Questioning Politics Through Anger

Tricia Rose’s Prophet of Rage points towards a hidden institutional struggle implicit in rap music. Not a direct interpretation of lyrics, but a meditation on the effects of systemic oppression. In the documentary film “Tupac Resurrection,” Tupac makes a brilliant analogy of the way that anger is manifested in black culture. He paints the picture of standing hungry outside of a room, looking in and seeing people with a bounty of food. First he asks to be let inside of the room and then he and his people try to sing their way in. They become progressively more hungry and consequently, more angry. What began as asking for some food turns into blasting down the door in blind rage due to the lack of resources to survive. This heightens our understanding of the Black struggle and the conception of anger as a theme in rap music. There are two types of anger in rap music; anger that reflects Rose’s idea of the hidden institutional struggle that rap-producing communities experience and anger that destabilizes authority.

Case in Point:

The song “Who Protects Us From You?” by KRS-One exemplifies both types of anger, but it is mostly a reflection of the invisible oppression experienced by Black culture.

(Fy-ah! Come down fas'...)

You were put here to protect us
But who protects us from you?
Every time you say "That's illegal"
Doesn't mean that that's true (Uh-huh)

Points to the construction of Black cultural behavior as wrong, illegal. Denying Blacks access to rights, spaces, and protection because of the institutional lowering of self-worth.

Your authority's never questioned
No-one questions you

The anger comes from a lack of accountability, the societal double standard, and injustice of discrimination based on skin color and socio-economic demographic. The fact that those in power can do whatever they want instills the frustration that precedes rage.

If I hit you I'll be killed
But you hit me? I can sue (Order! Order!)
Lookin' through my history book
I've watched you as you grew

 This invisible institutional oppression hasn’t just sprung up. It has been building and developing, taking different shapes as time has passed, for example, in the form of slavery. The dominant ego and power grew and evolved into the hidden issue. 

Killin' blacks and callin' it the law

As constructed by “Reagan and Bush era’s war on drugs, urban police forces have been soldiers of war, and poor and minority communities are the enemy battleground.” (106) Therefore, killing a black youth positioned as a criminal by wealthy, majority communities in power justifies the death as a “casualt[y] of war.” (106) This is infuriating.

(Bo! Bo! Bo!) And worshipping Jesus too
There was a time when a black man
Couldn't be down wit' your crew (Can I have a job please?)

Example: Public Enemy used the Audubon Ballroom in New York as a symbol of dominant culture taking advantage of the desired community space that Harlem residents wanted and not only refusing an initiative that would help to reframe black culture as positive, but taking away job opportunities from the community. “Claims that the biotech lab will provide a shot in the arm for Harlem residents by way of new jobs and retail opportunities have fallen on deaf ears, and not without a cause…” (121) This awareness of injustice, that people are knowingly hurting others to benefit themselves evokes anger from Blacks.

Now you want all the help you can get
Scared? Well ain't that true (You goddamn right)

Dominant culture is scared because black people are angry from having jobs and opportunities to better themselves taken away from them by this passive hidden institutional oppression.

You were put here to protect us
But who protects us from you?
Or should I say, who are you protecting?
The rich? the poor? Who?

KRS simply asks questions and makes gentle claims that provoke critical thought versus placing blame. This embodies the first form of anger in rap music, that which reflects hidden institutional struggle.

It seems that when you walk the ghetto
You walk wit' your own point of view (Look at that gold chain)
You judge a man by the car he drives
Or if his hat match his shoe (Yo, you lookin' kinda fresh)
Well, back in the days of Sherlock Holmes
A man was judged by a clue
Now he's judged by if he's Spanish,
Black, Italian or Jew

So do not kick my door down and tie me up
While my wife cooks the stew (You're under arrest!)
Cos you were put here to protect us
But who protects us from you?

(A public service announcement brought to you by the scientists of Boogie Down Productions. Fy-ah! Come again...)

Black culture is judged by symbols of hip hop and outward appearance, ethnicity by the group of people who are supposed to be looking out for them. Who is the police policing? KRS makes the claim that it is themselves and the rest of society instead of the Black “us.” The anger and frustration in “Who Protects Us From You” is a response to the hidden institutional struggle that comes from societal fear of Black culture.

Lyrics by: http://www.elyricsworld.com/who_protects_us_from_you~_lyrics_krs-one.html)

Fuck Tha Police is NWA’s classic protest song against the racist practices of police officers during this era. In many ways this song is a political protest that attempts to expose unfair treatment towards the black youth from crooked police officers.

Fuckin with me cause I'm a teenager*
with a little bit of gold and a pager
Searchin my car, lookin for the product
Thinkin every nigga is sellin narcotics
You'd rather see, me in the pen
than me and Lorenzo rollin in a Benz-o”
(*Ice Cube was 18 or 19 when this song was released in 1988.)

“But don't let it be a black and a white one
Cause they'll slam ya down to the street top
Black police showin out for the white cop
Ice Cube will swarm
on ANY motherfucker in a blue uniform

Ice Cube was calling out the black police officers just as much as the white. He maybe is commenting on the realness of black men and the affect police have on them, wondering why the black police are turning their backs to their fellow man.

 The song is an example of anger that destabilizes police and dominant culture authority, which can increase the marginalization of Black people. Fuck the police brought the tension of black youth vs. police officers into government spotlight. The FBI eventually got the song banned from the radio. “On August 1st, 1989, the FBI sent a bulletin to Priority Records, the group's label, denouncing this song. According to the feds, "Fuck tha Police" "encourages violence against, and disrespect for, the law-enforcement officer." The publicity established N.W.A as hip-hop's bad boys.” (Rolling Stone Magazine)
Contrary to the FBI attempts, “Fuck the Police” went platinum within the year of its release, setting a new trend of “public attacks” towards police and other dominant cultural authority. This song is aurguably the start of a gangster rap genre that would soon develop with the likes of Tupac, Schooly D, and Ice T, to name a few.

Questions:

1. Is this anger productive in either of these examples? If so, how?

2. Can you think of any examples within hip hop or society where anger has played a part in either the movement against institutional struggle or destabilizing dominant authority?

- Ian Eland and Hanna Bratton