasting elements in much rap
5
“Open Mic” is a term for a club-night or a radio-program where the microphone is
open to whoever wants to rap. A rap battle is a public competition between to or more
MC’s on who is the best rapper.
6
During an interview, Eminem, after telling about his childhood in Detroit, was once
told by an African-American TV-host that he had “earned” his right to speak “black”. A
“wigger” is a white person who desires to be black. It is a derogatory term used about
whites that indulge in black culture.
15
7
music come from an African-American tradition of signifying and playing the dozens. In
Joking: The Training of the Man of Words in Talking Broad Abrahams describes “signifying”
as a persuasive way of talking and as a way of talking easy and well. He characterizes
signifying as being important among ghetto men as a way of getting respect. On today’s
rap scene, both male and female hip hop artists compete about being the best rapper in
terms of having complex rhyme patterns, a good “flow” (articulation and rap “style”),
and an extended vocabulary.
The traces of African-American culture in hip hop leads to the perception of hip hop
as an African-American subculture. According to subcultural theory the most important
condition for a subculture to arise is a number of people with similar adjustment
problems to come together. In the early years of hip hop this condition was certainly
present when young, ethnic minorities began the formation of a new music culture. The
relevant feature of this youth was their sense of displacement in the dominant culture
caused by cultural or racial differences from the dominant white culture. This explains the
critical view by some people on white hip hop artists, as they inevitably represent the
dominating culture. Though race, as we use the word when talking about white or black
Americans, is believed by most scholars to be a cultural or social construct, the physical
feature of skin color still matters in hip hop culture. Class has played a role in the
formation of hip hop as well. Following the prescription of the Birmingham tradition of
subcultural studies, hip hop culture was formed by lower class or working class youth
who did not have the finances to attend clubs and instead held parties on the streets or
whatever locations available. (Fricke and Ahearn 2-20). As mentioned in chapter three,
Albert Cohen suggests that participants in a subculture will attempt to maintain their
oppositional position towards the dominant culture by awarding behavior within the
subculture that diverge from societal norms. In hip hop this has been done by celebrating
blackness, from the promotion of black beauty, black vernacular, and black lifestyle to
resisting the branding and definition of blackness offered by white society. The latter
have been attempted in several ways from the use of Black Nationalist rhetoric to
inversing the stereotypes by redefining derogatory expressions and by over-emphasizing
and ridiculing clichés in order to make them meaningless. Whether or not the redefinition
of blackness and the cliché inversion have been successful can be discussed. Although
7
The Dozens is a rhyming game where two or more participants take turns in
saying a rhyme, often a derogatory comment on the mother of one of the other
participants. The person who can come up with the most rhymes will win.
16
“blackness” has become a very popular feature in mainstream youth culture, many of the
representations of blackness in popular media are mere cliché-repetitions. This will be
discussed further in chapter six.
Another important aspect of subcultural theory is the notion of territory. In hip hop
culture the idea of place or territory is very important. The important place can be either
the city or Africa. The city is important as it encompasses hip hop’s origin as an urban
culture and many hip hop artists will refer to their city in their music or visual arts.
Furthermore, the city is a contrast to the suburbs which in hip hop represents the white
society. Africa as a place of origin is important to the afrocentric wing in hip hop, as the
continent represents the motherland. Territorial divisions are important within hip hop as
well, as the East Coast vs. West Coast feud illustrated. Decker argues that “time” as well
as “place” is an important factor in hip hop culture. Nation conscious rap can be either
time- or place-oriented. The focus on “place” in Afrocentric rap is Africa, and 1960s
inspired rap, such as Public Enemy, who uses militant rhetoric and uniforms as a
reference to the Black Panther movement, refers to “time”. Time is to be understood as in
the present time being a time of liberation for the African-American population, as a
contrast to earlier days of oppression and slavery. Public Enemy furthermore symbolized
this by hanging alarm clocks around their necks, as mentioned earlier.
A different approach to understanding the formation of a subculture, other than to
resist the dominant culture, is to see it as creating a substitute for the parental culture or
to solve the problems of the dissolving parental culture (working-class, according to the
Birmingham theorists). In the case of hip hop the parental culture is more likely to be the
African-American community than the working-class in general, as poverty is mostly
dealt with in rap music as a racial issue, not a class issue. Dyson (1993) claims that hip
hop culture and especially rap music has created or visualized a generation gap in the
African-American community. Many of the older generation criticize rap music for
promoting gangster clichés and for the violent and sexist images often found in rap. Rap
has also laid bare the long ignored class differences within African-American culture.
Where the Civil Rights Movement praised the unity of African-Americans, hip hop
culture reflects the division of that same group. Hip hop is, or was originally, a subculture
for the poor people. In spite of mainstreaming and multi-millionaire rap-stars, hip hop
culture still appeals to young poverty-stricken blacks, whereas many middle-class
African-Americans criticize hip hop for corrupting black culture and promoting
stereotypes. Dyson (1993) argues that the critique of rap music has created close bonds
17
between hip hop artists, who often support each other when criticized by the dominant
culture. In this respect, hip hop has replaced the parental culture’s community feeling.
As mentioned earlier, Phil Cohen lists two basic forms of subcultures, the plastic
forms and the infrastructural forms (94). The plastic forms are subcultures based on dress
and music, and the infrastructural forms are based on jargon and ritual. However, these
two forms or tendencies do not have to rule out one another. In the case of hip hop
culture, both of these forms apply, and both can be related to the style of hip hop. Neal
claims that hip hop from the beginning was based on style rather than politics (137). The
styles that hip hop initially was based on were the dance-style (break-dance), music-style,
and style of graffiti. Add to this certain fashions regarding clothes and accessories. The
street/sports wear worn by many rappers then and now is demonstratively casual
compared to the suit worn by many white-collar middle-class men. Additionally, the
heavy (fake) jewelry and fake designer-logos is a mockery directed at the middle- or
upper-class who wear the real thing. Ironically, hip hop fashion has become so popular
that many of the famous designer brands have begun to make real designer clothes and
accessories that match the hip hop style. Chanel, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana are some of
the designer houses that now sell expensive sweat suits and street-wear and Chanel has
made “name-tag” gold necklaces which is a typical hip hop fashion. Fashion can, like
vernacular, be a way of displaying identity and belonging to a certain group.
There is also a certain “style” in terms of attitude connected to hip hop, which can
best be compared to a “black” style. Cooke describes the “non-verbal communication”
among African-Americans in his essay by the same name. He gives a characterization of
“coolness” and how this is applied through certain handshakes, walks, and ways of
posing that is connected to African-Americans. This laid back “coolness” is very much a
part of hip hop culture as well. According to Cohen’s two forms of subculture, the
infrastructural form is based on jargon and ritual. The “coolness” described as a certain
way of behavior can be viewed as a form of ritual, especially in the different forms of
handshakes and way of greeting each other. The rap-battle, which is a development of
signifying, also contains elements of a ritual because it is a symbolic fight over honor. Just
as signifying is a way of showing off using words alone, rap-battles were an attempt to
solve the gang-violence by replacing it with rap competitions. “Jargon”, slang, and
vernacular are very important to hip hop culture as well and is strongly connected to the
ethnic origin of the culture. Black culture is closely connected to a certain way of
speaking. “Black” English has its own grammatical rules, slang words and pronunciation.
In The Language of Soul, Claude Brown refers to this vernacular as “spoken soul”, and
18
infers that the language distinguishes itself from regular English by pronunciation,
intonation, and stress, not vocabulary. Vocabulary, he claims, can too easily be adapted
by whites, who regularly take over black slang words. This crossover of slang never takes
place the other way around, and blacks usually stop using a slang word when it becomes
common among whites. The term “spoken soul” refers to the idea that black people are
warm and have soul, and white people are cold and soul-less. This notion of black
language reflects a long history of degradation and oppression but also pride in cultural
differences. There is a very distinct attempt of resistance in the refusal of sharing the same
language as that of the dominant culture. In the case of African-American English, this
resistance can be traced back to the age of slavery where the African slaves were robbed
of their native language and forced to speak English. The slave owners knew that
language (and through language, ideas of the world) is the most powerful weapon in
colonizing the minds of others. Centuries later, certain groups of African-Americans,
primarily working-class, still resist the imposed language by transforming it to
accommodate their culture. Style, in terms of commodities as well as “infra-structures”,
such as ritual and jargon, are extremely important in hip hop culture. As mentioned
earlier, I believe that this emphasis on style qualifies it to be the fifth element of hip hop
culture that encompasses all of the other four; DJ’ing, rapping, graffiti, and break-dance
that are all style-based expressions.
Identity is another aspect of vernaculars. Sharing vernacular or even just certain
slang-words with a group of others is a way of expressing familiarity with that group.
Language becomes a way of displaying ones identity to others. Hip hop vernacular can
not be translated directly to black vernacular though it is based on the same grammar and
pronunciation. Hip hop vernacular contains a huge variety of slang which differs from
place to place. Much of this slang has nothing to do with African-American culture in
general, such as “MC”, “b-boys”, and “needle-dropping” which all relate directly to hip
8
hop culture. The specific jargon of hip hop will be discussed later in terms of
authenticity. Subcultural resistance can lie in all of the above mentioned elements of style
and vernacular.
8
An “MC” is a Microphone Controller (or Master of Ceremonies), “B-Boys” are hip
hop boys, more specifically break-dancers, and “needle-dropping” is the technique used
by DJs when they drop the pick-up on a particular beat on an LP.
19
5 Authenticity
The term “authenticity” can be rather controversial when applied to a culture, as the
meaning and connotations of the term are often debated. In hip hop, authenticity plays an
enormous role that is closely related to the commercialization of the culture. I believe that
the emphasis of authenticity in hip hop plays an important role in attracting the
mainstream audience, as authenticity in terms of an “authentic subculture” will appeal to
young people in search of a more original identity, than that offered by mainstream
popular culture. The concern with authenticity is mostly reflected in rap lyrics and in hip
hop magazines where the “real”, meaning subcultural, hip hop as opposed to “fake”
mainstream hip hop is often discussed. Hip hop slang or jargon also reflects the notion of
authenticity. “Keeping it real” or being “real” are slang terms often connected to popular
rap artists who are in a position where they can exploit or “sell out” hip hop for money
and fame. The terms refer to realness in the sense that the rapper is original as opposed to
a record-company constructed artist. Being “real” is often associated with having lived an
urban, low-class life although it can be interpreted as simply being true to one’s
background whether it be middle-class suburban or urban working class. “Keeping it
real” is a rule to live by after you have “made it” in the world of showbiz. It basically
means staying true to your roots, by keeping old friends and values. It also means that
one should avoid “selling out”, that is, not compromising your style, personality, and
beliefs in order to please a mainstream audience, record company and the dominant
culture in general. “Credibility” is a term associated with authenticity. It is often referred
to as “street-credibility” and is a term that describes correspondence between the content
of songs and the real life and background of the rapper. However, it can also refer to the
talent of an artist. Where “authentic” or “real” is something you are; “credibility” is
something you have, or can obtain. As will be discussed later, authenticity and ethnic
origin are often related. Credibility, on the other hand, can be earned or achieved by
anyone. Eminem is a good example of this as he is white but has received respect from the
black, more “authentic” hip hop scene.
Throughout the 1990s authenticity became the mantra of rap music, expressed in
various ways dealing with realness. McLeod notes in his article on hip hop and
authenticity, that authenticity is important not just to hip hop but to all the subcultures
that are struggling to avoid assimilation with the dominant culture. He divides
authenticity in hip hop into six semantic categories:
20
1) Social-Psychological, meaning staying true to oneself as opposed to following mass
trends.
2) Racial, meaning black as opposed to white.
3) Political-Economic, meaning underground as opposed to commercial.
4) Gender-Sexual, meaning hard as opposed to soft.
5) Social-Locational, meaning the streets as opposed to the suburbs.
6) Cultural, meaning Old School as opposed to mainstream. (McLeod Authenticity within
Hip-Hop Culture and Other Cultures Threatened With Assimilation 136)
The first category relates to an inner strategy in avoiding assimilation. It can be
transferred to the notion of “keepin’ it real” by rapping about ones own life and
experiences. It also relates to the notion of ethnicity in hip hop. As the majority of rappers
are black, the social-psychological category refers to pride in blackness, in other words, be
proud of your cultural heritage and do not dismiss it in order to please the dominant
culture. Persistence in style, specifically rap-style, is important as well. Create your own
style and do not imitate others just because they may be more successful.
The second category emphasizes black over white as a measure of authenticity. The
idea of race plays an extensive role in hip hop culture. Being from the beginning minoritybased (mostly African-American and Hispanic), there was little or no presence of white
people in early hip hop. As commercialization expanded hip hop into a national music
culture, more white artists, producers, and especially record-company owners and
affiliates appeared, raising the question of race and authenticity in hip hop. Time has
shown several white rap artists and one common feature among them is that they seem to
achieve high levels of fame easier than black artists (as were the case with Beastie Boys,
Vanilla Ice, Marky Mark, and Eminem). This has raised suspicion within certain circles of
hip hop culture towards white artists, as they physically represent the dominant culture
and therefore may be more likely to exploit hip hop culture than black or Hispanic artists,
who represent the original hip hop culture. A white artist like Vanilla Ice, who overnight
became one of hip hop’s biggest selling artists although he did not write or produce his
own material, has raised this disbelief in white hip hop artists (Rose 1994, 12). However,
the black and white issue is not always connected to race. The notion of blackness contra
whiteness has sometimes less to do with being racially white or black than culturally
white or black. “Blackness” is sometimes connected to certain values and a certain way of
moving, talking, and thinking. “Whiteness” is connected to the values, systems, and traits
of the dominating culture. This discrimination between “black” and “white” ways of
21
living and acting can be used negatively and positively. Negative when used as
derogatory labeling by people of other races and positively when used as self-assuring
and identity-shaping by an oppressed minority. Hip hop culture is usually represented as
a lower-class African-American culture and the discourse is that “real” blackness is
reserved for this group whereas middle-class African-Americans are “sellouts”. In other
words, “black” is a term that is tied to values over race when used in hip hop vernacular.
Being culturally white, as in supporting the dominant culture, shows a lack of credibility
in hip hop, regardless of ethnic origin. Eminem has by many been accepted as an artist
who is racially white but culturally black. In The New H.N.I.C. Todd Boyd even claims
Eminem to be “a real nigga” (128), and many of Eminem’s fellow rappers have expressed
their acceptance of him by referring to him as a “nigga” (which, in gangsta rap, is a
positive term) or like Snoop Dogg by calling Eminem his nephew in a rap song and
9
thereby stating his relations to and acceptance of Eminem as one of his own . Other
rappers can be racially black but be accused of not being “real” if they use rap music as a
way of gaining wealth without having any true love for hip hop culture. MC Hammer is a
black artist who has been accused of not being “real”.
The third category is related to the politics of hip hop culture. Underground as
opposed to mainstream can refer to the way of promoting hip hop music, for instance
through an independent record company as opposed to one of the large media
corporations. The attitudes toward the music industry are often reflected in rap lyrics and
hip hop politics. Hip hop is not a fixed culture where all participants share the same
political convictions; however, certain trends can be isolated and discussed. There has
been a political nation-conscious movement in hip hop culture which can be divided into
an afrocentric trend represented by such artists as X Clan and Poor Righteous Teachers,
and a 1960s inspired black nationalist trend represented by, among others, Public Enemy
and KRS-One. The afrocentric rap groups are often inspired by African culture and they
reject Western capitalism. The Black Nationalist rap groups are often inspired by Malcolm
X, the Black Panther Party, and The Nation of Islam. Generally, the nation conscious
groups are very racially oriented and reject the melting pot theory as a threat to black
collective identity, according to Decker in The State of Rap. Though not necessarily
separatists, many of the nation conscious rap groups encourage an African-American
economy. This includes supporting black-owned record companies, radio-stations and
9
Snoop Dogg makes this reference in the song B***h Please on Eminem’s album The
Marshall Mathers LP from 2000.
22
other black-owned media. It also includes promoting social consciousness and making
visible the racial divisions in society in terms of lack of opportunities for the black
population. This is done by “spreading the word” through political and socially conscious
rap lyrics. The lifestyles of these artists have to reflect their message as well. Public
Enemy is an excellent example. Though their hardcore political rap and disturbing
unmelodic cacophony of music and sound sampling have lost its appeal to the
mainstream audience, they nevertheless carry on rapping about political issues over
10
musical “noise” where other artists follow the better selling danceable G-funk sound .
Chuck D. (lead rapper in Public Enemy) also spends a lot of time writing on the internet
(where he keeps an open diary) and for magazines and is forever promoting political,
racism-conscious views. Probably the most quoted hip hop artist and a favorite of all hip
hop scholars, Chuck D. is the model political rapper.
