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

“If the Cap Doesn’t Fit, Wear It”

There is a significant amount of power one has as a bricoleur to criticize, challenge, and instruct mainstream culture. This is because bricoleurs have to be intelligent, cross-cultural, imaginative, and confident; qualities which will enable them to take ownership of their image and commodification and use it to benefit themselves or the groups they represent. Reclaiming suffering and control in society in this way exhibits the power of the bricoleur.

DJ Gangreene’s reference to Odd Future is a great example of the way bricoleurs strategically barge in on positions of fame and power. Gangreene demonstrated how Odd Future uses shock value to garner attention via their premeditated choice of associating with devilry and Nazis. According to Allhiphop.com, two months ago, Odd Future was accused of setting a palm tree on fire on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles.

http://allhiphop.com/2012/08/13/hip-hop-rumors-is-odd-future-responsible-for-setting-a-fire-in-cali/

This act was said to reference Odd Future’s song, “Kill People, Burn Sh*t, F*ck School.” A song that begins with “Hey, don't do anything that I say in this song, okay? It's fuckin' fiction
If anything happens, don't fuckin' blame me, white America, fuck Bill O'Reilly.” There is the acknowledgement of the harm that taking the song seriously could cause, and also the sentiment that whatever the outcome is from expressing themselves, it is not Odd Future’s fault because white America’s put them in this position. With lyrics about an absent father, a broke mother, and the messaging, “ Stand for what the f*ck you believe in, and don’t let nobody tell you can’t,” Odd Future seems to have a rather aggressive version of the original message of hip hop, addressing the state of the ‘hood and the frustration at being ignored and put down (rapgenius.com). It seems that the commodities related to Odd Future, such as the eerie, eyeless floating heads on their website and their affinity of “666” seem to build an angry brand, an emotion to which everyone can relate. 666 conventionally symbolizes the Devil, often connotated with Hell. Odd Future has used this historically loaded symbol of hate and (to borrow from Hebdige) juxtaposed it with rap to represent the hell-like conditions of their neighborhoods in LA. By commodifying themselves, the collective has managed to harness the ideation of hate and strike chords with society in a way that rewards them with fame and leadership. They have taken control of their perceived selves and amplified them as if to defiantly say Hey, we’re here. Don’t forget about us because if you do, we will make it a point to regain your attention.

Another example of commodification for the purpose of dignity and power is Nas’s 2008  “Untitled” album, meant to be named, “Nigger.” This racial slur is a loaded pistol pointing a hot bullet at an entire population and has been used perjoratively to deem one as disadvantaged and less than thee. Now why would a black male put himself down in such a way that is so conventionally taboo and harsh? Because as a civil rights bricoleur, identifying and reclaiming the word, he has taken ownership of its subject and approached the issue of racism from a completely different, more confident and controlling manner. Though Nas did succumb to society’s impulses to force him to change the title, he used the commodity perhaps to send the message that yes, he is a nigger and this is how far he’s come. If someone as talented and intellectual as Nas is referred to as a nigger, than call them a nigger because the word will eventually be redefined. Jay-Z commented, "People give strength to words, power to words. If you remove 'nigger,' then you have 'jiggaboo' and 'porch monkey,' the words will keep continuing. How many words you gonna take out? People give the words power. I think we need to direct that [energy] towards the community." (Mtv.com) Nas was directing the energy of the word to society and criticizing it within the "us vs. them" context. 50 Cent accused Nas of strategically going for "shock value," whereas Alicia Keys commented, "If he has something shocking to say, it's because he wants you to pay attention to it." (Mtv.com)

(photo from guardian.co.uk)

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1573280/nas-title-gets-support-from-jay-z-alicia-ll-cool-j.jhtml

Contrary to the idea of words, signs, and symbols in Hebdige's words "exploited as an empty effect," the examples of both Odd Future and Nas show the power and meaning behind reclaiming and controlling commodities to make a statement, as would true bricoleurs.

A concept related to our discussion that I would love input on is this. Does hip hop have to be commodified to be appreciated? To "save" hip hop, do the artists have to create a different and new culture of commodities redefining hip hop or can the existing commodities be brought into greater meaning?

The Message -- I'd like to encourage you to continue to analyze the Message of the Message on the blog to see how much further and deeper we can take our in class analysis. How do we see the politics of abandonment in this video? How are the artists constructed their identity? What's going on in terms of its representation of race, gender and sexuality? Here is the video again for our analysis.

(One thing that struck me when viewing it again was the repeated use of the word fag at several points in the song. What's up with that? Is that working to construct a heteronormative masculinity, something else?)