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Expressing the Inexpressible: Rap music column

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by
andave_ya
, 11-28-2007 at 12:12 PM (1520 Views)
To my surprise, my library skills class at Chabot College had more than just books to it. It was about learning library skills through researching themes in rap and hip hop music. I was shocked and a bit disappointed; for me the library means Tolkien, Byron, Yeats and other classics. Rap was not anywhere in the picture.
At the first class, we watched the documentary Beyond Beats and Rhymes by African-American filmmaker Byron Hurt. Analyzing rap videos, the filmmaker realized that they showed basically the same thing: barely dressed women dancing for men who threw money at the camera. Violence, sex, drugs, and bad language were rampant. Curious, Hurt went around for more than a year asking hip hop and rap artists, scholars, ministers, producers why those themes were so big in their music.
Guess why?
Mainly to show masculinity. Being “Cool” is supremely important to our culture, especially for African-American males. Hurt says that African-American men have to “earn” their masculinity; that they are not given the privileges that white men have from birth.
My question is this: if the Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal and that they are endowed, by their creator, with certain unalienable rights, then why after two hundred and thirty-one years have we gone from freedom to acceptance to doubting masculinity?! This is the 21st century. Masculinity should not be an issue!
Rappers wearing drooping pants, chains, pillowy jackets and slurring profanities do not make them masculine. Is it any wonder that people shy away from them?
Rap historians’ explanation for the clothes is that one’s body is the only thing one has sole access to, so rappers dress in drooping pants, chains, t-shirts, and pillowy jackets to maintain their image.
There are scores of individuals who are far and away more dignified and intelligent than, say, Akon singing “Smack that till you’re sore.” The sad thing is that that’s what people pay for. One man Hurt interviewed at a rap fling said that people aren't interested when rappers try to "talk righteous." People are paying to hear them sing sexist, masochistic music riddled with bad language, so rappers don't bother singing anything else.
But big rappers aren't exactly trying to push images of cleanliness anywhere. Rapper Jadakiss was either drunk or high on drugs while interviewed by Hurt -- he slurred his words preposterously and wobbled in a manner worthy of Jack Sparrow himself. Not to mention, the majority of my rap lyric searches on the internet turned out to be songs with four letter words in them.
As I researched rap lyrics further, a lot of my ideas about it changed. Kanye West may sing about “Drunk and Hot Girls” but other rappers like Common, Talib Kweli, and Kwame actually sing about real issues ranging from surviving the week to the thrill of making music for the world to enjoy. As Aldous Huxley said, “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”
Although I dropped the class because I had a problem in dealing with the lyrics, the class was an eye opener for me. Rap is a powerful tool that the world will listen to. So, use it! Creating music is an undeniable talent, but please leave out the crudity, violence, and self-degradation. Clothes and language do not make a man – it’s the heart, intellect, and spirit that do.

Publishing date upcoming Monday. I'm really tired of this topic. Believe it or not my Mom(professional term: editor) had to tone it down a bit--we live in an area that has gangs.

Also did you know that newspapers are written at fifth-grade level? I had to remove all my big words and my English-isms. AND tone down my high and lofty and bookish ideals for the real world. Not cool.

No, not cool most emphatically.

