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POSTMODERN OR
MODERNIST AVANT-GARDE?
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CiccarielloMaher/ BRECHTIANHIP-HOP 13 1
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gardemodernismdefendedby the likes of Brecht,which I will supplement with observations about hip-hop. First, Shusterman
(2000) approachesthe notion of recycling through the hip-hop
practice of sampling, in which "music is composed by selecting
andcombiningpartsof prerecordedsongs"(p. 202) andthathe sees
as undercuttingthe artisticideal of originality.Here,his ahistorical
view of rapleadshim to neglecttherole thatsamplingoftenplays in
"fill[ing] a transitionalvoid of cross-generationalculturaltransmission" (Henderson, 1996, p. 311). Aesthetically, Shusterman
pins the importanceof uniqueness,quite rightly,onto "Romanticism andits cult of genius"(p. 205) but is on considerablyshakier
ground when he attemptsto broadenthe claim to include all of
modernism,which he accuses of a sortof cult of "radicalnovelty."
In doing so, he overlooksthe similarityof these characteristicsof
hip-hop to the notion of modernistcollage, specifically as pioneeredby cubists,an errormost strikinglyevidentin Shusterman's
assertionthat a "collage effect"is fundamentalto postmodernism
itself (p. 206). Lunn (1982) countersthat the general approachof
cubists such as Braqueand Picasso was "notmerely a case of aestheticself-consciousness"andthatthey activelyattacked"theartist
as an isolated genius, a hero figure"(pp. 48-51). In a step toward
Brecht- whose flattened class roles in the Lehrstiicke(didactic
plays) could be seen as the height of this trend- avant-garde
constructivismrepresenteda furthersubsumptionof the individual
artist,epitomizedin the "open-endedcreationof actorsand audience alike"thatwas Meyerhold'stheater(pp. 53-54).
Shusterman's(2000) attributionto hip-hop of a stylistic melange is intimatelylinked to the notion of appropriation,and it is
through sampling and mixing that styles are blended: Hip-hop
"feedseclectically"on "awide rangeof popularsongs . . . classical
music, TV theme songs, advertisingjingles, and the electronic
music of arcadegames ... [as well as] medianews reportsandfragments of speeches by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King"
(p. 205). Nothingin this passageis untrueper se, butby beginning
fromthe categoryof the postmodernandthenretroactivelyfishing
for elements of hip-hopto justify this categorization,Shusterman
overlooksthe context of such appropriation.Much of the above is
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The developmentof hip-hop revolves arounda singularlycrucial but often overlookedmedium:mixtapes.These represent"the
othermusic industry,the one wherelabels don't exist, . . . wherethe
CDs are sold by vendorshawkingthem off dirtyblanketson city
streets,andbootleggingis encouraged"(Reid,2003). Althoughthe
origins of the mixtape were not particularlydemocratic- fairly
expensive recordingsof hip-hop concerts and personalizedsong
mixes made by DJs for individuals- technologicaldevelopments
have facilitatedtheir productionand broadenedtheir availability.
Today,a mixtapehas come to mean a combinationof "unreleased
'exclusive'tracks. . . Freestyles . . . DJs' special mixes of songs or
theblendingof two differenttracks. . . [and]Turntablistsandartists
speakingout on currenttopics,"among otherthings (Reid, 2003).
Brecht emphasizes how "a democraticallycontrolledtechnology
could dissolve the previously closed processes of social and culturaltransmission"through,in his own words, "turningthe audience not only into pupils but into teachers"(Lunn, 1982, p. 127),
and in a technical sense, mixtapes do indeed fulfill such a role.
Anyone with an access to turntablesand a CD burnercan begin to
producetheirown rapsor establishtheirmixing talentsas a DJ, and
for an extraordinarilylow cost these tapescan reachlocal distribution points. As SamirMeghelli (personalcommunication,December 2, 2003), a memberof Philadelphia-basedhip-hop collective
MidniteChildren,has observed,"self-productionis crucialto the
hip hop culturalmovement,"and its origins are also "organicand
indigenousto the community"in which such culturefoundits subsistence, as the idea of "self-sufficiencyand self-production,carriedover . . . [in] Black ArtsMovementfolks, like AmiriBaraka. . .
who stressedthe importanceof establishingoutletsfor the production and distributionof Black Art"(see also Gladney,1995).7
Noted hip-hop commentatorNelson George (1998) once observed that the broad trend towardthe commercializationof rap
"hasmade rap more democratic- but is democracygood for art?
