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Home , A Tribe Called Quest, Bring the Noise, Check the Rhime, De La Soul, Flavor Flav, Gotta Move On

MUSIC 17 - Week Four, Apr 22 Paper #2, due Monday, May 6 at noon, submit via triton ed.

Guidelines, also posted on TritonEd

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Why is nobody coming to my office hours?!?!?!?

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Note: Keep up with the listening assignments. For assessments of this type (not multiple choice), experience tells me that cramming is not an effective strategy. See course page for highlighted tracks.

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First in-section writing assignment was completed this week. Reminder that these will happen periodically, and that prompts are given out in section only.

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Jeff Chang is speaking at UCSD on Monday, May 13th Quiz #3 review...

• On and the Furious Five's track, "Superrappin'," the music is created...how?

• Planet Rock involves all the following except:

• The Zulu Nation

• German Electro Pop

• The TR 808

• Def Jam records • The Signifying Monkey refers to...? (actually refers to two different things we've talked about)

• Who wrote these ...? Should we practice a listening ID??? To do, Apr 22.

1. Review last week's lecture.

◦ Review in general, but focus on Collective in particular

◦ Listening strategies from last week are the ones paper #2 is asking you to put into practice

2. Then, on to today's materials -- in the "Age of Fracture":

1. Apartheid in South Africa -- before the fracture

2. Crack Epidemic, CIA ironies, militarism in LA city police (Mike Davis reading)

3. 1989, a big year

▪ Central Park 5, in the press,

4. Listening: NWA, X-Clan, , Schooly D Review from last week Native Tongues collective refers to a loose association of hip hop groups in the early 80s that inherits the community orientation of Bambaataa and produces positive, socially conscious materials.

Most prominent members of Native Tongues are:

De La Soul, , , ,

...paved the way for later artists like , and

Q Tip on the formation and purpose of Native Tongues:

" Yo these kids, , you gotta meet ’em! I swear we’re just alike!” I went there, met them, and it was just fuckin’ love at first sight. It was disgusting. In hip hop, it praises individualism. I think that’s the main achievement of the Native Tongues. It just showed people could come together.”

Note: Native Tongues is explicitly positioned against "individualism." It's about coming together, or, another way to say it, "collectivism." Following on our discussion from last week, the crucial thing is to notice how this "positivity" emerges from more than just the lyrics. It's in the whole aesthetic presentation: the production, the timbre, the cymbals, the fashion, the album art, whatever. Stetsasonic, “Talking All That ,” 1988

• , Daddy-O and Paul

• Samples Jazz - upright bass. Lonnie Smith, Expansions

• note double entendre on "Jazz" - or is it a triple entendre?

• It's a rap about sampling as a serious aesthetic working method.

• Note in-group mentality specifically addressed at outsiders, using the concept of sampling as the wedge. Selections:

Well here's how it started, heard you on the radio Talking 'bout rap, saying all that crap About how we sample, giving examples Think we'll let you get away with that?

You said it wasn't art, so now we're gonna rip you apart Stop, check it out my man This is the music of a hip-hop band Jazz, well you can call it that But this jazz retains a new format

...

Think rap is a fad? You must be mad Cause we're so bad we get respect you never had Tell the truth, was old 'Til Eric and Ra came out with "I Got Soul" Rap brings back old R&B And if we would not, people could've forgot

TC: James Brown was old until 1987: Erik B and , I know Uou Got Soul There's a very straightforward connection to make to Henry Louis Gates here -- can we make it? Tribe Called Quest, Scenario, 1991

• begins with verse by core members: , Charlie Brown, and Q-Tip

• Very significant and influential track featuring a classic verse omfr a young

• Also features Dinco D, who, with Busta Rhymes, would found the Leaders of the New School Here we go, yo, here we go, yo So what, so what, so what's the scenario? Here we go, yo, here we go, yo So what, so what, so what's the scenario?

