Universal Magnetic

By zach | August 12, 2006

No American music genre is more regionalized than Hip-Hop. A direct connection exists between one’s experience in a geographic location and the sound, lyricism and substance of Hip-Hop music. Differing life experiences means varying levels of emphasized values in areas ranging from spirituality and politics to things as simple as the aesthetics of your neighborhood or the slang you use. It is these differences that lead to differing manifestations of music as well as difficulty relating to people from other regions and their forms of music. Much like the West Coast’s rise in the early nineties the presence of the South has led to a sentiment of resentment and agitation which lingers in the tone of the East Coast’s voice. Like the connection between music and location it seems that this resentment stems from the deeper matter of northern intellectual elitism, which is inflexible in its position of superiority.

Although Southern Hip-Hop is essentially accepted as the dominant sound in rap right now, this acceptance comes with an undertone of belief that East Coast Hip-Hop remains superior. The two regions have completely differing emphasis: Northern flow (lyricism, storytelling, metaphors) versus Southern bounce (lyrics as extension of the beat). These differences exist under the umbrella of the same historical foundation of hip-Hop, coming out of New York city. The North has defined the terms by which an emcee is nice. Hip-Hop was born in New York and the Rakim’s and Big Daddy Kane’s created the founding principles of what a dominate emcee is. But we must be careful with these characterizations, the creation of a universal standard which is based on Northern principles forms a hierarchy that is regionally skewed.

There’s something about Hip-Hop’s essence that reaches every corner of the country, but there are things about the American experience which are far from being universal. Emcee’s being touted as the most poignant and talented in the North may fall on deaf ears in the South. In the North, Southern Hip-Hop is treated almost exclusively as entertainment rather than having deeper content. This assertion is rooted in an intellectualized superiority complex held by the North. The historically based distinction has been formed by a snowballing of differing social and structural takes on huge issues like the Civil War, Civil Rights and the overall progression of academia leading to polarized experiences and conditioning. The more ideologically divided the regions have become, the more the levels of acceptance have declined.

There are two threads of traditional American prejudice that seem important here. One is the Northern prejudice against the South as a region. The other is American prejudice against Hip-Hop as a simplistic one-dimensional musical form. While Hip-Hop clearly rejects the general stigmatizing of its culture, spheres within the Hip-Hop community continue to have some level of regional prejudice which seems eerily similar to the dismissive and elitists labels America has placed on Hip-Hop as a whole. It is ironic and disturbing that a music community that experiences so many types of prejudice can itself still exhibit such a dismissive attitude. Honesty and artistry endure and become increasingly clear with the passage of time. Our standards of greatness shift with the movements of our greatest inspirations. Time will expose that region has little to do with talent as passing fads fade into lost singles on mix tapes while great voices become the attributes of the universal standard we seem so desperate to form.

Editor’s note: Eddie Locke, Haldan’s first drum teacher, is pictured in the 1958 Harlem Jazz portrait, above. He is standing third from the left, next to Hank Jones, and Horace Silver.

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Hottest Chick in the Game Wearing My Chain

By zach | July 29, 2006

Recently a collection of irate Beyonce fans signed a petition demanding that she re-shoot her video for “Déjà Vu”. Among the reasons for the demand was that issue was taken with the gender roles and uninterested vibe of Jay towards B in the video. At first I was dismissive based on my bias to trust in Jay’s tendency for integrity. I saw the petition as needless and the outrage as unfounded; this seemed the type of issue that leads the public to label feminists as whiners. We have seen videos in which two respected artists candidly talk about sex a million times before, as well as countless videos that depict much more objectifying and vulgar gender roles than this track. However, something is different in this case. In the conventional chauvinist scene from a video, women are placed anonymously on the same level as objects and in such a typical scene there is rarely a hint or message that any woman is actually emotionally involved with the male performer. Typically the audience does not relate to off screen relationships between female and male performers in videos. This is not the case with “Déjà Vu”. The audience watches this collaboration with the personal relationship of Hov and Beyonce in mind, recognizing them as not only two artists but also a couple. Timeless gender issues of female objectification in videos are further confused if the women in question is in a relationship with the objectifying man.