Hiphopwas, at one point, a true meritocracy"(p. 113). But given
the sustainedimportanceof mixtapesin lesseningthe financialrisk
of record labels seeking new talent- one mixtape hawker observes,"Look,therewouldn'tbe a rapindustryif it weren'tformix-
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(quotedin Fayemi, 2003)- dead prez ended up on a majorcorporate label that was none too interestedin releasing inflammatory
material.When it came time to release their second studio album,
RBG:RevolutionaryBut Gangsta, Columbiaheld back and, in an
attempt to get their voices out while skirting contract restrictions, dead prez adoptedthe moniker"dpz"and began to release
independent-labelmixtapes:TurnOffthe Radio: TheMixtapeVolume 1 in 2002 and Get Free or Die Tryin':TheMixtape Volume2
shortlyaftertheirofficialdroppingfromColumbiain June2003.
Of the first mixtape,M-l notes
Ina goodwaythatexperienceof beingboughtandsoldandfeeling
likea slaveledus to thinkof waysto do-for-selfonourown.That's
whenwe producedthemixtape,TurnofftheRadio:Volume7. ...
aboutIraqandotherissues,
thatalbumhelpedustomakestatements
whentherereallywereno avenuesontheradiooranywhereelseto
do it. (Fayemi,2003)
What is particularlyinterestingabout this passage is that the
hostile atmosphere of commercial hip-hop is such that selfproductionbecomes almost a necessary preconditionof political
hip-hop.In what follows, I will discuss the dpz mixtapesandtheir
Brechtianqualities,with an eye towardthe formulationof a theory
of didactic hip-hop. Methodologically,I will focus on a central
theme within the mixtapesand see how the provisionof divergent
perspectives on that theme facilitates comprehension of and
response to it. Such an approachmakes aesthetic sense given the
avant-gardeemphasison underminingthe sanctityof the individual
workof artin favorof individualpolitical themes,butmoreover,it
hopes to avoidthe incoherenceandcontradictionembodiedexplicitly in Brennan's(1994) individuationof rap songs but practiced
tacitly by most critics.13
The didacticintent of the two dpz mixtapesis clearestin guest
MC AskariX's statementthat "I put the message in the music to
wake you up out your sleep" (dead prez, 2003b). However,
Brechtiandidacticsis morethanthe mereplacementof a message,
and the lifelong struggle of the playwrightagainst what he perceived as the catharsisof traditionalaestheticsis a testamentto the
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Giventhe developmentto this point, one wouldperhapsnot be surprisedif dead prez were to fall back into hopelessness or, equally
daunting,a broadbut ineffective oppositionalismcharacteristicof
even the most pointedgangstacritiques.This is not the case, however,as the music has the same sortof utilitarianurgencythatdrove
Brecht(Lunn, 1982, p. 99), and activistpotentialis even explicitly
assertedin suchstatementsas "it'snot impossibleto makea change
in our lives" (deadprez, 2003f) and "we hip to this game tho, and
we feelin to changethis whole reality"(deadprez, 2002f). The latter is especially instructive, as it reflects our starting point in
Brecht'snotion that only by graspingreality,and indeed a reality
thatis obscuredby traditionalopinions andpolitics, does one gain
the insight that reality itself is a construct,and that despite structuralconstraintsit is also somethingcapable of being dismantled
and reconfigured.
The assertionof the potentialfor transformation,no doubt the
result of the fact that dead prez approachedmusic via political
activism, is then extended into prescription,thereby serving as a
sort of bridge between the pessimistic description of some socalled gangstarappersand the disconnectedprescriptionof some
knowledgerap.In the deadprezmixtapes,this prescriptionhas two
significantelements:an ethical prescriptionlinkedto the denialof
the culpabilityof Black youth andapolitical prescription.The for-
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CiccarielloMaher/ BRECHTIANHIP-HOP 15 1
tion of wealthandpowerlessnessbegets the celebrationof domination, in misogyny and elsewhere- dead prez is attemptingto salvage those elements crucialto moving forwardwhile vaccinating
against the "spiralingmatrixof empowermentand reaction"that
preventsgangstarapfrom "projectinga liberatingandprescriptive
paradigmfor the future"(Lusane, 1993, pp. 36, 49).