TC: opens with chorus/posse -- actually a throwback to older styles of hip hop Phife Dawg

Ayo, Bo knows this (What?) And Bo knows that (What?) But Bo don't know jack, 'cause Bo can't rap Well, what do you know? The Di-Dawg is first up to bat No batteries included and no strings attached No holds barred, no time for move-fakin' Gots to get the loot so I can bring home the bacon Brothers front, they say the Tribe can't flow But we've been known to do the impossible like Broadway Joe, so Sleep if you want, Nytol will help you get your Zs, troop But here's the real scoop I'm all that and then some, short, dark, and handsome Bust a nut inside your eye to show you where I come from I'm vexed, fuming, I've had it up to here My days of paying dues are over, acknowledge me as in there (Yeah!) Head for the border, go get a taco Watch me wreck it from the jump street, meaning from the get-go Sit back, relax, and let yourself go Don't sweat what you heard, but act like you know Charlie Brown

Yes, yes, y'all, (Yes, y'all!) Who got the vibe? It's the Tribe, y'all (Tribe, y'all!) Real live, y'all (Live, y'all!) Inside, outside, come around (Who's that?) Brown!

TC: again, posse interlude introduces Charlie Brown

So, may I say, call me Charlie The word is the herb and I'm deep like Bob Marley Lay back on the payback, evolve, rotate the gates (Contact!) Can I get a hit? (Hit!) Boom, bip With a brother named Tip, and we're ready to flip East coast stomping, ripping, and romping , North Cak-a-laka, and Compton Checka-checka-check it out The loops for the troops, more bounce to the ounce And wow-how-now-wow, how now, Brown cow?

TC: note gibberish syllables, another throwback We're ill 'til the skill gets down For the flex, next, it's the textbook, old to the new But the rest are doo-doo From radio, to the video, to Arsenio Tell me, yo; what's the scenario? Dinco D

(True blue!) Scooby Doo, whoopie doo Scenarios, radios, rates more than four Scores for the s'mores that smother dance floors Now I go for mine, shades of sea shore Ship-shape, crushed grapes, apes that play tapes Papes make drakes baked for the wakes Of an (L-ah-!), an (-eader!), simply just a leader Base (TC or bass?) in the space means peace, see ya later Later (Later!) later, alligator Pop blows the weasel and the urge to inflate her So, yo, the D, what! The O Incorporated I-N-C into a flow flipped, flat back, first this, foul, fight, fight, fight Laugh, yo, how'd that sound? (Ooh!) Q Tip

It's a Leader-Quest mission and we got the goods here (Here!) Never on the left 'cause my right's my good ear (Ear!)

TC: Shakespeare? "Come over to my right side, because this ear is deaf, and tell me what you really think of Cassius."

I could give a damn about a ill subliminal Stay away from crime so I ain't no (criminal!) I love my young nation, groovy sensation No time for hibernation, only elation Don't ever try to test the water, little kid Yo, Mr. Busta Rhymes, tell him what I did—

Busta Rhymes

—I heard you rushed and rushed (and attacked!) Then they rebuked and you (had to smack!) Causing rambunction throughout the sphere Raise the levels of the boom inside the ear— Q Tip

—You know I did it So don't violate or you'll get violated The hip-hop sound is well agitated Won't ever waste no time on a played out ego So here's Busta Rhymes with the scenario:

Busta Rhymes

Watch as I combine all the juice from the mind Heel up, wheel up, bring it back, come, rewind Powerful impact (Boom!) from the cannon! Not bragging, tryna read my mind, just imagine Vo-cab-u-lary's necessary When diggin' into my library

TC: cf. Q Tip's vocabulary -- "sensation, hibernation, elation." More rarefied words than we're used to hearing. Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Eating Ital Stew like the one Peter Tosh Unh! Unh! Unh! All over the track, man Unh, pardon me, unh! As I come back! As I did it, yo, I had to beg your pardon When I travel through the town I roll with the squadron Rawr! Rawr! Like a dungeon dragon Change your little drawers 'cause your pants were saggin' Try to step to this, I will twist you in a turban And have you smelling rank like some old, stale urine Chickity Choco, the chocolate chicken The rear cock diesel, buttcheeks, they were kicking Yo, bust it out before the Busta bust another rhyme The rhythm is in sync (Uh!) the rhymes are on time (Time!) Rippin' up the sound just like Horatio Observe the vibe and check out the scenario Yeah, my man, mothafucka! Queen Latifah and , Ladies First, 1989

• Although perhaps better known today for her acting career, Queen Latifah started as a rapper.

