Rap Is: An investigation of the artform (Part I)

(This is also posted on the Diversophile page found in the links I've provided )

"Rap is not poetry; Rap is not music; Rap is not just noise" As members of marginalized nations individuals will commonly define themselves deductively in order to separate themselves from the stereotypical definitions of that nation. For example Black men when asked how they define themselves might say things like: "I am not stupid; I am not ignorant; I am not a Menace II Society" Since Rap naturally plays the role of the griot of marginalized people it is also commonly defined in a deductive manner.

Although deductively defining statements separate Rap from negative stereotypes they don't bring Rap any closer to being recognized as a valuable art form in academia. For Rap to have value in academia there must be a technical measure of value and analysis of technique. That technical measure should involve literary evaluation as well as rhetorical evaluation and an evaluation of the purpose and values present in the context of the work. Without value or technique an art form is worthless in an academic context because the art form has to be judged and critiqued otherwise all Rap would be considered equal. And academia will market the Rap that is most profitable (Rap that promotes consumption) because all Rap is the same in terms of quality and value anyway and this Rap makes more money for them.

Before moving into discussion about how Rap has value as an art form in the academic universe, it is important to understand why Rap should be concerned with academic value in the first place. Academia is the institution that manages the progress of our society as a whole especially in the United States of America where we have this immaculate system that establishes a perfect balance: There are a few really smart people in the US. Those smart people make sure only the people that they like and the people related to them get to have the same opportunities that they have. Opportunities like operating, and managing the operation of businesses, owning land and property, etc. The real important thing about those smart people as it pertains to Rap (and everything else for that matter) is that they have control over money. Having control over money means having control over sponsorship, and having control over sponsorship means having control over product and consumption. That means they control who buys and who sells, what they buy and sell, and even when, where, how, and why they buy and sell what they buy and sell. Basically, academia indirectly assists with the development of an individual's values.

If the academics are unable to see the value in Rap then they will not be able to market valuable Rap; they will only be able to market the Rap that caters to the values that already exist in another culture—i.e. popular culture, or Hollywood. Also, without academic value Rap runs into problems like those discussed by Kim Scott and Jeanita Richardson who say "…a lack of critical evaluation of the roots of rap music allows mainstream White culture to avoid challenging the culture of violence it engenders". There is no reason to question the validity of stereotypes of an art form without value. If Rap that is created to serve its original purpose is to be marketed academia has to learn to recognize and analyze the value systems of Rap in its purest/original form (in hip-hop). Pure Rap is a poetic art form that has a value system antithetical to Hollywood, and popular culture value systems. While Hollywood promotes conformity and consumption Rap promotes individuality and independence.

While Hollywood promotes the acceptance and perpetuation of stereotypes Rap promotes curiosity and investigation. Rap is exportable. Like many other forms of poetry Rap can be used by any marginalized nation to artistically express opposition to the imperial nation. But, there has to be recognition of the fact that without the existence of the imperial nation the culture of that marginalized nation would be very different. Christopher Holmes Smith, in an attempt to explain the ethos of Rap says, "Indeed prototypical rap utopian fantasies blend ethereal instrumentation with wistful lyrics that offer alternating visions of ghetto upward mobility, intoxication devoid of either physical side effect or legal penalty, unlimited access to sexual pleasure, anti-apocalyptic perseverance and the end of white world supremacy".

This explanation is pretty good until it veers off into drug culture which is a less saturated subculture of Rap rather than a part of the ethos of Rap itself. Rap exists to show the uniqueness, the strength, and the beauty of those who are voiceless in the realm of world relations. Rap is very important, as it is an art form that in its purest form cannot be altered by imperial nations. In this aspect Rap is very much like blues except Rap is much more aggressive, and less willing to succumb to the lack of artists staying true to the value systems of its purest form in hip-hop. The smart people realize that in blues and Rap marginalized nations have a voice. This is dangerous for the smart people because the people in the objective world might learn some things that the smart people don't want them to know. The smart people find individuals who don't know much about being marginalized or the marginalized culture and they give those people money to rap using the value systems of Hollywood. Then Rap itself is blamed for the result.

It is important that Rap in hip-hop exist also because, it is not just a tool used to vent frustrations about circumstances but it also creates important discussions as well as hope for young people who face oppression. Rap acts not only as an art form but also as a resource. Many individuals who can put words together well see Rap as a means of escaping the system of oppression that they see present in lower, middle, and working class societies because higher class societies are separated from the real world in the minds of the marginalized people. Christopher Holmes Smith in discussing the hip-hop mogul says "The hip-hop mogul is an icon […] of mainstream power and consequently occupies a position of inclusion within many of the nation's elite social networks and cosmopolitan cultural formations". The objectively glorified cosmopolitan culture introduced in his article from a subjective perspective will probably be seen for its banality. But that separated society (for the marginalized people) seems like a place where perhaps marginalization and oppression don't exist. Those people fail to recognize the fact that that high class society is where the smart people dwell, those very people who set in motion the systems of oppression and marginalization in which they live. Of course oppression exists there.

Probably there even more so than in lower class society where there isn't much difference between the oppressions faced by the poor and the oppressions faced by the minority people who are usually considered to be the ones marginalized by the imperial nation. Because neither one of them have much in common with the high-class smart people. There are other people who use Rap as a resource for education to teach and learn about their surroundings, to teach and learn about the smart people in order to find ways of getting what they want from the smart people without the smart people knowing. That, being able to pull the wool over the eyes of the people who have thoroughly designed this society to keep you from learning how to do just that gives the marginalized people the power over the imperial breaking them out of the system. Using the resources you have for education rather than money or a way out of your marginalized community is the way to escape the system of oppression.

Artists like Black Star with Mos Def and Talib Kweli and Nas are good when it comes to using Rap for education. Black Star for tracks like "RE: Definition" where they use metaphors that make you think of the issues going on the world, or things that happened in history so its like a social studies and/or history lesson in Rap form:

so I run through em like, flood water through sandbags Competition is mad, what I got, they can't have Sinkin they ship, like Moby Dick, did Ahab Son I'm way past the minimum, it's a verb millenium My rap's the holy gas in your bag, like Palestinians. (Mos Def) In these few lines Mos makes references to Katrina, Moby Dick, and Israeli/ US/ Palestinian conflict. This is an example of how Rap is meant to be a resource for information.

And Nas with tracks like "I Can" where he speaks to the youth of the hood giving them hope is being a resource teaching them about the importance of hard work, this is an example of using Rap with positive values the true values of hip-hop: Be, B-Boys and girls, listen up You can be anything in the world, in God we trust An architect, doctor, maybe an actress But nothing comes easy it takes much practice. (Nas) It is the perpetuation of those positive values that makes Rap such an essential thing. That's not to say that the social institutions of family, or religion etc., are not important it is just to say that Rap is something that is important as it has the potential to be a very positive resource.