Richard Anthony Torres
04/26/99
English 402
Popular Literary Analysis
This particular piece of composition was very fun for me create, since it was actually for credit in a college-level English course. I couldn't believe that Dr. Fisher let me write a paper over the Hip-Hop progression in relation to the literary movement of the Black Arts Movement. When I composed this paper, I didn't really have a firm base on the Harlem Renaissance, except for some independent research, which I did over Langston Hughes for my own interest. However, writing this paper stirred a deeper interest in the Black Arts Movement that was further satisfied in my American Literature Survey 2 course later the next semester. Either way, this paper offered me the first opportunity to write on a topic that was not only contemporary but was also part of my daily life and interest.
A Modern Black Arts Movement through the Instrument of Hip-Hop
Since the decade of 1920, America has been the setting for a progressive "Black Arts Movement." This African-American cultural movement has taken shape in various genres, gaining mass appeal, through multiple capitalistic markets. Even with the use of capitalism this cultural arts movement has stayed set upon its original purpose and direction, by aiding in cultural identity awareness. The knowledge of the duel-self through community awareness as it pertains to economic perceptions and other social boundaries or the metaphysical-self; what W.E.B. Du Bois coined as "twoness," or a division of one’s own identity as a African-American. (Reuben 2) A realization of the existence of two beings within one’s mental identity, where time alters attitude and identity through environmental influence of passing events. The discovery of the "New Negro" in the Harlem Renaissance marks the beginning of this essential philosophy contributing to the 1960’s Black Arts Movement and the Civil Rights Movement; continuing to be evident in current forms of black art, such as within the lyrics of hip-hop music. These revolutionary Ideals of reform have been voiced in the lyrics of many rappers of urban realism, like the New York M.C.’s Rakim, Run-D.M.C. and west coast rapper Tupac Shakur. Though this form of expression is opposed by most academic elitists and fundamental conservatives due to their vulgar expressions of sex and violence depicted within the genre of Hip-Hop; it in opposition actually presents an internal cultural conflict revealed through the redefinition of one’s own identity with poetic lyrical expressions of realism.
This art form known as rap developed due to the increased limitation poetry has been labeled with affecting those of the world outside of academia, who are searching for methods of progressive expression. This obstruction of expression resulted in the birth of "bourgeoisie" poetry known as rap (hip-hop sub-genre) created by the hip-hop cultural movement of the 1970’s. A movement with idealistic roots linked to the cultural awareness of the 1920’s Harlem Renaissance and the cultural preservation and unification of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Nevertheless, the hip-hop genre is another outlet of Black Cultural Art redefining cultural perception through urban expression, relying on traditional African-American Art aesthetics.
The hip-hop cultural movement has been divided into four categories: the 1970’s discovery of turntable sampling and the emergence of "Rapper’s Delight" from The Sugar Hill Gang; "The Old School" defined by Run-D.M.C.; The 1980’s Rapper’s of "Social Realism" dealing with the identification of racial issues within the urban lifestyle, expressed in lyrics by rappers such as Ice-T, Rakim, N.W.A. and LL Cool J; The present day commercial hip-hop centered around monopolized record labels sacrificing art for the benefit of commercial revenue, such as "No Limit Records." The hip-hop movement originated as an urban impulse using various elements of performance art to discover a cultural identity, which was usually deemed unacceptable by law enforcement officers. The culture adopted an "outlaw" image through graffiti art, breakdancing and DJ’s mixing samples at public party performances. The two most credited artists responsible for bringing this cultural movement to the public light were residents of the New Jersey and Bronx area. The Sugar Hill Gang (1979) and Grand-master Flash and the Furious Five (1982) propelled the hip-hop culture into the public scene by releasing "Rapper’s Delight" and "The Message", in the 1970’s. However, to insure commercial success the art form was jeopardized with the alteration of DJ samples to sound more Pop, then hip-hop. While the lyrics were mainly chorus chants focused primarily with the beat disregarding any true meaning within its context. Yet, even though the artistic quality was hindered, these commercial successes set the foundation for other artists to present their work rooted in the culture of hip-hop later in the early 1980’s. (Gladney 9)
Run-D.M.C. in the early 1980’s changed the world of hip-hop with their release of "Sucka M.C.’s". This release was the first ever to create a four-verse song with DJ "beat breaks" working around the MC, allowing a more vocal connection with the audience and dancers. "Two years ago, a friend of mine/ Asked me to say some M.C. rhymes/ So I said the rhyme I’m about to say/ The rhyme was der and it went this way…" (Salaam 6). Run-D.M.C.’s "Sucka M.C.’s" broke the M.C. standard with the elimination of simple chorus verse by turning to story verse, revealing hip-hop’s oral tradition in story representation. These new lyrical rhyme techniques were complimented with the use of urban mixing techniques or sampling to incorporate a "street" flavor to firmly establish a mood for the growing confidence of the M.C.’s experimental lyrical rhymes. The emergence of M.C. dictated hip-hop transformed the genre, but according to the traditional Black Arts aesthetics it appears this movement was expected considering the cultural implications hip-hop has in purpose and presentation.