• Monie Love is the first "BritHop" artist to rsell well in the US market.

• This is from Queen Latifah's debut album from 1989, [Clever three part harmony]

Queen Latifah

The ladies will kick it, the rhyme that is wicked Those that don't know how to be pros get evicted A woman can bear you, break you, take you Now it's time to rhyme, can you relate to A sister dope enough to make you holler and scream

Monie Love

Ayo, let me take it from here, Queen... Excuse me but I think I'm about do To get into precisely what I am about to do I'm conversating to the folks that have no whatsoever clue So listen very carefully as I break it down for you Merrily merrily merrily merrily hyper happy overjoyed Pleased with all the beats and rhymes my sisters have employed Slick and smooth throwing down the sound totally a yes Let me state the position: Ladies first, yes? (Yes) [Monie Love]

Believe me when I say being a woman is great, you see I know all the fellas out there will agree with me Not for being one but for being with one Because when it's time for loving it's the woman that gets some Strong, stepping, strutting, moving on Rhyming, cutting, and not forgetting We are the ones that give birth To the new generation of prophets because it's Ladies First [Queen Latifah]

I break into a lyrical freestyle Grab the mic, look into the crowd and see smiles Cause they see a woman standing up on her own two Sloppy slouching is something I won't do Some think that we can't flow (can't flow) Stereotypes, they got to go (got to go) I'm a mess around and flip the scene into everser (With what?) With a little touch of "Ladies First" Who said the ladies couldn't make it, you must be blind If you don't believe, well here, listen to this rhyme Ladies first, there's no time to rehearse I'm divine and my mind expands throughout the universe A female rapper with the message to send the Queen Latifah is a perfect specimen

[Monie Love] My sister, can I get some?

[Queen Latifah]

Sure, Monie Love, grab the mic and get dumb

[Monie Lovie]

Yo, praise me not for simply being what I am Born in L-O-N-D-O-N and sound American You dig exactly where I'm coming from You want righteous rhyming, I'mma give you some To enable you to aid yourself and get paid And the material that has no meaning I wish to slay Pay me every bit of your attention Like mother, like daughter, I would also like to mention I wish for you to bring me to, bring me to the rhythm Of which is now systematically given Desperately stressing I'm the daughter of a sister Who's the mother of a brother who's the brother of another Plus one more; all four Have a job to do, we doing it Respect due, to the mother who's the root of it And next up is me, the M-O-N-I-E L-O-V-E And I'm first cause I'm a -AL -D-I-E [Queen Latifah]

Contact and in fact, the style, it gets harder Cooling on the scene with my European partner Laying down track after track, waiting for the climax When I get there, that's when I tax The next man, or the next woman It doesn't make a difference, keep the competition coming And I'll recite the chapter in verse The title of this recital is "Ladies First" Step out into the night of civilization are on the mic The scene is right, the crowd is hype I expel the wack and those who bite Why, cause I'm that type Swaying with beats 45 King style He wants me to sing but I swing, so meanwhile A footnote for the opposite sex Monie ripped the mic, I rocked it next Plex, you never catch me at my worst You get the drift? It's Ladies First Other classic Native Tongues recordings:

Tribe Called Quest, Bonita Applebaum

• Samples 1970s soul-jazz: Ramp, Daylight

• Sitar sample

De La Soul, Me Myself and I

• Satirizes commercialized Hip Hop industry

• Connection to the thing Qtip was quoted as saying earlier?

• Uses a wide array of samples: language instruction, hippie stuff, ock,r etc.

Tribe Called Quest, , 1991

• Funny conga beat Turn to your neighbor. Learn their name, if you don't already know it :)

How do you characterize the "Native Tongues" sound?

