american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang

154 AMERICAN POLITICAL POETRY
is true for many rappers as well. However, at the same time, some
rappers confirm the worst stereotypes about hip-hop culture, and
much mainstream hip-hop embodies an individualistic, hypermaterialistic
and consumptive agency. Much of it is also violent and
misogynistic. The rhetorical strategies of hip-hop’s contestatory urban
agency vary widely, but they consistently challenge hypermaterialism
and hedonism.
In chapter 4, I use five songs and parts of a sixth as case studies to
explore hip-hop’s contestatory urban agency. The first three are about
9/11 and the complexities of post-9/11 America. These songs are
especially pertinent given their similarities to and differences from the
Kinnell and Baraka poems in chapter 1. They illustrate two distinct,
but still overlapping, approaches to political lyrics and contestatory
urban agency. In “Are You Satisfied” (All of the Above 2002), J-Live,
a former New York City public school teacher, destabilizes public officials’
unifying post-9/11 rhetoric even as he laments the loss of lives.
Mr. Lif’s “Home of the Brave” (Emergency Rations 2002) directly
attacks American imperialism, eschewing J-Live’s more even-handed
approach. Because I am explicitly concerned with urban agency, post-
9/11 New York is an apt space for exploration. After those two songs
and brief discussions of Mos Def’s “What’s Beef ?” and Jean Grae’s
“Block Party,” I write about the Notorious B.I.G., one of hip-hop’s
greatest icons. The lyrics of “Respect” and “Things Done Changed”
(Ready to Die 1994) symbolize the tensions of contestatory urban
agency as well as any hip-hop songs.
Hip-hop’s contestatory urban agency is bounded by two poles that
rappers continually challenge. At each pole, a hip-hop foundation
marks the territory—on one side braggadocio, on the other
pessimism. The first pole is best expressed in the title of Nas’s “The
World Is Yours” (Illmatic 1994), which implies that urban actors are
capable of realizing any goal. “Block Party” echoes this pole when
Jean Grae raps, “The world is what you make it.” This sentiment has
been expressed countless times in what are usually referred to as
“uplifting anthems” or some derivation thereof. This pole inadvertently
echoes conservative political orthodoxy often used to suggest
that poverty is proof of bad character, and that the poor are lazy and
the rich simply harder workers. The other pole is best stated by Mos
Def’s “The Rape Over” (The New Danger 2004), a parody of Jay-Z’s
“The Takeover” in which hip-hop megastar Jay-Z exclaims that he
“runs” the rap music industry. In Mos Def’s version, “old white
men,” MTV, Viacom, and “corporate forces” are “running” hip-hop.
At this pole young African Americans in hip-hop do not even control