The Gender-Sexual category is linked to the masculine dominance in hip hop
culture. The majority of actors on the hip hop scene (rappers, Dj’s, Break dancers, graffiti
artists) are male; however, women have been present in hip hop culture from its early
years. Sexism and male dominance in hip hop culture are often expressed through rap
music where derogatory slang and a general abusive attitude towards women are
common features and have been dealt with by, among others, Tricia Rose, who
emphasizes that sexism has been prevalent in many previous black music genres such as
jazz, soul and R&B as well as many non-black music genres and thus cannot be ascribed
to hip hop alone, but is rather reflecting a tendency in society (1994, 24). In Redeeming the
Rap Music Experience Venise Berry sees sexism in rap music as relating to the social and
economic situation of many African-Americans, and should thus be seen as an expression
of (or an attempt to invert) black men’s low self-esteem due to years of oppression,
unemployment, limited opportunities, and lack of control over own situation. Regardless
of the origin, sexism is prevalent in popular rap music and McLeod’s category divides
gender and sexuality into “hard” meaning authentic and “soft” meaning non-authentic.
The “hard” and “soft” categories can be transferred to male versus female or heterosexual
versus homosexual but also to “dominance” versus “dominated”. Many rap lyrics deal
with men dominating women, for instance in the roles of pimps, and this domination is
considered masculine behavior. The following example is from a rap called “Pimp Like
Me” by rap group D12: “…and don’t be asking me/ all kinds of questions/…/ or I may
10
G-funk is short for Gangsta-funk and is a beat style inspired by funk music. Dr. Dre
is the innovator of this type of hip hop music.
23
11
have/ to release some aggression/ beat you to death/ and teach you a lesson/…”
Through the song the rappers address the prostitute in their roles as pimps. The language
is very coarse and words like “bitch” and “ho” are continuingly repeated. Homophobic
expressions are another common feature in rap music. It is usually shown in the use of
derogatory terms such as “fag” or “faggot”. The words are most often used as demeaning
and provocative expressions regarding other (probably heterosexual) rappers, rather than
referring to homosexuals in general. It is de-emasculation rather than actual
homosexuality that many rappers imply when using these words. Dr. Dre uses the term
“bitch niggaz” to refer to men who fail to live up to the rules of masculinity, thus
12
applying a female terminology in order to emphasize the low position of these men .
Eminem uses the terms “girls” and “mother fucking females” in a diss-rap to describe
13
several of his (male) enemies . These examples show how the Gender-Sexual division of
“hard” meaning male/masculine, heterosexual, and dominating/controlling and “soft”
meaning female/feminine, homosexual, and dominated are applied in rap lyrics.
The fifth, social-locational category relates authenticity to the streets, meaning the
city rather than to the suburbs. Hip hop culture originated in the city, not in the suburb,
and it is this history that provides the city with authenticity. “The streets”, as McLeod
more specifically calls the location of authentic hip hop, refers to the social rank of hip
hop culture and of the people participating in it. The streets are for the people who has
nowhere else to go, in other words people with low capital power and limited
opportunities. Poor urban youth fits well into this category. The suburbs refer to the
(predominantly white) middle-class.
In this respect, the social-locational category
contains both a Marxist notion as well as a purely spatial division. Many rappers refer to
their city in their raps and show on location footage from their ghetto or hood in their
videos. This “naming” of their homes is, according to Rose (1994), a way of celebrating
and making public, places that would otherwise not be seen or heard about in the media
if it were not for news coverage of crime. She argues that the most important hip hop
music-video narrative is to situate the rapper in his own environment among his friends
or “posses” (10). There is a strong connection between identity and location in hip hop.
The city and “hood” you come from is a signal of who you are to your peers.
11
From the D12 album “Devil’s Night”. D12 is a rap group featuring six Detroit
rappers, the most famous of them being Eminem.
12
13
On the song “B***h N****z from the album “2001”.
From the D12 album “Devil’s Night”. The song called “Girls” is a “secret song”
following the last song on the album and is not named in the cover.
24
Furthermore, the naming of cities and neighborhoods are a form of dialogue between
rappers from different cities, where they signify, show off, or simply exchange life stories.
Rose notes that the rappers’ home ghettos shown in many (especially low budget) rap
videos have distinct features that are only noticeable to those who come from the same
areas. For instance a Los Angeles ghetto bears distinct trademarks in terms of
architecture, signs of de-industrialization, and ethnicity that are different from those of
New York ghettos (10-11). To the middle-class audience who has never set foot in a
ghetto, these differences are invisible. Different cities or areas in the US have their own
distinct hip hop style, slang, or even genre. The traditional example of this is the East
Coast (N.Y.) and the West Coast (L.A.) that had distinct different genres in terms of both
content and music styles. Today, a distinct sound is coming from Detroit (Eminem, Obie
Trice, D12, and to a certain degree 50 Cent, who is from New York, but shares the same
producers) and a new genre called “Dirty South” has been developed in the southern US.
The final category is the cultural category which differentiates between Old School
and mainstream. Old School usually refers to hip hop music from a certain period of time
and is not a specific genre. I have to disagree with McLeod’s division of Old School and
mainstream as I do not see these two categories as being opposites, in fact I believe that
Old School hip hop can be mainstream too. Old School hip hop usually refers to music
from hip hop’s first two decades. It is impossible to refer to the 1970s only as there is no
documentation of the music except for the last year in the decade (rap music was not
recorded before 1979). The 1980s was the decade of expansion of hip hop culture and
especially music, and although MTV did not play rap music until the late 1980s, there
certainly was a form of mainstreaming taking place. The audiences expanded and new
and unlikely rappers and rap groups appeared (such as the white, Jewish Beastie Boys
and middle-class Run DMC). I would rather divide the category into underground versus
mainstream. Though the term “underground” has been used in the political-economic
category where it was in opposition to commercial, I believe it can serve as an opposite to
mainstream as well, here referring the subcultural aspect of hip hop. The type of music
that would be “underground” (or subcultural) is music that does not appeal to a
mainstream audience. It can be either the lyrical content or the music itself that does not
invite other than dedicated listeners. Strongly political, religious or even racist content
may prevent a broad audience from appreciating the lyrics. The nature of hip hop music
allows experimenting with sounds in terms of scratching, sampling, and mixing. Some
types of hip hop music are unmelodic, have alternating beats, unpredictable sound effects
and may come off more like noise than actual music. It takes an advanced listener to
25
appreciate this music and it does not have a broad appeal. Mainstream rap music, on the
other hand, is often melodic or have melodic sequences, danceable beats, and the lyrics
tell funny or provocative stories or are simply love songs. Finally, “underground” hip
hop may require a knowledge and understanding of the nature and history of hip hop
music and culture, whereas mainstream hip hop can be appreciated without that specific
knowledge. I will apply McLeod’s semantic categories when analyzing hip hop
magazines and rap lyrics for their representation and communication of authenticity.
5.1 Straight from the Ghetto – Authenticity in Gangsta Rap
Gangsta rap has added a different angle to the discussion of authenticity within the hip
hop community. With its elaborate depictions of gang culture, violence, and sexuality,
gangsta rap has become a topic of discussion within hip hop circles, as many see the
genre as promoting a negative image of black people. The problem lies in the “realness”
aspect of gangsta rap. Many gangsta rappers, even the most mainstream and popular,
have real-life experiences with crime and are more than happy to use it as a vehicle for
promotion. In fact, a gangsta rapper with no crime sheet may have a credibility problem.
A gangsta rapper who can document “street life” on the other hand, has a great
advantage when it comes to record sales. The rapper 50 Cent, who is a protégé of
Eminem, has been promoted by the fact that he has been shot nine times. He often
performs wearing a bullet-proof west. Dr. Dre and Eminem have produced his first and
14
only solo album which went multiple-platinum and has earned 50 Cent several awards .
Interestingly, many critics agree that his rapping skills are mediocre, but apparently the
combination of street life (illustrated by his being shot and his background as drugdealer) and a hot-shot producer team backing him, mean more to the mainstream
audience than talent alone. Many people both within and outside hip hop culture express
their concern of this development of hip hop and the representation of black people in
gangsta rap.
N.W.A’s 1988 LP Straight Outta Compton signaled a new era in rap music. Besides
introducing what would later become a genre, the gangsta rap group also introduced Los
Angeles as the contestant to New York’s hip hop throne. The group consisted of Dr. Dre
and Yella (who both mainly produced), Lorenzo, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and MC Ren. Of the
14
See www.billboard.com for platinum and gold selling records.
26
six, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre still have high profile careers in the rap-music industry. I will
refer to three songs from the LP in order to demonstrate how the notion of authenticity is
incorporated in the lyrics. The songs I will use are the title song Straight Outta Compton,
the controversial F—K Tha Police, and the hit song Express Yourself. In Straight Outta
Compton the title itself set the agenda of the song which is to establish place or territory. In
this case the place is Compton, a black neighborhood in Los Angeles which was known
for the gang conflict between “Bloods” and “Crips”. That the title of the song is also the
album title stresses the importance of place or territory in hip hop. The song opens up
with a vocal introduction by Dr. Dre: “You are now about to witness the strength of street
knowledge,” before the beat begins. The MC’s introduce themselves or each other by turn
and then continue manifesting themselves as streetwise gangsters:
“Straight Outta Compton/ Crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube/from the
gang/ called Niggaz With Attitude/…/ Yo, Ren/ What’s Up?/ Tell ‘em where you
from/ Straight Outta Compton/ another crazy ass nigga/…/ Easy is his name and
he’s coming/ Straight Outta Compton”. (Straight Outta Compton from the LP Straight
Outta Compton by N.W.A.)
The emphasis laid on identifying the MC’s and their street-life backgrounds, which in fact
seems to be the only purpose of the song as it is the only subject, testifies to the
importance of “being real” which is the based of the authenticity-code of hip hop.
According to McLeod’s categories the song displays a social-locational awareness in the
emphasis laid on the city and “the streets” as opposed to the suburbs. In F—k Tha Police
the set up of the song is a courtroom, where each of the MC’s in turn accuses the police by
telling their own story of police harassment. Through a spoken introduction the situation
is established. In the end, a policeman is being dragged out of court, screaming that he
wants justice. The parody is amusing although there is no doubt of the seriousness of the
subject. As before, the MC’s are introduced by Dr. Dre:
“Right about now, N.W.A. court is in full effect. Judge Dre residing in the case
of N.W.A versus the Police Department. Prosecuting attorneys are: MC Ren, Ice
Cube, and Eazy-motherfucking-E. Order! Order! Order! Ice Cube, take the motherfucking stand! Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth, so help your black ass?” (F--k Tha Police from the LP Straight Outta Compton by
N.W.A.)
27
The song continues with an attack on the Los Angeles Police Department that at the time
was striking down hard against gang violence in Compton, Long Beach, and other black
neighborhoods. The police campaign, which included stopping and searching young
black men for no apparent reason as well as listing these “potential threats” in police files
(popularly known as “the rap sheets”), caused many black people in the area to fell
distrust and aggression towards the police (Kelley 118). F—k Tha Police provides an
example of how a real life political situation becomes a topic in a rap song and how the
music media is used as a way of delivering a response to a frustrating situation. N.W.A.
received a lot of media attention because of the controversial content of this particular
song, which became a huge hit among white middle-class teenagers. Racism is an
important theme in the song that accuses the police actions of being racially biased. The
song is also an attack on African-American police officers who act “white” instead of
standing up for their “brothers” in the hood:
“Fuck the police/ coming straight from the underground/ 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/…/I don’t know/ if they fags or what/ search a nigga
down/ and grabbin’ his nut/…/black police /showin’ off for the white cop.” (F--k
Tha Police from the LP Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A.)
The comments on how the black police show off for their white colleagues touches on the
notion of authenticity in terms of race, where black is the authentic and white is fake. The
message in the song is clear; black police officers are sellouts who act “white”. McLeod’s
gender-sexual authenticity is demonstrated in the derogatory use of the word “fags”
referring to the police. Hip hop culture often reflects strong heterosexual preferences
through rap lyrics and general vernacular, and homosexuality is treated as a feminization
of the man. Given the hyper-masculine tendencies in hip hop which is reflected in the
sexist attitude (by some rappers), feminine traits are considered quite negative in hip hop,
and thus homosexual categories is used as a way of de-emasculating and thereby
stripping an opponent of power. The lyrics suggest that the police officers use their power
to dominate black men. This power is demonstrated through the body searching, which
in the song is expressed as having homosexual undertones, and thus de-emasculating the
black man. The humiliation of being searched and thus de-emasculated causes the black
man (here the rapper Ice Cube) to react against the police by referring to them as “fags”.
This notion places “white” (symbolized by the police) next to “soft” (homosexual) in the
gender-sexual category, and “black” placed next to “hard” equals authentic. In the song
28
Express Yourself Dr. Dre raps about the importance of keeping the lyrics real instead of
writing “soft” songs that appeal to the mainstream audience. That hardcore gangsta rap
has turned out to be one of the most popular rap genres among the mainstream audience
is another thing. The theme touches upon the notions of social-psychological authenticity
in terms of staying true to oneself instead of following mass trends:
“It’s crazy to see people be/ what society wants ‘em to be/ but not me/
Ruthless is the way to go/ they know/ others they rhyme/ but fail to be original/ or
they kill/ where the hip hop starts/ forget about the ghetto/ and rap for the pop
charts/ some musicians cuss at home/ but are scared to use profanity/ when upon
the microphone/ yeah, they want reality/ but you will hear none/ they’d rather
exaggerate/ a little fiction”. (Express Yourself from the LP Straight Outta Compton by
N.W.A.)
The lyrics provide an example of “naming”, which is very common in rap music.
N.W.A.’s record company Ruthless Records receives a “shout out” which is a sign of
approval, and at the same time it positions N.W.A. in a certain real-life location and
context.
5.2 Authenticity in Hip Hop Advertisements
Authenticity as a stamp of approval is used by many business corporations targeting hip
hop culture as their market. Neal suggests in “What the Music Said” that the hip hop
generation indulges in a form of nostalgia which makes them search back to a postindustrial community that has never really existed. Hip hop culture fills this void by
attempting to reconstruct a community and history (154). The street-authenticity which is
often depicted in advertisement appeals to this nostalgia. Ramsey Jr. gives an example of
how the trashed metal fenced basketball-playground image often seen in sportsadvertisements has become an icon of black urban youth because it represents the postindustrial inner-city decay, featuring young black males who have nothing better to do
than hang around and play basketball (168). There is a very strong identity feeling
imbedded in this depiction which appeals to a black generation that may not have many
other role models to choose from.
In the following section I will analyze advertisements in the hip hop magazines The
Source – The Magazine of Hip-hop Music, Culture & Politics (February 2004) and XXL World –
29
Hip-hop on a higher level (Marts 2004). The Source (112 pages) contains a total of 74
advertisements. Most of these advertisements belong in the categories music (11), film
(11) or clothes/shoes (10). The remaining advertisements are for products as varied as
videogames, jewelry/accessories, pornography, medications, famous rapper look-alikedolls, and education. In XXL World (194 pages) there are a total of 143 advertisements.
Most of these advertisements are for clothes and shoes (57), telephone sex (16), music (14),
and film (13). As before, the remaining advertisements are spread across a wide variety of
products. In both magazines the target consumer is male as few advertisements feature
women (unless as accessories for men or if the product is pornographic) and most of the
clothes/shoes/accessories in the advertisements are for men. The high range of
advertisements for clothes and accessories underscores the importance of style in hip hop
culture. Copies of the advertisements referred to in this section are included as
appendixes.
The idea of authenticity comes forth in the advertisements in both text and imagery.
In a double page advertisement for “Arme” clothing in XXL World the first page consist
mainly of text except for a picture of a handgun (see appendix 1). The text reads:
“Attention: You do the fashion shows! We got the streets! Arme spring 2004!
Coming to a hood near you! If you are fake; please wear something else! Real hoods
wear arme!”
And in a smaller typing at the lower end of the page, under the picture:
“there are no gun factories on my block; there are no gun shops in my hood so if
this image shocks you then help us fix the problem because this is just an image,
imagine this pistol being pointed in your face so somebody can eat tonight. This is
my daily reality…Welcome to the hood.”
On the second page, which has a blurred grey background is a picture in grimy colors of a
black man dressed in a grey Arme sweat suit. He is wearing an N.Y. cap and bends his
head so his face is hidden. In his hands he holds a folded sweat shirt with a print that
reads “help protect American hoods”. There is also some text on the page. The first text
piece is the company logo with a text that reads: “ARME a rapidly moving entity.” Below
that is written: “introduces the best fleece suit in the world… WHAT??!!!!” And at the
bottom of the page is written: “Welcome to the hood.”
