AMST 3740: Cultures of Hip-Hop Final Exam

Sasha Frere-Jones, "This Charming Man" (2013)

"Magna Carta Holy Grail" → released with Samsung phones -Made people angry; Samsung took their data -About being rich, being married to Beyonce -"It is music made for and by people who are in no danger of proximate harm." Writing in immediate aftermath in Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case Saying that Jay-Z is coming off as very out of touch in this political moment → not the right time to be rapping about how rich you are -We should expect more from Jay-Z; he has been previously politically active ("99 Problems") Problem: Jay-Z is being held to a certain standard because of being a Black man and because hip-hop is seen as a generally more political genre.

Hip-Hop: 1979-1980

"Rapper's Delight" becomes a huge hit in 1979 -Makes the Top 20, an enormous accomplishment for an independent single -Sugar Hill Records probably vastly underreported sales → getting out of paying royalties to the artists -Controversial among the hip-hop community -Saw it as inauthentic and an exploitative money-grab -"Rappers" in SH Gang didn't have any rep or experience; people who built the genre aren't benefiting from it commercially -Creates a rush on hip-hop music Later in 1979... -Kurtis Blow signs to Mercury Records -Releases "Christmas Rappin'" (another commercial success) -Hip-hop emerges through novelty records → people in the hip-hop community didn't take them very seriously Most of the early hip-hop industry was driven by people who didn't really understand the music or care about it besides making money Hip-hop was very much seen as a passing fad; a rush to record and release it but not to really develop artists

Warner Brothers and "Gangsta Rap"

-"Cop Killer" was not gangsta rap → it wasn't even rap, but the distinction didn't matter much to critics -Critics focused on Ice-T's affiliation with the gangsta rap genre -"Cop Killer" removal came from pressure from shareholders, which became a new tactic in the anti-gangsta rap moral panic Two major figures (anti-rap) -William J. Bennett = white former education secretary under Reagan -C. DeLores Tucker = Black former civil rights leader

Disco

-'Discotheque' → dance music made for club settings; term emerges in 1970s -Moves from describing genre to describing culture or lifestyle -Partying, glamorous urban settings, etc. -Records more important than live performances -Producers and engineers were extremely important -'Remix' begins with disco -Donna Summer → famous performer but would sometimes just be present as her music played -DJ playing recordings > live performances -Embraced cutting-edge studio technology → meant to sound unreal

Hip-hop and the pop charts

-1988 → MTV premiered "Yo! MTV Raps" & quickly became the channel's most popular show -R&B radio started playing more hip-hop and started "crossing over" more frequently to the Top 40 -A lot of the material making it to the radio was gimmicky or radio-friendly -Not the music hip-hop fans took seriously (Ex. DJ Jazzy Jeff) -Throughout the 1980s no hip-hop song ever hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Pop) chart

"Cop Killer" by Body Count

-1992 was an election year as well as the same year as the LA Riots → "Cop Killer" became incredibly controversial -Bush and Quail constantly bringing it up as a center of their critique of the entertainment industry -Moral panic usually very good for the career of the artist starting it -Mostly circulated as lyrics → unclear if its harshest critics had ever even heard it -Controversy actually helped sales but Warner Bros. made the extraordinary decision to recall the album and re-release it without the song

Why should we think of rap as poetry?

-Isn't conventionally sung → listeners & musicians pay closer attention to lyrics -Beat in rap → poetic meter -Way into taking the language of rap seriously → poetic analysis -"Rap is poetry" → used to claim validity of hip-hop (i.e. Poetry = highbrow, prestigious, intellectual)

8 Mile (2002)

-A movie all about authenticity, right down to its concept—a loosely autobiographical film about Eminem, who essentially plays himself -Basically a sports movie (Rocky, specifically) in the guise of a music movie -Underground rap battle is intensely competitive -B. Rabbit is positioned as an underdog figure, and the way he triumphs is by finding his confidence and being true to himself -Explicitly takes a class-over-race view of hip-hop authenticity -B. Rabbit wins his battle by "outing" his opponent as having gone to private school and coming from a stable home -White & poor is more "real" than Black and rich, in terms of hip-hop credibility

"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" by Public Enemy

-About getting sent to jail for not entering the military -recalling tradition of black men resisting the draft in Vietnam War (i.e. Muhamed Ali) -Ventured into the topic of the carceral state → styled themselves as intellectuals

The Honey Drippers, "Impeach the President"

-Alaga Records → Jamaica, Queens, NY -Novelty record → height of WaterGate -About impeaching Nixon -Honey Drippers =high schools kids -Album goes nowhere, ends up in bargain bins at record stores (how DJs probably got a hold of it) -Second most commonly sampled drum break other than "Funky Drummer"

Art and Politics

-All art is political, in a general sense. -Art seeks to resonate with the audience in the context of the world in which they live. -Even art that claims not to be "political" is taking a political stance; human being don't exist outside of politics -"All art is propaganda." -George Orwell -Colloquially → art that is "political" is explicitly political or activist (i.e. seeks to motivate its audience around a particular issue or set of issues)

Alex Pappademas, "Rozay Is Rozay Is Rozay" (2012)

-An essay about Rick Ross reflecting on how Ross' career managed to survive (and thrive) after a 2008 reveal that he'd worked as a correctional officer -Rick Ross persona → kingpin, drug lord, gang-guy, criminal -In reality, he was the opposite; he was essentially a cop Argument: literal authenticity doesn't matter in hip-hop as much as it used to, and probably never mattered as much as some people thought it did -Ross' career wasn't destroyed over these revelations because fans of his music were already aware it was a fantasy -Fans weren't taking him literally; they enjoyed him because he's a talented musician and entertainer

Batterram (1985)

-Arguably the first major West Coast gangsta rap recording = Toddy Tee's "Batterram" -Lyrically the song is more tame than other rap that would come in its wake -But unflinching critique of the conditions of over policing in Compton -Musically the song's backdrop drew from a subgenre of LA funk called electro, which would become a mainstay of many gangsta rap productions -Prior to joining NWA Dr. Dre and DJ Yella were in an electro group

Kanye West

-Arguably the most influential popular musician of the 21st century so far → impact across wide range of genres -2004-2016: most critically acclaimed artist in pop while also being one of the most commercially successful → rare combination -Drove popular culture -Became first hip-hop artist to be discussed in language of 'genius,' not just by music critics but by broader cultural/intellectual establishment -Similar phenomenon to The Beatles

