american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang

180 AMERICAN POLITICAL POETRY
points out, he understands that his actions function “as rhetoric” and
“as a trope of impossible authenticity” (xxxvi). In any case, “acting in
concert” involves collectively working to achieve what cannot be done
individually. The power of acting together inherently includes the
danger of blindly following.
This issue also points to the indispensability for live hip-hop of
magnanimous personalities capable of virtuosic performances. Arendt
writes that the virtuosity of performance in spontaneously created
political space should not be thought of as a consumable product. She
writes that “virtuosity” is “an excellence we attribute to the performing
arts (as distinguished from the creative arts of making), where the
accomplishment lies in the performance itself and not in an end
product which outlasts the activity that brought it into existence”
(Between 153). The virtuosity of a hip-hop performance is categorically
different than the albums fans buy. The quasi-public space of the
show, its audience participation, and the ability of performers to
connect with that audience create a virtual space of interaction,
impossible when a private citizen listens to a record in her home,
office, or car. One pressing question remains: Can the agency of a live
hip-hop show translate from the public space of the show into
the larger realms of representative democracy, where urgent social
problems and economic inequalities remain, and where money, not
virtuosity or audience participation, controls politics?
Many readers may question any premise about the political potency
of live hip-hop shows if it is not also possible for the collective agency
and political experience created by “acting in concert” to translate
into action and change in the larger world. Angela Ards, in discussing
the difficulties of moving from hip-hop as entertainment to hip-hop
as activism, claims that “what look like mere social events may represent
a prepolitical phase of consciousness building that’s integral to
organizing” (14; my emphasis). I believe, though, that it is important
to think of live shows not as “prepolitical” but as fully political events
in that they establish community-based interpersonal relationships
and create democratic, political spaces. They are organizing.
According to Arendt, action in these public spaces “always establishes
relationships” (The Human Condition 190). Moreover, the “extent of
those relationships and their consequences are impossible to know
(and hence control) in advance” (McGowan 68). Arendt claims that
every action is a “miracle” since it introduces something new into the
world; consequently, it is not possible to predict with accuracy an
action’s future effects or how it will translate outside that space.
Arendt wants to preserve public spaces for actions that can be creative,