IMPLICATIONS
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from the drive for survivalism"and even notes that the subjective
developmentwas flowing away from religious organizationand
toward gangsta, but nonetheless seems to believe that merely
affirmingAfrocentricitywill be enoughto stemthe tide. It is on the
topic of gangstasubjectivitythatHenderson,in an extendedfootnote,takesissue with Kelley's (1996, pp. 136-140) identificationof
a "ghettocentric"culture,centeredon the racial,class, and spatial
identityof the "nigga."Henderson'sargumenton this subjectis not
convincingin the least- not least for its philosophicallyuntenable
associationof the wordwith its originalusage, butequallybecause
he fails to recognize the valid complaint against some Afrocentricitythatthe word"nigga"andits culturalmilieu embody.Specifically, Kelley highlights the way in which gangsta rappershave
takenaim at an overemphasison Africa and a concomitantdevaluation of Black sufferingin the United States, which is justified
by the culture-of-povertyargument.Such a dichotomyarisesperhaps most clearly in the classic anthem of Afrocentricity- whose closing verses mark a clear distinction:
"A.F.R.I.C.A."
"they[i.e., Africans]need help, butso do we- themwith theirgovernment,us andmentality."The implicationthatAmericanBlacks,
especially those representingthe urbanunderclass,do not have a
problem with the U.S. government is downright wrong, and
gangstarapperswere entirelyjustified in critiquingthe construction of such a false dichotomy.
Henderson'sframeworkof differenttypes of nationalismfails,
aboveall, becauseit has a staticnotionof "culture"andas suchcannot accommodateKelley's identificationof a new sort of ghettocentric Black culture. The clear irony of such an essentialistic
approachis that it is merely an inversion,a mirrorimage of those
culturally determinist "clash of civilizations" arguments that
would attemptto fix an Americanor Westerncultureanddefendit
from perceivedthreats.21
But beyond this, Kelley (1997) has more
that
essentialistic
visions of culture"reducetheir
recently argued
to
cardboard
subjects
typologies" and have explicitly served the
sort of social-scientific analyses that feed into the culture-ofpoverty argument:"Once culture is seen as a static, measurable
thing- behavior... it is not hardto cast blackpeople as pathologi-
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cal" (pp. 17, 9-10). Although Kelley's sights are trainedon social
scientists and Black conservatives,Henderson'sapproachshows
thatprogressiveandeven radicalcriticscan slip almostimperceptibly into a dangerousposition,conflatingcultureandbehaviorin an
attemptto defendAfrocentricity.The dialecticaldevelopmentthat
we have seen in rapsubvertsKarenga'sandHenderson'stypology
of nationalism,nudgingit in a positivedirection,andit is no coincidence that dead prez's incorporationof the song "A.F.R.I.C.A."
into "I'm an African" seeks to fuse Afrocentricitywith ghettocentricityby replacingthe chantednames of Africancountriesin
the original with the names of diasporic communities- "Puerto
Rico, Haiti, and J.A., New York and Cali, F.L.A." (dead prez,
1999b). Moreover,dead prez has continuedto subvertfixed culturalcategories,as their most recent foray into the mixtape arena
has been their track "Hell Yeah,"in which Roc-a-fella rap entrepreneur Jay-Z delights in disproving those critics who would
counterposebusinessrapto Afrocentricpolitics,22shouting"Weon
the sametracknow,baby! Whatyou gonnacall us now?"(DJEnvy,
2004).
The significance of such a culturalfusion is hardto overstate:
Much as Marx recognized capitalismas a prerequisiteto revolutionarymobilization,so too is dead prez engaged in a process of
dialectical Hegelian Aufhebung, and taking advantage of the
gangsta-era aggregation of ghettoized Blacks- expressed most
clearly in descriptiveand violent rap (nominallythe antithesis of
political rap's thesis)- as a first step towardunificationand radicalization(synthesis).23Such a dialecticaldevelopmentis, at root,
a process of relentless self-criticism,of the type that Tate (1993)
demands and which Burger (1984) associates with the surging
efforts of all avant-gardeculturalmovements. Furthermore,one
could characterizeHenderson's difficulties as arising from an
overlyphilosophicallyidealist perspectivethatoften accompanies
Islamic rap (i.e., mind over matter,knowledge as a weapon)viewing Karenga'sthree culturalspheresas more or less isolated
and dictated by individual choice- and as such is particularly
susceptible to sliding into the culture-of-povertyposition.24The
gangsta imperativeis a more philosophically materialist one-
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emphasizingthe realities of life in the ghetto and moreoverdemonstratingthe inconsistency of the Afrocentricposition. Our approach has been more flexible and anti-essentialistthan that of
Henderson,as the tacticaluse of the instrumentalaestheticframework of Brecht has allowed us to be more sensitive to didactic
approachesto mobilizationand, more important,to betterunderstandthe broaderdevelopmentof rap.This development,contrary
to Henderson,is not one of isolated spheresbut one that must be
characterizeddialectically if we are to simultaneouslyinfluence
the direction of hip-hop while maintainingan understandingof
actualhistoricalconditionsandrespectingthose who speaksubjectively fromwithin such a position. Lusane(1993) notes of gangsta
rapthat
the conflictedlivedexperiencesof rappersgive rise to theirconsciousnesswhichinturnformsthesubstance
of theircreativework.