The Arme clothing company addresses hip hop authenticity directly through its
word choice. The catch phrase “welcome to the hood” positions the company or the
30
company interest in “the hood” and suggest a territorial statement along with the phrase
“we got the streets!” The social-psychological aspect of authenticity that involves staying
true to oneself instead of following mass trends is directly addressed in the sentence. “if
you are fake; please wear something else! Real hoods wear Arme!” The advertisement
addresses the social problems of street violence and poverty in a concerned manner in the
text, laying bare the problem of weapons being brought into the ghetto from the outside:
“There are no gun factories on my block; there are no gun shops in my hood…” The text
continues: “…so if this image shocks you then help us fix the problem because this is just
an image…” referring to the picture of the handgun on the same page. This sentence is
interesting because it addresses the reader directly but also because it infers that the
reader is NOT from the ghetto or the hood, implying that the reader will be shocked by
the image of the gun. At the same time it places the sender, which is Arme Clothing
Company, as a person in the hood: “…help us fix the problem…” The following sentence
elaborates this notion as it continues: “…imagine this pistol being pointed in your face so
somebody can eat tonight. This is my daily reality…Welcome to the hood” (Italics added).
The idea that the advertisement is addressing a reader who is not from the hood is
suggested elsewhere: “If you are fake [meaning not from the hood, ed]; please wear
something else! Real hoods wear Arme!” It seems a rather poor marketing strategy to
accuse the readers/receivers of being “fake” but it may just work because of the heavy
branding of the product as “authentic” hood-wear. The receiver can buy Arme clothes
and through that authenticity. In reality, most of the people who buy the magazine are
probably not from the ghetto or hood, and it should be stressed that a ghetto or hood
background is not essential in order to appreciate hip hop music and culture. In this
advertisement the emphasis on the hood and the problems of gun violence and poverty
that exists in some ghettos becomes a stamp of authenticity of the product.
Another advertisement from XXL World plays more on the image than on text (see
appendix 2). It is an advertisement for GBX shoes. It is a double page advertisement with
one image that runs across both pages. It is a simple photography of five young men
photographed from the shoulders and down, there are no heads in the picture. They
stand in a group in front of a graffiti painted wall. By the skin colors of their visible arms
and hands it is clear that there are both white, black and probably Hispanic men present.
Two of them are greeting each other by giving a “high five”. They are all wearing
snickers, baggy denim jeans and t-shirts or sweatshirts. The only text in the picture is,
besides the company logo in lower right corner, a phrase saying “Watch your step”
printed in black types low on the left page, and a signature or tag on the graffiti wall
31
reading “NANA (RIP).” The image is unusual in that there are no faces on the bodies, but
this is probably to draw attention to the shoes that are the product in the advertisement.
However, that the people are face-less also becomes symbolic for the alienation and
identity crisis that lead to the formation of subcultures in the first place. The urban
scenery symbolized by the graffiti wall and concrete pavement signals “hip hop” along
with the dress style of the men. There is a friendly atmosphere among the men in the
group, which is shown by their gestures and greetings. The text “watch your step”,
however, besides from referring to the shoes, also signifies that the atmosphere can
change, that not everyone are welcomed into the group. The tag on the wall “NANA
(RIP)” (assuming that NANA is a name) becomes a reminder of street violence and early
deaths of many young urban citizens. The linking between urban gangs and hip hop style
(seen in the graffiti and in the clothing style of the men in the picture) seems so natural
that one hardly recognizes it. The authenticity lies in the urban location portrayed in the
advertisement.
An advertisement for a documentary film (called Straight from the Projects) in XXL
World plays almost solely on the text (see appendix 3). The advertisement fills about half a
page and features, besides the text, a picture of the DVD cassette on which there is a
photo of a young black man smoking a joint. The background in the advertisement is grey
and there are four “bullet holes”, one in each corner. The text is written in black and red
types of varying sizes. It reads as follows:
“One Of The Deadliest Projects in America CP3 Filmed For The First Time. 3
People Were Shot While Our Cameras Were Rolling… 7 People, Including Soulja
Slim, Were Shot And Killed Before The Film Was Completed. This Is The Realest
Ghetto Sh*t Ever Filmed! See How C-Murder lived out his lyrics, not like other fake
a*s rappers… Buy It Now!”
The text strongly refers to “keeping it real” in terms of “living the lyrics”. The
exaggerated emphasis on violence does not seem to bear a trace of irony or parody,
especially since the rapper Soulja Slim, who is mentioned in the text, was killed not long
ago, in fact there is an obituary for him in the same magazine. Soulja Slim was a 20 year
old aspiring rap artist who was shot down in front of his home, and his name was
probably only known to few people before his death brought him fame. The
advertisement illustrates how a business company (Image Entertainment) uses the
tragedies of street life as a selling strategy by heavy exposition of realness and
authenticity. The authenticity evoked in this advertisement is realness in terms of living a
32
life that matches the depiction of street life in gangsta rap, illustrated by the death of
Soulja Slim. The glorification of street-violence is discussed heavily both within and
15
outside hip hop culture .
A different notion of authenticity is expressed in a double page Nike advertisement
that can be found on the first pages of both The Source and XXL World magazines (see
appendix 4). There is no text in the advertisement except for the Nike logo placed in the
upper right corner. The advertisement is a large photography featuring a black man
dressed in a velvet sweat suit in black and red colors. He is wearing a yellow silk band
with medals, and two diamond necklaces, one with a large diamond studded cross. He
sits on a gold throne which is placed on a platform on a marble tile floor. There is a red
carpet rolled out leading to the throne and a royal fur cloak is hanging over one of the
arm-rests of the throne. The wall behind the throne is covered with a red velvet curtain
with gold trimming. Three lions are placed around the throne. The “king” image refers to
afrocentric notions of how the African-American people descend from kings and queens
of Africa before they were enslaved in America. The lions around the throne symbolize
Africa in an otherwise very European depiction of royalty. Unlike most advertisements in
hip hop magazines, there are no elements of street life in the image, except for the relaxed
sweat suit and snickers worn by the man. In spite of his outfit the man does not seem
misplaced on the throne. He sits relaxed with a royal, almost arrogant, look on his face.
The meaning is clear, it portrays the black man as king, but there is also a distinct irony in
the image, as the man because of his dress style clearly represents hip hop culture, which
as a subculture often is placed at the bottom of the hierarchy. Here the situation is
reversed. Respect is the codeword for this representation of hip hop and the authenticity
it plays on is a form of afrocentric authenticity that relates to the social-psychological
category of staying true to oneself.
From the advertisements in this section, it becomes clear that authenticity sells and
that there are various ways of representing hip hop culture and authenticity. In chapter
six I will discuss the problems of how hip hop is represented in music and other media.
15
Eric Nuzum provides examples of how this issue is discussed in terms of censorship
and Bakara Kitwana critiques glorification of violence in gangsta rap in The Rap on
Gangsta Rap.
33
5.3 The Discourse of Authenticity within Hip Hop Culture.
In hip hop magazines The Source and XXL World, readers each month have a chance to
respond to articles and interviews in previous issues. Reading these responses gives a
general idea of the vernacular used in hip hop and of the discourse in hip hop on various
subjects. The letters are important for this study of hip hop culture as they represent the
“active” audience. Lyrics from various artists represent their view on the subject of
authenticity and advertisements show how corporations target the hip hop generation as
consumers through claiming authenticity. The reader responses give us an idea of how
the audience receives these messages and how they choose to apply them.
For this study, the notion of authenticity and how it is used in the discussion of hip
hop culture is relevant. The interesting point in these responses is the way in which the
writers refer to the “real” hip hop and which definitions they connect to being “true” or
“fake”. The letters underline some of McLeod’s categories for authenticity. In The Source
magazine (February 2004) there is a debate on “the state of hip hop” going on among the
readers. The selected quotes touch upon the social-psychological category, where staying
true to oneself instead of following mass trends is a sign of authenticity:
“I’m disgusted with Lil’ Wayne and his fake thug image!...Then he makes a mistake and
shoots himself in the chest as a kid and tattoos ‘Bang Bang’ on his chest? That incident
doesn’t count as a war story. You’re the softest nigga out of New Orleans.” (The Source, p. 17,
Diris 305).”
“ …They are the hardest in the industry…D-block is the best rap group out…they are
what everybody needs and wants, keep it real, as long as they have studio gangstas [meaning
rappers who does not live out their lyrics, ed.] out there, niggas like me gonna keep robbing
them for their checks.” (The Source, p. 17, Dblok354).
“…[Mobb Deep] will always reign. Their beats act as a backdrop to the reality of these
blocks out here…The Mobb will give you the realness of how shit goes down. That shit cuts
deeper than a razor across the face. They were bangin’ out that street shit when most of them
rap niggas were just talkin’ about bitches and champagne…so pussy niggas beware of the
burn.” (XXL World, bl0ck151.yahoo.com)
34
The first quote is a critique of a rapper named Lil’ Wayne and how he fails to live up to
the tough image he has established of himself. The morale is that Lil’ Wayne would be
better of being himself instead of trying to live up to a gangster-image. The other two
quotes are both appreciations of rap-groups and of how the groups (Mopp Deep and DBlock) rap about their reality unlike “studio-gangstas”, who spend their time in the studio
and not on the streets, and rappers who only talk about women and champagne although
it probably does not reflect their reality. The quotes also refer to the cultural aspect of
authenticity separating mainstream interests from the authentic “underground” or Old
School hip hop. It is a critique of how popular rappers fail to deliver meaningful lyrics
about “the real” which here refers to the social problems that many of these same rappers
grew up with. Again, the lesson is to “keep it real”.
In the March 2004 issue of XXL World there are many reader responses to a previous
article on rapper Jay Z, and his retirement from the music industry. In addition to being
one of the best selling rap artists, Jay Z also produces a clothing line and owns a record
company, and has chosen to resign from rapping in order to concentrate on his other
businesses. Among the many letters there were some on other rappers as well. Here are
some quotes from the many responses:
“XXL, you took dick-riding to a whole new level with that Jay-Z issue. For a minute I
thought you were going to say he [Jay-Z] created rap. At best he’s average….This is why hiphop is in a sad state now. It’s not about skills on the mic anymore, it’s all about the money. In
one of the articles it says the game needs him. No faking. Rap magazines and radio stations
need him. Those who know real hip-hop know the deal.” (XXL World, p. 38, Step, Chicago,
IL).
This quote resonate the notion of political-economic authenticity arguing that hip hop
and in particular the rapper Jay-Z have become commercialized and caught up in
monetary interests with “rap magazines and radio stations”. The “real hip hop” that is
referred to is the underground hip hop. Below is a quote that expresses the same concern
that hip hop culture is being corrupted by outside forces, here referring to “corporate
America”:
“Hopefully, by the time XXL gets this message it will have Mr. Hawaiian Sophie’s [JayZ’s] dick out its jaw. Jay-Z has contributed to the destruction of what used to be a culture of
35
real MCs. Calling Jay-Z the God MC is straight blasphemy on the true MCs, DJs, b-boys and
graf artists that started this shit. Look at what corporate America has done to hip-hop over
the past 10 years. They have transformed it into a genre that accepts Jay-Z as one of the
greatest MCs of all time!” (XXL World, p. 38, fingaz808yahoo.com).
The above two quotes display the gender-sexual notion of masculinity/heterosexual as
the “real” as opposed to the effeminate/homosexual “fake”, a category where hypermasculine values are celebrated. In the quotations, the dissatisfaction with the magazine
is expressed in terms referring to (homo) sexual acts of the magazine, such as the “dickriding” and the oral-sex referred to in the second quote. The remarks place the magazine
in a female or homosexual position in relation to the sexual acts described, which, judging
from the general tone of the quotes, is negative. In both cases the remarks are derogatory
and refer to the positive treatment of rapper Jay-Z in the previous issue of the magazine.
Another aspect of hip hop culture is mentioned in some of the letters. That is the
importance of location, not just as in the case of city versus suburb, but in a territorial
sense that resembles street gang culture and their fighting over territory. The importance
of location in relation to identity is prevalent in many reader’s concerns:
“…I don’t hate on other rap cats not from California, but they do take a lot from the
West Coast. I see other rap cats wearing Dickies Suits, smashing in Impalas and they speak
our slang…All I’m sayin’ is give respect to the makers if you’re gonna soak up our shit.” (The
Source, p. 16. Alex Thomas).
“…We’re some of the realest niggas on the globe. We’re surrounded by poverty and
murder. There’s not too many in the game we can call our own, but the ones we listen to are
the ones we can relate to. Trust me, they’re not MTV-friendly. I represent Gary, Indiana; you
should inquire about some of our artists and find out what’s hardcore.” (XXL World, p. 43.
Real One, Gary, IN).
The first quote displays a feeling of ownership regarding slang and dress-style. It is
inferred that people should “give respect” to the creators of the style. The second quote
stresses the importance of being from “the streets” meaning living a hard life surrounded
by crime and poverty. Despite the negativity of those subjects there seem to be an
underlying pride regarding the city and milieu. The writer “represents” Gary, IN, and
obviously takes pride in his city. His claim that they “are some of the realest niggas on the
36
globe” may refer to the fact that Gary is a predominantly black city (85.3 % according to
Census of Population) and is thus one of the few places where black culture assumingly is
the dominant culture. The writer emphasizes murder and poverty as a stamp of
authenticity or to prove his claim that he and his fellow citizens are “real niggas”. His use
of these terms as a positive claim is a form of inversion as murder and poverty are usually
associated with negativity.
In many of the reader responses there is an underlying concern for “the state of hip
hop”. Here are some of the more interesting examples which reflect the discussion of the
hip hop image, especially concerning gangsta rap:
“…Every video you see has women in it that have nothing to do with the song, rappers
talking about the club, pimping or they’re just in love. I miss the Hip-Hop that made you
think, provoked your thoughts and could get you crunk at the same time…” (The Source, p.
16.. Don Supreme, El Paso, Texas).
“…[W]hy does the media and so-called Hip-Hop fans think you have to get shot, go to
jail or kill someone to be a good MC?...” (The Source, p. 16. Obi, Madison, TN).
The two quotes reflect the debate that goes on within hip hop culture and,
interestingly, pay attention to some of the issues that are also discussed by concerned
critics outside hip hop culture, namely sexism and violence. The first quote mentions the
women “that have nothing to do with the song” in music videos. Especially women
wearing very little clothes or dancing in sexually provocative ways, which is very
common in hip hop videos, are a topic of public discussion, as are the sometimes
elaborate descriptions of and references to violence in rap lyrics and in the behavior and
16
attitudes of many rappers . The last quote refers to the fascination of gangsta rap by the
mainstream audience. Again there is a division between the “fake” or “mainstream”
illustrated by “the media” and “so-called hip hop fans”, and the “real” fans who know
that violence and gangster-life does not equal hip hop.
16
Eric Nuzum gives a detailed description of the topics within rap and other genres
that causes the attention of the PMRC (Parental Music Resource Center). In Parental
Advisory. Music Censorship in America. 2001.
37
The jargon used in the reader-responses reveals distinct hip hop slang. Terminology
such as “the game” (referring to rap music), “studio gangstas”, and “rap cats” (rappers)
refer directly to hip hop culture, whereas the grammar in some of the quotes can be
ascribed to Ebonics. Interestingly, the language in many of the quotes is written as it
would be pronounced (bangin’, sayin’), which shows the emphasis on vernacular and
pronunciation, and the importance of speaking “black” in hip hop. Language itself can
contain a form of authenticity; speaking “black” is more authentic than speaking “white”.
For obvious reasons, the ethnicity of the readers who wrote the above quoted responses
can not be known. However, based on the use of the word “nigga” in some of the
responses, I will assume that at least those letters were written by black respondents. The
emphasis on authenticity in the audience discourse, rap lyrics, and advertisements may
explain why rap music is still a predominantly black genre as opposed to many previous
forms of African-American music genres that lost their appeal to the black artists and
audiences when white audiences and artists became involved. The various forms of
“authenticity” evoked in hip hop all relate to the idea of hip hop as a subculture contra
popular culture and to the ethnicity of hip hop culture as being African-American contra
white. In the next chapter I will discuss the image of hip hop as an “authentic” black
subculture, and the problems that follow this representation.
6 The Hip Hop Image – Representing the Real
As demonstrated in the analysis of hip hop advertisements, lyrics, and reader-responses,
hip hop culture is closely linked to urban inner-city ghetto life as well as gang-life. But do
the representations and assumptions about “the ghetto” or “hood” reflect reality? The
image that most people probably picture of ghetto life is poor, ethnic minorities living in
fear of crime in a world of urban decay filled with drug-dealers and gang-bangers. To a
certain extent, this reality can be documented through statistics and narratives from
people living in such areas. Nelson George remembers Bronx in the 1970s as plagued by
poverty that related to a low average household income ($5,200 compared to average
$9,682 in all of New York), heroin trafficking, and organized crime (Fricke and Ahearn
viii). The cause was the general urban crisis of the decade due to politics, poor city
planning, and high unemployment rates due to post-industrialization. The results were
vacant buildings, high infant mortality rates due to poor health care, teenage gang-
38
formation and crime (ibid.). Today, statistics prove that racial divisions still persist in
terms of poverty, crime, and job-opportunities. The American Census of Population
shows that the poverty rate for African-American families in 1997 were 26.5% compared
to 11% of the white population. The average income per person was $12,351 for African17
Americans and $20,425 for the white population. This shows the inequalities in income
due to differences in job-types (which relates to level of education) and general
employment. FBI statistics of crime offenders in 2002 show that murders committed by
black people make up 35.3% of all homicides and murders committed by white offenders
make up 33.9%. Considering the fact that black people only make up 12% percent of the
entire population, this shows that an overwhelmingly large percentage of all homicides
are committed by black offenders. However, the statistics does not account for the
possibility of innocent people convicted of crimes they have not committed. The statistics
further show that black males at age 20-24 commit the most murders. Black males also
have a significantly higher probability of becoming murder victims than their white
counterparts. 47.9% of all murder victims in 2002 were black according to FBI statistics.