With the establishment of M.C. orientated hip-hop there surfaced many M.C.’s, but the best "pure" rapper or M.C. of the (1980’s) "Social Realism" was known as Rakim.
Rakim began his career in 1986, recording with Eric B. on the song "Eric B. Is President". (Salaam 9). In this release Rakim demonstrates his ability to create complex internal rhyme with loosely structured meter.
"I came in the door/ I said it before
I never let the mic magnetize me no more
But it’s biting me, fighting me, inviting me to rhyme
I can’t hold back/ I’m looking for the line
Taking off my coat, clearing my throat
The rhyme will be kickin’ until I hit my last note
My mind arranged to find all kinds of ideas
Self-esteem makes it seem that the thought took years to build
But still say a rhyme after the next one
Prepared, neve scared / I’ll just bless one" (Salaam 9).
Another lyrical method Rakim practiced was the use of abstract thought in metaphorical language. He combined emotion with urban observation to create a poetic image to describe the world of hip-hop, his consistent environmental influence.
"My unusual style will confuse you a while
When the mic and the R-A-K-I-M
Is attached, like a match, I will strike again" (Salaam 10).
In the 1980’s, hip-hop turned political and idealistic in presentation, finding voice in social realism. "Hip-Hop has endeavored to address racism, education, sexism, drug use and spiritual uplift" (Gladney 1). Hip-Hop began to ground itself in the reporting of reality through lyrical verse, to focus on cultural identification. Usually an angry interpretation of reality appeared rooted in the traditions of The Black Arts Movement of the 1960’s.
According to the 1960's Black Arts Movement aesthetics, Black Americans cannot divorce anger from their reality, because without these elements of expression the artists are no longer speaking as Black Americans, but simply as Americans. (Gladney 2) This realization of cultural ownership directed the artists to remain focused on producing a defining description, relational to those among their own African-American communities. An apparent popular theme in 1980’s hip-hop, stemming out of the South Bronx area of New York and the West Coast of Los Angeles. Hip-hop M.C.’s (master of ceremonies) in relation to Black Art ideals, attempted to offer an artistic expression designed to deal with the frustrations and conditions of urban life. "At the very least, hip-hop has brought much needed dialogue to issues affecting America’s Black community in a manner that no popular art form has, prompting Public Enemy’s Chuck D to refer to hip-hop as the ‘CNN’ of the Black community" (Gladney 1).
Tupac Shakur in the early and mid 1990’s accepted this role of interpreter for the Black culture, expressing his message through the art form of rap mainly appearing on the record label "Deathrow" through the mid-1990’s. Tupac is placed between the periods of the 1980’s and what is called commercial hip-hop. Tupac Shakur though in the industry during the late 1980’s didn’t become vocal until 1991 with his debut solo release "2Pacalypse Now". This record was one of many releases dealing with racism, economic suppression and black genocide. Among other artists focusing on similar issues were Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and Public Enemy. However, Tupac became an underground success presenting his art with such passion and sincerity, surpassing other political M.C.’s in mass appeal.
