Thursday, October 1, 2015
R.R. 10/2
The question still lingering after our class on Wednesday was, "Does hip-hop as a medium-transcending genre have a politic (or politics), and if so what is that politics?" Combining Katz's discussion of the gender dynamics, cultural heritages, socioeconomic conditions, and conventions with your own experiences with the hip-hop arts--articulate a hip-hop politics. Try to pull specific terms from Chapter 6.
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I do believe hip hop has politics. I think one thing that truly governs the genre of hip hop is the idea of battles. Katz discusses a lot about DJ battles and he also discussed earlier on about diss tracks made by artists. I think these largely govern all of the media the genre of hip hop includes. Take graffiti a lot of it is used to mark territory, people can cover someone else's up, it's all about battling over the grounds. Another medium, break dancing also includes street battles in which the best dancers win. I think the head to head battle is the governing rule of the hip hop genre, if you win you get credit, and the more credit you have the more people know and respect you, it's just like the Presidential debates.
ReplyDeleteI think that the hip-hop arts is extremely diverse as far as it's politics goes. Gender dynamics in the genre view woman as lesser. Katz even says that women were "actively discouraged" from trying to turn about turntables. I think this idea can also be seen in rap lyrics today. Another piece of hip hop socioeconomic conditions is that the people who are involved in hip hop tend to be viewed as lower class, or at least there is an idea that most people who make hip hop music grew up as lower class. Katz even says that turntablism originated in the Bronx which is a lower class area of a huge city. I think that another about hip hop is that idea of defending your area whether it be your home or your family. That is why I think that the DJ's felt the need to battle as if to prove their worth or defend their reputation.
ReplyDeleteHip-hop has a connotation of being free. Artists say what they want and do what they want with, what seems to be, no concern for reconciliation or judgement. The politics of hip-hop in terms of gender dynamics is typically circled around the thoughts of men. Women are normally featured in the songs as almost objects. In terms of socioeconomic conditions, hip-hop is seen as a genre that a wide variety of people listen to, but it is primarily lower class African Americans in the eyes of our society. There are certain works in hip-hop such as diss tracks that bring out the competitiveness that is hip-hop. There is a hierarchy and there will always be, which is seen through these tracks. These tracks show that while one may be better, the other track still gets attention which brings an interesting point about hip-hop culture: they have each others backs. It seems odd that these artists that are against each other constantly would, in the long run, look out for each other. Not all of them do, but when I think of hip-hop, I think of a tight knit circle of artists that inadvertently look out for each other.
ReplyDeleteA lot of what hip-hop deals with is outdoing others. When artists try to outdo other artists it creates a competitive, sometimes hostile environment. This isn't just a bad thing, because it allows the expansion of the genre to happen quickly. Each artists is often looking to make the next best thing to put them on top. This can be seen through a lot of the battles Katz talks about in the chapter. He discusses the turntablism aspect of hip hop thoroughly and how in the battles the artists are trying to outdo the others to win the battle by the use of different techniques put next to each other. This creates excitement because of the intensity of the situation and it creates an environment where new art can be created on the spot. I think the DJ battles he describes can relate to all the aspects of hip hop. In a way hip-hop artists are trying to build upon what other artists have done to make themselves better than they were. I think hip-hop is a very competitive genre because of this.
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ReplyDeleteI think that hip-hop has politics and is also a victim of politics outside this world. The socioeconomic status of many DJs and people who were part of the hip-hop culture was that they did not have the means to "purchase good DJ equipment easily." This was especially true of those who battled and I believe battling was a big part of the politics of the genre. The battlers had the opportunity to make a name and take power for themselves and there was a bit of a political system in place where they would have judges to critique and temper the chaos of the battles. You could earn credibility and power by winning battles and could take on a whole new identity from the outside world.
ReplyDeleteHip-hop does have a politic. In its own way, it's related to a governing. There are the leaders-- graffiti artists like Banksy, prominent hip-hop dancers, rap artists like Kanye, DJ champions... Within hip-hop, it's a "safe haven" from gender restrictions, or regions where one lives. There's tension, like in any prominent body. DJ'er's have battles, break dancers have battles, rap artists directly target others in their songs. But in the end, they're all working for the cause of hip-hop, and they're united by the common freedom of expression it presents.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that comes to mind when I think about politics in hip-hop music is NWA. As a popular hip-hop group in the 80s/90s, NWA used their music to describe their situation in a low socioeconomic area (Compton, CA) and also to express their frustration with the police. I think hip-hop is commonly used as an outlet for expressing these kinds of frustrations and also for spreading awareness of these kinds of issues.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of politics in regards to hip hop as a genre, I would relate it to how everyone in a certain governing system are interconnected. All rappers are linked, whether their music is similar or completely out there. They are the congressmen of society, who set the standards for us regular people who listen to and criticize their work. Reminiscient of J Cole's lines in Fire Squad, there is a race or competition for the "social crown", that all rappers strive to attain, yet there isn't a need for that because, as Cole says, it's all about a lust for love in hip hop politics. It's driven by the people, the listeners, and it spans the gap between artist and follower, regardless of social orientation, gender, etc.