Thomas Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis

-Argument: factors that produced urban crisis were structural, not contributed to the communities who lived in cities -Political progressivism of 1960s had gone too far (for white people), which led to backlash to 1960s attitudes -Sugrue trying to argue that decline of American cities starts far before 1960s Three main factors → decline of Detroit: -Flight of jobs, particularly secure unionized jobs -Persistence of workplace discrimination -Intractable racial segregation and discrimination in housing Sugrue argues that economic issues start in the 1950s, but aren't noticed until the 1960s-70s → inclined to think this is recent development Three assumptions guided economic and labor policy in post-WWII era: -Looking to national instead of local prosperity → neoclassical economics ("just leave it alone and it'll get better") -Rising unemployment connected to behavioral deficiencies as opposed to structural problems (i.e. "unemployment is rising because people don't want to work") -Gathering emphasis on private sector → solution to everything; less social programs, government should be minimized, etc. Summary: -People in power allowed American cities to decline -"Urban crisis" = new way for Americans to think about race -Creates post-1960s context in which urban spaces are stigmatized as poor, ugly, crime-ridden, and unmistakably black and brown

The Uses of Authenticity

-Authenticity constructs can be a powerful way of protecting the artistic and cultural integrity of musical communities (i.e. bulwark against commercialism) -Arguments over authenticity are often ways of having arguments about aesthetics -Important to the health and development of musical cultures -Arguments about what makes art work or not work Late 1980s/Early 1990s -Hip-hop underwent a crisis of authenticity in relation to commerce and the music's growing popularity and visibility -Radio producing this phenomenon

"Marvins Room" (2011)

-Beauty, heartfelt, vulnerability Women's voice from a phone call → types of voices appear all the time -Always puts you on edge; creation of intimacy -Violation of privacy; violation of agency of voice

"Who Shot Ya?" by Biggie Smalls

-Became huge radio and club hit in NY -Tupac became convinced the song was a taunt directed at him (Biggie denied this) -"You rewind, Bad Boys behind this" → lyrics like these made Tupac think it was about him

MC Hammer, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em

-Becomes highest selling rap album of all time, largely b/c of single "U Can't Touch This" -"U Can't Touch This" topped R&B charts and reached No. 8 on Pop charts -Topped the Billboard album charts for 21 consecutive weeks -Became first rap album to sell 10 million copies "U Can't Touch This" = first hip-hop song nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammys -Kind of a pointless song → lyrics are meaningless, mostly for dancing -Sample of "Superfreak" by Rick James but basically the same song; nothing creative with the sampling

The Rise of Kanye West

-Born in Atlanta in 1977 -Raised in Chicago -2000: begins doing production work for Roc-A-Fella Records -2001: produces tracks on Jay-Z's The Blueprint, including "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" -"Izzo" uses de-tuned, fragmented sample of Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" → manipulation of 1960s and 1970s-era soul music that becomes hallmark of Kanye's style

1990

-Breakthrough commercial year for hip-hop -February → MC Hammer released Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em -Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts

Gangs of the South Bronx

-By early 1970s, SB in very bad place economically -(Chang) youth gangs take on increased prominence after FBI crackdowns on radical political movements -Gangs provided a social cohesion in a world where things weren't always available at school or home -Became extremely important to youth culture in the Bronx; it wasn't all crime and violence -Gangs were also political spaces -Offered self-determination and way for young people to feel involved in their community -Chang writes about the gang "truce" of 1971, which was a major moment; people who organized it were seen as real leaders in the community -The Ghetto Brothers → outlier; guitar pop; sound like The Beatles, just a year after their album, hip-hop emerges -Partly the cohesiveness of youth culture, in the face of poverty and abandonment, that allows hip-hop to flourish -These legacies can be seen in the importance on place and community that has long been central to hip-hop, particularly in its early years -Central to hip-hop = not forgetting where you can from

Chic, 'Good Times' (1979) v. Sugarhill Gang, 'Rapper's Delight' (1979)

-Chic's record = massive disco hits -Basis for 'Rapper's Delight' → one of first hit rap songs -In hip-hop settings, MC's would rap over disco songs; 'Rapper's Delight' is just one of the first recorded versions of it

The Breaks

-Conceptual breakthrough → records as tools for musical creativity -Borrowing distinctive parts and patching them together -Bedrock of hip-hop → recordings were not finished pieces

Graduation (2007)

-Cover designed by Takashi Marakami → associating himself with acclaimed artist -Remains highest-selling work (5 million) -Won Grammy for Best Rap Album Visual language of music videos -Directed by Spike Jones → again another acclaimed artist -More like a short art film than a traditional music video At the same time he has been called a genius, he shows this by working with other artists acclaimed as geniuses.

The Artists in this Period (1973-1978)

-DJ Kool Herc -Grandmaster Flash -Coke La Rock (attributed as the first hip-hop MC/rapper) -Cold Crush Brothers

Ice Cube, When Will They Shoot

-Daryl Gates → LA Police Commissioner -Main sample = "We Will Rock You" by Queen

Authenticity is a Construct

-Deeply ideological → something people choose to believe rather than something that's "real" -Authenticity is often a product of performance -Music or art that comes off as "real" or "sincere" is usually just a product of it working effectively -"Inauthentic" → something about the music that doesn't resonate with us -Authenticity is very fluid -For music to change and evolve it needs to be challenged, since its fundamentally conservative

Disco and Hip-Hop

-Dominant form of popular music, particularly Black dance music, especially in NYC -Disco seen as 'rich people music' → notoriously racist and classist door policies -Emphasis on records as tools of creativity -rappers would rap over disco records in hip-hop

K. St. Asaph, "Some Scattered Thoughts on the Drake Album and Women" (2013)

-Drake's music has a messed up relationship with women -women as NPCs → non-playable characters -Reminds me of the EBM of Joan Morgan's book -At whose expense is Drake's woundedness being constructed? -Rather than pioneering a new avenue for hip-hop, he was doing a different kind of misogyny -Women are portrayed as people who hurt men rather than people men hurt -Complains about "women" aren't fair to you are primarily actors that cause pain -Drake's tormented vulnerability that comes through so effectively in a song like "Marvins Room" but is at the expense of women → it only goes one way (ex. Woman on the phone)

E-Mu SP-1200 (1987) & Akai MPC-60 (1988)

-Drum-machine sampler -Could record live drums & build patterns -Less expensive, more portable than keyboard synthesizers