Rap'spedagogy,liketheinitialstageof allpedagogiesof oppressed
andstrugglingfor copeople,emergesincomplete,contradictory,
herence,(p. 42)
The developmentthatI haveidentified,it is hoped,representsa less
contradictoryand more complete and coherentpedagogy for the
futureof political hip-hop.
In an interviewon the impactof the likes of dead prez, another
progenitor of political rap- KRS-One- suggests that hip-hop
developscyclically andthattoday'spoliticalartistswill give way to
another generation of less serious rap (in Thompson, 2002,
pp. 263-264), and it is perhapsnot surprisingthat Bertolt Brecht
consistently attackedthis dangerous"cyclical myth" that served
only to immobilizethe presentanddiscourageaction(Lunn, 1982,
p. 122). Withoutyielding to determinism,it is clear thatat least in
the case of hip-hop, there is some cause for hope that dialectical
developmenthas indeed been occurringand that subjectivedevelopmentswithinthe industryhavedrivenforwarddidacticpotential.
Insofaras aesthetic theories serve to illuminatewhat happenson
the ground,be it in the mainstreamhip-hop industryor on street
corners,we should embracethem. This is what we hope has been
achievedwith BertoltBrecht,whose theorieshavethe advantageof
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NOTES
1. Here, I am interestedless in assertingmy interpretationof the context of sampling
thanwith demonstratingthatShusterman'sframeworkclouds the differentcontextsthatdo
indeed exist.
2. See the sharpresponseto suchpositionsofferedby RobinKelley ( 1997, pp. 37-42).
3. Many thanksto MartinJay for bringingto my attentionthis importantwork.
4. For a good, nonreductivediscussion of rap that also emphasizes feel, see Kelley
(1997, pp. 37-42).
5. 1hope thatthis is not perceivedto be runningafoul of Robin Kelley's (1997, pp. 3742) insights,as I am not reducingrapto politics butmerelyseeking an approachthat(unlike
ShustermanandBrennan)allows for a properunderstandingof those elementsof rapthatare
undeniablypolitical.
6. Lukacs'smoredistributiveviews, on the otherhand,when transposedinto the 1970s
evoke somethingmorelike AndyWarhol'sludicrouscommentthatCoca-Colais democratic
because it is availablein similarform to rich and poor alike.
7. Meghelli also emphasizesthe importanceof the Nationof Islam's "do-for-self' ideology in this trend,and althoughI agree with Kelley's (1997, pp. 79-91) worriesaboutthe
reactionaryelementsof Nationof Islampolicy, it also appearsthatdo-for-selfcan be potentially transformativeif it is radicallydivorcedfrom culture-of-povertyreasoning.
8. 1 am temptedto engage in a sustaineddiscussion of stylistic similaritiesbetween
mixtapesandBrecht,thatis, a discussionof the V-Ejfekt,butsuch a broaddiscussionwould
necessarilycome at the expenseof the elementsthatI feel aremorecrucial.It sufficesto note
here,first,thatthe basis of rapis such that"distancing"is often presentand,second,thatthis
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is even more prominentin the mixtape, whose didacticalshock value is often higher and
whose low fidelity productionparallelsBrecht'saffinityfor anti-illusionistprops.
9. See specifically ChuckD's (1997, pp. 241-262) characterizationof gangstarapas a
"cry for help" and his defense of Reverend Calvin Butts and C. Delores Tucker.This
has been describedas
approachis not limitedto PublicEnemy,as KRS-One's"edutainment"
borderingon "pretentious"(Henderson,1996, p. 312).
10. Shomari(1995, p. 44) emphasizesthe workof Parisas a successful exampleof total
self-production,but often his critiquesdo not extendbeyondthe individualmembersof the
Bush family. As such, he clearly misses a fundamentalpoint of Brechtiandidacticsand in
doing so slides dangerouslyclose to conspiracytheory(see also Byrne, 2003, pp. 18-25). It
shouldbe notedthatthe accuracyof this articlehas been attackedby Parishimself. Regardless, recentresearchin the Black communityunderminesthe traditionalassociationof conspiracytheorywith political paralysis(Waters,1997, pp. 120-121).
11. But Lusane (1993) has also observed,credibly,albeit with referenceto the current
wave of post-civil rights leaders, that hip-hophas had more impact than all recent Black
political leaderscombined.