How does the sound go with the lyrics?

Is it corny?

Is it "Black CNN?" From conscious to gangsta Apartheid

• Apartheid <-- Afrikaans (dialect of Dutch), cognate with english "apart-ness"

• Institutionalized racial segregation

• National Party of South Africa

• Prohibitions on miscegenation, separate public facilities, voter disenfranchisement.

• Involvement in broader Cold War struggle. Support corrupt (or racist, or violent, or, occasionally, drug-dealing) forces so long as they support the supreme evil of the Communist menace. • Jean J. Kirkpatrick, Ambassador to the UN under Reagan, foreign policy advisor

• Famous article, "Dictatorships and Double Standards," 1979, establishes the "Kirkpatrick Doctrine"

• "Although most governments in the world are, as they always have been, autocracies of one kind or another, no idea holds greater sway in the mind of educated Americans than the belief that it is possible to democratize governments, anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances. "

• "In the relatively few places where they exist, democratic governments have come into being slowly, after extended prior experience with more limited forms of participation during which leaders have reluctantly grown accustomed to tolerating dissent and opposition..."

• "Since Moscow is the aggressive, expansionist power today, it is more often than not insurgents, encouraged and armed by the Soviet Union, who challenge the status quo."

• "Traditional monarchies" preserve power in the hands of a few (bad?) but "such societies create no refugees" (good) • "History is a better guide than good intentions"

• "Liberal idealism need not be identical with masochism, and need not be incompatible with the defense of freedom and the national interest."

... that is, we should sometimes collaborate with unsavory autocrats so long as they, like us, oppose the Soviet Union Kirkpatrick Doctrine and Apartheid

• Under Nixon, we accommodate apartheid South Africa.

• Jimmy Carter, responding to growing protest movements in USA and abroad, institutes an arms embargo.

• Ronald Reagan, elected 1980, creates policy of "constructive engagement," officially opposing racism but in many ways accommodating the South African regime.

• Divestment campaign grows. Compare with contemporary BDS (boycott, divestment and sanction) movement, which sees itself as heir to South African divestment movement.

• 1986 Comprehensive Anti Apartheid Act passes congress. Reagan vetoes, but congress overrides veto.

• 1990, Nelson Mandela released from prison, elected 1994 as first black rP esident of South Africa. Regarded (not without qualifications) as a post-civil rights social justice success.

• 1991 Apartheid laws officially mostlyepealed r Nevertheless, "Fracture"

• "Neoliberalism"

◦ disinvestment, small government ideology

◦ de-industrialization, free trade

◦ growth of financial industries

◦ tax cuts for the wealthy ("trickle down", "supply side" economics)

◦ corporate deregulation, mergers of multinational conglomerates -- really really big companies

Results?

Extraordinary prosperity for some, economic stagnation (or worse) for most. Free trade. Rise in income inequality. Further urban decay. Cultural stigmatization of poverty, fetishization of wealth. "Welfare Queens," the "prosperity gospel," state colleges that cost money to attend, a million other things. Jeff Chang on esultsr of economic policy:

"Trickle-down economics and local taxpayer revolts starved local governments and encouraged suburban sprawl, which in turn speeded white flight and racial resegregation. These trends were occurring as demographers projected the most racially diverse generation of youths the had ever seen." (223) Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, premieres in 1984, a new kind of TV show gawking at the grotesque accumulation of the super-wealthy.

Donald Trump, lifestyles interview in 1994, about his then 1-year old daughter:

Well, I think she’s got a lot of Marla and she’s a really beautiful baby. And she’s, uh, she’s got, uh, she’s got Marla’s legs. We don’t know whether or not she’s got this part yet (puts hands over breast area), but time will tell. • Income inequality

• Social alienation

• The fraying of the black-jewish political coalition (Public Enemey's 1989 PR disaster)

Daniel Rodgers, Age of Fracture, Belknap Press, 2011

The "market" supplants other ideas we may have used in the USA to order our lives and anchor our identities. The result is a widespread conceptual fracture with all kinds of fasincating consequences. "War on Drugs" (Mike Davis, City of Quartz)

• LAPD Chief Daryl Gates Speaks on Drugs

"We have a shooting war on the streets."

to the "Andean Nations," he says, "we're not hypocrites."

