Art, Conflict and Hip-Hop
In order to resolve a conflict, you have to acknowledge that it exists in the first place.
This is something that hip-hop does well. It provides an opportunity for people to put their experience into words (or sound or movement), so that their concerns can be addressed.
But when Hip-Hop artists use their art to speak about problems, they are often blamed for contributing to those problems precisely because they are talking about them. The past few weeks have seen several stories that speak to the complexities of hip-hop’s relationship with social conflict, and its implications in the wider world.
First, Complex reported that five artists were dropped from a music festival in New York last month at the request of the police, based on their being “affiliated with acts of violence citywide.”
Second, hip-hop lyrics are increasingly being used as evidence in criminal proceedings, as documented in a new book, Rap on Trial.
And, third, the Houston Chronicle reports that Brad Jordan – also known as Scarface – is running for Houston City Council. This may seem unrelated to the previous two stories, but it speaks to the deeper agenda of those who speak about violence in their music.
In the late eighties and early nineties, Scarface and his group Geto Boys were widely criticized for the violent themes of their music. But people who really listened to their songs knew that their aggressiveness was mixed with deep introspection, often speaking about the emotional toll that violence takes…including on its perpetrators. Scarface’s current desire to help his community via the political process suggests that, when he spoke of his community’s trauma thirty years ago, his commitment wasn’t to crime – it was to honesty.
As Next Level Team Colombia’s Diedre DS Sense Smith observes, the same honesty that makes hip-hop powerful can also make it seem dangerous to many people. "Unfortunately Hip Hop has gotten a bad rap (pun intended) for being and exposing the contradictions of human nuance,” she notes. “No other medium of art has been criticized, blamed and dismissed like Rap music has…Hip Hop music in all of its beauty, ugliness, triumph and struggle is no less worthy than any other facet of art, however its admission and transparency of the ugly is highlighted more than its beauty. At its core, hip hop and rap music are byproducts of systemic racism and benign neglect.”
“The artists within the genre are free to address, reflect and expound on which ever subject they see fit,” she continues. “Unfortunately when they do, they are met with the polarity of sustainability and destruction artistically, figuratively and literally.”
Next Level Team Cambodia’s SANOizm points out that this trend is part of a longer history in which the viewpoints of communities of color have been targeted by authorities. “Black/indigenous experience from native cultural dance/language to jazz, R&B, punk, to Rock n Roll and hip hop are all expressions maligned/manipulated/criticized by racists/oppressive government forces thru history,” he says. “ 100 years ago, the Dada art movement was anti-art and anti-war sentiment that fostered conceptual art that heavily influenced contemporary art, punk AND hip hop. The uniqueness of hip-hop’s global platform is squarely set on Internet technology. Truth and propaganda can both go viral globally in an instant. The end effect of supporters/haters is exponential, but the precedents were already set.”
Team Uzbekistan’s ADUM⁷ feels that social critique is a fundamental part of the artist’s job. “Although I do hope artists are responsible at all times, it is up to the artist to be disruptive and challenge very rigid and stiff ideals while opening ceilings and barriers of entry, whether that is related to markets, thoughts (challenging old oppressive ideas), systems, lifestyles whatever,” he says.
For her part, Team Senegal’s Toni Blackman notes that this situation is not new. Hip-hop has been viewed with so much suspicion over the last forty years that that experience has almost become part of the culture itself. “This feels like the good ol' days of Hip Hop but it's more ironic because the music and culture are more pervasive than ever,” she says. “Hip Hop survived all of its death predictions and became the most consumed genre in the world. In the current political climate attempts to control it are just going to increase. “
In the end, as Deidre DS Sense Smith reflects, “those who haven't mastered the methods to obtain balance within their own lives still need their perspectives to be considered. The fact of the matter is everything we say and do has an effect, sometimes it’s reward and sometimes it’s conflict. This is the reality of expression, consequence, accountability and responsibility. In this case I think the ‘reality’ has been left out.”
“Every narrative won't be a flattering or beautiful one, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's a criminal one."