12. This pointseems to be overlookedby Kitwana(2002, p. 155). The authorattemptsto
maintainGeorge'sassessmentdespite explicit mentionof dead prez.
13. Such an approachis somewhatstrange,as it clearly maintainsthe quintessentially
modernistorganicismof the individualpiece. It is also demonstrablyfutile andcontradictory
as, in Brennan'spiece, his desirefor a taxonomyof rapgenresleadshim to fail: He characterizes the seminal5% Islamic/MaoistDigable Planetsas "CandyRap"alongsideKris Kross,
lumpsthe 5%notionof minds/wordsas weaponsas manifestedin the PoorRighteousTeachers as a "boast"andin fact is forcedto doublecategorizeindividualsongs such as one by Del
tha FunkeeHomosapienas both "prankster"
and as anticommercialization.Even if such a
frameworkwere useful- which is doubtful- it would still be far from coherent.
14. Althoughit has been objectedthatBrechtiandidacticsdependat least in parton content, this argumentfails on two levels. First,Brechtof all people would have been loath to
attachhis methodto a specific politics- it is aboutdialecticaleducationandsocietalcontradictionand,as such, certainlyleans towarda certainsortof politics (withinwhich deadprez
fit comfortably),but is not reducible to them. Second, a programmaticreductionismof
Brecht'stheorieswould precludeany comparisonwith an age as distantas the post-Soviet,
postindustrialpresent.
15. ChuckD's (1997, pp. 247-262) positionon gangstarapis slightlymorenuanced,but
he still insists on a full counterpositionbetweenthe latterand"positiverap,"andindeedit is
disturbingthat he devotes considerablespace to discussing the gang "problem"while neglecting to even discuss drugsand the drugwar.
16. Sucha positionputsChuckD closer to someonelike HenryLouis Gateswho, despite
identifyingstructuralimpedimentsto the agency of Black youths,paradoxicallyplaces the
futureof theraceon thecapacityof the latterto integrateintothe (mythical)Americandream.
See Grosfoguel (1999, p. 415) on the individualreductionismembodied in this founding
myth. Also on this subject,see the discussion of JamesBaldwin in Norwood(2002).
17. As fundamentalandwell documentedas this pointis, manyaretoo blinkeredto recognize it or refuse its political implications.See Cockburn(1989).
18. Forthose who woulddoubtthe prevalenceof prisonlabor,the profitmarginit allows,
or the exploitativenessit implies with relationto wage labor,it must be noted thatmanyof
America'slargestcorporations- from Starbucksto Nike- employ prisonlaborand sometimespay as little as one tenthof theirstandardfree-marketwage (Barnett,2002). Onthe role
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of the profitmotive in the Stalinistgulag, and hence the aptnessof the analogy,see Lewin
(1985).
19. Incidentally,a recentarticleon the film versionof TheSpookshedsadditionallighton
the strikingdegree to which even progressiveBlack intellectualsbuy into the American
dreammyth,as HenryLouis Gatesattemptsto framehis own workas a sortof fulfillmentof
Greenlee'svision: "Weall wantedto be insidethe system,integratedintothe historicallyelite
white institutionsof America, transformingthem from inside" (quotedin Nichols, 2004).
The irony- clearto anyonefamiliarwith the story- is thatGreenlee'sherouses knowledge
gained within the system to then get out and transformthe system from without.
20. Most studies use similardistinctions:Lusane(1993) emphasizesthe importanceof
gangstaand political rap (which togetherconstitute"hardcore");Brennan(1994) counterposes the gangsta to the preacher;Ogbar (1999) counterposesX-Clan to gangstas; and
"First Person" (2002) draws a distinction between the "Black capitalist spirit of selfdetermination"of Jay-Zandthe revolutionary"utopian,twenty-firstcenturyAfricanity"of
dead prez and Black Star,concludingthatboth are insufficient;the list could be extended.
21. SamuelHuntingtonis, of course,the undisputedchampionatperpetuatingsuchfallacies. See his attackon Islamic culture(Huntington,1996). More recently,the same author
(Huntington,2004) has takenaim at Latinoculture.
22. Jay-Zcould almost be respondingdirectlyto "FirstPerson"(2002), which drawsa
distinctionbetween the two artistsalong capitalist/revolutionary
lines.
23. A step that is implicitly recognized, albeit fatalistically,by KRS-One in Shomari
(1995, pp. 34-36).
24. It is hopedthatthe use of these terms{idealistandmaterialist),whose philosophical
connotationis completely distinctfrom theireverydayusage, will not be misleading.
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