Nas, "Nas Is Like" (1999, produced by DJ Premier)

-Elaborate sampling to get out of paying sample clearance → business side -Doesn't want people to take his materials → creative side

Gangsta rap

-Emerged in the late 1980s to describe a style of music that emerged from the West Coast (Los Angeles) -Many "gangsta rappers" did not embrace the term; Ice Cube referred to his music as "reality rap" -Music that sought to describe reality of inner-city life in 1980s -Emphasized police brutality, gun violence, crack, and endemic poverty -Often used shock tactics to command attention -Unprecedented amounts of profanity and frequently hyperbolic depictions of violence, sex, and drug use -Became an object of moral panic -Critics focused on lyrics as a way of blaming the "culture" of inner-city communities for what was happening to them (i.e. War on Drugs, dismantling of social programs under Reaganism) -Critics were either ignorant of long histories of injustice that had given rise to the music or simply didn't care about them

Humor in hip-hop

-Example of lyrical and vocal prowess -Word & sonic play -Flirtation with women → extended play on the Harlem Shake but talking about killing someone and shooting up their wake

What are subcultures?

-Exist alongside mainstream culture but are self-consciously apart from it -Hebdige argues subcultures are defined by opposition and refusal Opposition to what? "Dominant culture" -Mainstream; what society deems as normal and acceptable "Parent culture" -Cultural system that directly preceded the subculture -What the participants in the subculture's parents would've been into

Yeezus (2013)

-Experimental and deliberately abrasive album → nowhere near as pop-friendly as MBDTF -Lyrically dark, paranoid and unpleasant → still enormous critical acclaim -Once again topped the Voice poll (Only other artists to do this four times was Bob Dylan) -Controversial → a lot of people didn't like it Striking track: "Blood on the Leaves" -Chipmunk soul for Nina Simone's version of "Strange Fruit" -Maybe people thought this song about lynching was off limits Another one of Kanye's self-pitying songs; talking about woman getting an abortion

Joan Morgan, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost

-Explores hip-hop in many interesting ways, but most vital = its relationship to women, misogyny, and feminism -Feminism as an -ism; an ideology (which is inherently political) -At the time Morgan wrote the book, hip-hop was widely seen as deeply misogynistic -In some cases, this was correct (i.e. NWA, Straight Outta Compton) -Tendency in anti-hip-hop discourse to characterize the music as purely misogynistic, which was never fair -Making a case for hip-hop as a place of pleasure for female listeners, that being of fan of hip-hop isn't antithetical to being a feminist -Also arguing that hip-hop and feminism have things to offer each other -Feminists, particularly Black feminists, should critique hip-hop misogyny and hip-hop should listen to those critiques -"Feminism" should be more inclusive and intersectional and not dismiss hip-hop as a productive space -There's different ways of being feminist → Lil Kim v. Queen Latifah

style

-Fashion — something being "in style" -Personal style — a "style icon," sets them aside from the rest/mainstream (or creates the mainstream) -Stylistic movement — artistic, innovations that people begin to follow -Artistic styles — what makes an artist unique; mark of individuality -Broad — a way of being in the world

The Bridge Wars — 1986 & 1987

-Feud between Queens' "Juice Crew" (MC Shan and DJ Marley Marl) and the Bronx's Boogie Down Productions (KRS-One and DJ Scott La Rock) -1986: Shan and Marley released "The Bridge," which becomes a huge hit in NY, especially Mr. Magic's "Rap Attack" radio show -Hip-hop artists weren't particularly popular at the time, so it was a big deal to be picked up popularly by the radio -BDP hears the song and interprets it to mean that Shan was claiming hip-hop began in Queens (particularly Queensbridge Houses) -Fire back with "South Bronx" and "The Bridge Is Over" in 1986 and 1987 -The Bridge Wars are the most early rap "beef" to be conducted on record and radio -Telling that it was a dispute over the music's historical roots

"99 Problems" by Jay-Z

-Found Jay-Z talking about certain political realities -Jake = slang term for cop -Establishing character of narrator; slick NY kid -"You was doing fifty-five in a fifty-four" → being pulled over for no good reason -Legality aside → they're both used to getting around the law -The cop = pulling over black people for no good reason -The narrator = pushing crack and getting away with it -Rick Ruben → Sample from Mountain in the late 70s

The Source

-Founded in 1988 by David Mays and Jonathan Schecter (two white Harvard students who were huge hip-hop fans_ -1990 → Mays, Schecter and James Bernard (a fellow classmate) moved the publication to NY with the intent of expanding -Quickly became very successful, and leading venue for hip-hop criticism and journalism for most of the 1990s -Known as being extremely opinionated and sharply critical -Ruthless toward artists whom it saw as diluting or violating the integrity of hip-hop, like Ice and Hammer -Championed a lot of more hard-edged rap that was being attacked by the mainstream -Publication rooted in a real love for and understanding of hip-hop music and culture -Unapologetically high-minded -Took itself and hip-hop very seriously → hip-hop artists read and respected The Source

Early Hip-Hop (1973-1978)

-From its "invention" in 1973 until 1979, hip-hop is an exclusively live form -Unusual in the modern pop-music era -Idea of making a hip-hop record struck many as absurd; records were the materials of DJs, they weren't things they made -Live performances were long, free-flowing, full of lots of interaction between MCs, DJs, dancers, audience members

DJ Kool Herc's personal history (Chang, Ch. 4)

-Grew up in Kingston, Jamaica -Enthralled with sound systems; keying in on interaction with the crowd -Father was a sound man for a local R&B group & lets him use the sound system he created to DJ parties Becoming American -More financial opportunity in America → didn't have a bad life in Jamaica -Didn't feel like he needed gangs -Entry point into hip-hop community = graffiti -Less emphasis on gangs and more emphasis on individual flash -Graffiti as reverse colonization -Hercules → name in basketball → DJ Kool Herc Context -White exodus, urbanization, increasing wealth gap -Not as much gang violence

Tupac Shakur

-Grew up on the East Coast (NY → Baltimore) -Relocated to the Bay area as a teenager, then moved to LA in early 1990s -Quickly became associated with LA gangsta rap

Souls of Mischief, "Cab Fare" (1998)

-Hailing a cab as a young black man -Using sample from "Angela," theme song to Taxi -Also homage to Bob James

20th Century Jamaican Musical Culture: political context

-Jamaica didn't gain full independence until 1962 -Didn't have much of a localized media industry as a colonial holding -Vibrant musical culture but not much of a recording industry

How did Suge Knight exacerbate tensions between Biggie and Tupac?