EDIT: what a difference from my last entry!
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  1. Countess's Avatar
    I don't understand rap; it seems to be a cultural phenomenon based around racism (Afro-Americans separating themselves from others and then destroying themselves from within). Do you know people from that culture call Colin Powell and Condeleesa Rice "sell-outs" and "Uncle Toms"? Rappers/followers are slaves to their own self-identification as street-people -terribly nihilistic and depressing. And the irony of the whole charade is on the outside they are fronting - materialistic, decadent, hedonistic - but inside there is so much despair and self-hatred. But no one will ever know even a single soul's pain because showing pain is a feminine trait. So, rather than losing face they die completely alone.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    Will you post your article here, or have you? No, I"m not surprised newspapers are written for 5th graders. The average American reads at an 8th grade level. This is why our literature sucks beyond words - because America worships math/science and technology, so verbally we're retarded. This is why I'm in the top 3% WW in the verbal area on the GRE (found that out yesterday); in other words, I'm some ****ing genius. I use the "F" word selectively - because it seems the only word that fully expresses my rage on a topic. I repeat, I'm NO ****ing genius; it's just everyone else is stupid - willfully, gladly and delightfully stupid. They don't WANT to try to read Shakespeare or Byron or Wilde, and why should they, when greedy corporate morons readily provide them with 5th grade daily reading materials and 2-8th grade Nickolas Sparks books? The publishers probably couldn't read Jules, and THAT IS WHY they returned Jules to me. "Dumb it down," they'll say. Well, NO, educate yourself, moron; you're in the freaking publishing business.
    Okay, I'm sorry to rant here. You gave me an opening Andave to vent. (--:
    PS: NEVER COMPROMISE YOUR INTEGRITY with your WORK to please anyone. Force them to learn.
  2. kiz_paws's Avatar
    Wow. I complete hear you, Andya. And it is a shame that newspapers are written at a grade 5 level in this day and age. What does that say about the state of affairs?
  3. Virgil's Avatar
    Andy, there are many issues that make rap what it is. Masculinity is just one. Insecurity, the need to express gritty realism, youthful rebellion, cultural identity, and even more than I can think of. You recieved a very simplified explanation. Now everything I just cited (masculinity, insecurity, realism, rebellion, identity) are among the universal themes that all cultures and artist take on. Good Lord, I think every one I just cited takes place in Homer's Illiad, and even in the Old Testament, the very earliest of literature. Rap is either good or bad art, but its themes are standard. Let's take what you criticized, masculinity. Well, I can't think of a Hemingway or Faulkner work where that's not a theme. All male writers at some point take on the theme of what does it mean to be a man. You may disagree with the writer (macho) as in Hemingway or agree (sensitive) as in F. Scott Fitzgerald. By the way I'm curious as to how women writers handle the feminity question. Is it through their sexuality (and can be expressed as the desire to marry as in Jane Austin) or is it more complex?
  4. mtpspur's Avatar
    My head is spinning. Just got done towing a lady who was in her pajamas directing traffic around her stalled car. On the ticket I officially noted she was in a state of disarray. Legal niceties just in case.

    Never gave RAP serious consideration though son Dan was attracted to it for a bit.

    A shame to have to dumb down the product. On the hand you write to one suit yourself, then to suit the target audience and a good editor keps his/her writers on track. You can have a free hand if you're a olumnist but I would despise you if your ever started to sound like Ellen Goodman. Read three columns by her and you'll see what I mean. Not sure she has cracked a smile in decades. But I always seem to be fascinated by the 'grumpy' writers anyway even if they don't feed the soul. More shame to me.
  5. andave_ya's Avatar
    COUNTESS: Yup, that's the entire of my article. America does indeed worship math/science/technology; maybe it's the sole remnant of Old World character left here. Lots of Arabic immigrants try to console my Mom on having a daughter (me) insistent on a literary career. For them there is no money whatsoever in Literature, and therefore no value at all, and I know that that's the case in many Middle Eastern cultures. Thankfully my parents are ok with it but in spite of that it goes against every single thing they were ever taught. So they always want me to do better in mathematics than in English. Congrats on the GRE top 3%. There's a verse in the Bible about people being wilfully stupid -- something like they'll know what they want to know. I've learned to accept America's unbookishness. You just do, when you're a sixteen year old idealist. About the changing of the article, it was either that or be labeled a racist. THAT would have ruined the whole intent of the article. Like I said, we live not far away from areas taken over by gangs so Mom said err on the side of caution. KIZ: Thanks! I appreciate it. VIRGIL: Many of those issues were indeed in the documentary we saw. Basically the reason for picking on hyper-masculinity was because a) I have a limit of 625 words and b)it struck me as the most ridiculous. One is either a man or he isn't. Cursing, drink and drugs have nothing to do with it. My Dad is a man; he doesn't do so much as smoke a cigarette. Yet nobody doubts he's a man and everyone treats him with respect. RICH: Never heard of Ellen Goodman. Though in any case, I'll refer my columns to you for a humor addition. I'm horrendously unfunny. Even my Jack Sparrow bit almost got cut out. .
  6. Virgil's Avatar
    VIRGIL: Many of those issues were indeed in the documentary we saw. Basically the reason for picking on hyper-masculinity was because a) I have a limit of 625 words and b)it struck me as the most ridiculous. One is either a man or he isn't. Cursing, drink and drugs have nothing to do with it. My Dad is a man; he doesn't do so much as smoke a cigarette. Yet nobody doubts he's a man and everyone treats him with respect. RICH: Never heard of Ellen Goodman. Though in any case, I'll refer my columns to you for a humor addition. I'm horrendously unfunny. Even my Jack Sparrow bit almost got cut out. .
    I never said I agreed with it. These are the their points of view. I said you may disagree with their point of view. Oh and I didn't realize your blog was an essay you presented. I think you did well and made good observations.