18
The Heritage Foundation research shows that African-American males have a 2.21%
probability of being murdered by age 45, whereas the same probability for white
19
American males is 0.29%. 984 murders out of the total 14,054 murders committed in The
U.S. in 2002 were gang killings, which show the presence of gang violence (see note 17).
Although crime rates are generally declining, and economic situations generally
improving, there is still abundant evidence that inequalities based on race or ethnicity still
persists in present day American society, assuming that there is a possible connection
between poverty and crime rates. These statistics show that the content of gangsta rap
lyrics, when dealing with gang violence, crime and poverty to a certain degree reflect the
reality of some groups in society. However, it does not distract the fact that the image
portrayed in rap lyrics as well as advertisements are mere constructions and thus can
never be never “authentic”, although they may represent a reality. The important issue is
17
according to Bureau of Census on www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-176.html
nd
accessed on June 22
18
19
nd
Statistics found at www.fbi.gov accessed June 22
From an article: “Young African-American Males: Continuing Victims of High
Homicide Rates in Urban Communities” by Gareth G. Davis and David B. Muhlhausen
nd
on www.heritage.org accessed June 22
39
not to what degree these constructions reflect reality, but rather what the consequences
are if these representations of black culture are believed to represent or reflect reality.
The image of hip hop as a ghettocentric lifestyle is promoted not only through rap
music and videos but also through movies, magazines, commercials, and the public
discourse. When Nike promotes their sneakers in a commercial featuring a group of
young black men playing basketball, in a worn down inner-city playground accompanied
by rap music, they are creating and selling the image of hip hop as a lifestyle. They are
creating an image of the inner city as a place where poor, but cool, young people hang out
in groups on the streets. The same image is reinforced over and over again in other
commercials, films, and music-videos, and has created a commonly accepted truth about
the lifestyle of the urban youth. The rap/hip hop music often used as soundtracks for
commercials and movies dealing with black youth has generated the notion that young
black men are synonymous with hip hop and has caused confusion in distinguishing
between hip hop as a subculture and general African-American culture, which has little to
do with hip hop. Hip hop is probably the most dominant form of black culture today
when measured by media attention and representation. It therefore falsely becomes
representative for black culture in general, simply because other black cultural forms
receive less attention. When the majority of black people on MTV (hosts, artists, dancers,
people in commercials) through their music, appearance, and language signals “hip hop”,
it leaves very few role-models of other black cultural forms for the audience to become
acquainted with. Other black cultural forms are represented in black media, for instance
in the magazines Jet and Ebony, but these media have a mainly black audience and do not
reach the large white audience, leaving the latter group with a very narrow
representation of black culture.
The “ghettoization” of African-American culture also has to do with the fact that
gangsta rap in particular have a huge appeal to the mainstream audience. Though the
white audience had bought and listened to rap music for years, N.W.A.’s Straight Outta
Compton Album became a milestone in terms of hip hop cross-over acts. The violent
depictions of ghetto life seemed to appeal directly to young white middle-class teenagers,
and gangsta rap quickly became the most popular hip hop genre. Other hip hop artists
criticized the gangsta rappers for promoting a negative and damaging image of AfricanAmericans and critics both within and outside hip hop worried about the influences of
gangsta rap on the young listeners (Binder). Around the same time as the popularity of
gangsta rap grew, a new type of film appeared. It was movies which took place in a
ghetto or “hood” environment featuring young black males as main characters, often
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played by real-life rappers. The category includes film such as Boyz N the Hood (1991),
Straight out of Brooklyn (1991), Juice (1992), Menace II Society (1993) Poetic Justice (1994),
Clockers (1995), and Set it Off (1996). Hip hop music usually dominates the soundtracks of
these films. In America’s Worst Nightmare Celeste Fischer terms these movies “Hood
Films” and claims them to be the second wave of blaxploitation films. They differ from
the 1970s blaxploitation films in that they are mostly directed by black male film directors
(the 1970s films were often directed by white directors) and that they encompass a sense
of realism, whereas the first wave of blaxploitation films were often action-packed and
non-realistic (Fischer 231). The latter generation of blaxploitation films has also been
referred to as “rapsploitation” due to their representation of the hip hop generation and
hip hop culture. These films have undoubtedly played a part in connecting hip hop,
American ghettoes, and black youth in the minds of the general public. Henry Louis
Gates makes an interesting point claiming that the right term for these films would be
“guiltsploitation”:
“If genuine black culture is the culture of the streets, a point on which the
blaxploitation films were clear, how can you climb the corporate ladder without
being a traitor to your race? What happens when homeboy leaves home?” (in
Guthrie P. Ramsey, Race Music, 168.)
The guilt that is referred to is the guilt of the young black middle-class film directors who
choose to represent the African-American community in the same manner as it is
represented in gangsta rap, instead of offering varied representations of black youth and
thus break the circle of identification and representation. Ramsey writes about the
representation of misogyny in rapsploitation films that: “…these directors didn’t invent
the misogyny, but they help to reproduce it. In this sense they…keep it real, as the saying
goes.” (169) In other words, representing is also reproducing a certain image which in
turn will function as a base of identification for young people. The problem of
representation can easily be transferred to much rap music, as the representation of
women here resembles the misogyny Ramsey refers to in the Hood films. The dominant
representation of black culture as “street” culture also causes problems when film
directors attempt to show a different side of black culture. In Race Music Ramsey gives an
example of a film called Love Jones that were not believed to be realistic in its
representation of black culture because it did not resemble the many “hood” films that
were prevalent at the time. Kobena Mercer touches upon a problematic notion about
black artists and how their art is expected to reflect racial issues. He gives an example
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where a TV channel refused to support a black film maker because his film was not about
“black” issues (71). He also talks about the black Diaspora, a notion of how black people
in the western world are expected to connect with each other because of their common
African heritage and history of oppression in Europe and America, and how this
Diaspora affects the idea that black artists are expected to speak on behalf of all blacks
(240). The hip hop image, linking criminal and anti-establishment behavior to
“blackness”, will inevitably help reinforce these clichés about the black American
population. The problem with the “ghettoization” of hip hop culture is that this image,
which is the dominant portrayal of hip hop culture, will be reflected upon all AfricansAmericans, including those whose life bears no resemblance to the representation of black
culture relating to hip hop.
6.1 Record Companies and the Creation of Gangsta Rap
The record industry’s number one priority is always sales. As the industry in the 1980s
learned that rap music sold well, the major labels began buying up independent record
companies that until then had been the only ones to promote rap music. Furthermore, the
interest in rap music from a large audience (including the consumer-happy white middleclass) inspired the record companies to promote groups and artists who fulfilled the
demands of the audiences as to what rap music should be about. Through marketing and
promotion, the record industry spurred the interest and demand for rap music and
created a market for a type of music which fitted the cliché image of black urban youth
that apparently has a broad mainstream appeal. This type of music is gangsta rap, the
best selling genre within rap music.
That rap music has been commercialized does not necessarily mean that it has lost its
original “blackness”. Black culture and commercial/popular culture can be connected as
well as white culture and popular culture. Venise Berry distinguishes between popcultural and pop-crossover rap when discussing popular rap. Pop-cultural rap is rap that
maintains a black focus in its message. Pop-crossover rap is rap that contains messages of
a more generally accepted nature. Having a black perspective or agenda in rap music
does not seem to hinder mainstream success. The problem lies within the process rap
music has gone through from its grass-root origin to the commercialized and constructed
popular music genre of today. Large music corporations cannot be expected to have any
interest in rap music (or any other genre of music) for its artistic or political values alone.
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As Bakari Kitwana explains in The Rap on Gangsta Rap, white-dominated, profit-oriented
record companies have no interest in protecting or serving the political interests of the
black American community or the hip hop community through promoting “black” music
or authentic rap music (15). In fact, the most popular form of rap music - gangsta rap may be critical towards the dominant culture, but it fails to threaten societal structure as it
offers no alternatives and at the same time reinforces the clichés of black people already
common within the dominant culture. The clichés that gangsta rap plays on are the black
man as pimp, hustler, criminal, violent, and with a strong (hetero) sexuality and sexist
view on women who are portrayed as “bitches” and “hoes” and always ranging lower
than men. Chuck D. of Public Enemy told Newsweek in an article of rap music, that “The
endorsement of thugs is white people’s fantasy of what they want us to be” (Samuels,
Croals and Gates 58). The critique of rap refers specifically to gangsta rap and the images
of African-Americans represented through this media, but also to how some rappers,
according to Chuck D., “sell out” to the white audience through portraying the image of
“blackness” that the audience wants to believe in.
Kitwana remarks that rap has been accused of corrupting societal values, but that it
is really the white capitalist society that has corrupted rap music. He refers to how
gangsta rap has been heavily promoted by large white-owned record companies that at
the same time ignores rap with serious political agendas. In this way gangsta rap has
become the most popular rap genre among the mainstream audience. Gangsta rap,
though controversial because of the violent, sexist and drug-related content, does not
pose a serious threat to the dominant culture as it does not challenge the societal
structures in terms of patriarchy, capitalism, and classic racist perceptions of black male
values. Gangsta rappers often use the same oppressing rhetoric about other groups
(women and homosexuals) that is used in the dominant culture about ethnic minorities
and in this respect they merely reconstruct the general world order in a smaller scale
rather than construct a new discourse. In fact, the promotion of gangsta rap can be seen as
a clever way of oppressing the much more controversial message rap which may be more
harmful to the status-quo of white contra black America, although it is doubtful that
record companies consciously makes this distinction between rap genres. The role of
media corporations in selecting and promoting music seriously questions the
“authenticity” of hip hop. The emphasis on authenticity in hip hop culture seems to have
gained importance simultaneously with the expansion of gangsta rap as the most
profitable rap genre, that is, during the 1990s. This can be explained by the growing
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consciousness of the mainstreaming of hip hop culture, and the emphasis on authenticity
is thus an attempt to maintain hip hop in its subcultural form.
6.2 Double-coding and Inversion in Rap Music
One of the most criticized terms in rap music, both within and outside the hip hop
community, is the word “nigga”. The word has gone through a process of double-coding
(adding new meaning to an old sign) or inversion and has been given a positive meaning
in hip hop culture. Some rappers resist using the term as they see it as derogatory but
others defend its use as a way of inverting the negative connotation into a positive
meaning. Claude Brown defends the use of the “n-word” in The Language of Soul, claiming
that “nigger” is the most soulful word in the world, adding positive characteristics to the
word. The word “nigga” when used in rap lyrics and hip hop slang are never spelled
“nigger” but always “nigga” or “niggaz” which in itself is a form of distortion. Robin
Kelley suggest in Kickin’ Reality, Kickin’ Ballistics that the use of the term “nigga” among
gangsta rappers is not used as another word for black or African-American, but
represents a condition rather than a race. He infers that the word “speaks to a collective
identity shaped by class consciousness, the character of inner-city space, police
repression, poverty, and the constant threat of intraracial violence fed by a dying
economy.” (137). In other words, the term excludes the black middle-class and thereby
visualizes class differences within the African-American population. In the song Niggaz 4
Life Dr. Dre raps about why he chooses to call himself “nigga”.
“Why do I call myself a nigga, you ask me?/ Because my mouth is so
muthafucking nasty/…/ In the mean while my pockets are getting fat/ Gettin’ paid
to say this shit here/ makin’ more in a week than a doctor makes in a year/ So, why
not call my self a nigga?/ It’s better than pullin’ the trigger and goin’ up the river/
And don’t I get called a nigga anyway?/ Booked as a muthafucka and locked
away…” (from the album efil4zaggin by N.W.A.)
He explains that he would rather use the term himself and get rich by it (through gangsta
rap) instead of ending up in jail and have others call him “nigger”. 2Pac explains his use
of the word on Words of Wisdom:
“When I say nigga it is not the nigga that we’ve grown to fear…it means Never
Ignorant, Getting Goals Accomplished, nigga” (from the album 2Pacalypse Now)
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2Pac emphasizes the inversion of the meaning of the word by adding positive traits to the
term. In fact, the qualities that 2Pac connects to the word are in exact opposition to the
derogatory notions of “blackness” usually related to the word, such as lack of education
and ambition. Another criticized term is the word “bitch”. Most popular male rappers use
this derogatory word for women. In an interview in The Source rapper Benzino excuses
the common use of the word by claiming that many women in hip hop call themselves
“bitches”, and claims that that validates the use of the word:
“…A lot of chicks call themselves bitches more than we call them bitches. If we
get mad at them we call them a bitch. If we think a nigga is acting like a female, then
he’s a bitch.” (The Source Feb. 2004, no. 173. pp. 85+97)
Ironically, it does not seem to occur to him that the women’s labeling of themselves as
“bitches” may be an attempt to invert the negative image in the same way as many black
male rappers use the word “nigga”, although the interview dealt with the problems of
white rappers using the word “nigga”. Benzino’s statement illustrates the problem with
inversion. Though the meaning or connotation of a word can be deliberately changed
within a certain group of people, the general understanding of the word might still be the
same. Where a black man can refer to himself or black friends as “niggaz” in a positive
way, the term will inevitably sound derogatory and racist if used by a white person. In
this sense, the inversion of the term can never be complete. The same can be said about
the use of the word “bitch”. Although it can be used positively by some women it will
always have a negative connotation when used by men. In The Rap on Gangsta Rap
Kitwana claims that the word “nigga” never loses its derogatory meaning regardless of
the attempts of redefining the word, and that artists using these terms are participating in
“the commodification and distortion of ‘Blackness’ and….their own degradation” (27).
The problems with the term “nigga” in hip hop relates to the mainstreaming of hip hop.
As the popularity of rap music grows, then the word becomes more widespread and
commonly acknowledged by popular culture in general and will thus remain a
commonly accepted word, although it can not be used by everybody.
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7 Criticism and Censorship
Rap music has, as many other music genres before it, been criticized for corrupting the
morals of young listeners. In 1985 Tipper Gore and a group of other women, all wives of
prominent politicians, began lobbying for a music rating system similar to the system
used to rate films. The women initiated the group Parental Music Resource Center
(PMRC). The PMRC convinced the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) to
create a rating system that would require albums with lyrics of strong violence and sexual
explicitness to carry a warning sticker on the cover, also known as the “Parental Advisory
sticker”. Initially, the groups concern was directed at hard rock and they made a list of
bands and artists referred to as the “filthy fifteen”, whose music were to be labeled with
the sticker. No rap artists were featured in the original list over controversial music,
which asserts the belief that the PMRC foremost had an interest in “protecting” the white
suburban teenagers, who at this point were not considered mass consumers of rap music.
Neither country nor opera were featured on the list though these genres feature sex and
violence in their lyrics as well. None of the artists on the original list are marked today
with the parental advisory sticker. The parental advisory sticker was followed by
legislations that restricted concerts by artists whose music were labeled with the sticker.
According to Eric Nuzum in Parental Advisory. Music Censorship in America, 8% of
all albums today carry the warning sticker and out of these, 59% are rap records (8). In the
mid 1980s rap music was not yet as widespread as it would become in the 1990s, which
explains why rock and not rap was the concern of the organization. The parental advisory
sticker has ironically proven to be an excellent way of promoting an album to the young
audience, who enjoys listening to controversial music as if the controversy surrounding
the music is more important than the music itself. Many rap artists have thus begun
printing the image of the warning sticker directly on the cover rather than wait for it to be
placed there by censors. Nuzum has an interesting point when he claims that censorship
is less about content and much more about communication and control, and that it has
less to do with defining appropriate expression than it does with defining appropriate
people (5-6). In the following, I will look at criticism and how it differs relating to the
“ethnicity” of the music.
