THE DANGER...

The danger in not being able to ground what it is you are engaging with in rap music and culture is perhaps an endemic and prevalent essence of the ‘misinterpretations’ and ‘mis-representation’ of ‘rap’. Dead Prez is one of my foremost favourite rap duo in the present, yet, at the same time one admires them for the issues they raise in their music, and the rawness with which they are delivered; it is neither a situation a listener as far away as New Zealand should inherit or internalise in his or her approaches to binary issues of ‘power’ and the ‘powerless’.

One very clear thing Dave Chappelle’s Block Party (2004) relate to the viewer is ‘rap’ music is almost always a product of ‘black’ struggles whether in the present or historically—but both dimensions are of the same—struggle is struggle whether historically, or in the present. This is especially the case with issues of ‘blackness’ as it is something carved and determined out of a very emphatic history of physical as well as mental oppression; slavery. Perhaps the preceding descriptions are quite under-rated but I guess the most important thing is, in any preliminary stages of discussions about ‘blackness’ is the emphatic role an ongoing phenomenon such as Slavery plays in one’s understanding (or at least attempt to understand).

Although some may claim it (Slavery) as a mere metaphor nowadays in response to its historical claims on the present, it should also be re-assessed as an underlying ‘axiom’ in discussions of perhaps every aspect of ‘black’ culture popularised whether through music, art, or whatever. The focus though is ‘rap’ and how it is re-planted within a very strange (for the time being) and dynamic cultural soil such as Aotearoa. Of course, already, anyone willing to begin a discussion such as this would eventually end up analysing pioneering figures such as Upper Hutt Posse and various other groups attuned to the social and cultural importance of rap music as a political tool within a NZ context; but, the focus is neither a historical account of ‘rap’ as a phenomenon and its process in Aotearoa; rather, I am concerned merely with how (following on from the previous post about Dave’s Block Party) everyday individuals and rap listeners here in NZ internalise (whether they do or not) issues of struggle prevalent and dominant in rap lyrics—such as the example above of Dead Prez.
I am trying very hard here not to go into issues of colours and race; especially in terms of economic background and what so, but heck, I am probably kidding myself!! I was always aware of Dead Prez for about five or may be six years now, but I never gave them much thought and time until they featured on Dave’s Block Party (2004). These dudes are fresh out of the frying pan man, revolutionary style and raising a generation of oppressed kids soldier styles—at least as they say in their lyrics. Ok, let me say this from the outset before I make any more analysis; it is quite weird but most hard listeners to rough and raw lyricists such as Dead Prez and heavy dozed Gangster shits like that coming out of Curtis’ mouth and just about every other dude associated with him, are...people from wealthy home background with both parents holding very good jobs, living in a nice and very quiet but expensive suburban area and what so..Better yet, they are probably the ones buying up all that shit since poor youths from “you know where” can’t afford to buy any of that shit.

However, the fact is, tracing back to Lil-Cease’s “chiiling-out-interview” with Dave, one can separate the bullshit from the real shit—the bullshit is the “movement” with which people associate these people. This is quite vague now but I think the important thing is, listening to Lil-Cease and Dave, you can assume that the idea is/was to make some money and get out of the present situation—which is most oftenly articulated as “the hood”, “the ghetto”. These are not straight forward references; one other fundamental characteristic of ‘rap’ music is; it is an ‘art’ imbued with metaphors and not so straight forward type of references. However, such are grounded in rappers’ reality which means that if one lacks the experience and therefore knowledge with which these voices speak; it can as most oftenly happens be misinterpreted. Of course, we can always say, but this is my own interpretation and this is someone’s own take and shit, or don’t player-hate on my shit or whatever. We on the outside can only relate to lyrics to a certain extent—perhaps a very limited extent. What I meant when I associated the “movement” with the “bull shit” is this—listeners and fans determines what they hear and see—its human nature—and by doing so, the rappers no longer have a voice in this process, all they do is rap and make money so they can enjoy things never available to them beforehand.

Lil-Cease said that what they had (Junior Mafia) between them as friends and perhaps co-strugglers was more than ‘hip-hop’ or ‘rap’. He refers directly to a context negated in any listener’s awareness with respect to their music and lyrics. He lives in a context quite anonymous in music tracks made by him and his friends—of course, listeners hear New York New York and all that type of stuff, but it is impersonal issues far removed from the reality which connects them and which is also absent from hip-hop fans’ knowledge because they are (fans) attached more to the “movement” rather than the intimacy inherent and prevalent between its voices. These stuffs are highlighted but in a very distinct manner that is much more attached to the “movement” rather than the persons. What I am saying here is that there are perhaps two dimensions to the understanding of ‘rap’ as well as ‘rappers’. There is the dimension attached to ‘rap’—this is a dimension which is also a filter through which listeners gain an insight into the phenomenon; but not an insight of the phenomenon as it is in connection to its voices but rather, it is an insight in subjection to the listener [I talked a little about this in the early stages of the blog with respects to NZ youths receptions of the media].

This is a rupturing event perhaps implicit and quite anonymous in the whole reception of ‘rap’. Other people talk about it in more explicit senses but through a different route. ...lets analyse this later....to be cont..