gosa_2009_hip-hop-politics_review.pdf

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Journal of Popular Music Studies, Volume 21, Issue 2, Pages 240246

REVIEW ESSAY

Hip-Hop Politics, Activism, and the Future of Hip-Hop

Asante, Molefi K.Its Bigger Than Hip-Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop

Generation. New York: St. Martins Press, 2008.

McWhorter, John H. All About the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Cant Save Black

America. New York: Gotham Books, 2008.

Rose, Tricia.The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About

Hip Hopand Why It Matters. New York: BasicCivitas, 2008.

Travis Gosa

Williams College

Hip-hop is dead is the eulogy-du-jour, as gangster rap and dumb-downed

lyrics increasingly define mainstream hip-hop. Bereavement services may be

in order, as the so-called hip-hop revolution too often features young black

boys posturing as wealthy thugs, celebrating black pathology, and pandering

expensive consumer goodsall over an infectious beat. The hip-hop is

dead discourse is predicated on the belief that hip-hop was destined to

become the paradigm of youth resistance and social change in the post-Civil

Rights era. As Chuck Ds CNN of Black Folk, hip-hop was supposed to

illuminate the strife of inner-city poverty. Pounding beats and fierce lyrics

were going to unite the global poor as one Planet Rock. However, in the

last three decades, hip-hops political ambitions have not materialized.

Three recent books attempt to address the failures and promise of hip-

hop politics: Molefi AsantesIts Bigger Than Hip-Hop, John McWhorters

All About the Beat, and Tricia Roses The Hip Hop Wars. These worksexplore the most crucial issues underlying the public debates surrounding

hip-hop: Why has hip-hop remained apolitical? Who controls hip-hop? Can

hip-hop be revitalized or is a new cultural movement afoot? The answers

provided by Asante, McWhorter, and Rose probe deep into the heart of

hip-hop and challenge the way fans and academics engage and (re)imagine

the music.

In his newest book,Its Bigger Than Hip-Hop: The Rise of the Post-

Hip-Hop Generation, professor and poet M. K. Asante addresses the current

crisis in hip-hop. The revolutionary energy of early hip-hop, according toAsante, has been replaced by consumerism and represents the concerns of

C Copyright the Author. Journal Compilation C 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


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corporations. As one disenchanted teenager informs the author, hip-hop

dont speakto orforme (9).

Its Bigger Than Hip-Hopdoesnt dwell on the problems of hip-hop.Rather, Asante attempts to identify the genesis of a new youth movement.

Conceptualized as the post-hip-hop generation, he argues that youth born

in the 1990s are looking beyond hip-hop to create an alternative identity

that rejects consumerism, violence, and sex as the benchmarks of black

authenticity. Asante predicts that the post-hip-hop generation will embrace

social justice issues including womens rights, gay rights, and the anti-war

movement.

Asante develops this thesis in more than a dozen short chapters.

Chapters 2 and 3 argue that hip-hop promotes a real ghetto authentic-ity that embraces poverty, ignorance, and violence as keeping it real.

To challenge these stereotypes, Asante speaks to the personification of

the African-American ghetto. In this imaginative mock-interview, the real

hood recounts the linguistic and racial history of the ghetto, and the need

to stop glorifying black suffering.

Chapter 4 is the strongest analytical chapter of the book, as Asante

uses his daily conversations with college students to construct a political

agenda for the post-hip-hop generation. Quality education, police brutality,

joblessness, black-on-black violence, mass incarceration, HIV-AIDS, mental

health, international human rights, and the environment are the biggest issues

facing this generation. It should be noted that Bakari Kitwana articulates a

similar platform in his bookThe Hip-Hop Generation. However, the post-

hip-hop generation no longer expects hip-hop to mobilize disenfranchised

youth. As Asante asserts, The post-hip-hop generation shouldnt wait for

mainstream musicians to say what needs to be said. . .No movement is about

beats and rhymes . . . . it must be bigger than hip-hop (71).

The limitations and shortcomings of hip-hop political conventionsand organizations is a strong theme throughout the hip-hop studies literature.

For example, Yvonne Bynoes Stand and Deliver, Imani Perrys Prophets

of the Hood, and S. Craig Watkinss Hip-Hop Matters offer scathing as-

sessments of hip-hop activism (raptivism). Asante is even less optimistic.

Because hip-hop is controlled by corporations, Asante says hip-hop will

neverbe the locus of political change.

Chapters 5 and 6 document how hip-hops black power ideology was

abandoned in favor of lucrative corporate partnerships. Asante argues that

old white men have dictated hip-hop, and by extension the actions ofblack youth, since 1991. He likens this process to neo-colonialism, as the


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four major music labels extract black expression, then force black youth to

buy back their own goods. In the process, any resemblance of protest is lost:

Allowing white executives, not from the hip-hop culture, to control anddictate the culture is tragic because the music, and ultimately the culture,

as we can see today, has not only lost its edge, but its sense of rebellion

and black improvementthe very principles upon which it was founded

(115).

