SETTING FIRE TO RAP MEMORABILIA

Hey ya'll.
Fritz Pffafpffaf and I made this movie addressing identity in hip-hop for the hip-hop class we were all in this semester, Hip-Hop & Racial Politics. It stars Johnston darling Ryan Kessler and features the music of everyone's favorite 2007 era rapper, Lil Ru.

Please love it. Please.




Here's an artist statement in case you were left baffled. Here it is baffled viewers:

            For our film we decided to pay homage to the single element that allowed both of us to become hip-hop fans: the music video. More specifically, we decided to focus on the stereotypical music video that was presented in mid-2000s pop rap songs. Many of these videos featured cliché signifiers of masculinity, including fashion, drug use, violence, and objectification of women. We have addressed all these topics as well as others in our film.

            The film opens with Cooper theatrically walking to where he attempts to smoke a cigarette, an item often falsely associated with “coolness”. Images of rappers (such as The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and Kanye West) smoking tobacco products are commonly seen and are often used to extenuate their supposed sophistication. The purpose of using this as an opening scene is to display how a confused listener can easily be manipulated by hip-hop images and aspire to behave like them, ultimately making a regretful decision.

       







 Cooper is now seen posing in front of cars, a materialistic object often heavily referenced in the hip-hop world. Although he is assumed to not fully understand what a cool car looks like he makes an effort to pose in front of a rather bland looking car, emphasizing his misinterpretation of a heavily displayed theme in many rap music videos.

            In an attempt to fully become a true hip-hop fan, Cooper decides to try graffiti. He tags his name with pencil on a power box. Only to regret this decision immediately, returning and erasing the marking due to paranoia.

            At certain points in the careers of many rappers, like Mos Def, KRS-One, Lupe Fiasco and recently Snoop Dogg, a decision is made to become more conscious and shift focus to their Black roots. Cooper’s way of sampling this idea is purchasing a dashiki. He tries it on and quickly abandons the idea, returning to the hip-hop style he is more comfortable with, as seen through his outfit he goes back to.

            In one scene, he watches Scarface, a film heavily cited as an influence amongst rappers due to its depiction of graphic violence, successful drug dealing and promiscuous sex. Cooper is shown watching two scenes: one in which the protagonist shoots a man to death during a drug deal, the other shows a bikinied woman being summoned over to a car. As he watches these scenes, his enthusiasm builds and it is clear that he has been affected in some way.

            Being inspired by the film, Cooper chugs down the only drugs he had access to, prescription medication. In a haze, he begins stumbling around while waving a knife. It is clear that he is very disoriented as Cooper takes the weapon outside during the night. He then wakes up sick and cries, realizing the consequences of what he has done.

            Cooper tries one last way of proving to himself that his identity is truly in hip-hop, through sexuality. He sends a girl a harassing text, expecting that the results will work towards his advantage. When she does not reciprocate, Cooper begins to respond to her in a way similar to how rappers address women in their lyrics, from here she does not respond. This shows how hip-hop’s way of depicting women is something that does not go over well when taken further then lyrics and into conversation.

            After the frustrations resulting from Cooper’s attempts to become the rappers he understands strictly from imagery and lyrics, Cooper concludes that he is living without a true identity. He symbolically throws his few rap memorabilia out of a window. We see him for his true self now as he is left without an identity. 

Serena Williams, Gangsta' 

This is a video clip from the 2012 Summer Olympics after Serena Williams won a Gold medal in singles tennis. After Serena wins she celebrates by doing a brief version of the Crip Walk. 

The Crip Walk is a dance that originated from the Los Angeles based gang the Crips. Originally the dance was used as a method of intimidation, and a way to "bang" on other rival gang members, or non gang members that crossed paths with members of the Crips. The modern day Crip walk has become more of a dance than an aesthetic form of gang banging, but it still has ties to the Crips and the gangbanging lifestyle. I chose to post this clip because Serena Williams was in the national spotlight when she did this dance, and because it is interesting to think about an athlete that is known around the world doing a dance that is directly tied to the gang life.

