american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang

164 AMERICAN POLITICAL POETRY
notable too that braggadocio does not preclude lyrical complexity. In
her article on hip-hop as a tool for political activism, Angela Ards
argues that “organizing for social change requires that people tap into
their mutual human vulnerability and acknowledge their common
oppression.” She continues by claiming that hip-hop will have difficulties
as part of any political movement because it “builds walls to
shield” against vulnerability. Though she is correct that braggadocio
in part shields against vulnerability, she also claims that it will be tough
for hip-hop to begin “speak[ing] of individual frailty and collective
strength” (19–20). I argue, however, that there is vulnerability and
frailty in many hip-hop lyrics, especially in B.I.G.’s lyrics above. They
just seem dwarfed by macho posturing. He never makes it to collective
strength, but many rappers do, some of whom are discussed in the
second half of chapter 4. Collective strength is more a province of
independent artists and overtly political ones, than mainstream ones,
as community-based marketing, distribution, and performance reflect
and encourage collective values, whereas the high-budget, rapper-ascelebrity
marketing of mainstream artists does not.
Although difficult conditions await the African American child, the
persona in “Respect” imagines a world of pleasure and virtuosic performance.
He “bring(s) mad joy,” and he is born to be a rap star “ripping
mics.” After his birth, the doctor says that the baby will be “a bad
boy.” Naming the speaker “a bad boy” at birth helps produce identity
through existing negative definitions of black males as presumptive,
latent criminals rather than as college graduates. As Judith Butler
might say, selfhood is produced through extant social meanings; the
act of naming, moreover, exists within the dominant culture’s sanctions
and power structures. The way Butler understands public power
as literally “writing” one’s selfhood is so invidious that it allows little
of the agency B.I.G.’s song wants to ascribe to young African
Americans. 5 If the persona is “a bad boy” at birth—here the name
should be viewed via Butler and the allusion to Sean “P-Diddy”
Combs’s Bad Boy Records, B.I.G.’s record label—his chances of
avoiding violence are delimited.
When B.I.G. ponders the narrow field of possibilities for poor urban
youth, he calls attention to the competition that permeates global capitalism,
which is especially detrimental in areas of limited resources. In
doing so, the lyrics suggest that the struggle for symbolic and economic
capital can be devastating for urban communities. Pierre
Bourdieu writes that “symbolic capital is the product of a struggle in
which each agent” is “both a ruthless competitor and supreme judge.”
This capital is defended “by means of a permanent struggle to keep up