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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CONTESTATORY URBAN AGENCY 175<br />
enterta<strong>in</strong>s, enables collective agency, and gives its participants an<br />
experience of <strong>the</strong> <strong>political</strong>.<br />
“The Best Damn Rap Tour,” which stopped at Cat’s Cradle on<br />
June 27, 2005, is <strong>the</strong> last case study discussed here. The show<br />
<strong>in</strong>cluded C-Rayz Walz (recently featured on an issue of MTV’s Made<br />
as a freestyle rap coach), Vast Aire and Cannibal Ox, and J-Live. The<br />
most strik<strong>in</strong>g aspect of this show was its myriad subversions of <strong>the</strong><br />
corporate-dom<strong>in</strong>ated music world. First, <strong>the</strong> show cost just $12 for<br />
nearly four and half hours of music by three reputable artists; second,<br />
<strong>the</strong> artists m<strong>in</strong>gled with fans <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> audience dur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> open<strong>in</strong>g acts,<br />
talk<strong>in</strong>g and listen<strong>in</strong>g; third, <strong>the</strong> artists were at <strong>the</strong> “merch” (merchandise)<br />
table sell<strong>in</strong>g (and autograph<strong>in</strong>g) <strong>the</strong>ir records directly to fans.<br />
(It is easy to notice <strong>the</strong> similarities to <strong>poetry</strong> read<strong>in</strong>gs, which usually<br />
<strong>in</strong>clude merchandise tables for purchas<strong>in</strong>g poets’ books.) This direct<br />
relationship between performers and <strong>the</strong>ir audience is a much needed<br />
<strong>in</strong>tervention <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> mythology, distance, and wealth of highly mediated<br />
celebrity and corporate cultures. It moves hip-hop away from<br />
videos and celebrities and back to its beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> late 1970s and<br />
early 1980s when it “was dependent upon face-to-face <strong>in</strong>teraction and<br />
small-scale mediation” <strong>in</strong> which <strong>the</strong> “event itself was more important<br />
than any particular separable discourse” (Dimitriadis 184). For many<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependent artists, <strong>the</strong> live show is still <strong>the</strong> cornerstone of <strong>the</strong> art,<br />
although a skeptic could say that <strong>the</strong>se artists simply do not have<br />
access to larger commercial channels and would use <strong>the</strong>m if <strong>the</strong>y did.<br />
But as C-Rayz Walz raps on his latest album, “I won’t dumb it down<br />
to double my dollars” (“First Words Worse” Year of <strong>the</strong> Beast 2005).<br />
This stated ethic permeates <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependent hip-hop music scene, but<br />
is difficult to parse for its truth-value.<br />
The centrality of live hip-hop to <strong>in</strong>dependent artists and audiences may<br />
partially alleviate <strong>the</strong> concerns of many critics and fans. Central to <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
concerns is <strong>the</strong> prom<strong>in</strong>ence of costly videos and market<strong>in</strong>g at <strong>the</strong> expense<br />
of “face-to-face community build<strong>in</strong>g practices” (Dimitriadis 191).<br />
Regardless of <strong>the</strong> differences between <strong>the</strong> two, <strong>the</strong> visual is key to<br />
both. Th<strong>in</strong>gs were not always this way. In Elizabethan England, <strong>the</strong>atergoers<br />
went to “hear” a play. Now, however, U.S. <strong>the</strong>atergoers,<br />
although largely from a different socioeconomic class than most <strong>the</strong>atergoers<br />
<strong>in</strong> sixteenth- and seventeenth-<strong>century</strong> London, go to “see”<br />
a Broadway play. Twenty-first <strong>century</strong> audiences go to “see” a hiphop<br />
show, whe<strong>the</strong>r that show is <strong>in</strong> a small club or <strong>in</strong> a large arena.<br />
Even if <strong>the</strong> audience attends <strong>in</strong> part for <strong>the</strong> aural experience, <strong>the</strong> visual<br />
dimension takes precedence <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> way that encounters with live musical<br />
performances are expla<strong>in</strong>ed. This modest sociol<strong>in</strong>guistic change is