In Constructing Racial Rhetoric Amy Binder analyses critical responses towards
heavy metal and rap music in order to map the different approaches towards black and
white music. It is important to note that Binder’s article was written in 1993, but analyzes
criticism from 1985-90. Binder suggests that there has been a shift in the discourse
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concerning “harmful” music from heavy metal to rap, and that this shift can be explained
by the music’s ethnic origin and target group. Through analyzing discourse of music
criticism in magazines, Binder constructs several “frames” of discourse that can be
categorized as either pro-harmful (believing that music can do harm) or contra-harmful
(believing that music has no harmful effect). She finds significant differences in the proharm frames applied to rap music and those applied to heavy rock. The most commonly
used frames of discourse was the “corruption” frame, which relates to corruption of the
individual by the music, the “protection” frame, which relates to how youth should be
protected from the music by parents and censorship, and finally the “danger to society”
frame, which relates to how listeners of the harmful music will pose a threat to society by
living out the content of the lyrics. Where the debate around harmful lyrics in heavy
metal mostly fitted in the “corruption” frame and the “protection” frame, the debate
about rap music related mostly to the “danger to society” frame. In other words, where
the debate about heavy metal seemed concerned with what the music will do to the
young listeners, the debate of rap music seemed more concerned about what the listeners
of rap music will do to society. Binder emphasizes that it was imbedded in most of the
critical responses she analyzed, that the listeners of rap were black teenagers (bearing in
mind that the survey took place in the late 1980s) and the listeners of heavy rock were
white teenagers. Binder’s survey shows that there is a difference in the way critics
approach music and that that difference (in this case) is based on the critics’ assumptions
about race and characteristics of race. Most of the critics in the survey are probably white,
as the majority of magazine analyzed are “white” magazines. Only two “black”
magazines were referred to in the survey: Jet and Ebony. The critical responses towards
hip hop in these two magazines belonged in the “contra-harm” frames, arguing that rap
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music did not have negative influences on the listeners. The fact that most of the critics
are white may influence their concern of the music’s affect on the listeners. It was
believed at the time that most listeners of rap were black teenagers, in other words the
harm the music could do would not affect the white critics’ own children, and thus the
“protection frame” was irrelevant. The “danger to society frame”, on the other hand,
became an issue because of the fear of black teenagers acting out the anti-establishment
rhetoric of rap music. This fear of black rebellious teenagers may be influenced by the
representation in rap music of “blackness” as violent, sexist, and drug-infatuated.
20
The article features a table of magazines analyzed and the “frames” of discourse used
in the different magazines.
47
Binder also analyzed positive responses to rap music and heavy metal. These
responses were also divided into different “frames” of discourse. The most used frames
were the “free speech” frame, the “no harm” frame, the “generation gap” frame, and the
“important message/art” frame. The “free speech” frame was discourse that invoked free
speech when discussing controversial lyrics. The “no harm” frame covered responses that
did not believe music to be harmful at all. The “generation gap” frame explained that
youth music always had been considered controversial by the parental generation. The
“important message/art” frame claimed that some music had important political
messages and were thus too important to be dismissed as having negative influences. The
responses that had a contra-harm standpoint differed when regarding rap music and
heavy metal. Where the positive heavy metal responses mostly belonged in the “no
harm” and the “generation gap” frames, the positive responses to rap music mostly
belonged to the “important message/art” frame. Both heavy metal and rap evoked the
use of the “free speech” frame (Binder 761). That rap music were believed by many critics
to have important political messages had to do with the conception of rap as “authentic”
music culture in contrast to heavy metal which were dismissed as “politically empty
macho posturing of white males” (ibid 763). Rap, on the other hand, were referred to as
“folk art” and “a communiqué from the underclass” (ibid 763). Again, this perception of
rap music as “important art” may be influenced by the representation of hip hop through
music and other media. The “ghettocentric” image of rap music may cause critics to
believe that the music is the (only) mean of expression of the oppressed, and therefore
important as art form – a viewpoint that may hold some truth, especially in the early
years of hip hop. However, still bearing in mind that Binders survey took place in the late
1980s, critics may view rap music differently today. First of all because of the major
expansion of gangsta rap and secondly because rap music has become a multi-million
dollar industry as one of the most popular music genres, and therefore can hardly be
perceived as a “voice form the underground”. It is interesting to note that the critics
referred to rap as an “authentic” musical expression. The acceptance of hip hop as an
“authentic” music subculture may relate to the emphasis on authenticity within hip hop
culture, and to how this is communicated through the music and discourse within the
culture.
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7.1 Responding to Criticism – Eminem and White America
Eminem is one of the most controversial and heavily debated popular artists today. The
content in his lyrics have often been accused by, among other groups, the PMRC, of
having a negative effect on young listeners. Although his music may be controversial, it is
no worse than the lyrics of many black rappers. However, few black rappers sell as many
records as Eminem, and the assumption that Eminem has many white fans (more than
black artists) makes him the target of concerned middle-class parents and their
organizations. Eminem often deal with issues of criticism in his music. The song White
America from The Eminem Show is one long respond to the criticism that Eminem has
received from the PMRC and the GLAAD organization, along with many other critics.
The song draws heavily on the free speech issue in order to defend his lyrics. It begins
with a prelude in which Eminem states:
“America! We love you! How many people are proud to be citizens of this beautiful
country of ours? …The women and men who have broke their necks for the freedom
of speech the United States government have sworn to uphold! Or so we’re told!”
Eminem has, like many other rappers, had to “clean up” his lyrics in order to perform on
national TV in televised shows like the Grammy Award show and on MTV. This mostly
means exchanging the word “bitch” with “chicks” and so on. When played on MTV and
on certain radio stations, many of the words in his songs are “wiped out”, making the text
incoherent and disturbing the rhyme pattern. He further raps:
“So many lives I’ve touched, so much anger aimed in no particular direction/
just sprays and sprays…How could I predict my words would have an impact like
this?/ I must have struck a chord with somebody up in the office/ cuz Congress
keep tellin’ me I ain’t causin’ nothing but problems/ and now they’re sayin’ I’m in
trouble with the government/ I’m lovin’ it, I shoveled shit all my life and now I’m
dumping it/ on white America!/ I could be one of your kids!/ White America! Little
Eric looks just like this/ White America! Erica loves my shit…See the problem is I
speak to suburban kids/ who otherwise would’ve never knew these words exist/
whose moms probably never woulda gave to squirts of piss/ till I created so much
motherfuckin’ turbulence…surely hip hop was never a problem in Harlem only in
Boston/ after it bothered the fathers of daughters starting to blossom/ so now I’m
catching the flack from these activists when they raggin’/ acting like I’m the first
rapper to smack a bitch and say faggot”. (White America from The Eminem Show)
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The “impact” that Eminem’s raps about his words have, is not impact in terms of a
negative effect on the children who listens to his music, but the effect his lyrics have on
the critics. Eminem addresses the unspoken motif of the critics’ concern with his lyrics,
which stems from the fact that his audience consists mainly of white middle-class
teenagers, who need to be “protected” from his music. If he had a mainly black audience
the critics would have cared less. The song ends with a postlude where Eminem speaks
(or yells):
“So to the parents of America! I am the derringer aimed at little Erica, to attack her
character! The ringleader of this circus of worthless pawns, sent to lead the march
right up to the steps of Congress and piss on the lawns of the White House and to
burn it and replace it with a Parental Advisory sticker, to spit liquor in the face of
this democracy of hypocrisy! Fuck you Mrs. Cheney! Fuck you, Tipper Gore! Fuck
you with the freest of speech this divided states of embarrassment will allow me to
have. Fuck You!” (White America from The Eminem Show)
Here Eminem closes his response with a direct attack on some of the founders of the
PMRC, Lynne Cheney and Tipper Gore, with a reference to the Parental Advisory sticker
which is the result of their lobbying for a music rating system. Eminem, in another song
on the same album, raises the same concern over the influence of his music as he here
dismisses. Sing for the Moment is a song that again addresses the issue of Eminem’s appeal
to white middle-class teenagers, but here the impact of his lyrics are elaborated more
thoroughly:
“…Yet everybody just feels like they can relate/ I guess words are a
mothafucka, they can be great/ or they can degrade/ or even worse they can teach
hate/ it’s like these kids hang on every single statement we make…” (Sing for the
Moment from The Eminem Show)
In these lines Eminem admits that his words may have an effect on the listeners, but later
in the song he claims that a song can not “load up a gun” for the listener, meaning that
the responsibility is not the artists’ as they merely reflect their own lives in the music:
“They say that music can alter moods and talk to you/ well can it load a gun up
for you, and cock it too?/ Well if it can, then the next time you assault a dude/ just
tell the judge it was my fault/ and I’ll get sued/ See, what these kids do, is hear
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about us totin’ pistols/ and they want to get one, cuz they think the shit’s cool/ not
knowin’ we really just protectin’ ourselves, us entertainers/ of course the shit’s
affectin’ our sales/ but music is reflection of self/ we just explain it, and then we get
our checks in the mail/ It’s fucked up, ain’t it?/ How we can come from practically
nothing/ to being able to have every fuckin’ thing that we wanted/ that’s why we
sing for these kids that don’t have a thing/ except for a dream and a fuckin’ rap
magazine/ who post pin-up pictures on they walls all day long/ idolize their
favorite rappers and know all their songs/ Or for anyone who’s ever been through
shit in their lives/ till they sit and they cry at night/ wishin’ they’d die/ till they
throw on a rap record and they sit and they vibe/ We’re nothing to you but we’re
the fuckin’ shit in they eyes…” (Sing for the Moment from The Eminem Show)
Eminem makes rather contradictory statements in this song, regarding the influence of his
music on young listeners as he claims that kids are negatively influenced by the music,
but at the same time rids himself and other artists of any responsibility. The motives for
rap artists to make music for young listeners seem contradictory too. Eminem boldly
states that it is in order to gain wealth that – initially poor – rap artists, like himself, rap
about guns and violence, and later says that they rap for troubled kids in order to be an
inspiration for them. In The Dark Story of Eminem Nick Hasted cites an Eminem interview
in Newsweek, where Eminem has this to say of his influence on young teenagers:
“I don’t think music can make you kill or rape someone, any more than a movie
is going to make you do something you know is wrong… If people take anything
from my music, it should be motivation to know that anything is possible, as long as
you keep workin’ at it and don’t back down. I didn’t have nothin’ going for
me…school, home…until I found something I loved, which was music, and that
changed everything.” (Hasted, The Dark Story of Eminem, 36)
The general statement that Eminem makes in the interview and in his music regarding his
influence on listeners, is that there is little or no negative influence, and in the cases where
there is, the responsibility is the listener’s as the lyrical content have been misinterpreted.
The arguments that Eminem uses against the criticism belong in the “free speech frame”
and the “important message frame”. The free speech notion is particularly invoked in the
song White America and the “important message” frame of discourse is used in Sing for the
Moment and in the interview when Eminem declares that rappers are positive role models
for children, as motivators and inspiration for the children to make something of their
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own lives. In the light of the above quotations it appears that Eminem’s responses to the
criticism of his lyrics are in accordance with the contra-harm critical assumption that rap
music is an important message/art form that should not be censored.
8 Postmodern Elements in Hip Hop Culture
It can be argued that hip hop culture is a postmodern youth culture, as it encompasses
certain postmodern elements. However, there are also some distinct features that separate
hip hop culture from postmodernism. In this chapter I will look into some of the
postmodern qualities of hip hop culture and music. Postmodernism is the deconstruction
of traditional value hierarchies. It is defined by a non-hierarchical value-system, mass-art,
surface instead of depth, and a nihilistic approach to ideology, religion and the future.
The loss of meta-narratives creates incoherence in our understanding of the world. Art,
religion, and society all require, in order to be fully understood, to be viewed in a
historical context or in the context of a meta-narrative. When stripped of this context, they
will appear as fragments in which meaning can only be found in the beholder, not in the
object itself. Human identity is usually based on cultural belonging and a historical
understanding of this culture. The loss of cultural history can cause a sense of rootlessness and alienation in the individual.
It has been debated whether or not hip hop music is really “music” in the artistic
sense (Walser 387-91). The fact that the composition of music in hip hop does not require
any instruments except for the turntable, sampler, and drum-programmer, and that
traditional musical skills such as playing an instrument and singing are irrelevant, has
raised the belief that the musical form of hip hop is less an art form than instrumental
music. However, Walser argues that it takes as much artistic skill to sample beats, basslines and sounds into a harmonic (or intentionally disharmonic) pastiche as it does to play
an instrument or compose traditional music. The creation of music through the use of
various pre-composed sources resembles the post-modern bricolage, which is, for
example, music put together from various stylistic elements. Furthermore, the
deconstruction of traditional music that takes place when hip hop Dj’s and composers
scratch, sample, and in other ways dissect original music and put it back together in new
forms resemble the deconstruction of traditional narratives and art forms in
postmodernism.
52
Role-play, irony, parody and double-coding are all common elements in
postmodern art. Double-coding was a term initially used about architecture in relation to
the process of blending different modernist traditions in creating a new meaning as
postmodern architecture. The term double-coding referred to how the postmodern
architecture pointed back to modernism and transcended modernism at the same time. In
other words, there were diverging meanings in the same text. The term has later been
applied to other art forms. Hip hop has an element of double-coding in its embrace of the
newest techniques such as sampling, and the simultaneous use of “old” music genres. By
mixing beats and melodies from other songs, hip hop producers and DJs create new
music, without actually composing it or using traditional music instruments. Doublecoding can also be applied to other aspects of hip hop than musical techniques. Messages
can be double-coded, in that new meanings have been applied to old signs, for instance
the stylistic parody of using fake designer labels on street wear. Language can also be
double-coded, for instance the common use of the word “nigga” in hip hop culture.
Though the term was originally derogatory (and still is, depending on the speaker), it has
found a new, positive meaning when used by black hip hop affiliates. Postmodern irony
is related to double-coding. Irony can be defined as an expression where the meaning is
reversed by the intonation or circumstance relating to the expression. Irony separates
itself from double-coding through its sarcasm and humor, which are not necessarily
elements of double-coding. Parody and pastiche are other postmodern elements that can
be found in hip hop culture and rap music. Parody is the satirical mimicking of other
texts. Jameson describes how pastiche is a form of parody, but without the satirical intent
(Berger 4). Pastiche is defined as “blank parody”, an imitation without a motive other
than to imitate. Hip hop music uses pastiche through the sampling from other music
sources. Sometimes there is an intentional satire imbedded in the sampling which makes
it a parody. Both pastiche and parody contains intertextual references that will or can bear
a meaning to the listener, although it may not be intended by the sender. Adam Krims
chooses to distinguish rap music from hip hop culture in his study on identity and rap
music. He argues that rap music and hip hop in some respects are inseparable and that it
at other times can be useful and acceptable to isolate rap music from the other elements of
hip hop culture. This distinction can be transferred to the ethnocentric and the
postmodern aspects of hip hop. Hip hop as an African-American culture contains more
elements than just the music. The style, vernacular, dance, and values together conjure up
the idea of blackness represented in hip hop. When viewing hip hop as a postmodern
culture, however, rap music can stand alone. The conception of the music alone as a
53
bearer and shaper of identity frees rap music from its historical tradition and enables it to
create a different, postmodern culture. This becomes particularly interesting if discussing
rap music internationally and not solely in a US context.
Role play is an important aspect of postmodern culture. The dissolving of
traditional hierarchies and the loss of meta-narratives allow for the deconstruction of
identities and hence for the role play of assuming different identities. Role play is quite
common in rap music, where most artists play with identities at least to the extent that
they apply an artistic name, such as Dr. Dre, who’s real name is Andre Young, Eminem
who’s real name is Marshall Mathers, 2Pac who’s name is Tupac Shakur and so on. Some
artists use role play more than others, Eminem is one of the artists for whom role play is
an important part of his music. The notions of double-coding, irony, parody,
intertextuality, and role play in hip hop will be elaborated further on.
Gangsta rap is an example of a genre that often uses role play, has more surface
than depth, and use double-coding as an attempt inverting certain terms. Furthermore,
elements such as intertextuality and irony are present in various forms in hip hop culture.
The political agenda of hip hop culture has been to eliminate or inverse the social
hierarchy in America, especially in terms of racial hierarchies but issues on class also play
a role. The politics of hip hop can be determined through the recurring themes in rap
music and through following debates in hip hop magazines and internet forums. Racism
and poverty (including the problems of crime that follows) are some of the most
discussed issues in the before mentioned sources. Irony, double-coding, and inversion are
all strategies of eliminating these hierarchies in American culture. Gangsta rap appears to
be the most postmodern genre in hip hop in terms of embracing mass culture, when
viewing content alone. Where message rap tends to focus on hip hop politics, gangsta rap
is more open towards the capitalizing of music. In contrast to many gangsta rappers,
message rappers sometimes have a hierarchical view on music in terms of music as art
and music as consumer product. Though gangsta rap can be political as well, much
gangsta rap focuses on wealth in terms of consumption and gain whereas message rap
often deals with wealth in terms of class differences and black economic stagnation.
Postmodernism is the break-up of the old world order, making it possible for
oppressed groups to rise. The dismissal of old hierarchies and authorities leads to a more
anarchistic world order. Postmodernism is not just about commodities and art, it is also a
feeling of alienation in a disrupted world order. Lipsitz (1990) suggests that the AfricanAmerican youth who grew up in postindustrial cities have a better chance of
understanding and coping with postmodern alienation than white middle-class youth,
54
because it has been a part of their identity as a minority. Furthermore, the minority
cultures already posses several postmodern traits in their art, discourse and mentality:
“Postmodern culture places minorities in an important role. Their exclusion
from political power and cultural recognition has allowed aggrieved populations to
cultivate sophisticated capacities for ambiguity, juxtaposition, and irony – all key
qualities in the postmodern aesthetic.” (Lipsitz, Cruising Around the Historical Bloc,
1990, p 351).
