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| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
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? |
The most obvious point was the transition from east to west coasts. In New York the hip-hop scene was lucky enough to have people like Afrika Bambaataa guiding it, where it was an alternative to gang culture, an escape from it. When it made it to LA there was no such figure who was there right from the start, and so it became the soundtrack to gang culture. Organised crime is in itself an escapist fantasy from poverty - look at all the rags-to-riches gangster movies, and how hip-hoppers idolise fictional criminals like Tony Montana.
I don't know as much about the west coast origins as I do about the NYC origins, but I think hip-hop had to be invented in a feel-good, non-threatening party context. It is, after all, DJ music in the purest sense, and so it was always going to originate in an environment of positivity and communal togetherness. Gangsters couldn't have invented the idea of hip-hop, but once they got hold of it they made it very popular. Gangster rap has an edge, it offers a dangerous thrill to middle class listeners that had been in short supply in mainstream music in the 1980s. Rock music had long since lost its transgressive thrill in the silliness of hair metal. Axl Rose was the most badass figure suburbinates had to turn to in the late 80s, with his try-hard sleazy lyrics about fucking prostitutes. I often think of that shot in the video to You Could Be Mine where he's wearing an NWA baseball cap as the symbolic baton-handing, the moment where gangster rap officially usurped guitar rock as the music of choice for dull middle class kids looking to alienate their parents.
| quote: | Originally posted by Domesticated
Thanks, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. Strangely, it's listed at $75 brand new, or $999 second-hand on Amazon. Some UK-based sellers have it for normal prices though.
Apart from using it for this article, the book sounds like a very interesting read in itself. Come to think of it, I've read a depressingly small amount of printed literature about electronic music. Now could be a good time to order some books and learn something. |
I'd check out his book Bring The Noise, an anthology of articles he wrote between 1985-2005, with notes written later reflecting on what happened since he wrote them. You'll find more of his writing on hip-hop there, and I also seem to remember that's where I got this upwardly-mobile-jungle idea from as well.
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Last edited by SYSTEM-J on Feb-07-2011 at 01:16
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