The dichotomy is that they (Jay and Beyonce) know that we watch them as something more than simply collaborating artists; they recognize and market their music with their personal relationship. The video is extra-ordinary because some may see the conventional video gender roles as particularly degrading. They reflect a personal relationship that should be based on much different values than those of anonymous and hyper-sexualized relationships.Perhaps it is the responsibility of the audience to find a distinction between the onscreen actions of Jay-Z and Beyonce and the personal interactions of Shawn Carter and Beyonce Knowles. But once the person and the entertainer have blended to the point these two have, a level of representation exists. Whether it is the result of bullshit social construction or tactical marketing – it exists. In the context of our celebrity obsessed culture people look to these two as a symbol of a genuine relationship. If their video relationship has become synonymous with that of an idealized romantic relationship, then perhaps their attitudes and gender roles should be questioned critically. Perhaps to do so, one must reflect on how they would portray to an audience their relationship with someone they loved through the art they make.

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Can I Live

By zach | July 20, 2006

Has conscious Hip-Hop become a category that is limiting in its criteria and message? Movements like Rawkus, Okayplayer and Def Jux brought politicized/ socially conscious Hip-Hop to a large audience and began a process of defining the characteristics of a conscious rapper. Although all of the above were dope and important, it seems that what followed was a polarization of such messages from the rest of the game, and consequently consciousness became a term synonymous with particular ideas. Genuine consciousness exists in an honest responsiveness to one’s environment or emotions. This genre seems to be measured by its number of blatant political or social messages. Conscious Hip-Hop has come to mean political Hip-Hop. Therefore the word “conscious” has been transformed into meaning (in this context) that if one is not political one is not conscious. In order to stay true to the meaning of consciousness and its role in Hip-Hop one cannot allow particular political or social views to narrow one’s judgment. Do we alter our level of respect as soon as we hear buzz words that express sentiments of masculinity, violence or drug involvement? These issues must be addressed and it is a matter of how they are addressed. In order to truly recognize the artistry and relevance of various potentially influential messages liberal idealism must lend its beliefs and aspirations to apply to the realism reflected in the voices of differing types of consciousness. Leaders emerge once the people are prepared to respond to their teachings. The level of openness in the environment of the listeners is pivotal to the agency of the leader’s voice to reach and impact the people. Consequently, the voice of the leader must be varied and uncensored.

There is a crucial difference between the promotion of certain ideals and creating a discourse on relevant issues through music. People reflect the conditions in which they live, which is apparent through attitude and action. Creating criteria for conscious emcee’s pigeonholes our ability to listen objectively and hear varying voices. Artists who explicitly address political or social issue are utilizing their position in an exceptional manner that can be admired (Kweli, Dead Prez, Common). However, such artists cannot represent the entire category that defines consciousness because of the uninclusive nature of such a category (do artists like the Clipse, Saigon or Raekwon get admittance into this category?). Biggie was one of most conscious rappers I have ever heard and he rarely focused his songs on politics or uprising; rather, his consciousness existed in the honesty of story telling and the graphic imagery of his descriptions. A medium is more genuinely effective when it speaks through vivid depictions that lead to personal self-reflection. Moral revolution cannot be waged by dictating what message is acceptable or necessary. We need artistry, honesty and the belief that music can be a tool and a rallying cry for both its listeners and its artists. This tool has varying uses and the need for solidarity comes not in the manner in which the tool is wielded, but rather with the intentions of the hand that holds it.

