UNIVERSIT DEGLI STUDI DI SALERNO

FACOLT DI SCIENZE POLITICHE

CORSO DI LAUREA TRIENNALE IN

SCIENZE POLITICHE E DELLE RELAZIONI INTERNAZIONALI

RESEARCH WORK in Lingua e Linguistica Inglese

Political Rap: La Voce della Strada

RELATORE: Ch.ma Prof.ssa Paola Attolino CANDIDATO: Claudiu Sonda 1210100943

CORRELATORE: Ch.ma Prof. Rosaria Minervini

ANNO ACCADEMICO 2010-2011

Table of Contents

Page Introduction......2

Chapter I. Politics and Hip Hop 1.1 Politics and Power5 1.2 Modern State8 1.3 Separation of Power...12 1.4 The Role of Politics. Political Consciousness.........14 1.5 Hip Hop Culture. Introduction...17 1.6 The Hip Hop Movement....18 1.7 Hip Hop Elements..20 1.8 a) Rap Music. Overview.....22 1.8b) Linguistic Aspects of Rap Music....26

Profile: 2Pac ( Appendix to Chapter I )...28

Chapter II. Social and Political Issues in Rap 2.1 Thug Life...30 2.2 Black Power...33 2.3 On the N-word...36 2.4 The United States of America. Street Perspective.....40 2.5 Call for Revolution............45 2.6 Special Part: Globalization and Hip Hop.......50

Conclusion..54

References: Books and articles.56 On the Web.57

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Introduction
One day, thirteen years ago, I got to listen to a very interesting song. I was ten years old at the time so I knew very little about music, let alone the world. Still, this specific song intrigued me and it was enough for my mind to raise some questions. The name of the song was Politics as usual by rapper Jay-z and so, the obvious ideas that popped into my head were: what is politics and why do I keep hearing about it in grown men talk? Later in life, I started to associate this newly learned term, politics, with rich, powerful and educated people. Also, I could not understand why do black, poor and self-claimed criminal rappers often mention these political figures in their rhymes. Could it be that there was some sort of relationship between the streets, ghettos and stuff like parties, parliaments, governments, presidents?

Today, even though I am older and some would say wiser, I put myself the same questions. The difference is that a decade later I am confident I have the necessary instruments to try and find some kind of answers to all that intrigue in my childhood. As a matter of fact, the present research work deals with the relationship between politics and Hip-Hop culture. The work consists of two chapters followed by some conclusions. The current introduction aims at making a brief summary of these three parts.

Firstly, I want to find out what politics really is from the theoretical and practical point of view. In this perspective, the study of Hip-Hop culture is essential for the research I have in mind. In the first chapter I will examine different political concepts and terms that will enable us to discuss deeply further matters, in an attempt to see if politics is really necessary. If we manage to respond affirmatively, we must put the question: what is its role in human life?

As mentioned before, the first chapter includes a part dedicated to Hip-Hop culture. What are its origins? Why is it a "black thing"? More specifically, I will focus on rap music, on the sociological and linguistic aspects of a very complex musical genre. As an appendix to this chapter, I will try to create
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the comprehensive profile of one American rapper that relates his lyrics almost entirely to social and political subjects. He is Tupac Shakur. Personally, I find this very useful to my purpose of highlighting the bond between rap music and politics. The whole second chapter will be literally flooded with lyrical "flow", in that it will be constructed on this (and some other) artists' magnificent verses. This way, the waters in which we prepare to dive will be clear enough.

Through genius lines I will examine serious problems that a certain layer of the society face on a daily basis in less developed or less fortunate parts of the world and not only. Television usually refers to the United States of America as the place to be, as the greatest economy in the world, the most powerful war machine in our century. Rap music opens the listeners' eyes to the darker side of the United States by depicting vividly the horrors we almost miss.

After having analyzed the profile of Tupac Shakur in the appendix, we will have already understood what "Thug Life" stands for and so we shall try to put ourselves in the clothes of a "thug" or a "gangsta". By doing this, we will be more considerate in labeling criminals because after examining the causes of a thug's life, I am sure we will begin to wonder what ourselves would do under the same circumstances.

Another part of the chapter will focus on the "Black Power" idea in rap music. Almost everybody has heard of the political movement, but very few know that the most incisive lyrics of black rappers are fueled by its ideals. The Black Panthers, Mumia Abu Jamal, Garvey, Malcolm X, all icons that rappers refer to very often.

A touchy subject, which permeates this music, is the use of the N word. It is a very controversial issue. Some consider the use of it as an insult to AfroAmericans, while others see it as a remembrance of old slavery times. From this second point of view, by using the word, black people would never forget that they have once been treated less than humans and the word seems to embody the necessity to motivate their present and future actions.

Furthermore, it aims to keep the black man's conscience awaken and ready to fight in order not to return to that inhumane condition.

In the second chapter I will also discuss the US government as the "streets" see it, as far as both home and foreign policy are concerned. Going further, we can notice that many rap artists try to be active citizens. I say this because critics of this musical genre tend to close an eye when it comes to giving credit for all the community involvement rapper promote and do themselves. It is very true their music is one of the most intransigent voice when referring to complaining about negative social and political issues, but it also comes up with possible solution and remedies to the problems it underlines. When listening to certain songs, one realizes that the call for change and, sometimes, for revolution - is very loud.

The second chapter has a special part. It deals with a phenomenon that involves each and every one of us: globalization. We shall try to set the record straight on what is the relationship between the American Hip Hop culture and the other national forms of Hip Hop in a globalized world. The last part of the paper, entitled Conclusions", contains a series of final impressions and points of view on the importance and the real necessity of political rap as a very accessible, loud microphone, a very effective weapon in the hands of the underdog, those who are not in the position to be satisfied by a traditional representative democracy that seems to be the ideal form of government for most of the so called modern political scientists. Very illuminating in this sense is one verse of Snoop Dogg's Gang Bang Rookie (2011):

I'm not down with the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, I represent the Gangsta Party!

Chapter I. Politics and Hip Hop

As already mentioned in the introduction, this first chapter will try to respond to the essential questions of this research: what is politics and what is Hip Hop? Each one of these questions unfolds into other question that shall also be answered. I am quite sure that there are a lot of academic resources available for anyone who wishes to study these two subjects. Therefore, I will not discuss the matter in a sophisticated way, as the main purpose of the paper is to try and put together formality and informality, the political scene with the "streets". To do so, I will tend to create a mixture of plain language, theoretical terms and concepts concerning "Black Language", henceforth BL [Alim 2006] . I will try to explain politics to the simple citizen in the streets and teach the upper class person Hip Hop Culture.

1.1 Politics and Power

When thinking of politics, most of us are assaulted by images of men dressed in suit and tie, of fancy, luxurious automobiles, and of the hunger for power. Also, we have the sensation that politics is actually some sort of dirty game, a set of rules that gave birth to a system through which "the big ones" exploit our naivety for the satisfaction of their own personal interests.

I agree almost totally with this vision but I don't quite share it myself. What do I mean by that? I mean that, left out of control, politics can have some dramatic effects upon our lives. However, if the masses of people learned to create a political consciousness for themselves, the scenario presented above would never take place.

Still, I have not defined politics so far. According to the Oxford Dictionary (online version), it is the activity associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power. I have nothing against this definition, but I believe we are at a premature state to

fully understand the meaning of the term. In this definition we find concepts like "governance", "parties" and "power". We have all heard these words before, but maybe not in this special context and, maybe, lacking their profound sense. Therefore, I propose to take each term, one by one, and analyze it.

When it comes to the study of politics, the main object is power and the modality by which one can obtain it, use it efficiently, but also get hold of it for the longest period of time possible. The power we are referring to in this context is the power of ruling over a mass of people. As power can be held either by one or by a group of leaders, we can introduce some further concepts into the discussion, elaborate more our discourse and understand this "game" even better.

Firstly, we could mention plutocracy. The same Oxford Dictionary defines the term as government by the wealthy. This means that power is in the hands not of one individual, but in the hands of a group of individuals. It also means that the decisions are not taken by the majority of people who constitute a society, but by a small minority, on the criteria of material possessions. I certainly doubt that the decisions in a plutocracy are taken for the well-being of the poor or less wealthy. I tend to believe the rich leaders seek their own interests. This is why plutocracy is not seen as a model to follow by political scientists who dream of equality and fairness.

Examples of plutocracy in the past are the Roman Republic, some citystates in Ancient Greece, the Italian city-states of Venice, Florence and Genoa. Even today, some see the United States as such. For example, in an interview, Kevin Philips, author and political strategist to U.S. President Richard Nixon, states the United States is a plutocracy in which there is a "fusion of money and government" [Moyers 2004].

Another interesting case of power concentration in the hands of a minority is theocracy. As the Oxford Dictionary clearly defines, it is a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god. Here, the rulers share the same religious beliefs. God himself is recognized as the

head of the state, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. We are able to draw an important idea out of this form of government, that is the strong historical bond between religion and power.

Religion is a system of beliefs that has the purpose to unite the human, material world to spirituality and morality. Since the distant past there has been the need to understand unknown events. The lack of knowledge determined humans to associate unexplainable phenomena with

superstitions. This is how rudimentary systems of beliefs took form. I will not focus on religion so much as it is a marginal subject in this chapter. However, I cannot let aside the Holy Roman Catholic Church and the Pope as they represented God's connection not only to the layman but to emperors, kings and queens as well. The Pope would name rulers, would recognize conquests, would approve or reject royal matrimony and divorces. All this in the name of God. It is obvious what kind of a divine power fell in the hands of the person who got the chance to get elected as Pope. In this case, the main purpose of religion became the control of the masses and of the world. It is not a case the Catholic Church is called Universal.

Returning to history, the Vatican started to act as any other European state at the time. The difference between religion and government was in this particular case absent. With the Age of Enlightenment (XVIII century) a new movement began to take shape: secularism. Secularism asked for the separation of church and state, replacing the scripture with civil laws and eliminating discrimination on the basis of religion [Feldman 2005].

Even though the majority of states adopted secularism, there are still theocracies in the world today. One example is Iran. It is an Islamic state, meaning it has adopted Islam as a foundation for political institutions and laws. To be more precise, we can analyze some articles of Iran's Constitution. A constitution is the fundamental law of a state. All the other laws are in a position of subordination to the constitution. A law that is in contradiction to a constitutional article is declared unconstitutional usually by a Supreme Court. Going back, according to Article 1 of Iran's Constitution, the form of government in Iran is that of an Islamic Republic.