Tupac’s passion originates from his turbulent and violent life, reflected in his romantic and fatalist lyrical style. Tupac was born on June 16th in 1971. His mother Afeni Shakur was one of the founding members of the national Black Panther Party in New York. Her ideals were primarily based in the beliefs of the 1960 Black Rights Movement; explaining her participation in the infamous "Panther 21", who were arrested on conspiracy charges in the planning to blow up a city department store and local police stations in New York. (Scott 64) Shortly after being released from prison, Afeni Shakur gave birth to Tupac; named after the martyred Tupac Amaru, an Inca chief tortured to death by Spanish conquistadors. Tupac’s last name Shakur means "Shining Serpent," an Incan symbol of wisdom and courage. (Scott 64) This "Shining Serpent" never had a consistent male role model throughout his life, effecting Tupac’s perception of the black community and family structure. "I felt I needed a daddy to show me the ropes, and I didn’t have one" (Scott 66). His mother had numerous relations with different men, usually involved in criminal activity or associated with the Black Panther Party. Afeni did, however encourage Tupac’s association with the arts early on, by placing him in the Harlem Theater group in the 1980’s. Here Tupac discovered his artistic ability, which lead his mother had to relocate the family to Baltimore, so Tupac could attend the Baltimore High School for the Arts. "That school was the freest I ever felt" (Scott 67). This experience fell short, considering Afeni’s socio-economic standing. Tupac and his family eventually ended up in Marin City, California (late 1980’s), where Tupac began his new lifestyle involving drugs, street hustlers, poverty and violent death.
It was in the Bay Area that Tupac led a life of quiet desperation turning to poetry for companionship. From his past writing experiences in Baltimore, Shakur found a means of personal expression to cope with the violence of the ghetto. His poetry eventually became M.C. lyrics as Shakur began pursuing a career in hip-hop with other peers from the area. Tupac known as "MC New York" received his first break as a background dancer for the hip-hop band Digital Underground in 1989. Tupac’s early education in performance art and dance aided his success as a dancer, allowing him to present an intense persona through hip-hop "breakin." This exuberance led him to his first recorded performance as a background vocalist on the Digital Underground (1990) release of "Sons of The P" (Scott 70).
Around the year 1991, gansta rap was very popular and Tupac was hoping to sign with a major record company, but many felt that 2pac was not popular enough, which kept him from reaching the level of artist, speaking from a commercial standpoint. That is until he went with his friend Money-B to a rehearsal for the (1991) movie Juice. 2pac after reading the script "cold turkey" was chosen to play the main role in the movie. His character was Bishop, a psychotic young black teenager living in New York confronting the deadly realities of the inner city. The role was Tupac’s road to stardom; increasing his popularity and landing him a contract deal with Interscope records because of his unveiled "thug" persona. This release was "2Pacalypse Now". (Scott 72).
With the use of hip-hop 2pac was able to confront issues pertaining to Black identity, cultural morality and social progression. Tupac lyrically expressed images of the ghetto lifestyle with metaphoric analogy and intense word structure to resurrect the ideals of the progressive Black movement, especially of the Black Arts Movement. In the (1991) Tupac release of "Words of Wisdom", from "2Pacalypse Now", Shakur explores the issues of poverty and forced genocide within the black community, addressing the need for cultural change and goal orientated progression. A message saturated in the ideals of the early 20th century Harlem Renaissance and the 1960’s Black Arts Movement and Civil Rights Movement.
"Killing us one by one
In one way or another
America will find a way to eliminate the problem
One by one
The problem is
The troubles in the black youth of the ghettos
And one by one
We are being wiped off the face of the earth
At an extremely alarming rate
And even more alarming is the fact
That we are not fighting back
Brothers, sisters, niggas
When I say niggas it is no the nigga we are grown to fear
It is not the nigga we say as if it has no meaning
But to me
It means never ignorant getting goals accomplished, nigga
Niggas what are we going to do
Walk blind into a line or fight
Fight and die if we must like niggas" (2Pac 1).
With his powerful "sermon" verse 2pac began his quest to express issues that needed to be spoken of, not wasting effort speaking of insignificant topics irrelevant to the black community.
"This is for the masses the lower classes
The ones you left out, jobs were givin’, better livin’
But we were kept out
Made to feel inferior, but we’re the superior
Break the chains in out brains that made us fear yah
Pledge a legiance to a flag that neglects us
Honour a man that who refuses to respect us
Emancipation, proclamation, please!
Nigga just said that to save the nation
These are lies that we all accepted
Say no to drugs but the governments’ keep it
Running through our community, killing the unity
The war on drugs is a war on you and me
And yet they say this is the home of the free
The constitution, yo, it don’t apply to me
Lady liberty still the bitch lied to me
Steady strong nobody’s gonna like what I pumpin’
But its wrong to keeping someone from learning something
So get up, its time to start nation building
I’m fed up, we gotta start teaching children
That they can be all that they wanna to be
There’s much more to life than just poverty" (2Pac 1).
