Im interested in folks analysis of the following excerpt from John McWhorter's, Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America. The chapter I took this from is titled, The Hip-Hop 'Revolution': Therapeutic Alienation in a Rhythm Track. I suggest you read this book (bought mine at Borders) because McWhorter presents VERY interesting arguments for solving Black social problems. McWhorter is a Senior Fellow at the Manhatten Institute and a highly merited journalist...for whatever thats worth, lol.
"Black cultural critic Yvonne Bynoe, a commited activist, writes, 'The leadership from the post-civil rights generation must be able to do more than rhyme about problems; they have got to build organizations as well as harness the necessary monetary resources and political power to do something about them.' Nelson George admits that hip-hop 'doesnt present a systematic (or even original) critique of white world supremacy. Nor has it produced a manifesto for collective political agitation. It has generated no Malcolm X or Dr. King. It has spawned no grassroots activist organizations on the order of the Southern Christian Leadership confernece, the Black Panther Party, NAACP, or even the Country Music Association.'
Just after this point George notes, 'Hip hop has actually had suprisingly little concrete long-term impact on African-American politics.' But why the suprise? Imani Perry gives away the game nicely. She admits, 'It is impossible to isolate, in any coherent fashion, a clear system of political critique with a tracable eschatology and teleology in hip hop.' Indicitavely, what the part about eschatology and teleology means in simpler English is that the music gives no indication of a game plan or coherent goal. Was Perry possibly wary of putting that too plainly? In any case, she follows up: 'There is a kind of reverly present in the lyrical treatment of the prisons as a fundamental element to the identity construction of black male youth.' But wouldnt you know, Perry approves of this: that is, of a music that teaches black kids that jail is a rite of passage, 'real,' I suppose. To her, you see, this is 'a radical commitment to otherness.' At which point wherever else we are being taken, we have departed from any conception of constructive politics.
One might object that I am putting too much burden on hip hop- after all, in the end it's just suppose to be fun, to get the blood pumping, to remind us of 'who we are' and to 'keep it real.' Okay- but then, one agrees with precisely my point. It is unrealistic to expect hip hop to address real-world concerns, then one thing it is not is political. Hip hop is not a political statement. It is an attitude, and that's all."
Tags: Rap Politics Sociology Conservatism