Article 2 defines an Islamic Republic as a system based on the belief in God and also states that the leadership must be qualified in regard to the Qur'an and the Sunnah. However, Article 6 mandates popular elections for the presidency and the Majlis, or parliament [Fukuyama 2009]. This implies the regime's tendency to adapt to contemporary times by introducing democratic elements. Still, it is a fine example of theocracy.

1.2 Modern State

A term we have constantly encountered throughout the discourse so far is state. What is a state? Such a question may appear ridiculous, yet the answer is not at all trivial. On the contrary, it can be elaborated enough and it ties directly to the concept of power. Max Weber defined the state in Politics as a Vocation (1919) as a compulsory political organization with a centralized government that maintains a monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a certain territory. It is this monopoly of the legitimate use of force or violence that gives the centralized government power. This means that only a certain central authority is authorized to impose its will through rules and to punish those who do not comply. It also means that members of that society cannot use force to fight for their rights in case of injustice, but must inform the authorities.

The question that obviously arises when discussing the state is its real necessity. Nowadays, it is very difficult to imagine an international community composed of something else but states. Nevertheless, there exists also the idea of stateless society. Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state harmful. Anarchists believe that the state is an instrument of domination and its institutions means of repression. This may be true to some extent, but usually humans need guidance in their conduct. To be more clear I would make an analogy between the institutions and regulations of the states and, for example, regulations that apply to driving in the streets. Without a simple delimitation between lanes, auto vehicles would crush continuously into each other. With no traffic lights, a clear rule for precedence would not exist and traffic jams would be a normal thing in
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each intersection. It is true that the red light imposes the driver to stop, but it also gives him the opportunity to arrive home safe and in time. It is a very simple example that makes it clear why rules are useful.

Leaving aside plain explanations on the necessity of the state, we can focus on a more serious approach of the matter by considering the ideas of Thomas Hobbes. According to Encyclopdia Britannica (online version), Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher, scientist, and historian, best known for his political philosophy, especially as articulated in his masterpiece Leviathan (1651). His enduring contribution is as a political philosopher who justified wide-ranging government powers on the basis of the self-interested consent of citizens.

A main point in Hobbes' discourse is the fact that a centralized government finds its legitimacy in the social contract theory. This theory argues that individuals in a society agree to unite by mutual consent and to abide by common rules in order to protect themselves and one another from any kinds of harm. The social contract also implies that political authority must derive from the consent of the governed. The latter renounce in a certain sense of their absolute freedom and empower a certain person or group of persons with the prerogative of taking all the measures necessary for the well-being of society as a whole. A sort of power concession. When consent falls short, authority lacks legitimacy. The social contract theory is the basis for our modern representative democracy of which we shall discuss later on.

At least the first part of this theory might give us the idea that humans could get along just fine by themselves. Nothing more erroneous in Hobbes' vision. The originality of Hobbes lies in his view on the state of nature. The state of nature can be thought of as a hypothetical condition in which humans live before the foundation of the state. To Hobbes, the state of nature is of war of every man against every man [Leviathan, Chapter XIII]. In the state of nature, every man has a right to everything, even to one another' s body [Chapter XIII]. It means that left absolutely free, humans have the tendency to put each other' s life in peril. This dangerous natural state asks for the creation of a force that unites men under it's

wings and protects them. This force is the state, or as Hobbes puts it in Leviathan, the Commonwealth. Chapter XVII recites as follows:

The final cause, end, or design of men (who naturally love liberty, and dominion over others) in the introduction of that restraint upon themselves, in which we see them live in Commonwealths, is the foresight of their own preservation, and of a more contented life thereby; that is to say, of getting themselves out from that miserable condition of war which is necessarily consequent, as hath been shown, to the natural passions of men when there is no visible power to keep them in awe, and tie them by fear of punishment to the performance of their covenants, and observation of those laws of nature set down in the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters.

After having decided that the existence of the state is useful, an interesting step forward would be to try and understand how does the state operate. In which way do those who possess authority govern us. What does to govern mean? Oxford Dictionary defines the verb to govern as to conduct the policy, actions, and affairs of a state, organization, or people with authority. Before initiating our discourse on how this governance takes place in a state, we should set one premise, that is what kind of a state are we referring to. As already seen, there can be a variety of political systems (regimes) when it comes to those who hold power in their hands (plutocracy, theocracy, autocracy, totalitarianism). The form of government that we shall discuss here is the representative democracy, as the majority of state Constitutions are built upon this model.

We are not going to analyze whether this form of government is the best or the worst one. The aim of this chapter is to introduce a series of political terms and concepts to the reader. Also, if the reader starts to have their own opinions about what has already been presented, it means that I have in a certain sense reached my purpose, that is to ignite political and social consciousness. The present paper is not at all exhaustive. On the contrary, it is just a gateway to the grand world of politics and Hip Hop Culture.

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Returning to representative democracy, a short up look of the concept on the web leads us to the Free Dictionary (Legal dictionary). Here, we find the following definition:

A form of government where the powers of the sovereignty are delegated to a body of men, elected from time to time, who exercise them for the benefit of the whole nation.

What does all this mean? It is the very same power concession that we spoke about when treating Hobbes' social contract theory. Because each individual has its own private interests, in case of an issue it is very difficult for a human aggregate (for example a country) to agree on a solution. Each person would do his best to impose his own view on the matter. This way, a common conclusion could never be reached. Obviously, by delegating the decision-making process to a body of men, all disagreements would evaporate. The condition for this to work is that these men exercised that authority for the benefit of the whole nation. Here, in real life, the machine begins to jam. According to the definition already mentioned, the remedy is control over the leaders through elections held from time to time. Does this mean we are allowed to benefit from democracy only from time to time as well? I will not answer this question as I have promised to offer the least personal opinions possible.

What are elections? What do we mean by vote? The vote is the most frequent and usually the only act of political participation of the majority of people in the majority of political regimes [Pasquino 2004: 129]. Through a vote, people elect the politician they wish to be represented by. The democratic vote should be universal (available to everybody), equal (each vote must count as any other), secret (away from the eyes and sanctions of others), and significant (having effect in the distribution of political power) [Pasquino 2004: 130]. It is only under these conditions that we can stay sure of being represented by the President, Members of Parliament or Prime Minister we had in mind.

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1.3 Separation of Power

Before even electing anyone, we might already be confused about this variety of political public figures. Why is there a Parliament, an Executive, a President, a Supreme Court? The answer lies in the old principle of separation of powers. This principle creates a model under which the state is divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers, and also areas of responsibility so that no one branch has more power than the other branches. Therefore, there is the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judiciary branch.

The executive branch is the branch of the government charged with the execution and enforcement of laws and policies and the administration of public affairs1. The head of the executive is the Prime Minister. Usually, the Prime Minister is proposed by the party that has obtained the majority of seats in Parliament, with the concordance of the President of the state. The Prime Minister comes up with a list of other Ministers that cover a series of economic, social and political areas of government, entitled Ministries or Departments. For example, there can be a Foreign Affairs Ministry (deals with diplomatic relations between the state and other states, or international organizations), an Economy and/or Finance Ministry (deals with the economical wealth and economic planning of the state, as well as with its finances), a Ministry of Education (handles the implementation of the normative and policies regarding education), and so on. These ministries/departments unfold into other different branches and offices, agencies that altogether form the Public Administration. Citizens have the opportunity to become part of it by sustaining a public contest and becoming civil servants.

The legislature is the branch of a state having the power to make laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation. In real life, this branch operates through an assembly called Parliament. However, making laws is not the only purpose of the legislature. It also maintains control over the executive's actions. The latter needs the Parliament's trust in order to fully operate. Another prerogative of the Parliament is to give birth to inquiry
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commissions whenever there is a special issue in need of investigation. These commissions are legally entitled to contact the judiciary branch in order to administer justice whenever there is a breach.

In democratic regimes, one of the most important traits of a Parliament is its elective nature. The role of the MPs (Members of Parliament) is to politically represent the electorate. Mostly, Parliaments are bicameral, one of the chambers comprising elected members. In some cases, the other chamber can be made of non-elected members. These non-elected members are part of Parliament according to inherited titles of by royal appointment (for example, the House of Lords in Great Britain). In other cases, these members are elected indirectly: in Germany, the members of the Bundesrat are nominated by the governing majority of each Land [Pasquino 2004: 192].

Despite the different dispositions from state to state, Parliaments are made up of political parties (and their members) and also independent members. When parliamentary elections take place, we have to pick our favorite political party and/or our favorite representative that belongs to a certain party. What is a political party? In this regard, the Italian Constitution clears things as follows:

All citizens have the right to freely associate in parties to contribute through democratic processes to determine national policy. (Art. 49)

These free political associations are formally registered and have a certain structure and legal statute. Also, each political party has a centralized headquarter and various local ones that are useful in gathering supporters and spreading the political agenda. As a cause of elections, the new Parliament has in its composition more than one party. The political party that holds the majority of the seats is the ruling party, while the others become the opposition. Nevertheless, there can be the case when two or more parties join forces by putting together their seats and merging their agendas. By doing this, they give birth to what is called a coalition government.

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Finally, the treating of the judicial branch enables us to conclude

the

discourse on the doctrine of the separation of powers. The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. This branch of government is often tasked with ensuring equal justice under law. This principle, also called legal egalitarianism is the principle under which each individual is subject to the same laws. Article 7 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states that All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.

The courts are expected to be impartial in their decisions. Also, the judicial system is intended to be apolitical. This means it should not take any political context into consideration when doing its job. The only reference point for courts should be the sense of justice itself, the Constitution and all other internal or even international laws and regulations. The following excerpt explains the issue even better:

In order to guarantee this judicial system, judicial independence is necessary. [] Courts are supposed to be non-partisan in the political processes, free to make their decisions unhindered by the political influences of daily life. [] Indeed, law is an element of social control. [Fabri, Langbroek 2000: 137]

The true essence of the judicial system is hidden in its symbol, Lady Justice or Justitia (the Roman goddess of Justice). She holds the scale of truth and fairness in her right hand and in her left hand a double-edged sword, symbolizing the power of Reason and Justice. Also, she is blindfolded as this represents objectivity and impartiality.

1.4 The Role of Politics. Political "Consciousness"

After this short, yet necessary incursion in the world of politics, more specifically of political terminology, what remains to do is asking ourselves why everybody's interest in politics is a necessity? It is easy for the "others"

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to understand why I am so passionate about this subject, being a political science student. What the "others" do not understand is that my interest in the matter comes from my being an individual of the society and that there is no us (political scientists) and "them". We are all part of the same human conglomerate. Even the person with the most distant passions and interests from this area should hold in his bouquet of instincts that political "consciousness". This part of the chapter deals exactly with the necessity of this particular human trait. I will treat this matter in a subjective way because I consider it to be essential to the development of society, and I feel to be part of that society. This means it affects me personally.