Tupac Shakur continued his mission of cultural awareness with five more LP releases, reaching critical acclamation after his third LP release in (1993), "Me Against the World". During 2pac’s career in hip-hip, many critics attacked him for is outlandish inner city lifestyle and frequent problems with the law, labeling him as an imposter trying to gain attention through a commercial persona. Tupac however refuted these statements by explaining that his actions were real, just like the lyrics he wrote for a hip-hop culture rooted in originality, creativity and honesty. Claiming that his philosophy of "Social Realism" caused him to live the life, which was chosen for him and in turn the lifestyle he raps about. Tupac’s expressive fatalism came to an end when he was murdered on November 13th 1996. The murder was filled with controversy and mystery, considering all the key witnesses were found dead before being questioned; the case still goes unsolved today. Though a brutal demise, the murder seems fitting to his hip-hop urban lifestyle by being murdered in a martyred fashion, with a drive-by shooting. (Scott 78)
Hip-hop music appears to contain many ideals and beliefs of the previous Black Arts Movements within this century. It’s roots span back to the (1920) first black music tradition recording of Mamie Smith’s, "Crazy Blues"(Potter 1), to the (1955) poetry recording of Langston Hughes, "the Voice," containing thirteen spoken poems bridging the gap between hip-hop, oral tradition and cultural art. (Toure 1) However, hip-hop’s poetic legitimacy seems to be attacked with brutal merciless due to the music’s violent nature and accusations of forced rhyme. Yet, what is poetry? Many would admit that poetry is a difficult art to measure. William Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, recollected in tranquility" (Reuben 1). Would this description not fit the uniform of thought within hip-hop lyrics? It seems that hip-hop lyrics are a verbal expression of powerful feelings linked from cultural observation recollected in the tranquility of rhymed verse or oral tradition. An expression fitting to the Black art aesthetics identified during the 1920’s with the Harlem Renaissance, as described by Amiri Baraka, formerly LeRoi Jones, in the following verse:
"Harlem is vicious
Modernism. BangClash.
Vicious the way it’s made,
Can you stand such beauty.
So violent and transforming." (Reuben 1)
Poets and artists that contributed to the "New Negro" movement of the Harlem Renaissance, such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes and Claude Mckay wrote and expressed the apparent existence of the dual reality in African-Americans. "One ever feels his two-ness an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder" (Reuben 2). This discovered philosophy led to the progressive identity movement within the black community, even after the Great Depression and the end of the Harlem Renaissance in 1930. This progressive realization of identity spread into the 1960’s, when such individuals as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X worked towards the Civil Rights Movement, furthering the development of the African-American culture accompanied with the Black Arts Movement. Black culture therefore, with the lack of poetic outlets created its own avenue of expression to vent frustrations. The genre of hip-hop proved to satisfy these frustrations with its oral presentation filled with energy and intensity, while reflecting on a cultural identity containing forced economic urban settings in which many African-Americans reside and unnaturally die. Hip-hop is urban poetry, offering the "common man" a voice in an art form that is often kept distant from those other then those of academia. An art form that the urban hip-hop culture finds more traditional and effective, then that of a literary canon, which offers no minority diversification to aid in cultural identity. Therefore hip-hop is a progressive continuum of a developing Black cultural identity stemming from early American Literature writers such as Fredrick Douglas, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Ann Jacobs. The story settings have changed and more personal freedoms have been identified, but the message has remained traditional, which deserves attention and consideration for future canon inclusion.
Works Cited
Gladney, Marvin J. "The black arts movement and hip-hop." African American Review.
29.2 (1995): 291-302.
Potter, Russell A. "A Working Hip-Hop Chronology." Professa Rap’s Working Hip-
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HFh/hiphop/rap_history.html>.
Reuben, Paul P. "PAL: Appendix F: Elements of Poetry." PAL: Perspectives in
American Literature-A Research and Reference Guide. 25 March 1999.
<http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/append/axf.html>.
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance-An Introduction." PAL: Perspectives
in American Literature-A Research and Reference Guide. 25 March 1999.
<http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/9intro.html>.
Salaam, Mtume ya. "The aesthetics of rap." African American Review. 29.2 (1995):
303-316.
Shakur, Tupac. "Words of Wisdom." OHHLA.com. 25 Apr. 1999.
<http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/2pac/2pclypse/wisdom.2pc.txt>.
Toure. "Rap-up." Rolling Stone. Apr. 1995: 78.