Questions:

*What do you think about Serena Williams doing the crip walk?

*What impact does the crip walk have on the formation of her black identity?

*Is this a controversial celebration, or an appropriate one? 

Perceptions of the Black Male Homosexual

As a multiracial individual, I got really into Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele's sketch comedy show, "Key and Peele" on Comedy Central last year. Their commentary on society's constructions of race, sexual orientation, etc. makes me laugh, as well as think. Two video clips of theirs I found to be relevant to the current class theme of homosexuality and homothuggin' in within gang and hip hop culture.

The first clip is a fantastic articulation of the binary a Black male feels pressured to fulfill as an intelligent, supportive husband while maintaining hood swag:

The clip begins with Key standing on a street corner in Los Angeles, speaking on the phone to his wife with proper annunciation: "Because you're my wife and you love the theater and it's your birthday." Peele walks up and as soon as the eye contact has been made, the switch from loving husband to hood rat occurs. The pronunciation of "theater" changes to "thee-ater" and in a more aggressive tone, Key says, "Ima pick yo ass up at six thirty then," a stark contrast from the gentler expression earlier.

The camera leaves Key and follows Peele as his expression and tone switches from using "c'mon, man" and "aight" with a furrowed brow to an overdramatized "Oh my God, Christian, I almost totally just got mugged right now," in an effeminate, whiney voice characterized as stereotypically gay. This shows how the assumptions made about "the other" within the Black, male community (in this case, that they are hard, hood, unintelligent, unfriendly, demeaning towards women, and masculine) effect how Black males present themselves to each other and perpetuate society's view of how every Black male fits these assumptions.

The second video clip serves to prove the same point:

As Key sets up a drug deal, Peele steps into the scene, grabbing his genitals and embodying masculinity in baggy jeans, a "wife-beater," a backwards hat, and sneakers. The confrontational braggadocio begins and as the banter turns physical, Peele grabs Key's butt. Key exclaims, "Kick it, don't grab it!" in defense of his public sexuality and "hardness." As Peele continues to insinuate homosexual tendencies, Key becomes increasingly furious as his masculinity is being destabilized.

Key declares, "This is wrong, man. This is so wrong," in another attempt to validate his perceived heterosexuality and once Peele challenges him with, "Yeah? What's so wrong about it?" it breaks the barrier of self-consciousness in Key and allows him to accept the fact that he has intimate feelings for Peele, but had thought he was seeing another man.

Again, Key and Peele have managed to clearly display the common perceptions of Black males and throw wrenches into those perceptions so that the public can see through the bravado and fraudulence. It seems that we really are gradually moving towards an era where there is a chance of acceptance of the Black male homosexual within gang and hip hop culture.

Spectrum of Black Masculinity

At one point in the video we watched today, Byron Hurt was interviewing a group of aspiring rap artists, and asked them the same question he had been asking throughout the entire film. For the most part this was his question, "Why do young black rappers insist on rapping about black on black violence, killing people, selling drugs, and demeaning other black men as well as women". The answer that the artists gave was that they portray a violent image coupled with violent lyrics on purpose, and because that's what record companies want, that is how you get a deal and that is what is being sold. Essentially, the point being made by both Byron Hurt and the artists in this section of the film was that you have to be one dimensional if you want to make it in the rap game. I believe it was said, "They don't want that conscious rap shit". This is problematic because rap artists only portray one image of blackness, and the record labels that sign the artists push that image into society to be consumed by the masses. Unfortunately for black men, the hip hop/rap image is the only image a lot of people see, and the only image that a lot of people believe. The following clip is from a documentary on black masculinity, and addresses black masculinity by comparing Barack Obama with 50 Cent. Additionally I have posted all of 50 Cent's album covers from 2003 until now to show how much his image has changed. 