Firstly, politics does not address exclusively to a restraint group. As we have already seen, politics is not a taboo, it is not something esoteric, a circle accessible only to the illuminated ones. Politics is the totality of measures taken for the organization and the good functioning of a society/state. Those who possess the power are entrusted by us to take the most useful decisions for the group as a whole. Their private interests ought not to matter. Of course, if left under no surveillance, each man seeks personal gratification, even if over others. Thus, control must be permanent and the punishment for any unconstitutional behavior ought to prompt. It is true indeed that the political system, because of the separation of powers principle, should block by itself any attempt of the kind. However, what is to be done if those who operate in the three branches of government tend to create their own "caste" and prevent the system of working properly? In this situation, civil society intervenes and draws attention to those who are in power that the electorate has the eyes pointed on them.

The threat becomes real when this civil society is not well enough formed, not powerful enough. In addition to this, civil society plays the role of mediation between population and authorities. This means the population receives from the civil society a signal whenever authorities exceed their competences and do not fulfill their responsibilities and duties. If population, however, is not receptive to civil society (because of the lack of interest in politics), than the purpose of the latter becomes null and authorities can operate with no restraint. The worst scenario takes place

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when civil society is not even present at all. In this situation, there is no control whatsoever on the actions of the representatives, and the democratic regime is under the constant danger of transforming into and authoritarian, dictatorial one. Even this problem could have a solution in the international public opinion or the international states' community and international organizations the endangered state adheres to. What would happen if, absurdly, nobody, in no country were interested in politics, besides those who participate and implicitly get their hands on power? I think we would probably get a taste of a world dictatorship.

The discourse we will further have on Hip Hop Culture can commence already here in a certain sense. This culture belongs originally to blacks in the United States. Long time ago, they have been brought into the U.S. by American white people, as slaves from African countries where there used not to exist a political spirit as we know it today. The organization model of those tribal societies was probably inferior to that of European states at the time. Africans could not depend on the scientific development , the military development, the sanitary one (it is also true that diseases had been taken to the African population by Europeans during the geographical discoveries), or the education of Europeans. This is why their submission to white men was inevitable. What has happened over the years? Black men started to realize they were not inferior to their masters. They had been subjugated only on the basis of a system of rules dictated by the whites. It started to become clear to them that even a black man could stand on the same level as a white man if only they would liberate themselves. The weapons of the liberation were courage, force, intelligence and most importantly voice, for through voice one expressed all the other. I believe these four elements are also the core of Hip Hop Culture.

Today, after some hundred years, the President of the same American people is black. This shows that ascent in any domain is possible as long as there is a will and an interest: where there is a will, there is a way. I have no intention of analyzing the political results of Barack Obama, but I have the certainty that a goal has been reached, as far as I am concerned. The electoral fight, the campaign, the promises and the winning of the

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Presidency have made of Obama that very spark that turned on inside of the American black people that political consciousness I was talking about earlier. Till that moment, political and social consciousness had already existed in some African-Americans, but the large majority refused to have any sort of contact with politics because they probably have not been feeling represented by whites who certainly came from opposite cultural and social backgrounds. With Obama, the political "flame" in the hearts of blacks extended as in an unstoppable fire. Musicians, men of television, middleclass and upper class families, youth from the ghettos, all black, and all for Obama.

In conclusion, I see that in order to achieve that political consciousness, the fear of losing democracy or freedom is just not enough. We need more. There is probably the need of a rebirth of hope, of faith in something. There is the need of something new on the international political scenes. After the various recent revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, we start to get the feeling that a change might be occurring. In order to sense, analyze and understand this potential change, we also need to focus our attention on this dimension of humanity, the political one. With some effort, results are inevitable.

1.5 Hip Hop Culture. Introduction

The second principal theme of this paper is Hip Hop Culture, more specifically rap music. In this sub-chapter we will get to know better this vast area of society, which is also an ideology, and not to forget art. Before even starting our discourse on Hip Hop, let us have a few words about the concept of culture. This terms has a multitude of definitions, but the one that is mostly in line with our subject is the second of those offered by the Oxford Dictionary (online version):

The ideas, customs and social behavior of a particular people or society.

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Using imagination, we could envision a person (that is representative of a society or people) who is holding on his back a bag full of ideas and ideals, customs, convictions and beliefs, values. That bag is that man's culture. Now, we can imagine the black man being brought to the United States. Before being embarked unto the slave ship, he had to leave behind material possessions. However, his "bag" was with him all the time. Black men' s culture did not remain in Africa. It has been carried all the way to the U.S. The birth of Hip Hop Culture is a consequence of this fact. Now, the questions that pop in mind are several. What valuable ideas does the Hip Hop "bag" contain inside? In other words, what is Hip Hop Culture all about? Where did it come from? In responding to this I will focus on the sociopolitical origins of Hip Hop and I will also describe lightly the already well-known "elements" of this culture.

1.6 The Hip Hop Movement

During the 1970s, Hip Hop evolved as a liberation movement sparked by the youth. It was a new form of civil rights movement. Its political trait can be noticed from the origins of the movement. The '60s and '70s were difficult years for minorities in the United States. There was a lack of access to justice, to the medical system, to employment, and even a lack of voting rights. Minorities were restrained from being properly represented in the political arena. We remember that a requisite for the good functioning of a representative democracy is the right to vote. Without this, political control over those in power is nonexistent. These injustices determined the birth of the civil rights movement that had the aim to end the practice of segregation. The instruments of this movement, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, were all non-violent (protests, marches, boycotts, sit-ins). The response from authorities was not on the same level, as it consisted in violence and the humiliation of those who had the courage to face the repercussions. An unexpected blow to the movement was given with the assassination of Dr. King in 1968.

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An alternative to the non-violent civil rights movement was the Black power movement, led by the Black Panther Party, and indirectly by Malcolm X. After the creation of COINTELPRO (counterintelligence program) by then F.B.I. Director, J.Edgar Hoover, many of the Black Panther Party members were put in jail, murdered, or chose exile in order to escape [Price 2006: 2] Another association with Hip Hop Culture is that of the Black arts movement, based mainly on art. This movement was led by artists, poets, playwrights, musicians, writers.

The entrance of the United States into the Vietnam War in 1961 opened the door for new injustices and racial disparities when young black men were sent to serve in the military overseas. The same young people who were often mistreated and abused by the law and the legal system were sent away to fight for the very laws and legal systems that abused them [Price 2006: 4]. During this period, one of the most miserable areas of the United States was the New York borough called the Bronx. It is this the place where the next-generation political movement started under the name of Hip Hop.

Going back to Hip Hop and politics, the connection between the two starts to show itself even better. In absence of the segregation of minorities in the United States, there would not have been the need to express any discontent and therefore, there would not have been a civil rights movement or Black power movement. It is wrong politics that accentuated a secular conflict between the two ethnic identities, whites and blacks. If maybe the United States, "land of the free, home of the brave" would have tried to reconcile with its minorities, publicly expressing its regrets for some centuries of slavery, instead of continuing its racist attitude, maybe then the conflict would have ceased to exist. The political movements, together with the artistic movement of the Black arts gave the incentive to the creation of that complex movement, which is Hip Hop.

The originator of Hip Hop is thought to be DJ Kool Herc, a Jamaica-born DJ [Chang 2007]. In the early 1970s, DJ Kool Herc began organizing dance parties in his home in the Bronx. The parties became so popular that they were moved to outdoor venues to accommodate more people. City

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teenagers, after years of gang violence, were looking for new ways to express themselves [Chang 2007: 61]. This very same idea of Hip Hop as an alternative to street gangs and a life of crime with all the dangers involved is also present in many rap songs. For example, in a song featuring Ludacris and Nas, called I do it for Hip Hop (2008), Jay-Z spits:
Thank God for Kool Herc Without this shit I probably would've got murked

These two lines are a clear reference to Kool Herc and Hip Hop's role in giving black youngsters the opportunity to stay alive in the dangerous streets of the United States.

1.7 Hip Hop Elements

So far, we have focused our attention on Hip Hop as a sociopolitical movement. Now it is time to shift to its artistic side. This culture founds itself on creativity, imagination, ingenuity, skills, and a lot of hardworking. From this point of view, Hip Hop is used by practitioners to refer to a vast array of cultural practices including Mcing (rappin), Djing (spinnin), writing (graffiti art), breakdancing (and other forms of streetdance), and cultural domains such as fashion, language, style, knowledge [Alim, Ibrahim, Pennycook 2009: 2]. Leaving Mcing aside for the moment, a short description of the other "elements" mentioned above might be appropriate.

Djing or "spinnin" in Hip Hop refers to the art of using turntables (the craft is also called turntablism) as a musical instrument. Music records are used as a tool to create many different styles of music. Some of the techniques used are cutting, scratching, body tricks, needle drops. Traditionally, a Dj will use two turntables simultaneously and perform various tricks between the two albums currently in rotation using the above listed methods. The result is a unique musical composition created by the seemingly combined sound of two separated songs into one song. In an Internet article posted on Davey D.'s website, Grandmixer D.ST explains the skills a Hip Hop DJ possesses and presents turntablism as a craft that cannot be taught:
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In Star Wars, becoming a Jedi meant that a warrior had to feel the "force," know it and always recognize it. The hip-hop DJ has to do the same. As a DJ, a person has to feel the rhythms and identify them as being a natural part of their existence. Either the force is with you or it isn't. Feeling rhythm is a skill that cannot be taught.

Graffiti is not a creation of Hip Hop Culture. It has existed ever since Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. The term is actually the plural form of the Italian word graffito. According to Hoepli Italian Dictionary (online version), the definition of the word is "engraved drawing on a hard surface, especially as a wall decoration". In modern day, engraving has been substituted by paint, particularly spray paint, and marker pens. What used to be a form of art is now wrongfully considered an act of vandalism. In most countries, if the graffiti is made on private property, without the consent of the owner, it is considered a punishable crime. The connection between modern day graffiti and Hip Hop lies in the purpose and the subject of the painting. In this context, it is a political weapon in the hands of "Hip Hop Headz" [Alim 2006] that is used to express social issues. The purpose is to draw authorities and society's attention on the existence and vigilance of an active Hip Hop Culture. Also, graffiti can be seen as "revolutionary art" because of its beauty, feeling and ideals it disseminates, and the change in perspective it is able to produce.