• Vice President George HW Bush Visits "Crack House" in 1988

• Gates is usually regarded as the founder of the SWAT thing, bringing Vietnam style militarization to municipal policing. The Hahns, Kenneth (elder) and James (junior)

• Kenneth Hahn, city supervisor

• Jim Hahn, then city attorney, later mayor

◦ Both make "tough on crime" part of their political platform.

◦ Jim Hahn files civil suit against street gangs, capitalizing on rhetorical climate of the day and broadening the reach of the war on drugs.

◦ Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act (STEP), 1988, "sentencing enhancements"

◦ Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH)

◦ SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) • media sensationalism of "gang culture" and crime is extreme, especially in .

• George Bush, Willie Horton Ad, 1988

◦ Davis: "terrified a generation of Democrats into believing that their political survival depends on being even more bloodthirsty than Republicans" (Davis, p. 290)

• Demolition Man, 1993

◦ Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) vs. John Spartan (Stallone)

◦ Opening Scene

◦ -Los Angeles-Santa Barbara Corridor has become a very peaceful place in the 21st century, so it's no match for Simon Phoenix when he manages to unfreeze himself. Only one man still has the grit and know-how from policing to take him down... Sensationalism has real legal consequences. Here is Davis citing the LA times: Crack Cocaine Epidemic

Overproduction in South America of coca crops leads to new product, crack. Two major Colombian cartels: Medellin and Cali.

Trafficking moves omfr South Florida to Southern California, via Mexico in early 1980s.

Noam Chomsky in 2009 on Drug war in South America Iran Contra Scandal

Two regions in question: Iran and Nicaragua.

This is during the Cold War: Reagan wants to support the "Contras" in Nicaragua, who oppose the socialist government there (Sandinistas), but Congress has forbidden him to do so. After years of hostility, the US is also forbidden to deal with the state of Iran.

Nevertheless, it is revealed in 1986 that the US has been meddling in Nicaragua's struggle, funneling arms to the Contras. Furthermore, it comes to light that the money to support this project is coming from the profits of arms sales to Iran.

Making matters worse, the Contras were brutal and, crucially for our purposes today, involved in the cocaine trade.

This policy was probably led by Oliver North, who was on Reagan's National Security Council. He was convicted of obstruction at the end of the 1980s, but the ruling was overturned as he had been granted limited immunity for cooperating in the investigation.

He spent years as a host on Fox Business and is now the head of the NRA. • Malcolm Byrne, Iran-Contra: Reagan's Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power, Univserity Press of Kansas, 2014

• John Ehrman, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan, Yale University Press, 2005

• Daniel Rodgers, Age of Fracture, Belknap Press, 2011

• Intercept article by Jon Schwartz on Oliver North From Jon Schwartz:

There’s no evidence that North actively wanted cocaine to be smuggled into the U.S. It was simply that he had other priorities. But was he aware of the Contras’ drug trafficking?es. Y Did he try to shield one of “his” cocaine traffickers from consequences from the other branches of the U.S. government? Yes. Did he work together with a known drug lord? Yes. Why does this all matter in a course about hip hop?

In a word,

"Freeway" Rick Ross is not Rick Ross the rapper, nor is he the rapper Freeway, but rather "Freeway" Rick Ross, a drug kingpin with a hundred-million dollar empire in Los Angeles. Convicted in mid 1980s and released in 2009.

But he did sue Def Jam for the usage of his name. Also the Rapper "Freeway" (not the same as Rick Ross).

His drug supplier, Danilo Blandon, was supposedly involved in the CIA scheme to support the Contras. This is reported in a famous series of articles by Gary Webb for the San Jose Mercury News. Gary Webb killed himself in 2004.

In other words, the crack epidemic was tolerated? aided? known about? by an arm of the United States government abroad, even as it mounted ever more aggressive drug enforcement tactics at home. These affected non-whites disproportionately.

