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| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Simon Reynolds has written quite a bit about how black musicians are often interested in material displays of status.He has a whole chapter in his book Energy Flash discussing the social context behind the emergence of jungle in the early 90s which is well worth a read. He's also written a lot about hip-hop in many sources, and has used Marxism and other critical theory to explore hip-hop culture.
Reynolds has argued that mid-90s drum 'n bass with its obsession with jazz and live instrumentation was attempting to connote up-market "classiness", a very different methodology to hip-hop but the same basic aim. I think the idea is very simple: a lot of black music, particularly hip-hop and drum 'n bass, has its origins in urban poverty, a world in which material wealth is of upmost concern. You don't have to just look at black culture to see poor people everywhere delight in shows of wealth - just look at white British chav culture with its cheap bling and fake designer clothes. To people who have no money, wealth is the ultimate fantasy.
This isn't inherently a black thing, it just so happens that important black musicians of the last century were mostly very poor. That in itself is down to obvious social conditions. Reynolds also points out that 90s drum 'n bass prided itself in being "black music" even though a large percentage of the producers and listeners have always been white. In the drum 'n bass underground, he claims, "blackness" is not about race but about social class and background.
Or, as Jay-Z put it: "Critics say he's money, cash, hoes - I'm from the hood stupid, what type of facts are those?" |
You know what I think is more interesting?
Why is it that early hip hop was more interested in speaking about daily life in the neighborhood community, family traditions, musical tradition, social problems that affect the community, friendly competition with other mcs, radical politics etc?
When did hip hop become obsessed with fame, social status, money? Who bestowed upon hip hop musicians these things? What is the rubric?
Who created and perpetuated the media loop and the fantasy narrative of young black musicians making it big by playing along with the music industry system?
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