Where postmodern culture seems to reject hierarchical divisions of people, the class
differences within the African-American population has become more obvious in the
previous decades. The black middle-class have often been accused in rap music of
“selling out”, meaning that they have lost the ideals of the black population as a
community, and are now participating in dominating and corrupting the black workingclass by the same means as the white society. The expansion of the black middle-class
since the 1960s has created an illusion that the conditions for African-Americans have
improved extensively, but has also removed focus from the fact that many AfricanAmericans live impoverished lives in inner-city ghettos, where crime may be the only real
way of empowerment. The critique in gangsta rap of the division of African-American
community into a working-class population and a black “bourgeois”, explains the
disillusionment and rejection of Black Nationalism that this genre sometimes
demonstrates. Eazy-E of the Los Angeles rap group N.W.A. is quoted in Robin Kelley’s
Kickin’ Reality, Kickin’ Ballistics for saying “Fuck that black power shit: We don’t give a
fuck. Free South Africa: We don’t give a fuck. I bet there ain’t nobody in South Africa
wearing a button saying ‘Free Compton’ or ‘Free California.” (139). In contrast to Public
Enemy and their black history conscious message rap, much gangsta rap rejects history
and “traditional” black values and replaces it with attitudes and values in opposition not
only to the dominant culture but also to the parental culture, the African-American
culture.
Jean Baudrillard claims that reality is dead and has been replaced by hyper-realism.
Hyper-realism constitutes the situation where society imitates a media-constructed
reality, which in turn is reflected through more media representations. Eventually the
“original” reality is lost and we are left with a hyper-real society (Berger 24). Antoszek
transfers this condition of hyper-reality as “a copy without the original” to present day
gangsta rap, which, he claims, are so far detached from the original gangsta rap that it can
55
only be viewed as a pastiche (249). He argues that the involvement of large consumeroriented record companies in rap music has destroyed or blurred the original reality of
artists rapping about their own lives. Living in hyper-realism may enforce the search of
originality and authenticity as everyday life may appear to be a pale imitation of
something more “real”. This relates to how the notion of “realness” in representations of
hip hop may attract a large audience.
The purpose of discussing postmodernism as an alternative way of understanding
hip hop as a subculture is that some theorists believe that subcultures as a phenomenon
died out with punk culture in the 1980s, as Redhead explains in Subcultures to
Clubcultures. It is my belief that hip hop still exists as a subculture simultaneously with its
existence as a mainstream youth culture. The subcultural elements in hip hop exists
through the dedicated audience or fans that are committed to hip hop as a lifestyle, in
contrast to the mainstream audience who enjoys hip hop music and fashion as one out of
many genres and styles. Hip hop has survived as a subculture for three decades now, and
one of the possible reasons for this is, that the people who form the core of hip hop
culture have a lifestyle and values that adapt easily to a postmodern society. That hip hop
has been able to maintain a subcultural status is due to the original politics of the culture.
Hip hop did not from the beginning embrace the 1960s heritage of political awareness
and grass-root rebellion, though social consciousness is visible in some early recordings
such as The Message. Neal argues in What the Music Said, that “…hip-hop’s politics was
initially a politics of style that created an aural and stylistic community....hip-hop thrived
on its own creative and aesthetic volatility by embracing such volatility as part of its
stylistic traditions.” (137). Commodification of hip hop culture has not erased the
subcultural aspects of hip hop as the culture originally was based on style and
commodities of style. Furthermore, the urban black youth in the 1970s had lost faith in the
rebellious movements of the previous decade and recognized capital and mass
consumption as the most feasible way of improving their lifestyle, a viewpoint that has
been reflected in rap music from the earliest years of recording (136).
Though hip hop culture in many respects reflect postmodern views and elements
there are also some distinct non-postmodern elements in hip hop. One of these is the
hierarchical view on music. Though hip hop artists are postmodern in accepting or
claiming their own music to be “art” (in contrast to the views of some critics), many of
these same artists fail to regard mainstream pop music as being art, “good music”, or at
the same level as their own music. Many artists (particularly message-rappers) and
participators of hip hop culture also express a distinct hierarchical view on the music
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within their culture, which can be deemed “real” or “fake”, where real outranks fake. Hip
hop culture can not be said to be a pure postmodern culture, but the postmodern
elements of hip hop may have played a role both in the formation of hip hop and in the
mainstream popularity of hip hop. Postmodernism and its relation to ethnic minorities, as
discussed above, may have influenced the formation of hip hop culture. At the same time,
postmodern features, such as role play, intertextuality, irony and parody may be
important to the way youth of the dominant culture identify themselves with hip hop
culture. This may seem contradictory to the authenticity aspect of hip hop, and how that
too attracts interest from the mainstream audience. However, it is possible that both
postmodern elements as well as “authentic” elements exist simultaneously in hip hop
culture, and that this co-existence appeals to a diverse audience.
9 Intertextuality as Postmodern Authenticity
A different notion of authenticity is created through the use of intertextuality. In rap
music it is very common to refer to other people within and outside hip hop culture. It is
also common to refer to real episodes, incidents, and the like that are known to
likeminded people and sometimes known to the general public. The “disses” are a
common phenomenon in rap music; rappers of different cities and groups often have
“beefs” (feuds) with each other that are instigated and nurtured through freestyles or
21
songs disrespecting the counterpart . This phenomenon can be traced back to the early
days of hip hop, where gangs would use music and raps as a way of battling for respect
and street credibility, and further back to an African-American tradition of toasts and
boasts, signifying and playing the dozens (Neal 125). As mentioned in chapter two, in the
case of 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G., the disrespecting of other MCs is sometimes taken to
the streets resulting in violence and even murder. These insults and following retaliations
are performed in rap music and in this way communicated to the hip hop audience. In
addition to this, hip hop magazines, radio-stations, and websites keep the fans updated
on the current situations. The constant references to actual events in rap lyrics play an
important role in making hip hop music seem authentic in comparison to other music
21
A freestyle rap is a rap that is made up as it is spoken or with very little preparation.
In a battle situation, two rappers will take turn freestyling against each other. The winner
is the one that makes the best rhymes and the best insults at the opponent.
57
genres, which rarely deal so directly with real people and situations. It has come to the
point where the audience eagerly awaits new records from their favorite artists because
22
they want to see how they respond to a current feud. This form of intertextuality that
exists particularly in the lyrics of rap music demands a certain amount of knowledge
from the listener in order to fully understand the music.
Other references besides the “disses” are also common in rap music. Dr. Dre, former
member of N.W.A. makes references to his N.W.A. days on his solo-albums. On the
album 2001 the song What’s the Difference begins with the lyrics: “Back when Cube/ was
rolling with Lorenzo/ in a Benzo…” which is a direct reference to the 1988 N.W.A. song
F—k Tha Police where Ice Cube raps about: “…me and Lorenzo/ rollin’ in a Benzo/…”
Only listeners who remember the lyrics from F—k Tha Police will understand this
reference to Ice Cube and N.W.A. and the “good old times” of hip hop. For those
listeners, references similar to this one are part of creating an intimate sphere between
them, the artist and others who know their hip hop history, thus drawing a line between
them and the mainstream audience, who might not be so into hip hop that they remember
lyrics from the 1980s. To the dedicated hip hop fans, references like this which require
knowledge of hip hop music through a long period of time, will form a notion of
authenticity by showing that the artist has been “part of the game” for a long period time,
which adds to him “Old School” credibility. It also divides the audience into those who
have just begun listening to rap music and those who have been listening to rap “before it
became mainstreamed”, which to many hip hop fans is an important distinction between
“real” hip hop fans and the “pop” hip hop fans, who only listen to rap because it has
become popular.
23
Intertextuality can also be read as a postmodern trait in hip hop. It breaks down the
barrier between art and everyday life by making ordinary life art. Furthermore it creates
an awareness of the media in the listener. When listening to rap music one is constantly
reminded that what you hear is the actual views and experiences of the artist through
references to real people, places and events, and the listener is in this way kept aware of
22
In XXL World magazine (March 2004) there is a listing of the ten most anticipated
albums to come out in 2004. Number one on the list is Eminem’s new album because, it is
explained, it will be interesting to see how he responds to a current feud with rapper
Benzino and The Source magazine that have recently accused Eminem of being a racist
and exploiter of black music.
23
Strictly speaking, N.W.A. was actually one of the bands that made rap “mainstream”
but for many listeners today, they belong in the “Old School” category, though they were
as commercial as many other groups in the 1980s.
58
the person behind the music much in the same way as a movie actor’s stare into the
camera creates an awareness of camera presence in the spectator. In What the Music Said
Neal claims that the debates that take place on music recordings, that is, the artists use of
the music to communicate their views on hip hop politics and each other has replaced the
black public sphere and has the nature of a local town meeting (161).
Eminem uses many intertextual references to other rap artists but also to popular
culture in general. He furthermore creates intertextual references to his own music in
some of his songs. In the song The Way I Am from The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem refers
to one of his previous hit songs called My Name Is from The Slim Shady LP. My Name Is
was Eminem’s breakthrough hit and he explains in the book Angry Blonde that his record
label was stressing him to come up with a similar hit for his second album. He did not
believe that he could top his previous success (which he ended up doing with the hit
single The Real Slim Shady). In The Way I Am Eminem addresses the pressure from his
record company to produce success:
“I’m so sick and tired of being admired/ that I wish that I would just die or get
fired/ and dropped from my label/ Let’s stop with the fables/ I’m not gonna be
able/ to top a ‘My Name Is’”. (The Way I Am from The Marshall Mathers LP)
In the same song Eminem explains the hardships of fame and the loss of privacy that
follows. In many of his songs Eminem deals with issues of fame, the importance of his
race to his success and the possible influences his music may have on listeners, all issues
that have to do with his music. He is very self-reflexive and turns his music into meta-art
that reflects over itself, by constantly reminding the listeners of previous songs and how
his music is received by critics.
9.1 The Real Slim Shady - Eminem and Authenticity.
Eminem is currently one of the most popular rap artists, a status he has managed to
maintain since his first major release The Slim Shady LP in 1999. This album was followed
by The Marshall Mathers LP in 2000 and The Eminem Show in 2002. Currently, he has sold a
59
total of 21 million albums, which places him among the best selling rap artists ever.
24
Besides these solo albums, he has released two albums with his rap group D12, a
soundtrack to the movie 8 Mile (a semi-autobiographic film in which he has the leading
role), and he has made collaborations with a long row of other rap artists. Eminem’s high
record sales are due to his appeal to the mainstream audience. Being white, he may have
an advantage in reaching the large, white audience who constitutes the majority of
American record buyers. He also enjoys a huge popularity in Europe where the majority
of the record buying audience is white as well, in fact he has been awarded most popular
25
rap artist by MTV Europe every year the award has existed. However, besides the
mainstream success he has also managed to be respected as a rapper within the
subculture of American hip hop. In the following I want to discuss Eminem and the
importance of his race and cultural background to his present success.
Throughout history, other black music genres have been exploited by white artists
who would end up profiting from a music style which they had no part in creating.
Within the subculture of hip hop, people were anxious to prevent this from happening
again which lead to suspicion towards white hip hop artists. Eminem has had the
disadvantage of following in the footsteps of Vanilla Ice, another white rapper who in the
late 1980s achieved huge success with his hit Ice Ice Baby. Vanilla Ice fell from grace as it
was discovered that he came from a middle-class suburban background and not from
“the hood” as he had alleged. In terms of authenticity, this meant that Vanilla Ice was
“fake” and his success came to an end. In order to be respected by the national hip hop
community, Eminem had to prove that he was not another Vanilla Ice. The fact that
Eminem had been a part of the local hip hop scene of Detroit for many years before his
mainstream break-through helped him become widely accepted by the national hip hop
scene. The hip hop magazine The Source featured him in their column “Unsigned Hype”
before his mainstream success. The “Unsigned Hype” column is a presentation of rappers
who have not signed contracts with record companies, but are believed by the magazine
to have the potential to achieve a career in rap music. Previous to his break-through
album The Slim Shady LP, which was released in 1999 through Interscope, Eminem had
released an LP through an independent Detroit label called Web Entertainment. This
24
According to RIAA statistics (www.riaa.com), Eminem has sold a total of 21 million
albums (counting only his solo albums, not the releases with his group D12), which
makes him the second best selling rap artist. Eminem also has two of his albums (The
Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show) on RIAA’s top 100 Album chart.
25
According to www.mtve.com, MTV Europe’s official website.
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early attempt of entering the music scene was called Infinite and was released in Detroit in
1996, in a small number of copies, and has never been re-released in spite of his current
popularity. The fact that he had already released independent material (besides Infinite,
he had also released an EP) before his high-scale record deal with Interscope has also
added to his street-credibility.
Eminem has, with the help of journalists digging into his past and delivering
stories from his troubled childhood in poor areas of Detroit, managed to create an image
of himself as a “white negro”, a white boy who grew up influenced by black culture.
26
This image stems from the information he has given himself in interviews and in his
songs, but also from the people that he surrounds himself with. Besides being a solo-artist
he is also part of a rap-group named D12. D12 consists of six rappers, the only white
member being Eminem and the other five (Proof, Bizarre, Kuniva, Kon Artis, and Swift)
being black. The group has existed for many years and was formed before Eminem’s
major solo breakthrough. Each of the artists pursues their solo-careers as well as
participating in D12 but so far only Eminem has achieved major success. The group has
released to albums, the first called Devil’s Night (2001) and a recent release called D12
World (2004). Both releases appeared after Eminem’s success earned him his own label
Shady Records, an offspring of the record company Interscope, which allowed him to
sign his own group as well as fellow rappers Obie Trice and 50 Cent. The success of D12’s
two albums can largely be ascribed to the popularity of Eminem, a fact that the groupmembers themselves are well aware of and jokes about on their latest single My Band,
where they parody traditional pop boy-bands and Eminem plays the role of a selfinfatuated lead singer. Eminem’s producer is Dr. Dre of former rap group N.W.A., a
legendary producer and inventor of the West Coast G-funk sound. The impact of Dr. Dre
on Eminem’s success can not be overlooked. Besides from his talented producing, Dr. Dre
has given Eminem the stamp of approval from the black hip hop community that he
needs in order to gain accept from the black audience, which is crucial to his success as a
rapper. Dr. Dre with his solid grounding in hip hop culture has provided Eminem with
the necessary credibility to be accepted as “real” hip hop and not just another white poprapper. His attachment to mostly black D12 further places Eminem in the “authentic”
black hip hop culture.
26
An example of this is Nick Hasted’s biography “The Dark Story of Eminem” (2003),
which is an unofficial biography of Eminem. Hasted has never himself spoken to
Eminem.
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Eminem’s lyrics are a combination of cartoonish fantasies, often violent and druginfatuated, and accounts of real life events and emotions. Some songs will begin with a
narration of a real life or close-to real life event and then take off in an imaginary
direction. One example is the song called Braindamage on the Slim Shady LP where
Eminem raps about getting beat up by a bully in the school bathroom. Knowing from
Eminem’s interviews that he was often beaten up in school, this so far seems to be an
accurate account of his life, even naming the particular bully (who would later sue
Eminem over these comments, and lose the trial). However, the song continues with the
school principal entering the scene and helping the bully, stomping on Eminem until he
escapes. This latter part is clearly fictitious. The themes typical to most rap music, such as
oppression of the black population, ghetto life, pimping and hustling, and boasting of
wealth does not make up the content of Eminem’s lyrics. Unlike many other successful
rappers, Eminem ignores traditional hip hop conventions and portrays himself as
insecure, ugly, and jokes about how women only want him for his money. His lyrics deal
with many of the same themes as white rock music, such as rebellion against teachers and
parents. He raps about being “white trash”, about being bullied in school, and being “uncool”. Although he also dwells on meaningless violence and drugs, it is usually done with
an ironic distance towards the subject which is reflected in the supernatural and
cartoonish approach to the matter.
27
The combination of authenticity and fantasy in
Eminem’s lyrics reflect his paradoxical status as one of the most critically acclaimed
28
rappers. On the one hand he does have a lyrical talent as well as a rap-style and attitude
that earn him his right to be a rap-star. On the other hand, his whiteness, both in terms of
appearance and lyrical content, places him in contrast to the “authentic” black hip hop
culture. Eminem often addresses the issue of his whiteness in his music, which shows an
awareness of his paradoxical position. In the song White America Eminem states that his
enormous success is owed to the fact that he is white and thus attracts a large white
audience, rather than to the quality of the music itself. The name “Shady” refers to
Eminem’s alter ego “Slim Shady”:
“Look at these eyes, baby blue, baby just like yourself/ If they were brown
Shady loose, Shady sits on a shelf…Let’s do the math, If I was black/ I would have
27
When rapping with his group D12 the themes are very similar to “traditional” black
rap, although with a particularly lewd content.
