Racist vilification of hip-hop
The talk excerpted here was given by Imani Henry at the
New York Black History Month forum on Feb. 20.
Marxists must understand the historical legacy
of slavery and racism on this generation of young urban people
of color.
For example, as of 2003, AIDS is the number one killer of
African-Americans between the ages of 18 and 25. In 2002 the
U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2001, 12 percent of people
in the United States were living under the poverty line--and 23
percent of them were Black people.
Of the Black households headed by single women, 58.1 percent
make less than $25,000 a year. Thus, for Black children under
18, the percentage living in poverty is three times as high as
that of white children.
Thirty percent of all Black children are born into
poverty.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the ways
that young people of color have been economically
disenfranchised.
What I now want to focus on is the hip-hop culture, which
was born out of the struggle for self-determination,
specifically of Black and Latino urban youths.
Right now in almost every country, there is a hip-hop scene.
Of course this is partially due to the billions of dollars used
by the music conglomerates to market hip hop. But at the same
time, hip-hop has by design always been a mass and accessible
art form that did not lend itself to formal elitist study.
Its birthplace was New York City during the early 1970s. It
was rooted in some of the most economically devastated
communities like the South Bronx and Brooklyn.
There are four elements of hip-hop as told by KRS One, a
pioneer in the South Bronx movement. KRS One is of Carib bean
heritage and was homeless as a youth.
There is "MCing" or rapping; "DJing", the spinning of the
records; Break Dancing; and artistic expression through
graffitti. Break Dancing, made popular in the 1980s, is rooted
not only in African dance but also in Capoeira, a form of
martial arts said to have been used by enslaved Africans in
1630 in Brazil during revolts against attacks by the Dutch and
Portuguese armies.
Hip-hop culture, just like the communities it originated
from, fell under heavy attack in the United States, ranging
from national censorship campaigns to police attacks on hip-hop
concerts.
Today, rap music is part of mainstream culture and hip-hop
artists are some of the biggest celebrities in the music world.
Most commercial forms of hip-hop culture have unfortunately
praised misogyny, promoted anti-gay bigotry and glorified
senseless violence, all in the name of making money. At the
same time, the music industry on the whole also praises
misogyny, is anti-gay and projects white supre macy, all in the
name of making money.
To only target, criticize and demonize rap music for its
backwardness when the entire music industry is backward is the
real issue at hand. It is one thing when the Black community
wants to debate the situation of the hip-hop scene today--and
another when the media and the government launch racist
attacks.
Major hip-hop artists have created foundations and programs
that give back to the communities they come from. This includes
the creation of anti-violence initiatives. Artists like Queen
Latifah and TLC have become highly visible as spokespeople for
AIDS prevention among youth. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, the
founder and head of Def Jam records, was the one of the first
celebrities to speak out against the war on Iraq. When have the
heads of Elektra or Arista Records come out for anything
progressive?
Here in New York City, twice when the public schools were
facing funding cuts, hip-hop artists like Sean "P. Diddy" Combs
called for student walkouts to demand that there be no
cuts.
Recently, there was a protest mounted in New York against
Combs by the anti-sweatshop movement after it was revealed that
his clothing line called "Sean John" was produced by sweatshop
labor. P. Diddy called a news conference within hours to
apologize and to denounce the use of sweatshop labor. What does
it mean when mostly white college students put an equal sign
between a young Black businessperson and the
multi-million-dollar corporations like Nike and the Gap? There
can be no equal sign between peoples of oppressed nations and
the white oppressor nation, regardless of their social
status.
With all of his millions of dollars, P. Diddy is an African
-American raised by a single mother. He has donated hundreds of
computers to New York schools and given proceeds of his sneaker
line to aid in the national struggle for reparations.
Would any rock star or white celebrity be made to feel
guilty for bourgeois success? If you are a descendant of
slaves, the message is: You cannot achieve the same success as
your white counterparts.
There are many progressive hip-hop artists who use their
talent as a weapon in the struggle to free Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Mumia embodies the struggle against the state and its prisons,
cops and the racist death penalty.
Workers World Party is fighting so that urban youths of
color will not have to face such oppression. We are fighting a
system where getting a record deal or sport contract is seen as
an alternative to selling drugs because higher education isn't
an option.
We are fighting for a system where education and health care
are free, where there is cure for AIDS, and where the racist
death penalty is of the past. That system is socialism.
Henry is a well-known poet and cultural artist.
Reprinted from the March 4, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
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