Impossible to know how much of the "Dark Alliance" is true. What we do know, though, is the disorientation and extraordinary frustration it caused in LA's black community.

Crack in the System, 2015 Documentary on Freeway RR, Gary Webb, Etc. Jay Z, Blue Magic (2007)

Blame Reagan for making me into a monster Blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra I ran contraband that they sponsored or, Pusha T, Alone in Vegas ...

whiter than that coke brush they paint me with

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__Reagan era I ran contraband Money caused turf wars through the promised land__ or, Zach de la Rocha and KRS-one, CIA - Criminals in Action 1988-1989: Central Park 5, Do the Right Thing, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back, and Public Enemy's Problem Central Park 5

• Trisha Meili was attacked violently, Apr 9 1989. In a coma for 12 days, awoke with no memory of the incident. Has since recovered almost fully.

• "The Central Park Jogger"

• Police apprehend five young men: aymondR Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise

• There are some confessions, but later recanted, claiming coercion and malicious prosecution.

• Extremely high profile, sensationalized story. Press calls defendants "wolf pack," Mayor Koch calls them "monsters."

• NY Post: they come from " “a world of crack, welfare, guns, knives, indifference and ignorance." (cited in this fascinating article in the New Yorker about the central park 5)

• in 2002, Mattias Reyes, serving a life sentence for other crimes, confesses to the crime, and DNA confirms that it was him.

• In 2014, NYC Mayor De Blasio finally settles lawsuit with the CP5, awarding approx 1 million per man per year unjustly served. , NYC real estate heir, weighs in with ads condemning the teenage defendants. Estimated $85k to advertise in major papers, including NY Times. Trump maintains to this day that they are guilty in spite of DNA proof. "They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be xe ecuted for their crimes. They must serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or an act of violence." Black Nationalism, the , The Five Percenters

• Nation of Islam is an American religion based on Islam

• Prophet is WD Fard (Wallace Fard Mohammed), succeeded by Elijah Mohammed

• Malcom X, famously, joins and then splits from NOI

• Louis Farrakhan succeeds Elijah Mohammed, and has particular importance for many hip hop artists Five percent nation, or the Nation of Gods and Earths

• A sort of splinter community from the Nation of Islam, founded in 1964

• A pseudo-religious theology and philosophy popular among some rappers of the 1980s. "God Hop"

• Afrocentric theology: black man ("Asiatic") is God. Women are "earths." (hence gods and earths). Children are moons.

• A set of distinctive catch phrases:

◦ calling eachother "god" rather than "man"

◦ "Word is Bond"

◦ "I am God"

◦ "Supreme Mathematics" and "Supreme Alphabet"

◦ Arabic names for various urban areas in USA. Brookyln = Medina. Harlem = Mecca. New Jersey = New Jerusalem.

◦ "civilized the uncivilized," i.e. 85% of the world's population. Other Five Percenters:

• , Ain't no Half Steppin, note the influence of akimR

• Lakim Shabbazz, Black is Back, 1988

• Wu Tang (more on them later)

• Busta Rhymes on Five Percent Nation

...interested in the Five Percent Nation?

• Try Five Percenter Rap: God Hop's Music, Message, and Black Muslim Mission by Felicia M. Miyakawa, 2005 Public Enemy

• , Flava Flav, and, eventually, as Minister of Information and Security

• Carleton Ridenhour, William Drayton, and Richard Griffin

• From (met at Adelphi U)

• 1987: Yo! Bum Rush is first eallyr commercially successful and work of black nationalist rap.

• Controversial for that reason.

Public Enemy, You're Gonna Get Yours

• Extended riff on defying the police in a chase ('98' is the Oldsmobile 98') 2nd Album: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

Public Enemy, Too black, too strong Too black, too strong

[Intro: Flava Flav] Yo Chuck, these honey drippers are still fronting on us Show 'em that we can do this, cause we always knew this Haha, yeah boy!

