HIP HOP: REINVENTING INDUSTRIAL RUINS IN THE BRONX
BY STUDENT
What do you think when you walk
down a city street and hear someone blasting a booming rap song? I think that one’s reaction reveals a lot
about their background. Growing up in
the suburbs with little exposure to this type of music, my reaction was always
one of discomfort at the loud, explicit content and anxiety over the artist’s
anger. Looking back, I realize that this
type of anxiety stems from a complete misunderstanding of hip hop culture and
its objectives for society. Originating in
the 1970s when urban renewal forced many African Americans to live in areas of
dying employment, hip hop is the project of a restless youth who yearned for a
brighter future yet were neglected and pushed into a life of gang violence and
crime. What does hip hop accomplish for
this marginalized, criminalized group?
What sort of space or territory did these rap artists reclaim through
their revolutionary techniques? In this
post, I argue that hip hop is a form of protest that draws attention to the
ignored needs of African Americans because the lyrics focus on issues such as
the economy, violence among gangs, and limited opportunities. Not only are the lyrics a protest, but the
style of the music (angry, rhythmic) embodies an ethnic sentiment that
generates pride in its originality and creates a confrontational culture that
must be dealt with in the public domain.
Take a
close look at jag9889’s photo from flickr.com, taken on the corner of Barreto
Street and Garrison Avenue in South Bronx.
This vibrant graffiti demands attention through bold colors and imposing
images: from the top of the artwork flows a lightning stream between a set of
stereos and an empowered, intimidating female figure, while on the bottom of
the piece jumping figures surround the words “hip hop” as threatening women
speak through angry gestures. Although at first glance this image appears
ordinary and insignificant, the illustrated symbols provide a visual
representation of hip hop’s productive goals for society. As anyone who has seen a city knows, the
exploitation of public space for ethnic representation, such as graffiti on a
wall, is a widely utilized tactic. When
a capitalist society overtakes a new land, the territory discovered is rapidly
divided, claimed, and traded in exchange for cash. The indigenous people that had used the land
as public or shared cultural space are now forced to give up their space so
that the capitalist can profit from it. In
this way, situations of communal living will inevitably break down as spaces
divide among the group unevenly (Lefebvre 1974: 380). According to this idea, space that once had “use
value”, or worth derived from communal enjoyment, undergoes a commodification
process that converts the space’s utilization to that of an “exchange value”,
or a measure that allows its exchange for capital. What does this commodification of space
inexorably lead to? It creates a grossly inequitable distribution of territory
that permits an elite class to control the majority of the public domain and
confines lower classes and/or minority groups into filthy, uninhabitable, and
unwanted spaces like the leftover scraps of a gourmet feast. Therefore, the occupation and use of public
space through art is a symbolic protest of this unbalanced dynamic, and the
culturally specific characteristics of such public works are a way for the marginalized
culture to reinstate their right to cultural expression. From the historical Mesoamerican themes of
the murals in San Diego’s Chicano Park to the vibrant “Hip Hop” graffiti in the
Bronx, culture-specific artistic expression is a way to reclaim public space
for the group in question and draw attention to its overlooked needs. A message African Americans want to convey is
clearly stated in the above mural.
Youthful expressions of anger, discontent, and pride convey how black
youth in the Bronx are improperly provisioned to obtain success, while bold
words and images of lightning suggest a sense of empowerment and readiness to
reclaim some of these provisions.
Not only
did the African American “hip hop” movement use the physical and the visible to
reclaim space, but as anyone familiar with the media knows, it staked a claim
in another prominent space in society- the music industry. Before the birth of hip hop in the 1970s, projects
of urban renewal, such as Robert Moses’ Cross-Bronx Expressway, regularly
uprooted entire communities and crowded poor African American, Puerto Rican,
and Jewish families into virtually jobless areas of South Bronx. With a stream of desperate families pouring
in and a steady loss of thriving businesses, per capita income dropped
substantially as unemployment rate skyrocketed: at one point, youth
unemployment rate in the Bronx was a daunting 60% (Chang 2005: 13). Because the employment struggle was
especially harrowing for black youth in the Bronx, many of them found no other
option than to take to the streets and form gangs to protect themselves from a
hateful, unyielding world. In this
context, the edgy, obscene, and violent lyrics of hip hop music are a
reflection of this hopeless sentiment.
The fact that hip hop applies this sentiment of ruin into a rhythmic,
productive work is highly significant because it is a transformation of the
cultural and industrial “leftovers,” or unwanted parts, into sources of power
and pleasure (Rose 1994: 22). Therefore,
this productive music moves beyond the discourse of reclaiming visible physical space for community because
adding rhythm to the rhetoric of social wrongs creates for African Americans a
claim in audible space. As previously noted, when someone blasts a
hip hop song from their house or in the street, they elicit a response from
those who pass by. In the audible forum,
the anger and momentum of the rhythm catches the same sort of attention as a
bold graffiti mural. This cultural
artwork, therefore, takes spaces that have a minimal exchange value and
transforms them into invaluable expressions.
In doing so, this culturally unique music reclaims a space in the predominately
white music industry and transforms fragmented social and economic experiences
into feelings of pride and hope.
Works
Cited:
Chang, Jeff. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the
Hip-Hop Generation. New York: Picador's Press, 2005.
https://blackboard.albany.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_1287054_1&course_id=_46495_1&framesetWrapped=true
(accessed October 6, 2013).
Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishing, 1974.
https://blackboard.albany.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1235726-dt-content-rid-5061305_1/courses/2139-TLCS-288-9065/lefebvre_productiospace.pdf
(accessed October 6, 2013).