28
Although criticized, Eminem is also generally accepted as a being very talented.
62
sold half, I ain’t have to graduate from Lincoln High School to know that”. (White
America from the album The Eminem Show)
It is clear from the lyrics that he addresses a white audience, when he states that his eyes
are blue “just like yourself”. In the song The Real Slim Shady on The Marshall Mathers LP, a
very humorous and ironic song filled with intertextual references to other artists, the
repeated chorus states that:
“I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady/ All you other Slim Shadys are just
imitating/ So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up/ please stand up/ please
stand up?”
The song is ironic in its use of the “realness” notion common in hip hop culture, stating
that Eminem is “The Real Slim Shady”, knowing that Slim Shady is a fictitious character
who does not exist except in Eminem’s music, and thus can not be “real”.
9.2 Parody, Irony, and Role-play as Postmodern Elements in Rap
Role play is a postmodern aspect of Eminem’s music because it allows him to adopt
several different identities and express views and beliefs in accordance with the
personalities of these characters. The name of his first successful album The Slim Shady LP
refers to Eminem’s alter ego. Eminem’s real name is Marshall Mathers, the initials of
which make up “M&M”, which he has spelled out as “Eminem” to be his artist name. The
Slim Shady character was invented by Eminem because he is part of a rap group where
all six members have alter egos, making the total number of members in the group 12
which explains the group’s name D12 (Dirty Dozen). The alter egos all represent the
worst in the six rappers, leading to a very lewd content in the group’s songs. Eminem has
taken his character Slim Shady with him into his solo career and adapts the personality of
Slim Shady when he raps about raping women (including his own mother), gay bashing,
ultra-violence, heavy drug-abuse and the like. The accusations of especially homophobia
that Eminem has been charged with have often been excused by the artist himself by
referring to him playing a role which reflects certain views in society. He often contradicts
himself in the messages he creates in his songs and many of the provocative statements
are dismissed in the same song or in other songs. In the song Criminal from The Marshall
Mathers LP Eminem first raps:
63
“My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge/ That'll stab you in the head/
whether you're a fag or lez/ Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest/ Pants or
dress - hate fags?/ The answer's ‘yes’/…”
And later in the same song:
“C’mon! Relax guy/ I like gay men/ Right Ken? / Give me an Amen…/ Shit,
half the shit I say/ I just make it up to make you mad/ so kiss my white naked
ass/… ”
The person “Ken” who is referred to in the lyrics is another character that shows up on all
Eminem’s albums. Ken Kaniff, as he is called, is a homosexual character who fantasizes
29
about Eminem. He is presented in the “skits” that appear on all Eminem’s albums .
Another contradictory event was when Eminem performed the song Stan from The
Marshall Mathers LP at the American Grammy Awards as a duet with Elton John. The
song Stan is a narration of a (closet) homosexual fan who continuously writes fan letters
to Eminem, suggesting that they “should be together”. Because Eminem does not reply
the letters, the frustrated fan (named Stan) kills himself. In the original recording the
chorus was sung by the singer Dido (the chorus was a sampling from a song by Dido),
and it was her part that Elton John replaced at the performance. The contradiction lies in
that the song had been criticized of being an expression of Eminem’s homophobia and
Elton John who performed the song with Eminem is openly homosexual.
The incoherent messages that appear in Eminem’s music and in his public
behavior are a form of post-modern double-coding. The different viewpoints and values
that he expresses, sometimes in the same song, all represent ideas that are commonly
known in society, for instance anti-homosexual beliefs, but when mixed with
contradictory statements on the same subjects, a third meaning (or maybe lack of
meaning) occurs. Eminem has created a space where it is possible to “hate fags” but also
“like gay men” at the same time without it seeming contradictory or absurd. The public
responds to this in various ways; fans of Eminem find his music amusing and
entertaining; concerned parents and some organizations such as GLAAD (Gay and
Lesbian Association Against Defamation) are afraid of the effect these lyrics might have
on teenagers in terms of encouraging violence and hatred. Others, more unexpected,
reactions occur as well. DJ Jake, the creator of the web site www.feminem.com hates
29
A “skit” is an interval between songs, where a particular situation is set up using
sound-effects and spoken lines, but not music or rap.
64
Eminem because he believes that Eminem himself is homosexual, and DJ Jake believes
30
that homosexuality is a sin.
Where GLAAD seems convinced that Eminem is
homophobic, DJ Jake dislikes Eminem because he believes that Eminem’s homophobia is
really a cover for his homosexuality. It is possible to find validation for both views in
Eminem’s lyrics.
As many other rappers Eminem uses irony as a humorous element in many of his
raps. In the song Role model he addresses the criticism of his lyrics being a bad influence
on minors:
“…My middle finger won't go down, how do I wave?/ And this is how I'm
supposed to teach kids how to behave?/ Now follow me and do exactly what you
see/ Don't you wanna grow up to be just like me?/ I slap women and eat ‘shrooms
[magic mushrooms] then O.D./ Now don't you wanna grow up to be just like me!...”
(from The Slim Shady LP)
The lyrics are ironic because it is clear from the context that no-one in their right mind
would want to “slap women” and die from an overdose of magic mushrooms. It also
ridicules the fact that children would be affected or inspired by lyrics to behave in a
negative way as well as make clear that Eminem feels no responsibility towards
influencing young listeners in any way. In the song Stan Eminem addresses the pressure
of fanatic fans chasing him, an issue that he has touched upon in several songs. The
structure of narration in Stan is unique because the song is built up as several letters that
are being read (or rapped) aloud. The first three letters are from Stan, the third one being
not an actual letter but a tape recording which Stan makes for Eminem or rather the
character Slim Shady, whom all the letters are addressed to. The first letter is polite,
stating that Stan is Eminem’s (or Slim Shady’s) biggest fan and hinting that Stan is in love
with Eminem. The next letter is increasingly aggressive and the third letter (or tape) is
Stan driving drunk in his car with his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk, claiming that he
will kill her, just like Eminem killed his wife in a song and placed her corpse in the trunk
of his car. This is an intertextual reference to a very controversial song Eminem made
about murdering his wife (the song Kim). In the end of the third verse of the song Stan,
the fanatic fan drives off a bridge and drowns in a river. The fourth and final verse is
Eminem finally responding to Stan, cautioning him to treat his girlfriend better not
knowing that both she and Stan are already dead:
30
DJ Jake explains this viewpoint in a discussion on his website.
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“…and what’s that shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too?/ I say
that shit just clowning, Dog/ C’mon, how fucked up is you?/ You got some issues
Stan, I think you need some counseling/ to help keep your ass from bouncing off the
walls/ when you get downed some/ And what’s that shit about us meant to be
together?/ That type of shit will make me not want us to meet each other/ I really
think you and your girlfriend need each other/ or maybe you just need to treat her
better…” (from Stan on The Marshall Mathers LP)
The song is an ironic response to the critics who believe that Eminem’s music will lead
fans to behave irrationally. At the same time it is a chance for Eminem to explain to his
fans that he does not mean all the things he says in his lyrics.
The parodic element of Eminem’s music can be divided into two categories: musical
and visual parody. Both use intertextual references to create sarcasm and irony. The
musical parody occurs when the music itself is used to parody a certain genre. The song
Bad Meets Evil on The Slim Shady LP, which is a collaboration between Eminem and fellow
rapper Royce Da 5’9”, is a narration of two “gun-slingers” in the Wild West. The musical
backdrop is typical of an old Western. There is a certain irony in this parody as a Western
traditionally is a very “white” film genre and rap is a “black” genre. Many of Eminem’s
songs feature samples from other music sources. This use of music is not parodic but
rather a pastiche, as there is no intended irony or sarcasm imbedded in the sampling. The
visual parody can be seen in some of Eminem’s videos when he dresses up in different
costumes, for instance as Elvis in the Without Me video. This is a reference to how Elvis
gained a lot of popularity because he was a white artist in a black music genre, just like
31
Eminem.
The lyrics in the video states that: “…Though I’m not the first king of
controversy/ I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley/ to do black music so selfishly/ and
use it to get myself wealthy…” (Without Me from The Eminem Show). When Eminem
parodies Elvis, it is a way of distancing himself from Elvis through the use of selfreflexive irony. Eminem also dresses up as other celebrities in the Without Me video, such
as Moby (a musician whom Eminem dislikes), Robin (Batman’s assistant), his own
mother, Osama Bin Laden, and a participant in the reality-show Survivor. In order to fully
appreciate the video one has to recognize the intertextual references that these characters
refer to. It requires a certain amount of knowledge about popular culture to appreciate
the references to reality TV shows and other artists. In addition to this, it requires some
31
The Without
www.eminem.com.
Me
video
can
be
seen
on
Eminem’s
official
homepage
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knowledge about Eminem’s own life, as the references to his mother in the video, in
which she appears on a talkshow, refers to an actual situation in which Eminem’s mother
went on a talkshow to talk about Eminem, much to his dislike.
The cinematographic style of the Without Me video is a visual pastiche on super
hero films and comic books. The main plot of the video is that Eminem is a (rather goofy)
superhero whom, with the collaboration of Dr. Dre, must prevent a young boy from
listening to an Eminem CD because it has a Parental Advisory sticker on. This story has
nothing to do with the lyrics of the song. In between the scenes of the main plot are
various other short stories or references that relates to the lyrics of the song, such as the
Elvis reference. The editing is, as usual in music-videos, fast and fragmented. There is a
cartoonish style to the video which ads to the super-hero parody or pastiche. The images
are often framed in a comic-book like style and narrative statements are spelled out in
comic-book writing style in framed textboxes. Sound-effects are also spelled out such as
“Kapow!” or “Wroouum!”
This chapter has examined the postmodern elements of Eminem’s rap music. The
same use of parody, irony, and role play can be found in the music of many other rap
artists. The presence of these features in rap music may appeal to many young people
who have been raised in postmodern societies. The criticism of rap music as having a bad
influence on young people may relate to the fact that the parental generation, who makes
up the majority of critics, does not understand the imbedded satire and irony in the
music. However, not all rap music is ironic so the presence of these postmodern elements
can not alone account for the popularity of rap music.
10 The Appeal of Hip Hop to the Mainstream Audience
White suburban youth who traditionally belongs to the dominant culture, may look to
hip hop in search of a different and more exclusive identity than that offered by the
dominant culture. African-American youth and other minorities have the (dis)advantage
of claiming a separate identity formed on the base of their particular minority group. An
identity that may seem appealing as it offers an intimate relationship with the particular
group in question. At the same time they can partake in the cultural activities of the
dominant culture, and can thus choose between several identities (a black American can
thus be either “American” or “African-American”). White Americans may feel excluded
from this intimacy of subcultural relations, as their first identity always will be that of the
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dominant culture. Belonging to the dominant culture will rarely give occasion to feeling
pressure from outside cultures and thus gives no reason for struggling to keep that
identity. Struggling or fighting for ones right to exist as a minority in a dominant culture,
however, will often strengthen the identification with the particular minority group or
subculture. Therefore, seen from an outside (white!) perspective it may be enviable to
belong to a minority culture because of the strong sense of belonging that follows. The
postmodern youth are often characterized by disillusionment and alienation, and the
portrayal of hip hop culture or African-American culture seen in rap videos and talked of
in rap songs, shows a close knit community where the artist is always surrounded by
“homies” or posses. In fact, the gang culture often presented in rap music, have exactly
that element of “belonging” that may be so appealing to white youths.
Robert Walser states in Rhythm, Rhyme and Rhetoric in the Music of Public Enemy that
where the creation of rap is connected to African-American heritage, the reception of
music is more complex, as it appeals widely to whites as well as minorities (401). This
statement agrees with the general assumption that, especially young, white people make
up a large percentage of rap record buyers. The complexity lies in understanding why
these white teenagers listen to rap. Where the black working-class teenagers’ interest in
hip hop culture can be explained through identification with the ethnic origin of the
subculture, the white middle-class teenagers’ interest in hip hop culture and rap music is
of a different nature. Tricia Rose explains in Black Noise that white Americans always have
been fascinated by black culture as it represents rebellion and “the forbidden” (5-6). Hip
hop is no exception. What separates it from previous black music subcultures is that hip
hop still, after 25 years of white mainstreaming, is the most predominant black cultural
form. Where previous black music genres have lost their appeal to the black audience
when white artists and audiences appeared, hip hop has remained a mostly black culture
with the majority of popular artists being black although the audience may be
predominantly white. Awareness of the history of white exploitation of black music may
play a role in the heated debates of authenticity and “keeping it real” within hip hop
culture. This awareness and focus on hip hop as a black subculture and music form
(although other ethnic minorities have played a role as well) explains, at least partly, why
hip hop has survived as a black culture in so many years. Tricia Rose stated, as mentioned
above, that white Americans always have been attracted to black culture because of the
perception of this culture as representing “the forbidden”. “The forbidden” can refer to a
number of things: anti-establishment behavior, a strong notion of sexuality and an
exceptional talent for dance, rhythm, and sports creating a focus on bodily rather than
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mental characteristics. These elements which have often been associated with “blackness”
are all of a pure racist origin. However, in spite of a general awareness of the imbedded
racism in this idea of “blackness”, these characteristics are still enforced through
representations of black culture and may still play a role in white people’s fascination
with black culture. Much rap music consciously reinforces these clichés, either as an
attempt of inversion, as playful exaggeration, or as plain exploitation with the aim of
financial gain. For some rap artists, successful record sales is their only way out of
poverty, and lewd language along with sexual explicitness, and exaggerated crime stories
appeal more to the mainstream audience than politicized messages or love songs, the
latter is already abundantly present in most pop music.
Neal suggests in What the Music Said that white teenagers have an interest in
gangsta rap because they see it as oppositional to their parental culture (148). The
parental culture is here associated with the white middle-class and rap music can
certainly be said to be oppositional to this culture. However, much “white” music is
oppositional to the dominant white middle-class as well, such as heavy metal, punk, and
grunge. The attraction towards anti-establishment music can thus not explain why hip
hop and not, for instance, punk has become one of the most popular music genres and
youth cultures. Epstein (2002) talks about “wigger” culture which is white lower-middleclass youth who have formed a subculture based on the subculture of African-American
urban inner-city youth (hip hop). “Wigger” stands for “white nigger” and is often used by
blacks as a demeaning term about whites trying to act “black”. The wigger-culture is
based on black youth culture as it is represented in hood-films and gangsta rap, and not
on real black urban youth culture. In contrast with the real inner-city youth culture, as
Epstein terms it, “wigger-culture” is in resistance to their parental culture which is white
middle-class. He claims that hip hop is not in resistance to the black working-class that is
the parental culture of black hip hop youth, but to the black and white middle-class,
according to this theory (4). He does not offer any further explanation for this statement. I
believe that it can be argued that hip hop is in resistance to the black working-class, as at
least a part of the hip hop culture celebrates and emphasizes values that are not accepted
by the black working-class in general, such as crime, sexism, and violence. In Kickin’
Reality, Kickin’ Ballistics Robin Kelley suggests that the appeal of gangsta rap to a
mainstream (read middle-class) audience lies in the exaggerated and cartoonish approach
to ghetto life. He says that the depictions of gang-life in N.W.A.’s lyrics bear more
resemblance to action films than to a documentary on urban inner-city life. The
entertainment value, in other words, are lighter and less obligating. This idea echoes the
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depiction of “wigger-culture” given by Epstein, where the culture is based on
assumptions about black inner-city life rather than facts.
All the above suggestions and theories of why white teenagers like rap music
revolve around the fascination and copying of black culture by white spectators. Out of
the many possible elements this fascination can be ascribed to, I have chosen to focus on
the authenticity aspect of hip hop culture in order to explain what attracts the white
mainstream audience to this music culture. The postmodern condition of hyper-reality,
where reality imitates media and where mass culture is dominant, may cause people, and
young identity-seeking people in particular, to feel alienated from their own societal
culture. It is likely that a feeling of detachment and estrangement from the mass society
will cause young people to be attracted to other cultural forms that signal community and
belonging, such as a subculture. Hip hop culture contains this element of “community”
because of several factors:
·
The heavy critique of rap music from the dominant culture has brought
artists and other participants of hip hop culture close together.
·
The intense territorial focus on “place” and “local color” gives hip hop a
small community flavor although it is an international subculture.
·
The references and “shout outs” to other hip hop artists in rap music
provides a sense of group community, as do the frequent participation of
fellow rappers and “homies” in music and music-videos.
·
The notion of authenticity that is the hip hop mantra is a constant reminder
that this is a “real”, genuine, and original subculture as opposed to the
“fake”, hyper-real, and mass-produced dominant culture.