The main points that were made about 50 Cent’s first album cover were that he was portrayed as a hyper masculine black male, who was invulnerable, and capable of having control in any situation. Additionally we learned in class about homo eroticism, and how it operates in hip hop. Even though his second album cover is less realistic than the first one, I would say his first two album covers are prime examples of it. On both covers you see a greased up, shirtless black man who is powerful at the same time that he is exposed. Both of these covers show a 50 Cent that is a tough-guy from the streets.This is the exact image that record labels want to sell and the exact image that is consumed by those that listen to hip hop. 

Get Rich or Die Tryin', 2003

The Massacre, 2005

Beginning with The Massacre and ending with Curtis, you see the biggest shift in the image and identity that 50 Cent portrays. He is no longer presenting himself as a one dimensional man and rap artist and he is no longer presenting himself as solely dangerous and invulnerable. 50 is instead presenting a different side of himself, toning down his masculinity and being more intentional with the lyrics he uses in his songs. On this specific album the lyrics of his songs and his songs in general switch back and forth between a hard street sound that is more traditional to his career, and a softer deeper sound that he has not expressed before. This is perhaps caused by the fact that he is more of an established artist at this point and has become more successful than average rappers. 

Curtis, 2007

Finally there is his most recent album to date Before I Self Destruct. On this album cover you see a 50 Cent that is in the process of self destructing and exploding. Perhaps he is referring to KRS-One and his song Self Destruction, which is an upbeat hip hop song aimed at stopping violence in poor communities. Or perhaps 50 Cent is feeling the pressure of maintaining a certain image, and this pressure is causing him to have identity problems. Either way the image he presents a vulnerable image on this cover which he did not do with his first two covers.  

Before I Self Destruct, 2009

Images of black men who have more in common with Obama than they do with 50 Cent are not produced and seen. Street is the only image seen in the media, it is the only image we see of 50 Cent, and for those with no relationships with black people it is the only image they know. There is no mass media produced image that is either the complete opposite of what 50 Cent represents or close to the opposite of his image. The media does not produce images of black men with professional jobs, wearing suits and ties; the CEOs, lawyers, doctors and lawyers are not seen. This is harmful to the black community. 

Questions:
*Is there a little bit of 50 and a little bit of Barack in every black male?
*How do the limited images of black men affect the development of their identity?
*How does their identity development affect black women?
         

Ice Cube: Is He There Yet?

This internet meme has been floating around for a while. It shows two very different Ice Cubes: one, a gangsta, a real "nigga," who doesn't take any shit (as expressed through his artillery, posse, and menacing look); and two, a family movies actor smiling in a goofy life jacket and fishing rod. We can laugh at the drastic contrast, but what do pictures like this mean for Ice Cube's identity?

Ice Cube can be whoever he wants to be. But this image kept popping up into my mind all throughout Chang's "The Real Enemy." For a man once so wrapped up in “gangstacentricity,” concerned with enemies including “race traitors” (those not representing their ghetto roots), Koreans, and the oppressive white majority, he seems to be pretty content with how the system worked out for him. “Are We There Yet” is a much different movie than “Boyz n the Hood.”

I was just curious on the class’ reaction. I’m not trying to provoke an “Ice Cube sold out” conversation (unless that’s how you really feel—then go for it), I just wanted to hear what you all had to say in response.

The Struggle With Identity

Today, I happened upon this image of Afrika Bambaataa and I felt that I had to share because I think that it is a perfect illustration of identity.  When I look at this picture, I see that the graffiti is illuminated and the figure of Afrika Bambaataa and his devices are shadowed and darkened, leaving just the profile of the figure to be seen by the viewer.  

To me, this picture represents the struggle of identity and fame within the culture of Hip Hop.  I feel that the artist has an identity before becoming well-known to the public; yet once their name and beliefs become illuminated (as the graffiti on the wall has been) to the public, the figure and the identity of the artist fades (as Bambaataa’s has in this image) and becomes the identity of the everyday youth in search of their own.

Let me know what you think.