「今のhip hopは嫌いだ。リズムも変わってきてるし、lyricsも好きじゃない。全部shootingとかcrimeとかそういうことばっかりだから。old school hip hopがやはり本当のhip hopだ。リズムももっとfunkyだった。James Brownとか。」
彼は必ずクラスの初めにhip hopについてレクチャーする。1979年にhip hopがNYのBronxで誕生し、hip hopのfounder(DJ Kool HercとAfrika Bambaataa)について、old school hip hop、そして1980年頃のMTVの誕生によるcommercialization、それによるold school系の音楽の消失、rockの誕生・・・確かに昨日教授はhip hop肯定派と言いましたが、ちょっと訂正します。彼もhip hopの商業化に触れてるのを思い出したから。
ここで前期の"Intro To Africana Studies"のレクチャーからほんの一部要約(hip hopについてはかなりディスカッションしたので、後々文章化したいと思います。)
******************************************************** political unconsciousnessというのはいつも存在していて、それはhip hop cultureをundermineしてしまう。そして、hip hopという文化そのものが政治的になってしまうのだ。例えば50centの歌詞はdrugやpovertyばっかりである。
今までで一番generationとして確立したのはCivil Rights Movementのgenerationとhip hop generationである。この二つの現象はとてもpowerfulでdominant global movementとなった。
しかしここで注目したいのはhip hopはCivil Rights Movementのlogicを全く逆にしてしまうということだ。なぜならhip hop genarationは"We don't have to cross over America"という考えに対してCRMはintegrationを重視し、"white peopleの世界に入る”という考え方だからだ。
キング牧師の考え方は"We wil shape the white America."であり、Declaration of Independenceやfreedom of speech and pressの重要性を強調しているのに対して、hip hopは"We don't have to cross over America."であり、若者にblack peopleの服装や文化をすすめている。
そして、hip hopやblacknessがmain stream化してきた今日、
☆Can black people have the potentiality of being representations?"
☆Does every black person have to bear the burden of race?"
という問題がある。
******************************************************* hip hop is dead?というのはTalib KweliとMos Defの"Blackstar"というグループがNegro Improvement Associationに関わっていた(ちょっと未確認)などという事実に対して、今のhip hopの代表である50やsnoopはビデオでsexual desireを強調してstereotypeをさらに広めたり、Diddyが自分の会社を持ってビジネス(お金)ばかりをしたりして、authenticityが失われたということなのではないか。
NASのHIPHOP IS DEADのリリックです。バージョンによってmurderは違う言葉になってますが、オリジナルはこっち。(AtoZ Lryics Universeから)
If hip hop should die before I wake
I'll put an extended clip inside of my AK
Roll to every station, murder the DJ
Roll to every station, murder the DJ
[sample]
Hip hop just died this mornin'
And she's dead, she's dead
[Verse 1]
Yeah, niggaz smoke, laugh, party, and die in the same corner
Get cash, live fast, body their man's mama
Rich ass niggaz is ridin' with three llamas
Revenge in their eyes, Hennesy and the ganja
Word to the wise with villain state of minds
Grindin', hittin' Brazilian dimes from behind
Grindin', hittin' Brazilian dimes from behind
(Grindin', hittin' Brazilian dimes from behind)
Whenever, if ever, I roll up, it's sown up
Any ghetto will tell ya Nas helped grow us up
My face once graced promotional Sony trucks
Hundred million in billin', I helped build 'em up
Gave my nigga my right, I could have gave left
So like my girl Foxy, a nigga went Def
So nigga, who's your top ten?
Is it MC Shan? Is it MC Ren?
[Hook - 2X]
[sample]
Hip hop just died this mornin'
And she's dead, she's dead
[Verse 2]
The bigger the cap, the bigger the peelin'
Come through, something ill, missin' the ceilin'
What influenced my raps? Stick ups and killings
Kidnappings, project buildings, drug dealings
Criticize that, why is that?
Cuz Nas rap is compared to legitimized crap
Cuz we love to talk on ass we gettin'
Most intellectuals will only half listen
So you can't blame jazz musicians
Or David Stern with his NBA fashion issues
Oh I they like me--in my white tee
You can't ice me, we here for life B
On my second marriage, hip hop's my first wifey
And for that we not takin' it lightly
If hip hop should die we die together
Bodies in the morgue lie together
All together now
[Hook - 2X]
[sample]
Hip hop just died this mornin'
Hip hop just died this mornin'
Hip hop just died this mornin'
And she's dead, she's dead
[crowd chanting "Hip hop!" becomes beat]
[Verse 3]
Everybody sound the same, commercialize the game
Reminiscin' when it wasn't all business
If it got where it started
So we all gather here for the dearly departed
Hip hopper since a toddler
One homeboy became a man then a mobster
If the guys let me get my last swig of Vodka
R.I.P., we'll donate your lungs to a rasta
Went from turntables to mp3s
From "Beat Street" to commercials on Mickey D's
From gold cables to Jacobs
From plain facials to Botox and face lifts
I'm lookin' over my shoulder
It's about eighty niggaz from my hood that showed up
And they came to show love
Sold out concert and the doors are closed shut
「この本いいですよ。」のトピに載せたKevin Powellの"Someday We'll All Be Free"のなかにhip hopの定義があったので紹介します。(この本には他にも色々と紹介したいことがあるので、後日載せますね。)
"Hiphop is a culture of making something from nothing, just as New Orleans jazz was making something from nothing; taking what was cast off, left behind, and refashioning it into something new and alive; finding life where there was only death. And just as jazz culture was initially rejected as being of the barrooms and the whorehouses, of the unwanted, of the downtrodden, so too, has hiphop culture been marginalized, and is still marginalized to this very day.
As the cultural gatekeepers have thumbed their noses at the bluntness of the lyrics of Chuck D. or KRS-One, of Tupac Shakur or The Notorious B.I.G., of Soulja Slim or Juvenile, very few have been sophisticated enough, interested enough, caring enough to learn that there is a clear distinction between hiphop culture and the hiphop industry.
Hiphop culture-the four core elements include the deejay, the MC or the rapper, the dance element, and the graffiti writer or artist, plus the language, the fashion, the attitude, the history, the search for a way out of one's predicament- is a response to systemic American racism, economic injustice, classism, atrocious school systems, overzealous and sometimes unnecessarily evil police officers, inadquate employment and life opportunities, an unfair and decidedly bias criminal justice system....
Hiphop, in its purest cultural state, is the American poor crying out for help."