ReplyDeleteHip-hop to me has always represented the culture of minorities. Not racially, necessarily, but idea related minorities or economic minorities. Hip-hop represents the rebels, the ones who are different somehow. All of Katz's 4 components of hip hop seem to be the minorities speaking out. Emceeing speaks on many social issues, as does graffiti. Break dancing and turntablism may not be as obvious, but still represents the rebellious culture. Dancing and turntablism can still be an expression of suppressed feelings, and represent breaking the norm and going against the majority. This is the politics of hip-hop: breaking the norm.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of a hip-hop politics, i picture all of the differing hierarchies and statues put upon the body of people that perform such and listen to said genre. The culture of hip-hop extends far beyond what you may hear on your popular music radio station today, and begins rather in the streets of large cities such as Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Hip-hop politics begins literally in the poorest parts of cities where the inhabitants have no where else to turn to except for the music itself. However, you can't step on other rapper's turf and you can't start beef, especially if they're higher up than you on the chain. A perfect blown-up example of this is the Drake and Meek Mil battle. Drake is higher up than Meek on the chain, so Meek tried to diss him. By releasing multiple diss tracks in response, not only did Drake ultimately win, but even further pushed back Meek's career by starting a hater fan base for him. In this genre of music, you don't step on each other's toes, whether on twitter or on the streets.
ReplyDeleteHip-hop does have a political side to it. The politics often centers around the area where the music is produced, discussing what outcomes come out of that environment. This music transcends mediums, making statements in every form. From graffiti to clothing, to the actual music, there is a motive behind it. These aspects establish an audience and those who listen to it are being fed message about the artists culture. Turntablists are trying to make a change in teh music world as wel and that's a political move. Integrating new music from old music in a totally unheard of way, is very difficult and faces many obstacles on the way to exposure.
ReplyDeleteThe politics of hip-hop are based around the idea of expressing ones dislike of society and how it treats certain things to give take a minority group and make it stand up against the ones that think they are above it. The music reaches out to many people and many people listen to music so it becomes a good way to articulate anger or dislike. The entire culture, as Katz says, "seemingly embraces violence" and that is their way of expressing themselves "constructively and creatively" in a world that pushes it away. Sometimes the music and manipulation of the music is so powerful that the turntablist does not even have to say anything and through a set of intriguing scratches can create a wordplay that speaks at a much higher volume. The politics are focused on rising up and taking a stand for what is right, but in today it seems that the politics have been lost and it has just become a sign of misogyny.
ReplyDeleteI think that elements of hip hop have a politics to them. With the hip hop battles that have often been described in Katz examples, it seems that this genre more than others is centered around power. Hip hop artists often compete and challenge each other making reigning artists have a certain prestige because they had to knock down or win against others to get there. At the same time, hip hop has a politics in the way of a sort of complex interrelated structure between the artists. Katz describes how the artists often feed off of each other's styles, making sure not to step on their toes too much in terms of repeating. There is a fine line between copying and being inspired by other artists however.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I think of hip-hop, I do think that there is some tension between various ethinic backgrounds and gender. I think of young, black, males from lower socioeconomic backgrounds when I think of hip-hop. And I know thats a stereotype, so I found it interetsing when Katz talked about how DJs actually come from many various ethinic backgrounds, which I think adds to the overall variety of hiphop. If you can include as many different backgrounds, economic classes, and gender, the hip hop genre and culture can be taken to a deeper level and make everything more interesting.
ReplyDeleteKatz mentions that the gender dynamics concerning hip-hop is overwhelmingly male. For example, females in general are discouraged from learning about mechanical equipment, and there is little exception in the DJing world, which is a major component of hip-hop culture. Also, hip-hop emerged and largely remains an African American art. However, it has became a much more multicultural phenomenon lately. Many artists also live in lower socioeconomic conditions.
ReplyDeleteThe hip-hoip genre does have a political aspect to it. This genre includes a wide variety of people including men, women, whites, blacks, Asians, Latinos, and other races. More men than women participate in this genre. Also, the African-American culrture heavily influenced this genre. Two African-American practices such as playing the dozens and cutting contests can be seen as precedents for the DJ battling in the hip-hop area. Hip-hop is a way for anyone to express themselves with a creativity that is different than any other genre.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of a hip-hop politics I think of a very individual practice. I feel that the music a hip-hop artist produces is very unique because it is their ideas about social issues and problems that no other artist can perfectly replicate. Each artist's opinions are shown in their songs so it causes their songs to be a representation of their personality and personal ideas. I also think hip-hop politics is a very individual thing because there is so much competition within the genre. Katz talks heavily about "the battles" between turntablists and DJs because it is a very common thing. As a hip-hop artist I feel that you have to be able to defend your ideas and music well because you will be challenged and forced to back up your work.
ReplyDeleteHip hop definitely has a set of politics. As the audience of hip hop mostly pertained to people of lower economic standards, the music and lyrics that were established seemed to reach out to these lower socioeconomic communities. Katz even states that turntablism originated in one of these communities (the Bronx). Reaching out to this audience and helping to finally "fit in" to the genre was one of the major ideas of hip hop.
ReplyDeleteI think that this question has to be approached from two sides because there are the two main aspects of hip-hop: rap and DJing. For DJing I think there are definitely less politics because it doesn't really matter what gender, race or socioeconomic status you have; all that matters is that you can command the turntable and create something that people like. However, there are some politics in DJing because the battles are all run by some sort of governing body. Rap, on the other hand, has very dominant politics. Katz talked about how the rap scene is more predominantly black and if you're a white guy you have to really work to establish yourself and make some sort of credibility so people don't just look past you. This all reminds me of Eminem in 8 Mile. There is the Free World who essentially runs the underground rap world in Detroit and Eminem is always trying to establish himself against them.
ReplyDeleteI think that hip-hop does have a general "politics." With gender, people typically see a more male dominated presence and when a female comes around, it is sort of news. When Nicki first came out and was doing her thing, people were like "Woah, look at HER." The same sort of thing occurred with Iggy Azalea came about, though that could be due to her gender of lack of talent... There are racial patterns that transcend with hip-hop. Most artists are usually African American and when people like Eminem and, dar I say again, Iggy showed up in the industry, people did a double take. I think that just like hip-hop, the politics that follow hip-hop are ever changing and evolving with the times.
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