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Hip Hop- losophy and the Politics of Recognition

Hip Hop- losophy and the Politics of Recognition. Very Early Origins. Can trace origins of rap back to West African storytellers known as Griots. Early “ Rappers ”. Rap is rhythmic recitation of speech over a steady beat.

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Hip Hop- losophy and the Politics of Recognition

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  1. Hip Hop-losophy and the Politics of Recognition

  2. Very Early Origins • Can trace origins of rap back to West African storytellers known as Griots

  3. Early “Rappers” • Rap is rhythmic recitation of speech over a steady beat. • Traditional African-American Church culture contains rhythmic speech in sermons, call and response.

  4. Early Names/Early Songs3 DJ’s originating the break-beat • Jamaican born- Kool Herc (Clive Campbell)- Moved to NY in 1967 • Concentrated on instrumental instead of vocals • Manipulated turntables- creating sounds and music • Break dancing evolved around this sound • First album Rapper’s delight by Sugarhill Gang

  5. Early influences • Jamaican influence- sounds produced by street musicians tapping into light poles to power their sound systems • Proto-type hip hop music primarily a combination of • Funk • Soul • R & B

  6. Hip Hop is a Culture • Hip Hop is music, but much more. • Fashion statements grew up around the music, in an effort to “reclaim” it from celebrities, and bring it back to the common folk. • Expensive sport shoes and wear, some claim was an attempt to mock affluent surburbanite originally.

  7. Elements of Hip Hop Culture • Graffiti (writing) • Clothing • Dance • Music • Rapping • Djing

  8. Elements of Hip Hop • Jazz poetry • Blues Talk • Signifyin’ – exploits gap between denotative and figurative meaning of words i.e. “sick” • The Dozens – verbal interplay where two competitors engage in mutual, friendly turns of insulting one another

  9. Rap and political philosophy • Read Microphone Commandos • How does hip hop and rap reflect a criticism of Rousseau’s social contract?

  10. The American dream? • Are there equal opportunities out there for hard working individuals to realize their full potential? • Do we assume that we all the same access to gathering a piece of the social wealth? • Are all cultures equally represented in the media or within education? • Should they be?

  11. What should have died along with communism is the belief that modern societies can be run on a single principle, whether that of planning under the general will or that of free-market allocations.” Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity

  12. Hegemony • Indirect influence or control of one ruling group over another

  13. Cultural Hegemony • Term coined by Antonio Gramsci • Domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class, who manipulate the culture of the society — the beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values, and mores — so that their ruling-class worldview becomes the worldview that is imposed and accepted as the cultural norm; as the universally valid dominant ideology that justifies the social, political, and economic status quo as natural, inevitable, perpetual and beneficial for everyone, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class.

  14. “The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don't know how to be submissive, and so on -- because they're dysfunctional to the institutions.” Noam Chomsky

  15. Rap and political philosophy • Rappers can be viewed as “oral historians” and “educators” • In the words of Chuck D. of Public Enemy, • “rap is like the underground Cable News Network of the African-American community” • Rejection of an economic system whose injustices are systemic and a culture where their presence is not noted and their voices viewed as invalid

  16. Musical interlude • The Message • Fight the Power • American Terrorist • Ladies First

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