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in
Contemporary America. Hanover, London: University Press of New England,
1994.
https://blackboard.albany.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_1287053_1&course_id=_46495_1&framesetWrapped=true
(accessed October 6, 2013).
Photograph: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jag9889/2513943451/in/set-72157608767399050
Wow, this was so eloquently written. I agree that the general response to the hip hop scene is a result of a misinterpretation of the art style. People are trained to view graffiti in their cities as defacement of property and clusters of kids on a corner dancing as a threat. We are unaware of the roots of this hip hop urban culture and perhaps the current hip hop scene has misconstrued the original intentions of the protesting art. I wonder how this pattern can change. We are always skeptic of what we do not know when it comes to culture. What are we missing out on when we put down other arts, customs or ways of life?
ReplyDeleteThis blog post is well written and I really enjoyed reading it. I am very appreciative of art and I think that art is the most honest forms of expression. Every form of art has a meaning behind it and is created to share or provide the public with a message. As mentioned in the post, in contemporary US cities, art provides people with a way of reclaiming space and replacing a place that had a large amount of exchange value and adding a great amount of used value to it. I am a true believer in art; it unifies people and culture and lets traditions blend. Street art such as murals and graffiti, like the picture shown in this blog post, are full of meaning, no words are necessary and every individual can interpret it and understand it in a different way. Hip-hop is a verbal form of street art, I especially liked how the student mentioned in the post that 'audible' space is being taken as a result of that form of art. I did not think about it before and I think its incredibly interesting that reclaiming of space is not necessary a physical thing (through mural on the walls) but it can also be in the 'air' through music and the exact same job of conveying a message to the public is being fulfilled.
ReplyDeleteI believe graffiti art should be looked upon with inspiration because it is a sign of reclaiming of space. That being said, I think there is a line between art and vandalism. This art should be used on public or private spaces if the owner will allow it. The graffiti in the picture is a positive sign of a neighborhoods culture. Other positive displays are Chicano Park and the subway cars in the video we watched in class. These are more than just tags that young groups of kids put on fences in neighborhoods. The paintings show the culture and expressions by that community. I also, like Roi, never thought of music and verbal expression as a reclaiming of space, but now I see how it can be considered as useful in art. A person traveling down a Barrio or Chinatown can expect to hear different types of music relevant to that culture. It brings a new dynamic to the neighborhood streets we live on.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Antonio, that graffity is a form of vandalism if there is no permission from the owner. In the late nineteenth century the graffity was used, by for example African Americans who felt that they were discriminated against, to show opinions. Nowadays in my country, the Netherlands, white teenagers also use graffity. However, I do not believe that they use it as a way to let their voice be heard, but only as a way to show that they are able to undermine authority. I think that back in the days the graffity was used with a better reason than nowadays, when teenagers sometimes even use it without a reason. I am not arguing that the whites who use the graffity nowadays should be punished more than the people back in the nineteenth century. I believe that in both times someone using graffity on someone else's property without the owner's permission, is committing vandalism and should be punished. I only think that it is remarkable how the idea behind the graffity has changed over the years.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post. Like Roi and Antonio said, I always considered the reclaiming of space a physical action, not something that can be done through music and verbal expression. When I was really little I lived in a neighborhood where people would carry their boomboxes on their shoulder and I remember seeing people break dancing on the sidewalks and I was always curious as to why they were doing all of this on the streets and not in their homes or a dance studio. Until this class, I didn't realize why they did what they did. I remember thinking that it was obnoxious, but I now that I was ignorant in thinking so. They have every right to express themselves, and if music and verbal expression is what works for them, then I'm glad that graffiti and music are being seen as forms of expression.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very nicely written with a great use of words. Hip hop and graffiti are a way to put use value back into a place. They both explain the struggle for low-income residents to start from the bottom and work their way up in society. A lot of the time this struggle leads to crime in order to obtain some type of mobility in society since there is not a foundation in these bad communities for young people to base themselves off of and grow in society, such a schools, recreation centers, etc. It is nice that they try to express themselves through music and graffiti, but I myself do not like seeing graffiti on walls and public structures. Before they changed the subways, to a form of metal you cannot spray paint onto, the subways and trains looked very bad. I like music as more of an expression of their struggle because they can really get their message across to people, with out having to vandalize the society we all live in.
ReplyDeleteI loved the connection you made between physical and audible space. This connection really made me think more about the use of hip hop and how it's more than just music but an angry statement. The last paragraph of this article especially caught my eye when you started to discuss how the blasting of hip hop through boom boxes and the boldness of the graffiti occurred to elicit a response. This is a very important idea because that is partially the reason for these aspects of African American culture. Those who are unnoticed and poor trying to stand out to establish themselves and gain significance. African Americans, like you said, did indeed claim their place in the predominantly white music industry through hip hop and continue to make up American music today.
ReplyDeleteHannah B
ReplyDeleteI liked how the author of this blog post related the urban struggle for space with graffiti tactics. The two ideas are very much correlated for urban city kids living in the 1970s. The author also talks about how through the process of gentrification, the lower-classes are pushed into filthy, unwanted spaces in the city. This process must have brought a lot of frustration to poor inner city kids looking for a better future, because they are seemingly trapped in this cycle brought about by capitalism. Like the blog stated, many kids took out this anger and used graffiti to reclaim space. I think that the author of this post did a very thorough job of analyzing and explaining the use of hip hop culture in the 1970s.