Commodification

I was inspired by George's post on the commodification of hip hop, and it made me think of other ways hip hop has been turned into a commodity. I instantly thought of those certain shows on Nickelodeon or Disney which star a predominantly Black or Hispanic cast. Television is an oppressive institution in itself, because it's primary targeting audience is white people. All of the major shows on television and most popular movies today are comprised of a white cast with the token Black and/or Hispanic person. Let's say you're trying to describe How I Met Your Mother. Would you say "It's about a white group of friends and all of Ted's failed relationships how awesome Barney is?" or would you leave the part about their race out of the description? What if I asked you to describe the cartoon, The Proud Family? You may mention their race, because being Black on television isn't the norm. It is considered "the other."


Hebdige notes that the way to dismantle a subculture is to exploit, commodify it, turn it into something thats family-friendly and not to be feared. The Proud Family is a fine example of that, by taking what's supposed to be perceived as "Black culture" and remodeling it into something appealing for children. 

Here is the intro to The Proud Family. It's sung by Solange Knowles (Beyonce's sister).

Take note how in the beginning of the song, you can hear a record being scratched. Also, 12 seconds in, the entire frame is filled by a shot of fried chicken and waffles that the dad is about to eat. They’re enforcing stereotypes by having this in the intro. Not to mention how it’s being observed every single time someone watches an episode.

Here is a more relevant clip about hip hop from the episode Hip Hop Helicopter. 

It starts out with Big Boy and Shaun Robinson MCing this huge event. The first dancers up on stage are The Chang Triplets, an Asian dance group (I’d just like to point out that their skin color is literally yellow). The entire Black and Hispanic audience looks at these triplets in utter shock as they’re on stage. It’s as if they’re saying this is a Black and Hispanic space, not an Asian space. But eventually the crowd is welcoming after watching their routine. Next, LPDZ performs (LaCienega, Penny, Dijonay and Zoey). They are also not given such a great welcoming until they start dancing and the crowd goes wild. In a way, these dancers could be perceived as b-boys and b-girls. 

Lastly, there are 3 characters on the show named The Gross Sisters. They're supposed to be "thugs". Their skin color is blue because they are often referred to as "ashy," and they like to extort money from their peers and authority figures. The creators of the show took the concept of a gang, and watered it down to the definition of a bully, so it was appropriate for families to watch. What's interesting is how they don't fit into any racial category since blue is not a normal skin color. What is that saying? That they're inhuman, or if they were drawn with brown skin it would perpetuate too many racial stereotypes?

I hope this post made a decent connection about commodifying hip hop because as I wrote it, I couldn't decide if my points were strong enough or if I was just going into a rant about a racist cartoon.