B-boying, often called "breakdancing", is a popular style of street dance that was created and developed as a part of Hip Hop Culture among African Americans and Latino youths in New York City [Schloss 2009]. The term"b-boy" or "b-boying" was created by Kool Herc. It is interesting the way Schloss uses "b-boying" as the formal term, even though, in Standard English, the correct form would be "breakdancing" as the "break boys" used to dance to the break part of music. I believe Schloss makes this inversion deliberately to stress out his affection for Hip Hop Culture and for the "Hip Hop Nation language" [Alim 2006]. In an interesting article about b-boying, posted on the New York Times website [Bloom 2008], Benjamin "B-Tek" Chung of JabbawokeeZ dancing crew, in relation to the correct terminology, states the following:

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When someone says break dancing, we correct them and say it's bboying.

The dance itself consists of four primary elements: toprock, downrock, power moves, suicides and freezes. It is danced to both Hip Hop and other genres of music that are often remixed to prolong the musical breaks. An interesting debate in this area of Hip Hop is over the preference for power in contrast to style. Therefore, specialists of more gymnastics-oriented technique and form - at the cost of charisma and coordinated footwork - are known as "power-heads". Those who focus on dance steps and sharpness of moves are labeled as "style-heads". Whatever the different opinions about terminology and power versus style, there is no doubt that this style of dance gave much dynamism, vitality and "flava" to the world we live in.

1.8 a) Rap Music. Overview

I have decided to leave the discussion of this particular Hip Hop "element" aside because there's the need, in my opinion, of a more demanding approach. I am referring to "rappin". In this first part of the sub-chapter I will introduce rap music to the reader and also offer a personal critique to the mainstream version of it. At the same time, I will make several connections between rap music and politics.

To begin with, I would make a reference to a definition of "rappin" that is really comprehensive:

Rappin, one aspect of Hip Hop, consists of the aesthetic placements of verbal rhymes over musical beats, and it is this elements that has dominated Hip Hop cultural activity in recent years [Alim 2006: 4].

I used italics in the definition to underline two words that have a special effect in this context. The first one, aesthetic, makes a specific affirmation. It says that in rap music, the placement of rhymes over the beats is not random, casual. When creating lyrics, the rapper is not only rhyming, he is

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giving beauty (aesthetics) to his oration. His message is not only strong, but also pleasant to listen to. The second word, verbal, is another specification, and it would be a pity not to understand it fully. Rhymes in a poem are usually written. In rap music, it is very common for artists to "spit" on the spot, without using a pen beforehand. For example, rappers like Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and the great Notorious B.I.G. are known to have never written their lyrics prior to the recording a song. They put their headphones with the rap beat on, and start "rappin" as the song goes along. This is creativity and inspiration at high level. This makes rap music distinguished from other musical genres. On his website, Davey D talks about how rap was born:

Modern day rap music finds its immediate roots in the toasting and dub talk over elements of reggae music. In the early 70's, a Jamaican dj known as Kool Herc moved from Kingston to NY's West Bronx. Here, he attempted to incorporate his Jamaican style of dj which involved reciting improvised rhymes over the dub versions of his reggae records. Unfortunately, New Yorkers weren't into reggae at the time. Thus Kool Herc adapted his style by chanting over the instrumental or percussion sections of the day's popular songs. Because these breaks were relatively short, he learned to extend them indefinitely by using an audio mixer and two identical records in which he continuously replaced the desired segment.

It is obvious from this that rap is the modern brother of African traditional music, which is based on chanting over a rhythm provided by skin-drums. The link between the two is reggae music.

How happened that this "element" became predominant in Hip Hop Culture? It may be partly due to capitalism. Even though rap music is a form of popular music that developed out of Hip Hop Culture, its modern version resulted from the interaction between the very same Hip Hop Culture (which, as we remember, was traditionally a reactionary movement against the social order at the time), and the preexisting capitalist music industry. Rap music is deeply intertwined with mass media and needs, largely because it does have a product: records, Cds, MP3s and ring tones [Schloss 2009]. This variety of products means entering the market and gaining

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profit. On the other hand, Hip Hop Culture, in the largest sense, is a way of life, of thinking, it is not a product that can be sold.

The progressive transformation of "rappin" into an industry determined a rupture between "old school" Hip Hop and mainstream rap music. Rapper Nas talks about the "death" of Hip Hop. In his song, Hip Hop is Dead (2006), he spits:

Everybody sounds the same, commercialize the game Reminiscing when it wasn't all business.

Why is mainstream rap such a bad thing? I will treat the subject without giving any names of rappers or groups that are part of this musical catastrophe. One reason why mainstream rap is a "disease" lies within the quality of music, transformed from art into a product. The musical construction of this version of rap lacks value. It is too artificial because it is produced entirely with computer software and it is overloaded with synthesizers and other effects. In "real" rap music, there are live musical instruments, samplings, a more complex melodic structure. In mainstream rap, lyrics are superficial, repetitive, simple, with no depth whatsoever. Lyrics should be the core of rap songs. They should be incisive, full of messages, both accessible and coded, subliminal (meant to be understood only by designated listeners). Rapper Immortal Technique, in Payback (2008), synthesizes the observations above perfectly:

I make rap about lyrics, not beats and marketing.

The other reason why mainstream rap is a bad thing is political. As mentioned before, Hip Hop is about struggle, about fighting the oppressor with unconventional weapons. Rap music is supposed to be a channel of communicating political convictions and also requests. A rap song should be like a very exigent newspaper that reflects society as it really is. Rappers are the messengers of the streets, the voice of those who are never taken into consideration (as they do not possess social status or economic power). In Black Republican (2006), Jay-Z feels like a "black Republican" with money

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"coming in", while the more revolutionary Nas feels like a "black militant taking over the Government". Hip Hop artists can be seen as "verbal mujahidins", with their speech activities serving as alternative media sources narrating the beliefs and experiences of a "nation" [Alim 2006: 21]. This is why the transformation of artists from potential "street politicians" into commercial assets is such a critical issue.

The way in which the rap music industry conducts business is also political. They operate like imperialist countries do with Third World countries. The 3rd World (2008) album of Immortal Technique is based on this concept. In the song Open Your Eyes (2008), Tech makes this exact analogy, between the neocolonialist intervention of powerful states and multinational corporations in less developed countries (most of them have large amounts of natural resources), and the advantage major label companies in the music industry take of the "underground", unsigned talented artists. Here is an excerpt from the lyrics of the song:

Such is the same in the rap industry. But the major label super powers treat the underground like the 3rd world. When they need new assets, new artists to prostitute or sign and put on a shelf to use their songs. When they needed new concepts, music and publishing to steal from producers, they came to the underground, to the 3rd world, they took our culture, our property and our industry and our resources, even using our own people to help them exploit us.

When signing to a major record label, the artists becomes a source of financial income. He receives a commercial identity and becomes a marketing brand that has the purpose to make as many listeners possible identify with the message that brand stands for. Not because the message is relevant, but because by attracting listeners, the level of sales rise and profit grows. Politics as usual.

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1.8 b) Linguistic Aspects of Rap Music

In this second part of the sub-chapter dedicated to rap music, we shall discuss, as the title clearly states, the linguistics of this musical genre. The first subject will be about the role of Black Language in the struggle of the black community. The other one will be specifically about the language of the Hip Hop Nation, making several precise examples. To begin, I would pose the question: why is rap music linguistics important? The answer lies in the origin of rap. We already know that Hip Hop Culture started as a movement of the black people. Therefore, its language comes from the language of the Afro-American ethnicity. We shall refer to this variety of English language as Black Language (BL). It is a complex system of structure and use that is distinct from "White Mainstream English (WME)" in the US [Alim 2006]. The study of this language has political significance in the defining process of a black identity. A well-done study on the interdependency between Hip Hop linguistics and the black minority identity can be found in H. Samy Alim's book, Rock the Mic Right: The language of Hip Hop Culture (2006). In my elaboration of the matter I shall also refer to some ideas from this interesting work.

Black scholars see the creation of Standard English by institutions as a policy meant to neutralize the appearance of the black minority on the cultural scene of an America characterized as a melting pot. These scholars sustain the existence of a black identity and its historical importance. With regard to this, Alim writes that "Black people are not only the first people to produce spoken language, but they are also the first to invent writing systems" [Alim 2006: 3]. He considers the scientific study of Black Language as "a way to make a way outta no way in the wilderness of North America" [Alim 2006: 7]. The view is language as power and as an instrument of revolution. Scholars are aware of the importance of communication, and of the control leaders have on it through media. The problem is, in their opinion, that leaders do not have the black community's interests at heart. This is when speech control becomes a problem. In the above mentioned book, Samy Alim radically refers to this issue as follows:

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Words ar far more than parts of speech, they're weapons of mass culture to be deployed in the cultural combat that we, invariably, as humans, find ourselves in". [10]

A method of constructing identity is through rap music. The Hip Hop community shares a common language which we shall call Hip Hop Language. The members of the community use Hip Hop language in a conscious way. Some differences between Standard English and Hip Hop language are the different spelling and pronunciation of words, the use of original creations ("holla", "word up", "O.G.") and words with another meaning from that of Standard English (to "get clowned" means to get talked about rudely). An interesting example is the different spelling of the word "nigger". The Hip Hop Nation realized that this word had various positive in-group meanings and pejorative out-group meanings, and thus felt the need to reflect the variation of meaning based on context by changing the spelling ("nigger" becomes nigga") [Alim 2006: 77]. Usually "nigger" is offensive while "nigga" has positive connotation when used within the Hip Hop community. Another reason why rappers use Hip Hop language in their lyrics is that by doing this, they "represent" the streets. Speech is consciously varied toward the informal end of the continuum in order to maintain street credibility [Alim 2006: 124]. All the above leads to the irrefutable conclusion that rap music and Hip Hop Culture are a "black thing". The more recent birth and development of the Global Hip Hop Nation is also evident. However, originally, when it comes to Hip Hop, all the credits must be given to the black community.

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Profile: 2Pac (Appendix to Chapter I)

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1967- September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He was named after Tupac Amaru II, an Inca revolutionary who led a Peruvian uprising against Spain and subsequently received capital punishment. 2Pac's fate might have been marked by his name as he also lead a life of revolution and died as a hero in the eyes of his fans and followers. His mother, Afeni Shakur, was an active member of the Black Panther Party in New York. As a consequence of the repression against this political movement by the F.B.I., Tupac was born just one month after Afeni's acquittal of more than 100 charges of "conspiracy against the United States government".