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Poems That Shoot Guns Part 2

By zach | July 14, 2006

The Diplomats blatantly market themselves as a broad influence and are obviously conscious of the affect of their messages. The materialistic and self-centered message may be aired through a charismatic bravado but it arrogantly unmasks a shallow and self destructive measurement of the meaning of success and happiness. These values may accurately represent all America, the medium of Hip-Hop narrows many people’s vision. Unfortunately the conditions of the country, its stigmatizing stereotypes of Black people, places rappers in a position of representing more than their individual selves. Is this unfair? Yeah, but that does not change the reality that Black music reflects Black culture to a whole lot of Americans. Hip-Hop is in the unique position of being representative of not only musical culture but also contributing highly to general perceptions of Black Americans. Once the severity of Hip-Hop’s service is recognized it is the duty of its participants to judge how they will serve others as well as themselves with a tool of such potential and power.
The problem is bigger than just one group. Dipset is simply a relevant instance that serves as a glaring example of the conflicting issues of influence, responsibility and selfishness for so many rappers. Emcee’s can not be faulted for being unfairly placed in positions of representation and leadership by social and structural inequalities of a country that promotes and rewards individual achievement while contrastingly oppressing people as groups. They may reject being a role model on the grounds that white celebrities promote themselves and disregard the affect they will have on others. However for crews like Dipset, who promote themselves as a leaders, it becomes appropriate to analyze what kind of role it is they model .You wanna tell me ‘fuck it, I am not a role model (Barkley’s purple on white!), I reject that responsibility ,it’s not my fault that society places me in this position’ say word, you have that right and that right applies to all people regardless of race or occupation. However, if you tell me that you are the vanguard of a movement then suddenly I’m going to be listening closer. I get my analytical gangster on and I am justifiably questioning the intention of the promoted movement. I dig the Dips music; the wordplay and swagger of the style is dope but they honestly recognize the influence they have and choose to exploit it. I’m not expecting or asking for some contrived born again politicized backpack nonsense but rather use that brash demeanor as a voice of substance and value.

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Poems That Shoot Guns

By zach | July 4, 2006

Part 1
By Zach Prottos

The phenomenon of almost cult like following of the Dipset through emulation of clothing, speech and attitude suggests that, just as they proclaim, we as listeners and consumers are buying something that is “more than music”. Perhaps it is our tendency to connect the term “movement” to spheres such as politics or economics that limits our comfort in associating the legitimacy of the gaudy Dips as representing the promotion of ideals outside of the music they make. However, it’s obvious that the influence of the Dips extends far outside just musical taste and ventures into the styles and attitudes which dictate the standard of the streets. Music is powerful and particularly when a influential musician recognizes and uses the extent of their power. Political or propaganda art at it’s highest level; is art created with the purpose of acting as a facet of a larger movement. Voices and images that serve as limbs of extension from the body of a greater ideology that would utilize the appeals and emotions that art touches in our senses. Artists in the time periods such as the Black power era or Revolutionary Cuba created works that truly were meant to employ artistic appeal to transcend the art world and enter into the political and social spheres with the intention of promoting a specific line of thinking and acting. Today the Diplomat movement extends itself in numerous areas all of which extend themselves from a central and common image and attitude. The image of Dipset bird on so many tee’s and hoodies, Pink/ Purple (what month is it?) furs, Santana’s Bandana (I saw instructions in Complex on how to fold my very own bandana just like the prince!) “No homo” after every questionably sexual comment and so on. Within the monotonous tone of contemporary hip-hop style, which seems to be little more than a collection of ambiguous manikins posing in corporate labels, the Diplomats have capitalized on the fact that true swagger comes from not simply selling your music but selling yourself. Although it may be out of my price range (holler at my student loans, weed habit and sneaker fetish) I could potentially purchase and pose in products, I must make a more subtle and serious adjustment if I am attempting to emulate something intangible such as an image. The question that this raises is what is the value of the promoted movement? And how can an influential artistic movement affect areas outside of its medium?

Coming Soon! Part 2… I’ll get at the very questions I raise at the end of part 1, examining the role of hip-hop as a cultural voice for millions within the context of a country that promotes individualism. Is Hip-Hop held to standards of responsibility that other art forms are free of?

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