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New-Style Communication
Hip hop: Its following has developed almost analogously to that of the Internet, on a scale possibly more international, and driven by big media. There's little wonder then that hip-hop culture and its ethos of dissemination from the bottom up makes the world wonder where it's heading — and what it wants when it gets there.
Make no mistake, we're talking about an evolving means of communication. Where it differs, however, from more institutionalized Western forms is in its preoccupation with rhythm and words. At its best the culture appears an antidote to the cold corporate forces that it both utilizes and battles in a complicated dance. And rap music — presently hip-hop's most commercially tangible and frequently manipulated aspect — compels even when it's hardest to stomach, glorifying the retarded sexual attitudes and empty materialism born of ghetto ignorance. Once the CNN of urban youth, hip-hop now transcends category, displaying a vastness capable of accommodating contradictory currents — political insurgence and materialism — while remaining entertaining. MediaChannel affiliates offer their takes.
— Donnell Alexander (editor@mediachannel.org), editor.
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Shock the Vote
It's easy to forget that, even in the late-'80s heyday of overtly political rap music, vapid, disposable songs
and sentiments made up the public face of hip hop. Now, writes Lisa Sullivan, at a time when serious
content is less obvious, translating celebrity status, market influence and cultural power into political might
should be hip-hop's future.
From HorizonMag.com, September 1 1999
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Candid Circle
MediaChannel brought together a panel of five
participants in the big-money "urban media" business to talk about black enterprise, hip hop, audience and
the rest of the game that rap built.
From The Media Channel, August 2 2000
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Organize This!
It's a myth that hip hop is an anarchic kind of rebellion. If anything, those who carry the vibe out via the
commercial realm are extra-American, enacting native mores — violent heroism, recidivist misogyny
— to outrageous degree. Therefore, marshalling youth forces for the old-school purposes of social
redress, as Angela Ards writes, is an especially challenging task for community organizers.
From The Nation magazine, July 26 1999
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World Beyond Words
"Cool," wrote Donnell Alexander in this 1997 essay, "is about turning desire into deed with a surplus of ease." And rap is about "conveying through speech the world beyond words." It is this utility that has kept black people in the cultural mix and advertising agencies gravitating toward what's perceived as hip. Warning: This article is endlessly ebonic. From Utne Reader.
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Critical Exposure
When the site first appeared late last spring, urbanexpose.com was described as the hip hop-derived media
world's cross between Inside.com and the Jerry Springer show. Unsparing and often anonymous
behind-the-scenes critiques — in the form of postings — are urban expose's de facto reason for being. Farai Chedaya says that the way the heavily trafficked site mediates the urban Web scene
"points out exactly what is powerful and pitiful about community."
From Pop & Politics,
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All Eyes on Capetown
Scenes in Paris, Tokyo and London have long shown the ways hip hop has touched urban life around the
globe. Now, the audio goings-on in Cape Town — for years a wellspring of international mix-tape
exchange — are drawing a commercial audience. From this point on, the biggest challenge for South
African rappers might be shrugging off the influence of American artists.
From allAfrica.com, January 14 2000
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Spinderella Stories
The DJ holds sway as the potent and often unseen delivery system. Considering the boy's-club mentality that often dominates in their realm, turntable technicians Jazzy Joyce, Co Co Channel and Angie Martinez have struggled in a way that's often overlooked and misunderstood by the very people receiving their broadcasts. Nicole Payne
elicits great tales of pioneering from three of New York's finest. From Alternet.
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Rare Exceptions
Using performers Blackalicious (from the West Coast collective Quannum) and New York poetry-slam
expatriates Anti-Pop Consortium as examples, Jazzbo illustrates how a minority of hip hop's exponents
have gone against the grain of marketplace forces to develop material that's revolutionary from core to surface.
From Salon.com, March 17 2000
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Napster's Legacy
It appears free music is here to stay, as companies specializing in music-sharing have stepped to the fore in
the wake of Napster's litigation setback. Early advocate Chuck D says, "This is a prime opportunity for
artists to understand that they can operate beyond the naive slave or limited employment positions of
the old music-business templates." Its meaning to consumers is sussed out by Cicely Bland.
From HorizonMag.com, August 1 2000
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Mumia and Hip Hop
Death Row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal — "the man, the myth, the mystery" — owes much of his renewed fame to the publicity he's gained through hip hop, writes Carrie Ching. International support for the jailed icon has increased exponentially since the mid-'90s when Digable Planets and KRS-ONE were among the few rappers to recognize the significance of his plight. Credit concert-venue proselytizing as much as verses of music. From Alternet.
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AS THE MEDIA WATCH THE WORLD, WE WATCH THE
MEDIA.
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