american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
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166 AMERICAN POLITICAL POETRY<br />
Hip-hop’s contestatory urban agency is—if <strong>the</strong>se songs represent<br />
how progressive and iconic rappers poeticize agency while challeng<strong>in</strong>g<br />
dom<strong>in</strong>ant culture’s frameworks for understand<strong>in</strong>g it—complex, irreducible<br />
to a simple formula. Its figures of voice draw from and foreground<br />
a mutat<strong>in</strong>g vernacular that frames agency <strong>in</strong> hip-hop<br />
term<strong>in</strong>ology. Though unrestra<strong>in</strong>ed agency is a utopian dream <strong>in</strong> some<br />
lyrics, artists often acknowledge factors that <strong>in</strong>fluence an actor’s<br />
capacity for achiev<strong>in</strong>g her purposes. This fundamental dynamic frames<br />
contestatory urban agency and hip-hop’s legion of protest songs. So<br />
though <strong>the</strong>re is great truth <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> claim that “old white men” run hiphop,<br />
<strong>the</strong>re is also some truth—at least through rap music—that for<br />
young urbanites “<strong>the</strong> world is what you make it,” if we consider that<br />
rappers remake <strong>the</strong> world each time <strong>the</strong>y grab a microphone. F<strong>in</strong>ally, from<br />
a lyrical standpo<strong>in</strong>t, hip-hop embodies a diverse range of poetics; as such,<br />
it is reasonable to claim that rappers activate, to some extent, variations<br />
of experiential, authoritative, equivocal, and migratory agencies<br />
as part of its ma<strong>in</strong> form—contestatory urban agency.<br />
“Get Live Y’all”: Hip-Hop’s Contestatory<br />
Urban Agency—Live Performance<br />
In this section I explore <strong>the</strong> <strong>political</strong> aspects of live hip-hop at small<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependent clubs. Unlike <strong>the</strong> private <strong>political</strong> exchange possible<br />
when an <strong>in</strong>dividual reads a poem or listens to a song, a hip-hop show<br />
is capable of creat<strong>in</strong>g a participatory <strong>political</strong> space <strong>in</strong>volv<strong>in</strong>g upward<br />
of 600–700 people. Live hip-hop aes<strong>the</strong>tics are <strong>the</strong> primary elements<br />
for giv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> art form and its performers more <strong>political</strong> strength than<br />
pr<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>poetry</strong>. They also illum<strong>in</strong>ate fur<strong>the</strong>r hip-hop’s contestatory<br />
urban agency and how it is transformed and magnified <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> spaces of<br />
live hip-hop.<br />
Given <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly oppressive <strong>in</strong>fluence of mult<strong>in</strong>ational corporations<br />
and multimillion dollar campaigns on <strong>the</strong> American <strong>political</strong><br />
process, average citizens across <strong>the</strong> country are largely be<strong>in</strong>g precluded<br />
from participatory politics. As Michael Parenti writes, “The<br />
power of money works ceaselessly to reduce <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluence of citizens<br />
who have noth<strong>in</strong>g to offer but <strong>the</strong>ir votes” (219). Fur<strong>the</strong>r, an abid<strong>in</strong>g<br />
belief <strong>in</strong> isolated bourgeois <strong>in</strong>dividualism forestalls citizens from<br />
impact<strong>in</strong>g politics, where only collective, not <strong>in</strong>dividual action, is<br />
capable of creat<strong>in</strong>g social and <strong>political</strong> change. One of <strong>the</strong> results of<br />
<strong>the</strong>se two conditions is a lack of substantive participation <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> public<br />
sphere. Richard Sennett notes that citizens’ engagements with<br />
public life are now a “matter of formal obligation” and “resigned