-Head of Death Row Records → founded it with Dr. Dre when he left NWA -Connected to organized crime → kind of a gangsta -Wanted Tupac to leave Interscope and sign with Death Row (which was itself distributed by Interscope) -Knight fed into Tupac's paranoia about Bad Boys

Authenticity in Hip-Hop

-Hip-hop has had a more powerful relationship to authenticity than most other popular musical forms -Derives from hip-hop's roots as a subculture (subcultures obsessed with authenticity and purity) -Protective impulse toward the music = desire not to see hip-hop co-opted or appropriated by the white mainstream (what happened to jazz in 1920s-30, rock and roll in 1960s-70s) -Boundaries and parameters of hip-hop's ideology of authenticity have expanded, but those expansion have been hard-earned

Legacies of hip-hop as a subculture

-Hip-hop is no longer a subculture — it is fully mainstream culture and has been for decades (since the early 1980s). -String of rap records reaching the radio and doing well nationally made it not a subculture -It's origins as a subculture have continued to inform the music and the way it is performed and perceived -Importance of concept of authenticity → idea of being "real" = subcultural value -Region and locality are also still very important; being true to where you are from -Puts huge amount of emphasis on the expression of individuality within symbolic language and rules of the music itself -Worst thing you can be called is derivative or accused of ripping off someone else's style

Early hip-hop sound

-Hip-hop was originally much more associated with DJs than MCs (rappers) -DJ Kool Herc & the discovery of the power of the break The DJ -Two turntables and a mixer -Switch to the second record when first is ending → crossfader (changes the input)

spoken word

-Hybrid genre of music and poetry that was popular in late 1960s and early 1970s -Famous spoken word artists = Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron -Spoken word's direct influence on hip-hop is somewhat debated -Some early rappers were probably fans

Ice-T and Body Count

-Ice-T was also a heavy metal fan, and started this band in 1990 -Signed to Sire Records (subsidiary of Warner Bros) -Released debut album "Body Count" in 1992 -Contained a song called "Cop Killer" → critique of police brutality -Ice-T claimed it was a character song, like Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer"

The "Urban Crisis"

-Idea that American cities and landscapes were in crisis → poverty, unemployment, drugs, crime, mass incarceration, etc. -Cities need to be policed and disciplined → cities are placed to be avoided -1970s-80s: cities become linked with the urban crisis (crack epidemic, gangs); think of how movies from this time period represent cities -Now: poor people are becoming increasingly displaced by gentrification and city revivals -Sugrue → how do we come to obsess over this notion of crisis?

Why shouldn't we think of rap as poetry?

-If rappers saw themselves strictly as poets, they would be writing poetry. -"Othering" effect → sets rap aside from other popular musical forms -Devalues the vocal skills of rapper; rap can't be reduced to words on a page -Erases the musical contributions of DJs and producers → huge part of the music -Great rap songs work because music and lyrics go hand-in-hand.

Authenticity in music

-Important ideological concept in many different genres, but changes meanings in different contexts -Musical authenticity: your music is "you" (i.e. violations → lip-synching controversies) -Artistic authenticity: belief someone's art is coming from a need for genuine expression rather than just to make money -Personal authenticity: belief that someone's music, in some ways, offers us a window into who the artist "really is" Authenticity rooted in social categories -Ex. most authentic or "real" country music comes from white, rural, working-class men -Hip-hop → artists that come from outside the "authentic" hip-hop background had to negotiate their way in

Molly Lambert, "Shady XLII: Eminem in 2014"

-Inability to move past his own tendencies to rap about brutalizing women (and people in general) -Part of his sensational element → key part of his music; he has been rewarded for this so, why stop? -At what point do you run out of things to talk about or lose touch? -Eminem's music in 1999-2000 felt edgy with dark humor, but no longer feels that way; feels kind of gross (misogynistic and anti-gay lyrics) -Satire → meant to be sickly funny & outrageously disturbing -Fans typically fight back strongly → "You can't take a joke" -"Eminem has become the conservative status quo that he seemingly railed against as a young man. And considering that he has always come down in favor of stomping out all things feminine, sensitive, and different, maybe he always was." -Eminem is not the underdog anymore; all of this stuff excused away for being the underdog doesn't work anymore.

Ali Watson and Joe Coscarelli, "The Rapid Rise and Sudden Fall of Tekashi 6ix9ine"

-Interesting and disturbing story about social media and the blurring of performance and reality -In many ways it's a story about a person who got massively famous for an outrageous online persona and became addicted to chasing "clout" -His whole 'thing' was pushing people's buttons, being provocative -6ix9ine's various feuds and growing association with actual criminals clearly got way outside of his own control -Evidenced by his arrest and subsequent cooperation with authorities -6ix9ine's cooperation with the feds that was seen by many as proof of his fraudulence/inauthenticity -Doesn't really seem to have hurt him with his fans

Drake and style

-Introspective, emotional, confessional style → hadn't been heard all that much in hip-hop -Rapped a lot about feelings and being sad -Mixed rapping and singing -Combined a sort of confessional vulnerability derived from R&B with hip-hop; made him incredibly successful but also controversial -To his fans → real and "relatable" -To detractors → cloying, manipulative, or inauthentic

Origin story of hip-hop: August 11, 1973

-Invented by Clive Campbell → DJ Kool Herc -1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx (public housing building) -Campbell throws a back-to-school party in the rec room of the building -Noticed that people lose their minds during the breaks (mostly the dancers) -Discovered 'the break' = Two copies of the same record, using two record machines simultaneously -Used crossfader to extend the break on a James Brown record -Six years after "invention" where hip-hop is a local subculture → movement into popular culture doesn't coincide with its invention -Musical forms don't emerge out of vacuum → product of historical and cultural contexts

New York (1977)

-Jeff Chang opens on 1977 World Series, which the NY Yankees would win -1977 = mythic year → infamous blackout, economic turmoil, widespread fires, Son of Sam (serial killer) 1977 is important year in music → punk rock = major prominence -The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Ramones -Death of Elvis -Saturday Night Fever

Why is 20th century Jamaican musical culture important to know in relation to hip-hop?