The remaining chapters provide recommendations for moving be-

yond hip-hop. Asante calls for the rise of artivism, a new social movement

that uses art to improve communitypolice relations (Chapter 8), failing

schools (Chapter 10), and the criminal justice system (Chapters 7 and 12).

To tackle these problems, Asante encourages the post-hip-hop generationto unite with Latino/Immigrant Rights (Chapter 9) and Black Civil Rights

leadership (Chapter 13).

Its Bigger Than Hip-Hopis a passionate and inspiring book. In spite

of the power and passion of Asantes prose, however, I am not persuaded by

his account of a post-hip-hop generation. Asante provides little theoretical

insight into the major causes of this hip-hop/post-hip-hop generation divide.

Missing, for instance, is a coherent explanation of why millennials (those

born in the 1990s) might possess a different worldview than youth born

19651984 (the hip-hop generation). Indeed, Asantes use of post-hip-

hop to describe college-aged youth remains vague throughout the book. His

interviewees are critical of mainstream hip-hop, but absent is any evidence

that hip-hopthe music, or the culturehas become less influential in their

lives. Asantes argument could benefit from data showing declining rap

music sales or evidence that college-aged youth are more politically active

than the previous generation. Without this supporting evidence, Asantes

message comes across as overly optimistic.

There is also something odd about his vision of artivism. Asantechampions conscious or political emcees such as Immortal Technique,

The Coup, and Dead Prez as artivists. Aesthetically, these are talented acts,

but seem ill-equipped to lead the post-hip-hop revolution due to their inabil-

ity to connect with large audiences, especially black audiences. By Asantes

own admission, his students at a historically black university arent familiar

with Talib Kweli, The Roots, and other political artists (6). Unfortunately,

conscious rap and spoken word poetry seem to only prosper in collegetown

coffee houses. If Asante wants the post-hip-hop generations soundtrack to

be filled with this sound, it will necessitate moving these artists from theunderground to the mainstream.


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Review Essay 243

All About the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Cant Save Black America, written

by New York Times bestselling author John McWhorter, also provides a

dismal appraisal of hip-hop politics and activism. Like Asante, McWhorterargues that hip-hop has failed to become the paradigm of youth resistance.

His overall message is that we must move on with our lives: the hip-hop

revolution is not coming.

McWhorter arrives at this conclusion by questioning the assump-

tion that hip-hop has been anything more than music. As McWhorter

reasons: Hip-hop presents nothing useful to forging political change

in the real world. Its all about attitude and just that. Its just music.

Good music, but just music (12). This is a simple yet subversive the-

sis given the axiom that hip-hop comprises the primary political andemotional economy of black life. McWhorter asserts that hip-hop has

never, in the last three decades, comprised a coherent culture, gen-

eration, or political discourse for black America. Hip-hop activism

is an oxymoron, according to McWhorter, because hip-hop is inherently

apolitical.

In the cathedral of hip-hop studies, these are blasphemous statements.

Many hip-hop academics and aficionados will call for McWhorters book to

be burned at the altar of dope beats and rhymes. Judging from his previous

books, McWhorter, a conservative social critic and cultural linguist, enjoys

playing the intellectual trouble-maker. All About the Beat is no exception.

In his pithy signature writing style, which is at times mocking and overly

self-righteous, McWhorter lampoons hip-hop scholars for imagining hip-

hop as a political space. Hip-hop scholars including Tricia Rose, Bakari

Kitwana, Michael Eric Dyson, Cheryl Keyes, and Robin Kelley appear in

McWhorters crosshairs.

Chapter 1 demonstrates the lack of sustained political discourse in

rap music. In his brief review of popular and well-known albums, he fails tolocate any serious discussion of black joblessness, teenage pregnancy, or po-

lice brutality. Instead of calls for community activism, McWhorter finds

that hip-hop artists focus on attitude and theatrics: an upturned middle

finger for the sake of atmosphere (18). McWhorter offers his best gotcha

moment in Chapter 2, when he investigates the lyrics of conscious or un-

derground emcees such as Common, Mos Def, and KRS-One. McWhorter

finds that these critically respected (but commercially neglected) artists offer

only conspiracy theories (Whites invented HIV/AIDS to destroy Blacks),

conservative messages (Be a good father), and headlines available on anynews channel.


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Chapters 3 and 4 examine the use of hip-hop celebrities to in-

crease voter turn-out and the political participation of black youth. Here,

McWhorter makes the case that hip-hop is no replacement for grassrootsorganization and political agitation. Political change in Black America,

according to McWhorter, will not be about celebrities, phat beats, big news,

and drama (97).

All About the Beatconcludes with the observation that hip-hop beats

can be so powerful that listeners and academics ignore what is being said

(the substance) and instead focus on how it is being said (the style).