[Verse 1: Chuck D] Bass! can you go? Death row? What a brother know Once again, back is the incredible rhyme animal The uncannable D, Public Enemy Number One Five-O said, "Freeze!"—and I got numb

Can I tell 'em that I really never had a gun? But it's the wax that the spun Now they got me in a cell 'cause my records, they sell Cause a brother like me said "Well Farrakhan's a prophet and I think you ought to listen to What he can say to you, what you ought to do is follow for now" Power of the people say "Make a miracle, D, pump the lyrical" Black is back, all in, we're gonna win Check it out, yeah y'all, come on, here we go again

[Hook] Turn it up! Bring the noise!

[Bridge: Flava Flav] Ayo Chuck, they're saying we're too black, man Yo, I don't understand what they're saying But little do they know they can get a smack for that, man

[Verse 2] Never badder than bad cause the brother is madder than mad At the fact that's corrupt like a senator Soul on a roll, but you treat it like soap on a rope 'Cause the beats and the lines are so dope Listen for lessons I'm saying inside music that the critics are blasting me for They'll never care for the brothers and sisters now, 'cause the country has us up for the war We got to demonstrate, come on now They're gonna have to wait 'till we get it right Radio stations I question their blackness They call themselves black, but we'll see if they'll play this [Hook] Turn it up! Bring the noise!

[Bridge: Flava Flav] Ayo Chuck, they illin', we chillin' Yo P.E. in the house, top billin' Yo Chuck, show em what you can do, boy

[Verse 3] Get from in front of me, the crowd runs to me My DJ is warm, he's X, I call him Norm, ya know He can cut a record from side to side So what, the ride, the glide should be much safer than a suicide Soul control, beat is the father of your rock'n'roll Music for whatcha, for whichin', you call a band, man Making a music, abuse it, but you can't do it, ya know You call 'em demos, (but we ride limos, too) Whatcha gonna do? Rap is of you Beat is for Sonny Bono, (beat is for ) Run-DMC first said a DJ could be a band Stand on its own feet, get you out your seat Beat is for Eric B. and LL as well, hell Wax is for Anthrax, still it can rock bells Ever forever, universal, it will sell Time for me to exit, Terminator X-it

[Hook] Turn it up! Bring the noise!

[Bridge: Flava Flav] Yo, they should know by now that they can't stop this bum rush Word up, better keep tellin' me to turn it down But yo, ain't going out like that [Verse 4] From coast to coast, so you stop being like a comatose "Stand, my man? The beat's the same with a boast toast" Rock with some pizzazz, it will last. Why you ask? Roll with the rock stars, still never get accepted as We got to plead the Fifth, you can investigate Don't need to wait, get the record straight Hey, posse in effect, got the Flavor, erT minator X to sign checks, play to get paid We got to check it out down on the avenue A magazine or two is dissing me and dissing you Yeah, I'm telling you [Outro: Flava Flav] Hey yo, Griff, get thirty S1W, we got to handle this We ain't goin' out like that Yo man, straight up on the Columbo tip We can do this, like Brutus 'Cause we always knew this You know what I'm sayin' There's just one thing that puzzles me, my brother What's wrong with all these people around here, man Is they clocking? Is they rocking? Is they shocking? , Do the Right Thing, 1989

1989, Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing

• Radio Raheem's Love and Hate Scene

• Radio Raheem at Sal's Pizzeria

...what's the music?

Public Enemy was actually commissioned to make "Fight the Power" as the soundtrack for the movie. Spike Lee directed the ., for which he staged a sort of real march/concert.

"1963, that was a bit of nonsense, we ain't rollin like that no more. matter of fact..." Public Enemy and the 1989 Anti-semitism scandal

Minister of Information Professor Griff makes a number of anti-semitic comments.

For example, ''The are wicked. And we can prove this.'' Also said that Jews are responsible for ''the majority of wickedness that goes on across the globe.''

Puts more pressure on an already strained Black-Jewish relationship, exacerbated by Farrakhan's reputation for antisemitism and homophobia.

Griff is dismissed from PE in 1989, group continues on without him.