-Many hip hop musicians descended from this musical culture -Products of Caribbean diaspora to the US

Hip-hop and moral panic

-Many young white people listen to hip-hop, which is considered Black music → became the target of a number of moral panics since the 1980s (when it became popular) Examples -N.W.A. and 2 Live Crew in the late 1980s -Recent: "WAP" or "Montero" Early 1990s "gangsta rap" became a renewed focus of moral panic -A lot had to do with the 1992 LA riots (wake of verdict of Rodney King case)

20th Century Jamaican Musical Culture: the sound system

-Mobile units of record players and speakers, went place to place hosting parties Main components -Sound man = owner and proprietor; name association -Selector = plays the records, DJ -DJ = radio DJ, talking about music, hyping people up -Played records from US and UK → R&B, Jazz, blues, country, rock n' roll Most famous/successful sound systems → become recording studio heads when Jamaican recording industry takes off -Coxsone Dodd -Duke Reid → most successful, gangster persona -Prince Buster

American popular music and moral panic

-Moral panics often have racial undertones -Exaggerated fears that young white people are being endangered or "corrupted" by listening to non-white music -Ex: anti-rock and roll

Hip-hop and politics

-More complicated relationship to politics than a lot of other popular musical forms, for a number of reasons -Longstanding tendency in the US to think about Black art first and foremost in political terms -Belief that Black art represents a racial group rather than individual expression -First major post-60s musical form -1960s = decade whos popular music is often romanticized as being unusually political -Hip-hop's emergence in what's often seen as "post-Civil Rights" era has fed into this -Hip-hop is still too often seen as a primarily lyrical form -When people talk about music being political they are referring to lyrics being political -Hip-hop thought in relation to, or conflated with, politics more than other popular musical forms (Ex. "The Message," Public Enemy, Lauryn Hill, Kendrick Lamar) -Hip-hop is probably more politically engaged than other forms of pop music -Reflects lived experiences and realities of people who make it -Vast majority of people who make rap come from communities that should have their conditions improved -Hip-hop should not be held to a higher political "standard" than other pop music (since we don't tend to frame our relationship to music like rock, R&B, or country in terms of their political commitments)

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

-Most acclaimed work to date -Successful synthesis of the experimentalism of 808s with the pop friendliness of West's earlier work -Won Voice poll again; received 10.0 score from Pitchfork; won Best Rap Album at Grammys -Notoriously wasn't nominated for Album of the Year -Notable song = "Runaway" but what genre is this? (pop, experimentalism, etc.)

De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)

-Most popular and influential of the three original NT groups = De La Soul -Formed in suburban Long Island in the late 1980s -Signed to Tommy Boy Records; "discovered" by producer Prince Paul -Debut album is playful and creative, heavy on esoteric samples, witty lyrics, wordplay, weird characters, skits, etc. -Became a surprise hit, getting rave reviews from critics, topping the Billboard R&B charts & ultimately selling over a million copies Ad campaign → trying to sell to young adult males -Using alternativeness of De La Soul to allow it to reach a broader audience -Message: "If you haven't tried hip-hop yet or have tried it and not liked it, you will like this kind of hip-hop"

20th Century Jamaican Musical Culture: beginning of the recording industry

-Mostly covers of UK and US songs → 'do-overs' -Idea of originality; you can take other people's songs and taking your own liberty with it -Once music is out in the world, it doesn't have to be the end of them.

Moynihan Report (1965)

-Moynihan → sociologist and future US Senator; influential in postwar policy -Intended to address Black poverty and economic/racial inequality -Instead, says the problem lays with "pathological" family structure of Black Americans dating back to slavery -Makes argument that history of black families in US has been one of rupture, displacement -Legacy: inaction and growing belief that people in poverty were responsible for their own condition; influences US urban policy, particularly under Nixon -What's missing: the case for action

Warner Bros and Interscope

-Much of Warner Brothers' gangsta rap was on its subsidiary label, Interscope Records, which was founded by Ted Field and Jimmy Iovine in 1990 -1992: Interscrope acquired distribution rights to Death Row Records, label owned by Suge Knight's that was home to Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and others -Interscope also had Tupac Shakur (1991), who had also been the target of anti-rap activists -All of Interscope's music was very successful -Under immense pressure from activists, Warner Brothers effectively dropped Interscope in 1995, selling the label back to Iovine and Field -Creates a massive music-industry bidding war for Interscope, which ultimately acquired by MCA (later called Universal) -By the turn of the 21st Century, Interscope is the most successful label in music with Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, and later Lady Gaga -Warner Brothers' dropping of Interscope is now seen as one of the worst decisions in the history of the music business -On the heels of its acquisition, Universal becomes the most powerful label in the industry and remains so to this day

1970s South Bronx

-Not seen as desirable place to live, work, spend time → by both people living there and wider America -Postindustrial: connotes historical context in which cities are no long sites of industry (i.e. manufacturing, factories, etc.) -Poverty, lack of wealth & resources, etc. -Decline in gainful employment opportunities -Companies leaving cities for suburban, rural, overseas areas

Late Registration (2005)

-Once again, rapturous reviews → Rolling Stone 5-star album review -Wins Voice critics poll again -Co-produced with Jon Brion, previously known for producing art-pop stars like Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann -Five hit singles, 4 million copies souls, Best Rap Album at the Grammys again -Moves into different aesthetic, breaking into artsy style by working with John Brion

Ice-T

-One of the earliest pioneers of gangsta rap, even before N.W.A. -"6 in the Mornin'" (1986) → foundational to hip-hop Recorded theme song to Colors (1988) -Originally from New Jersey but moved to LA as a teenager

Why are publications like The Source important to musical genres?

-Presence of smart and impassioned criticism enhances the cultural validity of the form -The Source did for hip-hop what Rolling Stone did for rock and roll music a generation earlier

Subculture within hip-hop

-Products of hip-hop's own ascendance to a sort of parent culture Rise of collective called Native Tongues: -Jungle Brothers -De La Soul -A Tribe Called Quest -In opposition to or alternative to the more hard-edged and "rough" aesthetic that was currently dominating mainstream hip-hop -Particularly against the rise of West Coast gangsta rap (think: Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A.)

Rapper's Delight v. Rhymin' and Rappin'

-RD = unequivocally the most popular first rap song Sugar Hill Records; made the Top 40 -R&R = maybe first recorded rap song, not very popular

East Coast v. West Coast

-Rap feuds or "beefs" have been around for about as long as the music (ex. Bridge Wars) -Late 1980s → West Coast ascendant in landscape of hip-hop; commercially dominant -1993-1994: starts to shift back to New York with the Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Notorious B.I.G.

