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 185<br />
Summary and Conclusions:<br />
A Global Hip-Hop Future?<br />
Hip-hop is now an entrenched part of <strong>the</strong> dom<strong>in</strong>ant cultural<br />
landscape ra<strong>the</strong>r than a threat to that landscape. Chuck D’s claim that<br />
hip-hop is <strong>the</strong> Black CNN, cited <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>troduction to this book, is<br />
no longer accurate; it is currently more appropriate to see ma<strong>in</strong>stream<br />
hip-hop as an African American Lifestyles of <strong>the</strong> Rich and Famous, a<br />
claim that MTV’s Cribs supports. Now that <strong>the</strong>re are few selfconscious,<br />
progressive <strong>political</strong> voices—perhaps with <strong>the</strong> exception of<br />
Kanye West—alongside <strong>the</strong> merely enterta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g ones on MTV and<br />
BET, as <strong>the</strong>re were <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> late 1980s and early 1990s, <strong>the</strong> critical,<br />
<strong>in</strong>trospective, and <strong>in</strong>novative voices of contestatory urban agency, like<br />
those discussed here, carry hip-hop’s torch as a force of resistance to<br />
social <strong>in</strong>justice.<br />
To watch videos on MTV and BET for an afternoon is to see hiphop<br />
as a shallow, image-driven culture of exaggerated mascul<strong>in</strong>ity,<br />
misogyny, gratuitous sex, audacious wealth, and unabashed consumerism.<br />
In this visible segment of hip-hop, <strong>in</strong>dividual consumption<br />
and wealth are primary values and means to social advancement. Much<br />
of commercial hip-hop’s ethos of hyperconsumerism, which <strong>in</strong>cludes<br />
<strong>the</strong> ostentatious flaunt<strong>in</strong>g of luxury items such as jewelry and cars,<br />
serves <strong>in</strong> part to encourage listeners and viewers to “ ‘buy <strong>in</strong>’ to <strong>the</strong><br />
emerg<strong>in</strong>g paradigm of accessible luxury” (Smith 71)—an American<br />
Dream <strong>in</strong> which anyone can have a mansion. In this way, hip-hop<br />
becomes a symbol of upward mobility via material ga<strong>in</strong> that drives an<br />
economy based on consumption. Christopher Holmes Smith suggests<br />
that this paradigm departs from civil rights “communal development<br />
bluepr<strong>in</strong>ts” (71). Ma<strong>in</strong>stream hip-hop thus arguably re<strong>in</strong>forces some<br />
negative values that <strong>the</strong> civil rights movement fought.<br />
Yet what is most <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g about this ma<strong>in</strong>stream dynamic is <strong>in</strong>itially<br />
suggested by Patrick Neate. He claims, “It is white, corporate<br />
America that bestrides <strong>the</strong> globe economically,” but “it is black<br />
America <strong>in</strong> general and hip-hop <strong>in</strong> particular that bestrides <strong>the</strong> world’s<br />
popular culture” (13–14). If this is true, and I believe it is, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong>se<br />
two previously disparate forces have jo<strong>in</strong>ed toge<strong>the</strong>r <strong>in</strong> a strange partnership<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> ultimate service of wealth creation. Given hip-hop’s<br />
chang<strong>in</strong>g roles <strong>in</strong> U.S. culture, Rose’s claims about rap’s marg<strong>in</strong>ality<br />
<strong>in</strong> 1994 now seem tenuous. She wrote <strong>the</strong>n that hip-hop was “part of<br />
<strong>the</strong> dom<strong>in</strong>ant text, and yet always on <strong>the</strong> marg<strong>in</strong>s of this text; rely<strong>in</strong>g<br />
on and comment<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>the</strong> text’s center and always aware of its proximity<br />
to <strong>the</strong> border” (19). Now, though, rap is so imbricated <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>