{"id":3490,"date":"2018-05-01T11:16:13","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T16:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=3490"},"modified":"2018-05-01T11:16:13","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T16:16:13","slug":"message-in-the-music-more-narrowly-defined-than-we-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2018\/05\/01\/message-in-the-music-more-narrowly-defined-than-we-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Message in the Music: More Narrowly Defined than We Think?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The music of New York-based hip hop group Public Enemy regularly created intense criticism from mainstream audiences. The uncensored, sometimes vile lyrics explicitly challenge social systems and raise awareness of race relations in the 1980s and 90s. One of the group\u2019s most well known songs, \u201cFight the Power\u201d<\/a> is famous for addressing racism in a post-Civil Rights society. The video criticizes the peaceful protests of the MLK era and, instead, urges people of color to loudly defend their rights, sometimes at any cost. The video, and Public Enemy\u2019s music and politics more broadly, were widely successful and, at the same time, widely controversial. Ethnomusicologist Robert Walser quotes the group\u2019s frontman, Chuck D, saying that his \u201cjob is to write shocking lyrics that will wake people up.\u201d[1]<\/sup><\/a> This idea is evident in any analysis of Chuck D\u2019s interviews or lyrics, sometimes going so far as to pit black artists against each other. In my search for primary source material for this post, I came across one particular newspaper article that, a bit to my surprise, exemplified this perfectly.[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

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“Message in the Music” – Black Networking News, 1989<\/p><\/div>\n

The article centers on an analysis of Tracy Chapman<\/a>, an African American folk\/acoustic singer, and whether her music carries the same social weight as that of Public Enemy. The author of the article highlights a 1989 quote from Chuck D, saying: \u201cBlack people cannot feel Tracy Chapman if they got beat over the head with it thirty thousand times.\u201d The author goes on to discuss the implications of this statement and how he disagreed with the idea that there is a certain type of music that appeals to black people and can create social change. As a white student in the 21st century, I recognize that I\u2019m in no position to comment on what constitutes an activist song for people of color in the late 20th century. But, like the author, I was struck by Chuck D\u2019s assertion that there might be a right <\/em>way to create social change through music. What is it about hip-hop that makes Chuck D think that\u2019s the only music that can appeal to black people? Conversely, what is it about Chapman\u2019s music that makes certain hip-hop artists skeptical of its merit?<\/p>\n

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Tracy Chapman<\/p><\/div>\n

Reflecting on these questions reminds me of earlier topics we\u2019ve discussed in this course, such as the origins and authenticity of different genres. Chuck D\u2019s comments suggest to me that he might view hip-hop as an authentically \u201cblack\u201d genre, and therefore one of the few that\u2019s able to reach African American listeners and become a true symbol of struggle and resistance. Along these same lines, does this also suggest that he thinks folk\/acoustic music is inherently not \u201cblack,\u201d or, more provocatively, inherently white? I certainly don\u2019t mean to suggest that Chuck D was guilty of racializing genres, but I do think his comments pose interesting questions about the message behind the music. He suggests a very narrow definition which, the author of this article would suggest, creates more problems than it does answers.<\/p>\n

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Public Enemy<\/p><\/div>\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> Walser, Robert. (1995). Rhythm, Rhyme, and Rhetoric in the Music of Public Enemy.<\/em> Ethnomusicology: Journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology, 39(2), 193-217.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> Brown, Keith. \u201cMessage in the Music” Black Networking News<\/em>, November 1, 1989. Accessed April 30, 2018 from the African American Historical Newspaper Collection. SQN: 12BA6659726F6850.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The music of New York-based hip hop group Public Enemy regularly created intense criticism from mainstream audiences. The uncensored, sometimes vile lyrics explicitly challenge social systems and raise awareness of race relations in the 1980s and 90s. One of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2744,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1130,115,606,586,1131],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chuck-d","tag-folk","tag-hip-hop","tag-public-enemy","tag-tracy-chapman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-Ui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2744"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3498,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions\/3498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}