The Rise of Eminem

-Rappers who have entered hip-hop from unconventional backgrounds have often done so by embracing unconventional sounds -In the aftermath of Vanilla Ice, hip-hop artists and audiences in the 1990s were rightly suspicious of white rappers -Eminem → first major white rapper to emerge in the post-Vanilla Ice era -Needed a way to avoid being viewed as a culture thief or opportunist -Eminem's association with Dr. Dre went a long way towards shoring up his credibility -Embraced and parodied his own whiteness in ways that were new -Both sonically and visually, "My Name Is" is a satire of stereotypes of whiteness -Satirical embrace of his own identity as a white rapper became a novel part of his musical persona → embraced the humor of his position

Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby"

-Reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts -Became a massive hit of Top 40 radio -Ice was a total unknown → former professional motocross rider and break-dancer Vanilla Ice viewed as a quintessential "one-hit wonder" -Not true; had a few other hits, but none as big as "Ice Ice Baby" "Ice Ice Baby" → replay of Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure" -Uncreative use of sampling -Cultural appropriation issues → people of color on screen → validating proximity to culture -Vehicle for his dancing -Serious rap fans thought this was horrible

The College Dropout (2004)

-Receives critical raves, taking top spot in the Village Voice's annual critics' poll -Sells 4 million copies and produced four hit singles -West wins Best New Artist at the 2005 Grammys, College Dropout wins Best Rap Album -With college theme, playful rhymes and musical inventiveness, West was compared to Native Tongues artists (De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest) -'Chipmunk soul' → sped up soul samples, high-pitched

Run-DMC

-Release "It's Like That" in late 1983 -First hip-hop group to break through to rockstar status -1984: debut album called "Run-DMC" -First hip-hop album to achieve Gold status (500,000 copies) -First hip-hop group to break on to MTV -By mid-1980s → first hip-hop mainstream stars

The "Politics of Abandonment"

-SB already a working-class neighborhood, but construction of expressway causes tremendous displacement -Homes and jobs vanish; people who can afford to leave move -Only very poor people left → property values only go down (spiraling) -Becomes political motivation to depict the South Bronx as deserted and ruinous, as it helps to justify policies

"Blood on the Leaves" by Kanye West

-Samples "Strange Fruit" by Nina Simone (landmark protest song → about lynching in the American South) -Simone's (originally Billie Holiday's) song raised a lot of awareness for lynching; hallmark for Black American political art -People took offense to taking this storied piece of music and applying it to the background of a personal, self-pitying song

M.I.A. → Paper Planes

-Samples from The Clash's "Straight to Hell" → deeply politically engaged music, leftist, decolonization, antiracism, radical -Greatly heightened resonance of MIA's piece with people who knew Straight to Hell -Musical content, not just lyrical content, can signify political orientation

The Rise of Sampling

-Second half of 1980s → rising prominence of sampling technology -Becomes more accessible and affordable -Allows the music to return to its roots → move away from live band recreation "Sampler" → anything that allows you to record sound and play it back -Many allow you to manipulate the sounds (speed up, slow down, etc.) and sequence them (arrange into repeating patterns) -Portable recording studio that works digitally and manipulates sounds

James Baldwin, "A Letter To My Nephew" (1962)

-Seems like Baldwin is anticipating what will happen with the "urban crisis" -Brings moral component to Sugrue's story -People of color seen like less than fully human, less than fully equal

Ashon Crawley, "Forgotten: The Things We Lost in Kanye West's Gospel Year" (2019)

-Sees West using religion as a shield to deflect criticism for his stupid statements -Ex. implication that slavery had been a voluntary condition; public support of Donald Trump -Gospel music as a way to revitalize his music style and sell more albums

Tricia Rose, The Hip-Hop Wars

-Series of Socratic debates around hip-hop -Rose points out that historically, a lot of "critiques" of hip-hop's misogyny have been a disguised rhetorical tool to attack the worth of the music -A lot of the critics aren't actually concerned with feminism -Conservative critiques of hip-hop misogyny often appeal to really conservative ideas of masculinity (i.e. not feminist; treat women as powerless) -Graphic sexual image is equated with misogyny (i.e. the idea that seeing sex or hearing graphic language is harmful to women) -Rose argues that it's important to separate out these bad-faith critiques from sincere critiques of misogyny in hip-hop, which is obviously a real and major issue -Hip-hop tends toward exaggeration in every aspect (Ex. violence in Straight Outta Compton) -Informs the way that relationships to women and sex is talked about -People who see themselves as powerless tend to lash out against both those in power and those with less power Steps to productively address misogyny in hip-hop -Develop and promote a serious and progressive attack on sexism in hip-hop -Encourage, promote, and support young women and men who are embedded/invested in hip-hop but want to change or challenge it -Educate all youth about sexism, and how to stop it and strive for equality

Why does the DJ's centrality in hip-hop get faded out as it moves from live performances to the recording studio?

-Studio was unforgiving to precision of turntable → couldn't get away with little mistakes like you could in a live show -Studio heads thought it was weird to record people playing records Exception = 1981, "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" → Flash recreating a DJ performance -Not a hit; most people who heard it thought it was strange unless they were aware of the live shows -Ahead of its time → similar to the mashups that are popular in the 21st century

20th Century Jamaican Musical Culture: Dub

-Sub-genre of reggae → late 1960s -King Tubby → engineer; takes idea of instrumental music and runs with it -Figures out with two turntables you can switch from one with vocals and one without vocals -Recording as the tools of musical creativity, not just the products -Trippy, experimental, auditory, hallucinatory style -Importance of producer as the primary creator

The "Merry-Go-Round"

-Switch from part of one record to part of another -Two identical copies of the record → extend the break indefinitely -Requires incredible amount of precision and coordination DJ Kool Herc was notoriously sloppy with switching back and forth Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler) → builds off this technique -"Quick-mix theory" → greater precision and dexterity -Used pencils to mark where breaks stopped and started on the record -One of most famous DJs because he was so good at this

Other characteristics of subculture

-Tend to take themselves very seriously → rules and allegiance -Anti-commercial b/c they are anti-mainstream → concerns over "selling out" -Insular and tight-knit -Historically tend to be local, focused on "scenes" (has changed in internet age) -Style is so important to subcultures as a way to outwardly commit to own belonging in subculture -Subcultures can be abrasive to people on the outside -Subcultures don't usually last very long (i.e. people involved tire or grow out of them or they get absorbed by dominant culture)