Struggle and incarceration surrounded Shakur from an early age. His godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high ranking Black Panther, was convicted of murdering a school teacher during a 1968 robbery. His stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, was on the F.B.I.'s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was wanted partly for having helped his sister Assata Shakur, Tupac's godmother, to escape from a penitentiary in New Jersey. Tupac had all the influences and experiences necessary for the awakening of his social and political consciousness. The conscious side of 2Pac is most clear when listening to his musical albums.

Shakur's music and philosophy is rooted in Black nationalism, egalitarianism and liberty. In his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now (1991), he attacked issues like poverty, social injustice and police brutality. Themes like social inequality, aggression, but also compassion and hope continued to shape Tupac's other music albums. An important event regarding 2Pac's career as a rapper is the fact that after his assassination in 1996, the posthumously released album The Don Killuminati: The 7 day Theory (1996), was signed not under the name 2Pac, but Makaveli. The purpose was to mark a new approach to the music industry Tupac would have had after a series of events that had negative effect on him, like the '94 shooting, the conviction of sexual abuse (and the subsequent imprisonment), and also the image "blows" he had to go through because of the media. On the cover
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of the album, Shakur is portrayed as a "black Jesus" on the cross. Songs on this album are full of themes like military tactics, war, vengeance and other revolution inspired ideas. The connection to the Italian political philosopher, Machiavelli is also obvious.

His violent and scandalous personal life, along with biased media and oldfashioned politicians (the so-called "establishment") turned Tupac into a sort of negative figure. He was often seen as a criminal and a thug. As a matter of fact, he tattooed "Thug Life" on his abdomen. However, the concept of "thug life" was viewed by 2Pac as a philosophy for life. He declared that the dictionary definition of a "thug" as being a criminal was not how he used the term, but rather he meant someone who came from a dark and oppressive background and had little opportunity, but still made a life for themselves. Thug life is actually an acronym for "The Hate U Gave Little Infants Fucks Everybody". He also wrote the "Codes of Thug Life", a set of principles and rules that would have aimed to decrease gang violence and drug dealing. These codes were signed by Crips and Bloods leaders under the form of a peace treaty.

On September 7th, 1996, after attending the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon boxing match in Las Vegas, Tupac was shot and died of internal bleeding on the afternoon of September 13, 1996. His lyrical legacy will be one of our main resources for the analysis of political and social issues that we shall conduct in the second chapter.

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Chapter II. Social and Political Issues in Rap

In the first chapter we have explained what politics is, what it deals with and, most important of all, why our involvement, as citizens, in this area is necessary. Also, we have analyzed the origins of the Hip Hop Culture, the elements it consists of and the tight relationship between rap music and politics. In this second chapter we shall focus exactly on this relationship The criteria on which we shall underline the link between the two is based on the issues both of them approach. They both observe the existence of negative aspects in human society and seek the solving of these. The purpose of the chapter is to study in depth these matters using the lyrics from rap artists' songs as credible and reliable resources.

2.1 Thug Life

We have already explained 2Pac's philosophy on "Thug Life". Now we shall combine his view with the general view people have with regard to thugs, punks, criminals, gang members and rappers as well. My approach will be to discover why do these phenomenon occur on the streets.

To begin with, I would introduce that part of population represented by rap artists. It usually consists of ethnic minorities, lower-class citizens, characterized by the lack of proper access to the labor market and welfare. They usually have criminal records, or at least family members imprisoned. A common phenomenon is the enrollment in street gangs or other organized crime. Common is also drug abuse and alcoholism. What we call life with its difficulties is to them survival in the "concrete jungle". As persons with social consciousness we are obliged to try and understand the processes that determine their anti-social behavior. They are human beings, just like every one of us, that had the bad luck to be born in an adverse context. Rappers expose clearly enough various causes of a thug's life.

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Firstly, I consider childhood to be one of the most important psychological causes of a thug's life because of its radical influence in shaping a human's character, and implicitly a human's life. Childhood consists of beautiful and ugly experiences, but also of disguised lessons of life. A child is vulnerable and tends to emulate. Nevertheless, not always he is surrounded by positive role models. In his song, Role Model (1999), Eminem laughs at the fear parents have of the negative example he seems to be for children:

Ok, I'm going to attempt to drown myself You can try this at home You can be just like me

He does not say this because he truly wishes children to drown themselves. His aim is to indirectly criticize parents that are incapable of educating their kids as they should. Most of the time, parents are not careful enough with their sons and daughters (the same has personally happened to Eminem, therefore he can easily relate to the situation), and these end up making regretful decisions. The same Eminem says in Who Knew (2000):

And told me that my tape taught 'em to swear What about the make-up you allow your 12-year old daughter to wear? So tell me that your son don't know any cuss-words When his bus driver's screamin' at him, fuckin' him up worse.

Continuing the discourse on childhood, one aspect that causes suffering and confusion is a broken family. Quarrels between parents, along with the absence of one of them create in the mind of the child many prejudices that will follow him throughout his entire adult life. Tupac, who grew up without a father, addresses this theme in Papa'z Song (1993). Illuminating are the following verses:

I heard God don't like ugly, well take a look at my family A different father every weekend [...] Now can I be a man if there's no role model? Strivin' to save my soul, I stay cold, drinkin' a forty bottle.

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The connection between a bad childhood and a life of violence and bad choices is obvious. The same 2Pac makes things even more clear in his 2002 Never Be Peace:

Wild ass motherfucking adolescents These niggas ain't even got no childhoods no more How the fuck can you have a childhood when you have a funeral every motherfucking weekend? And you motherfuckers talking about peace?

Apart from the early stages of life, there are also other psychological factors that determine someone to lead an ugly life. Living in a chaotic environment, depression, the lack of hope, it all puts a person under pressure. The lack of adequate education, social prejudices and racism can segregate a social group and make the members of it act impulsive and break rules that do not appear appropriate to their situation. While some are active under those circumstances (meaning they try to cope with it and do their best to surpass their inferior condition), others are more passive and lose themselves in negative thoughts. The song So Many Tears (1995) by 2Pac, is not only great because of the beautiful melodic expression it has, but mostly because many people who see no escape from different vicious cycles, relate to it, regardless of the racial background. When one finds himself in that situation, lyrics like the following are pure comfort:

My every move is a calculated step, to bring me closer To embrace an early death, now there's nothing left. [] This ain't the life for me, I wanna change But ain't no future right for me, I'm stuck in the game

The artist does not have the intention to make things even worse for the listeners by reminding them the ugliness of the situation. On the contrary, he alleviates them by showing those that feel with no future or stuck that they are not the only ones to face negativity. His music acts like therapy.

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Passing from the psychological realm to reality, we can ask ourselves what is the link between all this and organized crime and street gangs. A middleclass citizen usually considers God and the Government as a response to every doubt. Why did my cousin die? Because God wanted so. What to do when my life is in danger? I call the Police! Well, for a thug, these two situation-solvers are not efficient. God does not always answer prayers and the police officers are seen as adversaries. To be clearer, what I want to underline is the lack of trust in authorities, the political system and institutions. Stic.man of Dead Prez characterizes himself in the song Don't Hate My Grind (2009) as "tired of watchin' all these companies get bailed out/ when the only thing that poor people get is another jailhouse/that's why ain't nothin' patriotic in me/for they system, my heart is empty." This is why it is normal for those in need to be easily assimilated by criminal structures (these are alternative power systems). Gang members gain respect, financial stability and also protection. A life of crime with all risks involved is in this case the only realistic choice these men have. In the same song, Stic.man presents things as they really are:

Big dreams, big schemes, big risk taking Penitentiary waiting for me if I'm mistaken.

2.2 Black Power

So far, we have arrived to the conclusion that Hip Hop Culture is a black thing because of two main reasons: it was created by the black community and it represents this community's ideal almost exclusively. Other ethnic groups might relate to this culture because of the similarities between the struggles we are all involved in, some more, others less. Black ideology movements from the 60's and 70's had been resurrected under the form of rap music. In this part, entitled Black Power, we shall examine how PanAfricanism (a movement that seeks to unify African people or people living in Africa, into a one African community) is spreading through the airwaves.

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I believe the most inspiring rap group, in relation to this particular subject, is Dead Prez. They begin the journey in creating that African community by reviving the African consciousness. To do this, they remind black men of their heritage, traditions, history, values. On the song I'm a African (2000), M-1 claims:

I'm an African, never was an African-American Blacker than black, I take it back to my origins.

Some would call these verses racist and anti-American. I would not go that far. It is true they are radical, but the idea is not to offend Americans as a people but the whole policy of converting of a black people into a minority of the United States. An ethnicity comes with a cultural bag, and by doing so, the bag gets thrown into the ocean. This is why M-1 reminds his listeners of color that he (and them as well) is blacker that black. He did not forget his origins.

What can be understood until this point is that the movement is starting with making cultural recognition a priority. What is then the heritage of a black man made of? On his song, I Can (2002), Nas gives youngsters with a lot of potential, history lessons:

Be,be,'fore we came to this country We were kings and queens, never porch monkeys. There was empires in Africa called Kush, Timbuktu, where every race came to get books To learn from black teachers who taught Greeks and Romans.

He, therefore, sees the Africans as pioneers in studying and knowledge. Every race came to Africa to learn from black teachers. Nas continues his journey into past alongside Damian Marley on Africa Must Wake Up (2010). He shows pride when talking about his ancestors:

The ancestral lineage built pyramids, America's first immigrants, The King's sons and daughters from Nile waters

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The first architects, the philosophers, astronomers, The first prophets and doctors was us.

On the same song, Damian reminds the young ones that yesterday we were kings, and asks them who are we today? He is criticizing in a certain sense. These rap artists are aware that most of the black community members are too entrapped in a life of crime to be continuously debating on their origins and to remain conscious about the importance they had and ought to have still in this human society. On their way out of poverty, black men are stepping on each other. This is why Black Power is not about destroying the white men. It is about solidarity between the same Africans. On Only God Can Judge Me (1996), 2Pac describes this situation perfectly:

And they say it's the white man I should fear But it's my own kind doing all the killing here [] Black Power! Is what we scream as we dream in a paranoid state And our fate is a lifetime of hate.