Readers will reach a similar conclusion about McWhorters book: the text

is articulate and witty but All About the Beatprovides little substance. His

analysis of rap lyrics and hip-hop political organizations is incomplete, andhe fails to seriously engage the existing literature on hip-hop politics. The

underlying arguments made by McWhorter deserve attention, but the tone

of the book is so snarky that I suspect that McWhorter will be written off as

a hater.

InThe Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip

Hopand Why It Matters, hip-hop studies veteran Tricia Rose surveys the

public battle over the politics of hip-hop. Rose observes that positive images

have been replaced by the apolitical and stereotypical trinity of black

gangstas, pimps, and hoes (4). Instead of giving up on hip-hop, as Asante

and McWhorter suggest, Rose still sees the potential of hip-hop to empower

disadvantaged youth.

Foremost, Hip Hop Wars can be read as a defense of the hip-hop

studies paradigm, which Rose helped to create. The poetry and Afrocen-

tric political critique offered in the first two decades of American hip-hop

justified the claim that hip-hop is more than black noise. Today, the in-

coherent rants of self-proclaimed killers are undermining the assertion that

rap deserves a place in political science, philosophy, or ethnomusicologycurricula.

Despite this dumbing down of hip-hop, Rose observes that it is

still relevant because hip-hop is used in public debates to discuss black

culture, social class, and racism. More, a majority of black youth continue

to manufacture their worldviews from the narrow identities available in the

music. Hip-hop is political, according to Rose, because rap music is used as

evidence that black youth culture and behavior is dysfunctional.

Hip Hop Warscan also be read as an attack on the public discourse

surrounding the crisis in hip-hop. Rose argues that the dumbing down ofrap lyrics has been accompanied by the dumbing down of how academics,


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Review Essay 245

media pundits, and consumers discuss hip-hop. The war over hip-hop is

taking place between hip hop critics, those who see hip-hop as the decline

of western civilization, and hip hop defenders, those who excuse sexismand hedonism as unadulterated black authenticity. Instead of choosing sides

in the war, Rose shows how both positions undermine attempts to make

hip-hop a positive force.

There are three major parts to the book. First, Rose offers a com-

prehensive framework for understanding the decline of political content and

progressive voices in hip-hop music. Like Asante, Rose chronicles how mass

media consolidation and corporate control of hip-hop has altered the direc-

tion of hip-hop since the mid 1990s. In addition to corporate control, Rose

recounts how sales-tracking technology (Soundscan) uncovered an invis-ible demographic of white teenagers willing to pay top dollar for racial

stereotypes. Any critique of hip-hop, according to Rose, should begin with

acknowledging that hip-hops violence and misogyny is a profitable cultural

product.

The bulk ofHip Hop Wars consists of a top ten list of problem-

atic arguments used by hip-hop critics and defenders. On the critics side,

Rose probes the five arguments that hip-hop causes violence, reflects dys-

functional ghetto culture, hurts black people, destroys American values, and

demeans women. Conversely, Rose tackles five claims made by hip-hop

defenders: that hip-hop is just keeping it real, is not responsible for sex-

ism, there are bitches and hoes (in real life), hip-hop artists are not role

models, and nobody talks about the positive in hip hop. Rose acknowl-

edges the truth in these arguments while systematically demonstrating why

they are overly simplistic. Importantly, she demonstrates how these polar-

ized discourses have much in common. Hip-hop critics and defenders tend

to disregard the creative and aesthetic value of the music and overlook the

role of the record industry. Neither side in the hip-hop war seems reallyinterested in dismantling sexism or homophobia in the wider society.

Hip Hop Warsconcludes with plea to stop the arguing, and to begin

charting a new direction in hip-hop. Rose provides an annotated biography

of progressive hip-hop artists and organizations that embrace youth cre-

ativity. Taking hip-hop in a new direction will begin, according to Rose, with

hip-hop fans demanding more from themselves and the music they love.

There is little doubt that Hip Hop Wars represents the most serious

consideration of hip-hop politics and the future of hip-hop to date. Rose of-

fers a nuanced and inconvenient diagnosis that probes the social, economic,and spiritual crisis not just in hip-hop, but in American society. The only


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real shortcoming of the book may be the lack of attention given to pro-

gressive hip-hop organizations and artists. The decision to provide only

one paragraph treatments of organizations such as Hip Hop 4 Humanityor Youth Speaks is disappointing, and weakens the overall message that

hip-hop inspired activism is alive and well. Still Hip Hop Wars makes it

clear that hip-hop is more than just the beat. Similarly, a post-hip-hop

world has yet to be realized, because, as Rose demonstrates, there is still a

war going on over the meaning, promise, and future of hip-hop.

Works Cited

Bynoe, Yvonne.Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership, and Hip Hop

Culture. Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press, 2004.

Kitwana, Bakari.The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African

American Culture. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002.

Perry, Imani. Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop . Durham,

NC: Duke UP, 2004.

Watkins, S. Craig. Hip-Hop Matters: Politics, Popular Culture, and the Struggle

for the Soul of a Movement. Boston: Beacon Enfield, 2005.

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