Public Enemy

-The most iconic "political" rap group -Formed at Adelphi University on Long Island Carlton Ridenhour (Chuck D) and William Drayton (Flavor Flav) -More of an artist collective than a conventional group -In-house production team = the Bob Squad -DJ = Terminator X -"Minister of Information" -"Media Assassin" -Dancers = SIWs (paramilitary) -1986: signed to Def Jam Records -1987: album released called "Yo! Bum Rush the Show"; didn't sell much but did well with critics -Understood the power of MTW → maximized their time (actually don't swear that much; partially because of this MTV coverage)

Hip-hop as a subculture

-Unlike a lot of earlier popular musical forms (i.e. rock and roll), hip-hop began as a subculture -Dick Hebdige argues style as a concept is very important to subcultures -Most important aspect of an MC is individuality -All definitions of style are contained in the way style functions in hip-hop -Opposed mainstream culture -Wasn't polite or well-behaved; oppositional to norms and authority (think: graffiti) -Opposition to parent culture of 1960s R&B and Soul (Taking records and deconstructing, scratching, etc.)

The American hard boiled tradition (Mosely)

-Unsentimental, unromantic, pessimistic → only choice is between evils -Everyone is guilty; even the "good guys" are bad in some way -Element of sardonic humor -Mosley argues that hardboiled worldview is actually liberating, because you are under no illusions that the world is good -Celebrates it by modeling it → "bright and shiny stainless-steel garbage can" v. "maggots and rats" -Traces elements of this tradition through crime fiction, boxing, blues, etc.

Drake

-Used sonic uniqueness to carve out a space for himself in hip-hop -Came into hip-hop from an a very unconventional background -Been an adolescent TV star in Canada, came from a biracial Jewish background, raised in Toronto -Rises to musical prominence in 2009 → musical "benefactor" = Lil Wayne -Similar to Dr. Dre and Eminem situation

After Hammer and Ice

-Vanilla Ice's stardom was relatively brief -His label had circulated a fake biography that fabricated aspects of his background to make him seem more "street" & it was hugely embarrassing for him when it came out Massive successes of both MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice made of lot of people in hip-hop very angry -Weren't seen as serious artists → their music and presentation was seen as flashy and superficial Rappers had struggled for years to get radio play → frustrating that watered-down versions of hip-hop were getting radio play & popularity

Jeff Weiss, "Post Malone..." (2018)

-Viscous takedown of Post Malone -Shows way that arguments about authenticity can powerfully become arguments about aesthetics Argument: Malone's music is hollow and artistically fraudulent -Links Malone's work to artifice, shallowness, and overt commercialism -"Post Malone is a Halloween rental, a removable platinum grill, a Cubic Zirconium proposal on the jumbo screen of a last-place team" Also accuses Malone of profiting off his position as a white man in hip-hop -Done himself no favors with some stupid interviews Says, most importantly, that is what is wrong with Post Malone is that he doesn't stand for anything -Doesn't have any self-awareness; does not want to tackle the conversations around being a white guy profiting off black signifiers in hip-hop

"Fight the Power" by Public Enemy

-Written for the movie "Do The Right Thing" -Recalling Selma → saying they're not doing that anymore; set up to fight now -Holding up signs of Black political figures, significant locations, Black icons -Taking down Elvis; "most of my heroes don't appear on no stamp"

Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style

-argues style as a concept is central to subcultures -subcultures are defined by opposition and refusal -symbolically and ideologically, style is a way to outwardly commit to one's own belonging in a subculture

moral panic

-sociological term that describes when an "episode...emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests" (Cohen) -Tend to be short-lived and often conservative or reactionary -The idea that some sort of cultural form/figure/event threatens the core values of society -In retrospect are often seen as overblown and ridiculous, an overreaction

When was the first hip-hop artist recorded?

1979

Rap on the Radio

1980s → -Radio still most important force in commercial popular music -VERY hard for hip-hop artists to get played on the radio -No dedicated hip-hop stations -Many listeners of R&B radio were not fans of hip-hop -Not like today, where R&B and hip-hop tend to be on the same station -No path for hip-hop artists to get into the Top 40/Pop radio -Occasional exceptions: Run-DMC & Beastie Boys (helped that they were white) → but went through the rock radio 1986 → -Run-DMC's Raising Hell became first rap album to go Platinum -Beastie Boys' Licensed to III became first rap album to top the Billboard Album Chart → eclipsed Raising Hell as highest-selling rap album of all time Album ratings became the way hip-hop broke into pop culture

Hip-Hop: 1981-1982

1981: Blondie → #1 Billboard hit with "Rapture," features lead singer Debbie Harry rapping a verse -Technically the first rap song to reach the top of the charts Two landmark singles in 1982: "The Message" = Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five fr. Melle Mel's -Much more serious subject matter; more explicit in its concerns (poverty, urban decay, directing attention to contexts producing hip-hop) -Top 40 hit → first since Rapper's Delight -Indicates there is more to this music than being a passing fad -Led to Grandmaster Flash leaving Sugar Hill Records "Planet Rock" = Afrika Bambaataa & SoulSonic Force -Tommy Boy = label -Technologically innovative and more faithfully represented the club/live energy of hip-hop than previous recordings -Musical/sonic breakthrough

"Who Got the Camera?" by Eric Harvey

A lot of controversies around rap have had to do with the music's purported relationship to "reality" -Ex. Ice-T singing about killing cops → assumption that is his personal feelings -Ice Cube called "gangsta rap" "reality rap" Gangsta rap's critics and its fans were invested in the idea that gangsta rap, and the people and characters within it were "real" Eric Harvey → it is most useful to think of gangsta rap's "reality" as a sort of mode of entertainment -Along the lines of Cops or America's Most Wanted → early "reality television"

Sample-based Hip-Hop

Affordable sample-sequencers (SP-1200 & MPC) allow recorded hip-hop to move back to roots (records themselves) 1980s → sampling = standard practice -High-profile lawsuits begin emerging -Business side = Sample-clearance and budgets devoted to sample-clearing -Musical side = Producers hide sources of their samples (obscure records, speeding up/slowing down, etc.) → flourishing creativity

What happened to the South Bronx?