By now, it should be clear enough that rap music acts as the voice of the Pan-Africanism. It is not a new wave of nationalism that has recently arose in the artistic community of rappers. It is the continuation of what used to be the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement. We remember that Tupac was in her mother's womb while she was struggling in prison for being a Black Panther Party member. Dead Prez advise their followers to study Malcolm, Garvey, Huey in the homonym song (2010). These are their icons, role models, for they are the real O.G.'s. On the song Gangsta, Gangster (2009), Dead Prez makes clear the difference between the two terms. A gangster describes a common criminal. To qualify as a gangsta, you must be a loyal and true man of the people. Stic.man also gives some examples of gangstas:

A ghetto superstar is cool, but I know something harder You don't know Gangsta until you know about Bunchy Carter Auntie Assata, Sundiata Acoli

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Not to disrespect their legacy, but that's the real O.G.'s.

M-1 talks about these figures at the end of Too Smart (2006), a song that describes intelligence as a dangerous weapon. It is an eulogy for brain power as a mean to evolve, to change the bad conditions under which this part of society has to make a living.

An interesting and the final part of the Black Power discourse is about the respect a black man feels he needs to pay to a black woman. In this particular case, the mark of the women rights movement is felt as well. Most of the time, a black woman has to suffer too much, both as a mother or as a wife, as a cause of the turbulence black men are exposed to. Promoters of Pan-Africanism are aware of the importance of a black woman. Several rap songs are also dedicated to this issue. Very famous is 2Pac's Keep Ya Head Up (1993):

Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice, I say the darker the flesh, the deeper the roots. I give a holler to my sisters on welfare Tupac cares, if don't nobody else care.

The same Stic.man of Dead Prez expresses the admiration he has for the power and strength of the sistas on Black Girl Shine (2007):

To my sistas, I wanna give a shutout for your power and your strength, your creativity, your beauty. Shine! You know I got your back... Black girl, get your shine on! Brown girl, get your shine on! I hope you know you're powerful, and you're special...

2.3 On the N-word

A controversial issue in the Black community and in the specific case of rap music is the use of the N-word. It is an euphemism for the word nigger, a word that is considered a taboo. Some consider the use of this word an insult
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to Afro-Americans. Others, instead, see it as a remembrance of old slavery times. Those who share this latter view, believe that by using the word, and its other form nigga, black people would recognize their humiliating history on American soil, and become motivated to struggle harder in order to both prove strength and to avoid returning to that inhumane condition. In this part of the second chapter, we will discuss these two opinions on the use of the N-word by rappers.

Before beginning, I find it necessary to understand how this word came into the English language. The variants neger and negar, derive from the Spanish and Portuguese word negro (black), and from the pejorative French negre (nigger). In the Colonial America of 1619, John Rolfe used negars in describing the African slaves shipped to the Virginia colony [Kennedy 2001]. However, English literature from the nineteenth century used nigger without racist connotation, for example the Joseph Conrad novella The Nigger of the Narcissus (1897). By the 1900s, nigger had become a pejorative word. Instead of it, the term colored became the mainstream. By the late 1960s, the social progress achieved by groups such as the Black Civil Rights Movement, had legitimized the racial identity word black as mainstream American English usage to denote black-skinned Americans of African ancestry. In the '90s, black was later replaced by African American.

On the other hand, nigga is a term used in African American Vernacular English (Black Language). Its use and meaning are heavily dependent on context. Its use by persons not of African descent is widely viewed as unacceptable and hostile, even when used without intentional prejudice. Tupac Shakur distinguished between nigger and nigga:

Niggers was the ones on the rope, hanging off the thing; niggas is the ones with gold ropes, hanging out at clubs. [Guest 2007]

The same Tupac, showing Hip Hop's affinity for acronyms, transformed the racial slur into the ultimate positive ideal for young Black males: Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished. [Alim 2006: 78]. The growing use of the term is attributed to its frequent appearance in modern American rap

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music. For example, the pioneers of gangsta rap are the group from Compton, N.W.A. The name stands for Niggaz Wit Attitudes. In the 1991 Niggaz 4 Life, they explain why they consider themselves niggaz:

Why do I call myself a nigger, you ask me? Because my mouth is so motherfuckin nasty Bitch this, bitch that Nigger this, nigger that In the meanwhile my pockets are gettin fat Gettin paid to say this shit here Makin more in a week than a doctor makes in a year So, why not call myself a nigger? It's better than pulling the trigger and goin up the river And don't I get called a nigger anyway? Booked as a motherfucker and locked away So... so, cut out all that bullshit Yo! I guess I'll be a nigga for life Nigga!

The best example of the controversy surrounding the N-word in rap music is the issue of Nas entitling his 2008-released album, Nigger. Nas had to ultimately change the title to Untitled, because of the scandal it had created. In an MTV interview with Shaleem Reid, prior to the official release, Nas explains the situation regarding the strong reaction from civil rights activists:

I'm a street disciple. I'm talking to the streets. Stay out of our business. You ain't got no business worrying about what the word 'nigger' is or acting like you know what my album is about without talking to me. [...] If Cornel West was making an album called Nigger, they would know he's got something intellectual to say. To think I'm gonna say something that's not intellectual is calling me a nigger, and to be called a nigger by Jesse Jackson and the NAACP is counterproductive, counterrevolutionary. [Reid 2007]

It seems that Nas not only defends himself from the accusations brought by the black leaders, but he feels also offended by them. He calls their reaction counter-revolutionary. Why is this? He considers the remarks to

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be groundless because he knows that Jesse Jackson could not have heard the contents of the album, and therefore does not understand the virtuous purpose of the word in this context. So what is the idea behind the title of this album? He explains it in the same interview:
We're taking power [away] from the word. No disrespect to none of them who were part of the civil-rights movement, but some of my n---as in the streets don't know who [civil-rights activist] Medgar Evers was. I love Medgar Evers, but some of the n---as in the streets don't know Medgar Evers, they know who Nas is.[...] Right now, we're on a whole new movement. We're taking power [away] from that word. [Reid 2007]

It is clear for Nas that words are like symbols for different ideas. What he is trying to do is to take power from that word. This way, the word becomes empty and one can attach to it whatever meaning he wishes. Just like Tupac did with nigga by creating the upper-mentioned acronym. On You Can't Stop Us Now (2008), Nas gives Eban Thomas the chance to explain the same idea, by quoting James Baldwin:

As James Baldwin says, "You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world considers - a nigger"

The opinion of Nas on what the meaning of the word nigger should be, is expressed on the song N.I.G.G.E.R (The Slave and the Master) (2008):

They say we N-I double G-E-R, we are Much more, still we choose to ignore The obvious, man this history don't acknowledge us We were scholars long before colleges. [] Cause anytime we mention our condition, our history, our existence They call it reverse racism.

It all leads to the ideology of Black Power. Nas says black men are more than what racist, white men consider a nigger to be, and that history don't

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acknowledge us. However, it depends entirely on the willingness of blacks to choose between being a slave or the master. The answer to all their questions lies inside of them. Thus, Nas uses the word nigger as a reminder of past and present conditions and existence. It is a sort of clock alarm meant to signal the time for an awakening. It is also a way to reach oppressed people everywhere, not only members of the Black community, but white men as well. On Be a Nigger Too (2008), he expands his conception of the word:

Not mad cause Eminem said nigger Cause he's my nigger, wigger, cracker friend We all black within, ok? We all African. [] I'm a nigger, he's a nigger, she's a nigger, we some niggers Wouldn't you like to be a nigger too? To all my kike niggers, spic niggers, Guinea niggers, chink niggers That's right, y'all my niggers too!

2.4 The United States of America. Street Perspective

Dear Mr. President, What's happening? I'm writing you because shit is still fucked up in my neighborhood. Pretty much the same way, right around the time when you got elected. Ain't nothing changed. All the promises you made, before you got elected... they ain't come true. [2Pac and the Outlawz, Letter to the President 1999]

This is the introduction to one of 2Pac's most politically charged songs. It has the form of a letter, written to the President of the United States of America, in which the artist complains about the impossibility to cope any longer with the disastrous aspects of life in the hood. How can this be possible? We are talking about the United States here. Usually, when thinking about this country, we have in mind skyscrapers, Wall Street, the Pentagon, Washington D.C., the C.I.A., the F.B.I. These are symbols of

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economic and political power. Well, the United States has its goods and bads as any other state in the world. The thing is we do not have much access to the information regarding its negative side. When an American visits our country, he tends to boast about how great the place where he comes from is. In rap music, you have the exact opposite. A rapper depicts awful circumstances in order to draw attention. He is also aware of the power of his music in spreading a message even outside of his country. When we pop in a rap CD, we get in touch with reality out there. In this part, we shall examine the United States society seen through the eyes of some of the best rappers. We can begin with the almost complete panorama of the American society rapper Immortal Technique presents on Harlem Streets (2003):
Check to check, constant struggle to make the payments Working your whole life wondering where the day went The subway stays packed like a multicultural slave ship It's rush hour, 2:30 to 8, non-stopping And people coming home after corporate share cropping And fuck flossing, mothers are trying to feed children But gentrification is kicking them out of their building A generation of babies born without health care Families homeless, thrown the fuck off of the welfare.

Set on a capitalistic background, he presents a multitude of races that struggle to make a living without much outcome. In America, one can meet white-collars returning to their homes after corporate share cropping, homeless families that have no access to welfare, and babies without health care. As this was not enough we can meet entire communities displaced by the urban gentrification phenomenon. There are many other problems out there in the streets of America, that lower-class citizens, especially black-skinned, have to face on a daily basis. For instance, crooked police officers. On Ram Part Division (2006), Xzibit is impersonating a cop to express the general view:

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Ever since them niggaz in black said Fuck tha Police I been grinding on the back of my teeth, loading my piece Waiting for some get back, like it or not We investigated the shots, that killed Biggie and Pac. Ever wonder why nobody ever figured it out? Cause we the ones that got to figure it out!

In the first line, Xzibit is referring to another protest song meant to discredit the law enforcement, Fuck tha Police (1988) by N.W.A. Xzbit is pretending to be an angry, violent, corrupt, and obviously offended by the message of them niggaz in black. Also, he is vengeful, waiting for some get back, and loading my piece. There is a clear open conflict between blacks/rappers and this institution of the state, a conflict that has been also increased by the unsolved murder cases of 2Pac and Biggie (as the last verses suggest).

