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Socialist Action /July 2001
Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: On Rapping Rap
"Let me write the songs of a nation,
and I care not who makes its laws."
- attributed to Daniel O'Connell, Irish Nationalist
(1775-1847)
The recent Rap Summit in New York, organized by
hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons, and supported by leading industry,
political, academic, and cultural figures, speaks volumes, not so much of
the music, as of the people who make the music, and what role they play
in American (and increasingly, global) society.
One does not have to look long nor hard to perceive
the criticism launched at the rap music genre. It is, in part, this very
criticism, coupled with political threats, that made such a Summit necessary.
It's helpful for us sometimes to look at history
to see more clearly where we are today, and why. You don't have to crack
a history book to find the first example. (Talk to your mom, pop, or grandmom,
grandpop.)
In the 1970s and 1960s when rock music and rhythm
and blues were emerging, it was heavily criticized by adults, who called
it "noise." Southern racists and segregationists called it "#####
music," or "jungle music," and organized events to burn such
records, or even bulldoze piles of such materials.
What was happening then was an historical echo
of what was happening before, in an earlier era. When both jazz and the
blues emerged from Black culture, these artists were severely criticized
for making music that was seen as "immoral."
The late, great jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis, bore
the hatred of small-minded cops in Philadelphia and Manhattan, and could
easily predict harassment, a jail cell, or a beating when he performed in
either venue.
Black feminist scholar Angela Davis notes that
both whites and bourgeois Blacks regarded the blues as "lowly,"
"vulgar," or "bizarre" musical forms.
(See her "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism,"
p. 123.)
Today, the same artists who were criticized and
demeaned as "low," "vulgar," or even drug addicts, are
remembered as musical geniuses, and icons, whose work is revered for their
scope, depth, power and brilliance. Imagine how dry American music would
be without John Coltrane, Miles, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday. Or Bob Marley,
Peter Tosh, Chuck Berry, etc....
What is happening with rap? Every generation of
Black America creates its own musical form, to speak to their place in national
life. Rag-time and blues were the first musical forms made outside of the
church, and as a secular form, was condemned by African American religious
and community leaders. It caught on with working-class and poor blacks though,
because it spoke to their lives in a false, hypocritical "freedom,"
which was really blue.
Similarly, rap has been criticized for its violent
misogynistic (means the hatred of women) character. That violence, misogyny,
and materialism arises from a national characteristic that is profoundly
American.
America is easily one of the most violent nations
on earth and has a barely suppressed hatred of women. Materialism is almost
a pre-eminent American trait. Much of the criticism leveled at rap was at
one time directed to other Black art forms, and usually had more to do with
the policing of Black sexuality than anything else.
Nothing so disturbs the twisted labyrinths of white
supremacy than Black creativity, artistry, and productivity. Think of it
this way: what other music form draws the scrutiny of the corporate press
like rap?
I have heard heavy metal that was so steeped in
violent imagery, of death, torture, and dismemberment, that it made my nose
bleed. It was so misogynistic that it gave me a headache. But these were
white artists, who are presumed to be free.
Rappers are allegedly "free" to say what
they wish, but they are profiled by the state, in the same way Miles was
40 years ago. The cops didn't think he should be driving an imported car,
so they busted him on Broad Street in Philly. How little things have changed.
© COPYRIGHT 2001, MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
Socialist Action /July 2001 |