Chapter 5

Black voices from Spike Lee to rap

In this chapter, I will use rap music and the films of Spike Lee to provide a diagnostic critique of the situation of African-Americans in the United States today. !lack rap artists and filmmakers have used media culture to articulate their visions of contemporary U.S. society and have used media culture to resist the culture of racial oppression in the United States and to articulate their own forms of resistance and oppositional identities. I will accordingly pro"e the aesthetic strategies and politics of some recent productions "y "lack popular artists to delineate the resources for social critique and political action found in their work. Indeed, media culture reproduces e#isting social struggles and discourses, articulating the fears and sufferings of ordinary people, while providing material to produce identities and make sense of the world. $hen mem"ers of oppressed groups gain access to media culture, their representations often articulate alternative visions of society and give voice to more radical perceptions. %et a diagnostic critique is also interested in the limitations of these works in order to advance the interests of the oppressed in future struggles. & 'espite the continued oppression of "lacks and people of color and growing violence against African-Americans, "lack culture has produced e#tremely important works in the last decades in the fields of literature, film, music, theater, and a full range of arts.( )ultural e#pression has always "een a way of resisting oppression and articulating e#periences of resistance and struggle. *ospel, "lues, +a,,, rock, and other forms of music have traditionally articulated African-American struggle and resistance. !lack literature has also "een a rich source of original voices, articulating the vicissitudes of the African-American e#perience and their culture of resistance. 'uring the past decade, new African-American voices have appeared in the realms of film, hip-hop culture, and rap music, and these "lack incursions into media culture will "e the focus of this chapter. THE FILMS OF SPIKE LEE 'uring the -./s, 0ollywood +oined 1onald 1eagan and his administration in neglecting "lack issues and concerns. 2ew serious films during the decade featured "lacks who were mostly stereotypically portrayed in comedies, often with "lack
158 Diagnostic critique and cultural studies

comics like 1ichard 3ryor or 4ddie 5urphy playing against a white "uddy 6*uerrero --("7 (ff8. $ithin this conte#t, Spike Lee9s films constitute a significant intervention within the system of 0ollywood film. Addressing issues of race, gender, and class from a resolutely "lack perspective, Lee9s films provide insights into these e#plosive pro"lematics missing from mainstream white cinema. Starting with low-"udget independent pictures like Joes Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads 6a -.( student film8 and Shes Gotta Have It 6 -.:8, Lee moved to 0ollywood financing of his films starting with School 'a,e 6 -..8, a focus on "lack college life that spoofed the college film genre and the musical. 0is ne#t film, Do the Right hi!g 6 -.-8, was immediately recogni,ed as an important cinematic statement concerning the situation of "lacks in contemporary U.S. society and the films that followed 6"o Better Blues# Ju!gle $ever# "alcol% &, and Croo'ly!8 won Lee recognition as one of the most important cineastes at work in the United States today. 5oreover, the success of Lee9s films helped open the door to financing a wide range of other films "y young "lacks in the --/s. ;he profits made "y Lee9s films produced on a low "udget showed that there was an audience for "lack films dealing with contemporary realities. 4stimates suggest that from &<=(/ percent of the U.S. film audience are "lack Americans 6overrepresenting their ( percent of the population8, and 0ollywood calculated that there was a significant audience for

"lack-oriented films 6*uerrero --("8.> 5oreover, the profits that Spike Lee made on his early films, produced on a low "udget, procured continued financing of his own films and opened the door for a renaissance of films "y, usually young male, African-Americans during the --/s.< In the following study, I e#amine Spike Lee9s aesthetics, conception of morality, and politics, arguing that his aesthetic strategies draw on !rechtian modernism and that his films are morality tales that convey ethical images and messages to their audiences. I also discuss Lee9s politics, focusing on the figure of 5alcolm ? in Lee9s work and his sometimes contradictory identity politics, in which politics is su"ordinate to creating one9s identity and identity is defined primarily in terms of cultural style. I argue that despite their limitations, Lee9s films push key "uttons of race, gender, se#uality, class, and "lack politics, thus providing a compelling cinematic e#ploration of the situation of "lacks in contemporary U.S. society and the limited political options which they have at their disposal in the current organi,ation of society. I "egin with a reading of Do the Right hi!g 6hereafter DR 8# turn to "alcol% & 6hereafter &8# and conclude with more general comments on Lee9s gender politics, his identity politics, and his aesthetic strategies. : I then go on to pro"e the voices of "lack ghetto radicalism in the arena of rap music and e#amine some of the controversies concerning it, concluding with some reflections on oppositional culture and counterhegemony.