Rappers cannot be silent because rap music is the voice of the dirty streets. They make appeals directly to political figures and institutions to be more perceptive to the needs of the misrepresented. Nas insists:
I wanna talk to the Mayor, the Governor, the motherfucking President I wanna talk to the FBI, and the CIA, and the motherfucking congressman. [Nas, CIA 1999]

He enlists all these institutions to make us understand that regardless of the high level of development in the state structure, the society in which he lives is underdeveloped. This can only point out the fact that the Mayor and the Governor close an eye when it comes to the hood. In the same song, Nas reaches out to them:
Mr. Mayor, imagine if this was your backyard Mr. Governor, imagine if this was your kids that starved Imagine your kids gotta sling crack to survive.

The repeated use of the word imagine is not at all casual. Nas is convinced that politicians would never be in the position to have their children on the
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same level as children of poor families. This is why they have to imagine it. It is a very large step between the two social categories. On 2Pac's Letter to the President (1999), Edi Amin of the Outlawz paints the perfect picture of this parallelism:
Oh, you are baller in the White House. I hope you comfortable Cause yo I spend my nights out, with the lights out Under the safety of darkness, amongst the crazed and the heartless And young soul bros, ready to rode a star ship

Even though he is not as comfortable as the President is in the White House, he claims to spend his nights out, under the safety of darkness. It sounds as a paradox, but it is really meant to underline the power of the poor to adapt to any dangerous situation, even amongst the crazed and the heartless.

The critique to the Government becomes even harsher when passing to the foreign policies of the United States. It is a country that has always wanted to preserve its role as the main superpower in the world. Its involvement in the internal affairs of different other countries, mixed with the high costs of unilateral military interventions like the one in Vietnam, the Gulf War, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, have determined not few protests coming from the unfavored. The main question people had was how could America be interested in exporting democracy, freedom and sociopolitical stability to other countries, when it is not capable of providing these to its own citizens?

Regarding the military, the subject is very relevant to the black community, because the American Army has always recruited staff mostly from this ethnic group. Men join the army because of both financial motives and patriotism. However, their risk and sometimes full sacrifice is not being taken enough into account by the Government. Rapping from the perspective of a young man that regrets having joined the army for the war in Iraq, Immortal Technique perfectly highlights the situation:
I joined the army looking for money to go to college But they ain't pay me a quarter of what they fucking promised

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Extended my tour, treating me like a sucker That's the reason officers get fragged motherfucker Don't give me speeches on how you respect and you love me But no body armor in a lightly armored Humvee?! My family's lonely and you want me to reenlist for 30 grand homie? [Immortal Technique, Mistakes 2008]

This artist has a very realistic approach, and even though he is very often accused of being a conspiracy theorist (because of his radical interpretations of events), he always defends himself by asking people to study for themselves the history of their country. For example, in an interview on playahata.com, when asked about his feelings on people calling him that way, he responded:
I think that anyone who calls me a conspiracy theorist just is trying to marginalize the audience that listens to the music I make. The CIA really did give Al-Queda billions of dollars in the late 80's, and the early 90's. The Taliban were trained by Israeli agents, Halliburton built a pipeline to get natural gas that it couldn't have done if the Taliban was in power. The president is really trying to revoke abortion and free speech. What is so conspiracy theory about that? I invite people to disagree with my views but look up the historical facts for yourself son.

Finally, what exactly makes Immortal Technique so popular and at the same time so criticized? His lyrics offer political analysis to current and historical affairs of the United States on the international scene, and not only. The song that rapidly catches the ear is The Cause of Death (2003). On this song, he reminds people of the ties between the American Government and Hitler, Bin Laden, the Taliban. The most important thing he does is to advise citizens to study, be politically and socially active and not follow any form of propaganda. He is a revolutionary, not just a rapper, but we shall discuss this more in the next part of the second chapter. Until then, we can indulge in some of the lyrics of the upper-mentioned song:
I see the world for what it is, beyond the white and the black The way the government downplays historical facts 'Cause the United States sponsored the rise of the 3rd Reich

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Just like the CIA trained terrorists to the fight [] Now here's the truth about the system that'll fuck up your mind They gave Al Queda 6 billion dollars in 1989 to 1992 And now the last chapters of Revelations are coming true [] And just so Conservatives don't take it to heart I don't think Bush did it, 'cause he isn't that smart He's just a stupid puppet taking orders on his cell phone From the same people that sabotaged Senator Wellstone [] The military industry got it poppin' and lockin' Looking for a way to justify the Wolfowitz Doctrine And as a matter of fact, Rumsfeld, now that I think back Without 9/11, you couldn't have a war in Iraq Or a Defense budget of world conquest proportions [] And Dick Cheney, you fucking leech, tell them your plans About building your pipelines through Afghanistan And how Israeli troops trained the Taliban in Pakistan [] Government ties is really why the Government lies Read it yourself instead of asking the Government why 'Cause then the Cause of Death will cause the propaganda to die..

2.5 Call For Revolution

Approaching the end of this sociopolitical analysis of rap music, we could remain with the false idea that it all resumes to presenting and criticizing negative aspects of human conglomerates. The truth is that some rappers use their creation also as a mean to offer solutions to the mentioned issues. Not only, but most of the time their involvement in the attempt to make things better for the unfavored is direct. In this part of the chapter, we shall explain what the meanings of revolution are, because ultimately, it is this the common denominator that all voices relate to.

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On the one hand, when we think of rap music, the first thing that comes to mind is violence. The violence of the beat, the anger in the voice, the radicalism of the lyrics. In relation to this hardcore musical genre, the concept of revolution can first of all be defined as the military organizing of the lyrical combatants in this rap game, with the aim to destroy the establishment and get hold of the power. In this context, rappers are part of the musical industry guerrilla. Plain choruses become militant hymns and entire songs become warfare strategies. Throughout the instrumental, we can hear gunfire, movement of troops, airplanes and helicopters in the background. On Military Mindz (2002), 2Pac gives from the very beginning the orders:

Stand in formation My motherfucking real troopers Lets do it like soldiers

2Pac takes himself the honorific title of general and expresses the strict principles by which he creates his music, that, through analogy, turns into a military conflict, a war. On All Out (2001), he explains:
With each breath, death before dishonor Never let you swallow me, no apologies, your honor A general in war, I'm the first to bomb With a squad of trusted killers, quick to move shit heavily armed I'm similar to Saddam, sometimes I question Hussein

He does not only limit himself to specifying his rebel vision, but he also motivates and urges his followers to mobilize to trust the general and act:
Code 3. Attack formation. Pull out your pistols. [...] Scarred but still breathing. Believe in me and you could see the victory. A warrior with jewels. Will you picture me? [2Pac, Life of an Outlaw 1996]

Now my homies in the backstreets, the black streets

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They fell me when they rolling' in they fat jeeps This ain't just a rap song, a black song Telling all my brothers, get they strap on [2Pac, Holler If You Hear Me 1993]

This way, music is a useful propaganda instrument of a revolution that can be not only cultural, but bloody as well. Revolutionary movements can get easily inspired by rap music, because it can have a strong effect on the mind state. It can motivate. Just like in the Vietnam war, when tanks used to have headphones inside, so that soldiers could listen to rock music in order to get angry and fight without concern about the risks. On the other hand, revolution has also a much broader meaning, further from anything that violence implies. It can also be thought of as a cultural movement, meant to bring about, not only a change of regime, but most of all interior development. The development that starts inside of a person determines the evolution of an entire society. Neither a political regime with the best intentions, nor a perfect socioeconomic model can be successful if the base upon which they are applied is distorted. Immortal Techniques explains in an interview on latinrapper.com his opinion on the purpose of a revolutionary in society:
You don't have to be a dirty hippie to be Revolutionary. You don't have to run around the jungle with an AK-47 to speak for the people. Revolutionizing things can be done as simply as being an expert in whatever your field is and making those resources available to those impoverished people that truly need it. Organize in your community, become involved in local government, run for a position if you have ideas about changing something.

He seems to follow exactly what he preaches, as he gets directly involved in different projects meant to offer assistance to the ones in need. For example, he and Omeid International, a Non-Profit Organization, moved to Afghanistan to build an orphanage in Kabul with the money obtained from the selling of his album The 3rd World.

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However, he is not the only one to take part in this kind of revolution. M1 of Dead Prez went to Gaza Strip to experiment first-hand the conflictual situation out there. Still from Dead Prez, this time Stic.man approaches revolution by using capitalistic mechanism for his purpose. He created a website, bossupbu.com, where he commercializes different items that teach revolution. For example, books on African culture, on martial arts, for vegetarians, musical rap albums, and clothing with revolutionary messages and logos (see bossupbu.com).

Leaving aside nonmusical methods of calling for revolution, we can return to lyrics, which are meant to be the spine of this chapter. An important point in this sense is the attempt of rap artists to change the mentality of those in the hood. Young Noble utterly destroys the rotten dreams of those who falsely hope to get rich by drug-dealing, and of girls who seek to escape from poverty in every man they meet (as this finally turns into prostitution):
Homie, you can't sell dope forever You can't sell coke forever You can't sell smoke forever Baby, you can't sell ex forever You can't sell sex forever [...] It ain't too many dope dealers retiring It ain't too many old prostitutes vacationing on the islands Instead of knock 'em down, my focus is to inspire 'em Stop worshiping money, worship something higher up [Dead Prez and the Outlawz, Can't Sell Dope Forever 2006]

The call for change is clear and the purpose of rap music is clearer. Doing everything for money is not the solution. There are greater values that children ought to be taught to follow from young ages. Noble tries to teach and inspire others by his own example, by being focused himself. Another point is the importance given to good physical and mental health, and also to discipline. Successful and hardworking persons, them being rap artists or whatever you wish, are aware that a vicious life makes

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opportunities blurry and unclear, and therefore choices are made unwisely. In their songs, rappers teach the masses these lesson more and more often:
They say you are what you eat, so I strive to be healthy My goal in life is not to be rich or wealthy Cause true wealth comes from good health, and wise ways We got to start taking better care of ourselves [Dead Prez, Be Healthy 2000]

Finally, revolution is a state of mind and soul. Every day is a test, and it takes a man to overcome the difficulties of life. A real soldier cannot lose himself in the game, because others rely on him. He is the pillar in his family and in his social group. Even if the system is unjust and oppressive, by being intelligent, focused and determined, anyone can have a successful life. Being successful can be associated with being a revolutionary, and only a real man is able to accomplish this. Rappers act exactly life selfimprovement trainers:
I got so much trouble on my mind, refuse to lose! [...] I'm caught up in this untouchable mentality As a man thinking, it becomes his reality I used to let stress build up until I learned That stress will eat your insides up like worms [Dead Prez, Refuse to Lose 2009]

Can I holler at my dogs? It ain't no time left to have these low standards It's only right we go from boyhood to manhood [] Yeah, the system is up against us Yeah, the game is up to get us But we men, we ain't no quitters All we got is us, my niggaz! [] In business moves, he's a competent planner So he can move in a smooth, confident manner That's what men do! [Stic.man, That's What Men Do 2007

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2.6 Special Part: Globalization and Hip Hop

We have already stated that Hip Hop culture is a black thing. However, it is nowadays very common to be talking about a Global Hip Hop Nation. Why is this? Because of globalization. This phenomenon affects all sectors of human life, from economics to politics and to culture. Globalization determined a wide spread of the Hip Hop way of life to all the continents. In this special part of the paper, we shall discuss the two main reactions of non-American Hip Hop representatives to the way in which the so called black thing influenced their own thing. On the one hand, some of them give all the credit to the American black community for the invention of this culture. Their view differs from that of the others because, when reproducing the Hip Hop elements in their own countries, they try to leave unaltered their American form. On the other hand, others oppose the American supremacy in this artistic and social area by tracing the true origins of Hip Hop culture in African traditions, or, by claiming to create a localized version of the American blueprint of Hip Hop, suitable to their particular premises.