Epstein describes two types of alienation in Introduction: Generation X, Youth Culture, and
Identity. The first form of alienation is based on societal structures such as class, and
relates to the estrangement that can be experienced by a group of people who do not
belong to the dominant group or class in society, the middle-class. The second form is the
social-psychological alienation which describes the internal detachment felt by the
individual. The two types of alienation can, and does often, coincide. Transferred to the
modern American society, the first form of alienation will occur in groups of people who
fall outside the dominant culture which mainly consists of the white middle-class. In
other words, ethnic minorities, especially working-class and people of the working-class
in general may experience this form of alienation. The second form of alienation occurs in
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the individual’s feeling of estrangement from society, and as it is not group-related it can
be experienced by anyone, including members of the dominant culture, who experience a
feeling of alienation from that same society.
The two types of alienation can be used to describe the attraction of hip hop culture
to respectively ethnic minorities and the white audience. Ethnic minorities who feel
alienated from the dominant culture as a group may seek to form alternative communities
in order to have a place of belonging. The youth of this alternative community or culture
may experience alienation from both the dominant culture and from their parental
culture, the ethnic community. The alienation from the dominant culture is of a structural
nature. The latter is a social-psychological estrangement that can be explained by the
generation gap. They may seek their own identity in a subculture based on a certain
ethnicity, such as hip hop. Youth of the dominant culture may experience alienation from
the mass society, but whereas the ethnic minority youth can ascribe their estrangement to
their ethnic or cultural background, the white youth will experience their estrangement as
a lack of cultural belonging. This alienation is individual rather than based on societal
structures. The feeling of alienation is usually connected to a frail or lacking sense of
identity. Alienated youth will therefore seek alternative role-models to identify with as
they do not find meaningful identification in their parental culture. Authenticity is a main
factor in identification. Alienated youth in search of an identity will be attracted to rolemodels of an “authentic” nature, as it signals depth and continuity.
10.1 Identification
Identification is an important element when discussing audiences and how they relate to
the music and the artists behind the music. There are various forms of identification
relating to music. The two most common forms of identification are identification with
the artist and identification with the subject matter.
In Performing Identity/Performing Culture Greg Dimitriadis gives an account of a
young black group’s response to a 2Pac music video. Dimitriadis’s audience analysis
focuses on young black audiences and how they create myths and icons out of their
favorite rappers, and how they identify with them. He examines the way these young
people use rap songs and “hood” films in order to recreate black history and present day
black identity, through the representation of those elements in the given media. The
music video used in the study recreates an actual attempted assassination of the rapper
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2Pac, who was later murdered (114). The audience believed that the video’s account of the
incident was truthful. Specifically, 2Pac’s reaction to being shot was in question. In the
real life account 2Pac was in shock and screamed. In the video 2Pac remains cool, doesn’t
scream, and even delivers a couple of cool remarks to the people who set him up.
Interestingly, the audience used the video as evidence that the account they had been
given of the attempted assassination in news coverage was false. They believed so
strongly in 2Pac’s video-version of the shooting, that they disregarded publicized facts
about the event. The group seemed to identify with 2Pac, commenting on how they
would react in the given situation. According to Dimitriadis, the audience’s fascination
with 2Pac (which grew after his death) has its roots in his personal and sensitive accounts
of his life, and life in the ghetto in general, which makes it easy for them to identify with
him because it lets them feel they know him personally. Elements such as personal
charisma and appearance can not be overlooked in determining the success of an artist
and probably play a role in 2Pac’s success as well, however, the perception of those things
are highly individual and difficult to document. In Dimitriadis’ examination of audiences
it appears that the young black audience both identify themselves with the artist (2Pac)
when it comes to his experiences and emotions, as well as with the content of rap lyrics.
The latter is seen in the way the young black audience use these lyrics in shaping their
own identity. The focus group in Dimitriadis’ study were black lower middle-class and
working-class children which probably affect the way in which they identify with the
narratives of ghetto life in 2Pac’s music. White middle-class children may not identify
with the themes of his music in the same way.
2Pac had left behind several recordings that were released after his death. As
much of his music, some of these recordings deal with the subject of death. Because of the
subject matter, these recordings made the audience believe that 2Pac was still alive; that
he had faked his own death. Interestingly, Biggie Smalls (Notorious B.I.G, who was killed
months later), whose first album was called Ready To Die, had left behind an album
released posthumously called Life After Death. His death did not evoke the same
speculations, although the circumstances around his death were much the same as those
of 2Pac’s death, and the album titles almost begged to be over-interpreted. This shows the
audiences ability to choose and distinguish between media contents and furthermore to
decide how to use it.
When MTV had a weekend dedicated to Eminem, one of the programs they aired
was called a “Fanography”, a form of documentary where fans retell the story of
Eminem’s life. The fans on the program were able to account for even small details in
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Eminem’s life, things they could only know about because he mentioned it in a song, such
as his mother suffering from Munchausen’s syndrome; a claim Eminem makes in the
song Cleaning out my Closet (From The Eminem Show). The statement has never been
verified and never been a topic of discussion in public, it is merely a claim made in a
song, not necessarily reflecting the truth. However, it did not seem to bother the fans that
they used questionable information to build up the life and experiences of their idol.
Clearly, they felt they knew him, one of them even stating “no-one knows Eminem as
well as I do”. The fans generally felt sympathetic towards Eminem and the troubles he
has gone through (divorce, getting sued by his mother, being demonstrated against – all
things he mentions in his songs) and were more than willing to defend him against
various charges. Eminem has, as mentioned before, been accused of being homophobic
and misogynistic. Not very exceptional within hip hop culture, Eminem’s mainstream
success and popularity among young fans made the accusations interesting to the media.
The GLAAD organization demonstrated against Eminem at the annual Grammy awards,
where he was awarded a Grammy for best hip hop/rap album. While the GLAAD
organization demonstrated outside, Eminem was inside performing one of his songs with
Elton John. This episode was used by one of the fans in MTV’s “Fanography” as a proof
that Eminem was not homophobic, and that his gay bashing lyrics were merely meant as
“a joke”. The fans were generally good at selecting the messages from Eminem’s lyrics
that they felt fitted best with the image they had created of their idol, and willingly
dismissed statements that they did not see as fitting that image. Generally, the
information given in Eminem’s songs about his private life seemed to appeal to his fans,
as they based their knowledge of him on those references.
Many rap artists give personal accounts of their life in their lyrics, or at least
personalize the stories they tell. Eminem provides the white audience with much the
same elements of identification that 2Pac offered the black audience. As he need not retell
white history in order to form a white identity for his audience, he takes upon him the
role of a critic judging popular youth music and lifestyle. He frequently criticizes
mainstream pop artists such as Britney Spears and the boy bands Backstreet and N’Sync
for being record-company produced talentless artists, indicating that he himself is more
original:
“I’m anti Backstreet and Ricky Martin/ with instincts to kill N’Sync, don’t get
me started/ These fucking brats can’t sing, and Britney’s garbage/ What, is this bitch
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retarded?/ give me back my sixteen dollars/… /boy, girl groups make me sick!...”
(from the song Marshall Mathers on The Marshall Mathers LP)
It is widely recognized that such artists as mentioned, although popular, are not “real”
musicians as they often do not write or compose their own music and because they, in
some cases, are groups put together through auditions where fame-seeking young people
hope to become “the next big thing”. This notion is based on the distinction between
music as art form and music as money-making consumer product. Although all artists,
including Eminem himself, need the backing of capital and promotion from a record
company in order to reach the mainstream market (and the big earnings), there is still a
differentiation being made between “real” artists and pop-artists. When Eminem makes
this statement, he not only positions himself as a more real and quality-seeking artist than
other popular artists, he also appeals to an audience who would like to distinguish
themselves as more sophisticated listeners than those who enjoy mainstream pop. In
other words, audiences can identify with him because they share the same dislike in
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music and because they feel the same distance towards popular culture. In the people
that he criticizes (besides artists, this includes politicians and other prominent persons)
lies more than just the immediate critique of what he deems bad music. Implied is the
critique of a superficial lifestyle based on consumption, capitalism, and disregard for
individual freedom.
33
There are many other factors playing a role in why Eminem attracts such a large
audience. As mentioned earlier, Epstein talks about a “wigger-culture” consisting of
white, hip hop-loving, middle-class youth. Being the most prominent white artist in hip
hop, Eminem will be a natural identification figure for these teenagers. As for his
mainstream appeal, the postmodern elements of irony, intertextuality, and parody along
with humor will cause listeners to identify with him because they share the same frames
of reference. Many white listeners may find Eminem easier to identify with because the
content in his music is predominantly “white”. 2Pac was also popular among a large
white mainstream audience, just as many other black rappers. The attraction of the
32
Eminem himself is very much part of “popular culture”, although he through his
music attempts to distance himself from that same industry which brought him fame.
33
The latter comes out in his frequently mentioned concern for free speech, a
constitutional right he himself frequently exercises in order to insult other groups of
people such as homosexuals, and when he openly admits to use drugs.
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mainstream audience towards black hip hop culture can be explained by the subcultural
sense of community which has been discussed earlier. Even though hip hop today is as
mainstreamed as other popular music genres, hip hop culture still exists as a subculture.
The majority of rap music and artists never reach the mainstream audience and will never
get played on MTV and popular radio stations. This subcultural identity of hip hop sticks
to the popular hip hop artists (most of whom begun their career on hip hop’s
“underground” scene), leaving the mainstream audience with a notion of hip hop as an
authentic subculture. The identity as participant of a subculture seems exclusive and
displays a consciousness or awareness of music and culture that the identity of a
“passive” mainstream pop-fan fail to offer. Young people who feel alienated from the
mass society may thus find hip hop attractive because it offers a seemingly more
meaningful identity.
11 Conclusion
As stated in the introduction, the aim of this paper is to explain the expansion of hip hop
culture from a primarily African-American subculture to a mainstream youth culture. The
main focus is on examining the features of hip hop culture that appeal to a mainstream
audience. I have attempted to place hip hop culture, with the emphasis on rap music, in
an African-American context using subcultural theory. The notion of authenticity that is
often evoked in rap music, hip hop advertisements, and general hip hop discourse has
been discussed in relation to the ethnic origin of hip hop culture. The analyses showed
that various ideas of authenticity are present in hip hop culture. The overwhelming
emphasis on “authenticity” in hip hop suggests that this notion is extremely important to
the participators in the subculture as well as to the audience. Authenticity, or the belief
that a subculture is “original”, is very important to the continuing existence of the
subculture, as non-originality equal mainstream. In relation to hip hop as an AfricanAmerican culture and authenticity, I have discussed representation and how hip hop is
represented as a black culture, as well as how hip hop has come to encompass AfricanAmerican culture. The “ghettoization” of black culture that is seen in especially gangsta
rap leads to (mis)representations of African-American culture in other media based on the
“hip hop image”. Much of the criticism of rap music, especially gangsta-rap, relates to the
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negative issues of rap and to the clichés of “blackness” that this music genre plays on. I
have discussed the relation between criticism and rap music as an African American
music genre, both in terms of negative and positive responses to rap. The negative
criticism mostly related to the harm that listeners of hip hop (perceived to be black youth)
might do to society. The positive responses towards rap music related to rap as an
“authentic” musical expression, which qualified rap as an important art form.
Furthermore, I have discussed and analyzed postmodern elements in hip hop
culture, primarily rap music. This aspect of hip hop culture is important in order to relate
hip hop culture to the mainstream audience, which to some extent is a product of
postmodern society. Postmodernism in hip hop also relates to the ethnic origin of hip hop
as a minority based culture as it is argued that life as a minority group resembles some of
the same forms of alienation as is generally experienced by youth growing up in a
postmodern mass society. The appeal of hip hop to the mainstream audience is discussed
in terms of identification and alienation. Fans of 2Pac and Eminem seemed to identify
with their idols because of the “realness” of their lyrics and videos. The fans believed
strongly that the music and videos represented something real, and used this information
in order to build up personal characteristics of their idols.
I have discussed various forms of alienation, which can relate to both black and
white audiences. The structural form of alienation relates to ethnic minority youth that
may feel alienated from the dominant culture because of their ethnic or cultural
background, as well as to the general working-class that may feel estranged from the
dominant middle-class. Social-psychological alienation is an individual alienation that
can be experienced by anyone who feels estranged from their “own” culture, which
relates to both white and black youth that feel estranged from their parental culture due
to postmodern tendencies such as lack of coherence or the generation gap. My interest in
alienation relates to the idea that authenticity is an important aspect of hip hop’s appeal
to the mainstream audience. I believe that alienation will lead to a search for other
possible options of identification, and that youth in search of an identity will be attracted
to originality and hence authenticity.
My thesis is that the expansion of hip hop culture from an ethnic subculture to a
popular youth culture is due to the emphasis on authenticity in hip hop, which appeals to
the large mainstream audience. At the same time, this focus on authenticity maintains the
interest of black artists and audiences. As I have shown in the analyses of rap music, hip
hop advertisements, and reader-responses in hip hop magazines, authenticity, or the idea
of authenticity, is very important to both artists and the “active” audience of hip hop
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culture. I believe that this notion of authenticity can be related to hip hop culture’s (and
particularly rap music’s) mainstream popularity. In Amy Binder’s study on criticism and
rap music, which is used as a base for the discussion on criticism, she finds that there is a
connection between the critics’ responses to rap music and their perception of rap music
as an “authentic” musical expression. This documents that rap music is discussed within
the same discourse of authenticity outside hip hop culture as within, which further shows
that hip hop is generally perceived as an “authentic” subculture. If this perception of hip
hop as “authentic” can be transferred to the mainstream audience, it would give reason to
believe that there is a connection between this perception and the popularity of hip hop,
which relates to the mainstreaming of hip hop. However, I have not been able to find any
documentation for the mainstream audience’s perception of hip hop or rap music as
“authentic” and thus I can not claim that “authenticity” is the main attraction of hip hop
to the mainstream or mass audience.
From the reader-responses in hip hop magazines I did find a strong notion of
authenticity. Some of the responses (if not all) were assumingly written by black
respondents, given the use of the term “nigga”. This indicates that “authenticity” is an
important aspect of hip hop to the black audience. Furthermore, the idea of hip hop as an
authentic African-American subculture may explain why hip hop culture and music still
appeal to black audiences and artists as opposed to previous black music genres that have
lost their appeal to African-Americans when the genre became popular in the dominant
culture.
I did not find substantial indication that “authenticity” is the main factor in the
appeal of hip hop culture to the mainstream audience. I did, however, find that the idea
of authenticity is a very important aspect of hip hop culture, both within the culture and
in the discourse of hip hop outside the culture. It is thus possible that authenticity plays a
role in attracting the mainstream audience. However, there are various other elements
that can be important as well, such as the postmodern elements of hip hop culture (rap
music in particular) that may appeal to the postmodern youth who can relate to the irony,
intertextuality, role play, and parodic elements of hip hop culture.
77
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Articles
86
Binder, Amy: “Constructing Racial Rhetoric: Media depictions of Harm in Heavy Metal
and Rap Music”. American sociological Review, Vol.58, No. 6 (Dec., 1993), 753-767.
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Magazines
The Source – Magazine of Hip-Hop Music, Culture & Politics. Feb. 2004. No. 174
XXL World. March 2004. No. 56
Websites
nd
www.eminem.com (accessed on June 22 )
www.fbi.gov (accessed on June 22nd)
nd
www.feminem.com (accessed on June 22 )
www.heritage.org (accessed on June 22nd)
www.launch.com (music-video website)
st
www.mtve.com (accessed on June 21 )
Discography
2Pac: “Words of Wisdom”. 2Pacalypse Now. 1991.
D12: “Pimp Like Me”. Devil’s Night. Interscope/Shady Records, 2001
D12: “Girls”. Devil’s Night. Interscope/Shady Records, 2001
Dr. Dre: “What’s The Difference”. 2001. Interscope/Aftermath, 2001
Eminem: “Braindamage”. The Slim Shady LP. Interscope/Aftermath, 1999
Eminem: “Criminal”. The Slim Shady LP. Interscope/Aftermath, 1999
Eminem: “Guilty Conscience”. The Slim Shady LP. Interscope/Aftermath, 1999
Eminem: “My Name Is”. The Slim Shady LP. Interscope/Aftermath, 1999
Eminem: “Rolemodel”. The Slim Shady LP. Interscope/Aftermath, 1999
Eminem: “Stan”. The Marshall Mathers LP. Interscope/Aftermath, 2000
Eminem: “The Real Slim Shady”. The Marshall Mathers LP. Interscope/Aftermath, 2000
87
Eminem: “The Way I Am”. The Marshall Mathers LP. Interscope/Aftermath, 2000
Eminem: “Sing for the Moment”. The Eminem Show. Interscope/Shady Records, 2002
Eminem: “White America”. The Eminem Show. Interscope/Shady Records, 2002
N.W.A.: “Straight Outta Compton”. Straight Outta Compton. Ruthless Records, 1988
N.W.A.: “F—k Tha Police”. Straight Outta Compton. Ruthless Records, 1988
N.W.A.: “Express Yourself”. Straight Outta Compton. Ruthless Records, 1988
N.W.A.: “Niggaz4Life”. Efil4zaggin.
Public Enemy: “Bring The Noise”. It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back.