Cross Bronx Expressway (begins in 1948) -Brainchild of Robert Moses, incredibly powerful and influential urban planner -Connects NJ and Queens to Manhattan through the South Bronx -Eminent domain: legal principle that allows gov't to take private property for public use -Usually enacted on places with low economic and political power → unintended consequence of further economic decay by making land less desirable place to live

"The Bridge," 1986

DJ Marley Marl → invented hip-hop sampling as we know it -Discovers he can use E-Mu SP-12 to sample drum songs off records themselves -Takes "Impeach the President" break & uses the drum sounds individually -Other producers realize this capability → sampling entire passages of records -Manipulated samples to get more onto the samplers

808s & Heartbreak (2008)

Drastic departure from earlier music → much less radio/pop friendly; experimental -Worked extensively with synthesizers, drum machines, and auto-tune -Frequently sad and angry → found him in mourning after his mother's death and his failed engagement Received lukewarm reviews and didn't sell nearly as well -Thought that his description of the dissolution of his relationship demonized the women and aired their dirty laundry for the public Today, 808s may be West's most influential work from a sonic standpoint → foreshadowed sound of pop in 2010s

"Rebel Without a Pause" by Public Enemy

First song of next album (It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back) -First rap album to take first place in the Village Voice critics' poll Abrasive, aggressive, stark Interplay of Chuck D and Flavor Flav -FF plays trickster, joker dynamic; Chuck D plays booming figure No one had heard music like this -Funky Drummer by James Brown = drums -The Grunt by JBs (James Brown backup band) = whistling, tea kettle sound -Jesse Jackson speech at the beginning

Radio organization

Genre-specific -Rock, country, R&B/Hip-hop ("urban") All-purpose/genre-less -Top 40/Pop -Middle of the Road/Adult Contemporary

one of hip-hop's most popular breaks

James Brown, "Funky Drummer" (1971)

Los Angeles, 1992

March 3, 1991: Rodney King was brutally beaten by four LAPD officers during a traffic stop -George Holiday (bystander) caught it on camera from his apartment -The video became a national sensation; the four officers were arrested and charged with assault and excessive force -April 1992: a mostly white jury acquitted the four officers of charges -Shock and anger at the verdict quickly spurred an uprising in Central and South Central Los Angeles that lasted 6 days The LA riots were a massive national story -Influence of "gangsta rap" was widely blamed for the violence of the uprising, particularly by conservative, pro-police commentators -These people saw "gangsta rappers" as the cause for inciting this violence, instead of the music being an expression of preexisting conditions -In late 1992, Ice Cube (who received a disproportionate amount of this criticism) released The Predator, largely in response to the criticism

What are the downsides of authenticity?

Policing authenticity is a fundamentally conservative impulse -Relies on a backwards-looking version of what "real" music is Inadvertently devalues the creativity of artists -Viewing someone's art purely as an extension of their selves minimizes the amount of time and work artists put into their craft Hip-hop often traffics in hyperbole and provocation -The demands of "keeping it real" have sometimes seeped out of the music and into real life, with tragic results -ex. murder of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.

Joe Schloss, Making Beats

Sample-based producers → see themselves as community of like-minded artists, committed to art form (not trying to use shortcuts) "Rules" about sample-based hip-hop -Protecting notion of artistry and creativity -Must sample vinyl; don't sample from other hip-hop records; don't sample from compilations; don't use multiple parts from the same record 'Flipping' v. 'biting' -Flipping = creation / biting = derivative, too obvious, shortcut Aesthetics drive the selection of producers → being able to make a cool-sounding piece of music

Why is sampling important to hip-hop as a political form?

Sampling of hip-hop allows artists to engage with the musical past in ways that can be symbolic and powerful along symbolic lines

Alice Echols, Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture

Suggests that hip-hop's masculinity may have developed as rejection of disco, which was stereotyped as feminine

Hip-Hop: 1980

That's the Joint by Funky 4 plus 1 -Sugar Hill Records -Captures the essence of hip-hop → party, excitement, energy -Performers → charismatic, accomplished MCs, interplay between voices The Breaks by Kurtis Blow -More serious subject matter → poverty, bad things happening in the neighborhood

scratching

Theodore Livingston (Grand Wizzard Theodore); stumbles upon it when in an argument with his mother and accidentally pushes a record backward

Realness/authenticity

Truthfulness & sincerity → what you're seeing is the genuine artifact Self-awareness / self-knowledge Rootedness → true to your background & conditions from which you came; not misrepresenting yourself

Which producers and record companies are Tupac and Biggie associated with?

Tupac = Suge Knight, Death Row Records Biggie = Sean "Puffy" Combs, Bad Boy Records

Tupac and Biggie Feud: general summary

Tupac and Biggie had been friends early on, but relationship began to fray once Biggie got hugely famous November 1994: Tupac shot during robbery at NYC recording studio -Believed that it was an ambush arranged by Biggie and Combs February 1995: Biggie released "Who Shot Ya?" -Tupac became convinced the song was a taunt directed at him (Biggie denied this) 1995: Source Awards in NYC -Suge Knight gave an inflammatory speech in which he mocked Puffy (Comb) and Bad Boy 2Pac, "Hit 'Em Up" (1996) -Crossed so many lines → boasted about having sex with Biggie's wife (Faith Evans) and visciously attacked Combs and Bad Boy -Explicitly about Biggie → point of no return; so much hate and viciously September 7, 1996: Tupac Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas March 9, 1997: Christopher Wallace (Biggie) was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles Both murders remain unsolved, but many in Death Row camp still believe Biggie and Combs were involved in Tupac's murder.

Hip-hop as hardboiled

Unique among American popular song forms in that the vast majority of music is NOT love songs -Love as transactional → not romantic love -Surprising when love does appear in hip-hop Tremendous amount of hip-hop is concerned with gritty realities of the real world: poverty, deprivation, moral uncertainty, sin When rappers rap about luxury & consumption, it is almost always in implicit juxtaposition to the absence of those things (not being born wealthy).

How did tensions continue to rise in the Biggie v. Tupac case throughout 1995-1996?

Vibe magazine was a particular site of conflict, which drove magazine sales -Also accused of exploiting the conflict through sensational cover stories Tupac insinuates that he slept with Biggie's wife -Biggie would often try to downplay the conflict, say he had no beef with Tupac Shakur

Felicia Angeja Viator, To Live and Defy in LA: How Gangsta Rap Changed America

the history of police brutality in Black communities in Los Angeles went back a long way, but aftermath of Watts and rise of War on Drugs exacerbated the situation