Regarding this cautious approach to admitting American Hip Hop culture as being the trigger to a series of other particular Hip Hop cultures on the global scene, we can begin with the first scenario. As I have already said, some of the Hip Hop Heads recognize the traditional story according to which Hip Hop was born in the Bronx, New York. Therefore, the ideals and imagery presented by American rappers are set on a pedestal by the others, that are simple followers. An interesting research made by Jennifer RothGirdon on the occasion of her travel to Rio de Janeiro in 1997, reveals how Hip Hop from the United States managed to find a very absorbing public in Brazil. Her research was published as a full chapter in Samy Alim's Global Linguistic Flows (2009: 63-77). According to her discoveries, Hip Hop arrived in Brazil in the 1980s, and Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, quickly established itself as its epicenter. The success of Racionais MC's in the late 1990s helped to launch like-minded groups such as Gog and M.V. Bill. These groups follow in the style of politically conscious rap in the United States, taking seriously Chuck D's charge to be the CNN of black America
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(Alim, Ibrahim, Pennycook 2009: 64). The good vibe between Brazilian Hip Hop culture and the one in the US is particularly clear. Here in Brazil, rappers look up to their American comrades. Very often, they adopt American Hip Hop fashion, slang and behavior. One interesting example of the importing of black American identity into the Brazilian context is the value and prestige placed upon the ghetto or the hood. In order to indicate their affiliation with the legendary birthplace of US Hip Hop, Brazilian fans renamed buildings in their favela after the boroughs of Brooklyn and the Bronx (Alim, Ibrahim, Pennycook 2009: 65).

Secondly, there are foreign rappers that agree the importance of the United States as pioneers of modern Hip Hop culture, but take another stance when origins are in discussion. According to them, Hip Hop is only a more evolved form of traditional African culture. Thus, the main purpose of rap artists is to promote the original culture by enriching the American creation with African secret ingredients. Not only, but they focus also on criticizing certain aspects of the American form of this powerful culture. For example, African rap artists feel very offended when they hear their American counterparts glorying violence, drug-dealing, women exploitation and consumerism. This is because dramatic events that are seen by black men in US ghettos as being cool, are everyday reality to blacks living in Africa. Here, rappers see a refuge in Hip Hop, a way of leaving these tragic events behind and go on with their lives regardless of the tough conditions. For example, Somalia-born rapper K'Naan compares the violent struggle against oppression in the ghettos of North America with the everyday realities of life in his home country:
In my country, everyone is in that condition. So it's not special. So therefore we don't have an element which makes it a thing that is possibly glorifiable.[...] They don't have that mentality; it's not linked to cool. In fact, it is uncool. And they know it, and that's the misfortune. [Alim, Ibrahim, Pennycook 2009: 31]

In another interview, Senegalese crew Daara j explain this as well:

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We should care more about our hunger problems...we live in a country where we have poverty, power, race, you know ethnic wars and stuff like that. So we couldn't afford to go like Americans, talking about Bling Bling, calling our pretty women Hoes or stuff like that. [Alim, Ibrahim, Pennycook 2009: 32]

Another interesting idea that is part of this category of "those opposing American supremacy" is that each country is seeking the conscious localization of Hip Hop. This means they try to adapt black culture to their own background. This results in the creation of a new, localized form of Hip Hop. It is not that they refuse to adopt the American ideology in the matter. It is just that in those particular countries the factors necessary to sustain the course that Hip Hop took in the United States do not exist. To be more specific and give concrete examples, rap artists in East Europe would never acquire the material wealth of American rappers, because in these countries capitalism has never reached the level it has in the US. Neither has the musical industry. Therefore, a Romanian rap artist would never sell as much as Snoop Dogg would. Language plays an important role as well. When rapping in English, an internationally-spoken language, the target public is much larger than when rapping in less spoken languages that not so many listeners would understand. This is why the portrayal of the American image in these countries' Hip Hop context would not be an authentic thing to do. And Hip Hop is all about keepin' it real.

Finally, apart from all this controversy regarding the true origins of Hip Hop and the way it should intertwine into one's own culture, the truth resides in a sort of compromise, and one thing is certain: Hip Hop succeeds in giving a rebirth to the local tradition of the country it reaches through its followers. It is a continuation of Indigenous traditions. Every country has a traditional cultural core that members may not even be aware of. The importing of Hip Hop creates a new relationship with cultural practices that have a history far longer than those of current popular music. The popular music that we can see being performed in our times is a conscious recollection of old artistic creation. It cannot contain the unconscious set of values that a particular culture is made of. This is why, when Hip Hop culture begins to fully establish, a new form of this very culture is being created. One that has
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always been local, and not consciously localized, because of the fact that each receiver of the Hip Hop culture is peculiar. Of course there are many similarities between rap music in different countries, but looking in depth, one can notice the effect that each country's own cultural background has had upon the artistic outcome. This applies from rappers in Berlin of Turkish background who draw on the traditions of medieval Turkish minstrels to Fijian Australian MC Trey's invocation of the connections between Hip Hop and Pacific Islander cultures (Alim, Ibrahim, Pennycook 2009: 35).

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Conclusion
At this point, we could affirm to have reached the end of our quest into the intertwined realms of politics and Hip Hop culture. Our trustworthy guide has been the glorious rap music. We have analyzed the most problematic aspects of both worlds, trying to maintain an impersonal perspective. However, after an incursion in such complex themes, one cannot remain without reaction. Objectivity has indeed been a rather difficult task. In this part of the paper, I will set free a series of personal observations that I had to keep to myself until now.

First of all, regarding our approach to politics, I would say that I am now more convinced than ever that real sociopolitical consciousness is imperative. We should all aspire to be active citizens and participate in this field of politics. I do not intend that we should all join political parties, enroll in voluntary programs, get out in the streets as protesters, or become civil servants. I intend to say that we all should keep pace with current national and global affairs, be open-eyed, and have the courage to express personal beliefs, even if they are contrary to what the mainstream is. We should stay informed, but most of all, be selective about it. We are witnessing the Information Age, so we tend to be attacked by influencing and opinion-forming agents.

Secondly, regarding rap music, I believe it can be a lot of things altogether. Rap music is a musical genre, a form of artistic expression that was born both as a consequence of civil movements, and because of the need for people to have a good time on the block and escape from their everyday gloomy mindset. It is therefore, both struggle and fun.

Rap music is also a strong cultural link between the contemporary Black community and traditional African society. It is heritage and a medium for promoting ethic revival. Because of this, a true social equality can be accomplished, and consequently, democracy can be fulfilled in practice just as in theory.

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Rap music is revolution, both peaceful and militant. It is a powerful instrument in the hands of those that are not fully represented by traditional social, political and judicial institutions. It preaches change, producing a new set of standards and values, as well as the elimination of oppression. It is a more progressive movement than any democratic-liberal party. It is more conservative than any republican-traditionalist party when dealing with preserving the laws of nature in humans. It is capable of taking a confident and violent stance if endangered by over-passed structures. Rappers have the status of intellectual exiles of bad functioning political systems.

Finally, rap music is business and entrepreneurship. It offers a product and produces profit in the form of resources that in some cases are redistributed between the needy. The most innovative, talented, creative and hardworking are almost always rewarded on the basis of merit by this economic system that rap music seems to be. Rap is leading the musical industry, is very present in the fashion area, and rappers color up the sets of filmmaking by being capable actors. Hip Hop culture is now a consecrated area that more and more scholars get involved in. Study programs, international seminars and conferences, hundreds of books: all on Hip Hop.

To sum up, I would only hope that the fusion between a well-established sector in human life (namely, politics), and this emerging powerful international actor (Hip Hop), could give birth to that multicultural, social, political and economic revolution that we are all in search of. It could be one of the keys meant to open the secret chest of our future.

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References

Books and articles:

Alim Samy H., 2006, Rock the Mic Right. The Language of Hip Hop Culture, Routledge

Alim, Ibrahim, Pennycook, 2009, Global Linguistic Flows. Hip Hop Cultures, Youth Identities, and the Politics of Language, Routledge

Chang Jeff, NovemberDecember 2007, It is a Hip Hop World, Foreign Policy Magazine (163): 58-65

Constitution of Iran

Fabri Marco, Langbroek P.M., 2000, The challenge of change for judicial systems: developing a public administration perspective, IOS Press

Feldman Noah , 2005, Divided by God. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, pg. 14

Hobbes Thomas, 1651, Leviathan

Pasquino Gianfranco, 2004, Nuovo corso di scienza politica, Il Mulino

Price E. George, 2006, Hip Hop Culture, ABC-CLIo

Schloss G Joseph, 2009, Foundation: B-boys, B-girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New York, Oxford University Press

The Italian Constitution

Weber Max, 1919, Politics as a Vocation

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On the Web:
Catholic Encyclopedia on theocracy:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14568a.htm

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/arts/dance/08bloo.html?pagewanted=1 &_r=1

Kennedy Randall(January 11, 2001). Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word. The Washington Post article (online):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/style/longterm/books/chap1/nigger.htm

NOW with Bill Moyers (4.09.04). Transcript. Bill Moyers interviews Kevin Philips (online): http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_phillips.html

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Reid Shaheem (Oct 18 2007). Nas Explains Controversial Album Title, Denies Reports Of Label Opposition. MTV News article (online): http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1572287/nas-explains-controversialalbum-title.jhtml

The Free Dictionary (online): http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com

theplayahata.com,

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Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

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