Matthew Trajano
Individual Blog Post #2
05/06/2020
Theresa Riley's
interview with Jeff Chang in "Still Fighting the Power" highlights
some interesting ideas about how hip-hop influences black people, and what the culture
can perpetuate in of itself through rap music. Riley noted that Chuck D
famously said that rap music is the “CNN for black people”, and Chang elaborated,
saying that rap was reaching the youth that felt they were being unrepresented.
“I think since then he would say that it’s become CNN for marginalized young
people all around the world,” Chang said in the interview. I think with hip hop
and rap with its far-reaching influence, it does play a part to push this idea
of being “hard” and these constructs of hypermasculinity in hip hop and rap,
especially from the artists noted in “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes”. In the
documentary, some big names such as Nelly, 50 Cent, Ja Rule, and Busta Rhymes
had often perpetuated these ideas. Chuck D said that through the structures of
selling music to black manhood, that if corporations can put “soul in a bottle,
then you can put manhood in a bottle, and show the bottle and advertise it.” The
ways in which masculinity is being sold on the radio during this time continues
to perpetuate idealistic depictions of what a black man should be and should
care about.
In learning about these
ideas of manhood in hip hop and rap, I think about how Lil Nas X has created
discourse for what constitutes hip hop, as well as discussions for country
music. His hit “Old Town Road” launched Lil Nas X to unfathomable heights, and
he famously came out as gay with the launch of his song "Closure". This was a big moment for the hip hop industry
that had a space for a gay artist since its inception. I also thought about hip
hop artists that have tried to have realistic depictions of the harsh realities
in the ghetto and gang culture, and that brought me to Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright”,
which is in stark contrast to the ways rappers discuss these ideas in the early
2000s.
Lil Nas X, "Closure"
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