Here's Griff xplaininge these comments

Account is in Chang, chap 13. X Clan, "Heed the Word of the Brother"

• Black nationalist but, crucially, not militant:

They call me militant Now what does this mean? Do I carry a gun [?] Like the army scene? Brand Nubian, "Wake Up"

• Really explicit 5 percent nation lyrics

• Like X Clan but more religious Peace to the Gods, Peace Allah A-yo there go that brother I heard that brother got knowledge of self Yo, true indeed brother Yo, let's have that brother come over and add on to the cipher A-yo knowledge this [Grand Puba] The attribute Hagi helper to another God In need He Allah God Islam As I proceed to civilize the uncivilized Word of wisdom to the groove from the wise (speak on it God) I guess I'm like the Verbalizer for the fact I'm moving blackwards This Asiatic black man is a dog spelled backwards The maker, the owner, the cream of the planet Earth Father of civilization, God of the universe Manifesting thoughts with my infinite styles Making sure this travels twenty-three million miles The other six I set the crucifix Because the heart of the problem is this.. (speak on it God) Preacher got my Old Earth putting money in the pan For the rest of the week, now I'm eating out a soup can He has a home, drives a Caddy through town Has my Old Earth believing that he's coming from the ground (Jesus) Slain are those who fought for what was right Slayed are those who fell victim to the pipe A drug controlled substance, contained in a vial Set up by the devil as he looks and he smiles Good at the game of tricknology But I have knowledge of myself, you're not fooling me You see the answer to me is black unity Unification, to help our bad situation I wrote this on a day of wisdom power All being born to myself (God!) I won't diss the next brother to be paid, that's not my trade It's just the plan that is designed by the colored man Now our babies are born to think this is the way of us (The way of us) That's the way the devil wants it so it is no fuss (It is no fuss) It's just that sad old song, "Self Destruction" To stop our reproduction

They put our Wisdom before us (murderer!) That makes it Wisdom, Knowledge (murderer!) But we need Knowledge, Wisdom to bring forth the Understanding (murderer!) Culture, Freedom (murderer!) Power, Refinement (murderer!) Equality, God, Build, Destroy, Borns our Cipher (murderer!) (Can a devil fool a Muslim?) No, not nowadays bro (Do you mean to say the devil fooled us four hundred years ago?) Why Equal Self, a trader made an interpretation Saying that we'd receive more gold for our labor in his nation (Did we receive more gold?) God, Now Cipher It's time to drop the bomb and make the devil pay the piper (True indeed, God, true indeed, God) Why Equal Self (True indeed, God, true indeed, God) Why Equal Self (True indeed, God, true indeed, God) Why Equal Self (True indeed God, true indeed) Why Equal Self [Grand Puba] The solution, knowledge of self to better ourself Cause I know myself, that we can live much better than this Nothing's changed, it's just another sequel The devil's still causing trouble amongst the righteous people Drugs in our community (That ain't right) Can't even get a job (That ain't right) Poisoning our babies (That ain't right) Lying who is God (That ain't right) Well here's some food for thought, many fought for the sport And the black man still comes up short? It's time to motivate, build and elevate Blind, deaf, and dumb, we've gotta change their mind state So I dip dip diver, civilize a 85'er Gotta let him know the devil's a conniver This is the plan from the brother man From the motherland, now it's time to take a stand I keep striving to do my duty to awake 'em To the universal family, I say asalaam alaikum Yeah, now I'mma do like this Nuff espectsr to the brother Jazzy Jay, nuff espectr Nuff espects,r to my Brand Nubian brothers Bust it, , God Allah Derek X is on the flex Alamo is good to go Sincere, the God is in here So move on black man, move on We gotta move on black man, move on Move on black man, move on We gotta move on black man, move on Now before I motivate I'mma just say like this Please, educate Allah's children, with equality Move on black man, move on You gotta move on black man, move on Schooly D, PSK, 1985

First Gangsta Record?

PSK = Park Side Killers, Gangsta

Mood of hostility. Lyrics about crime without explicit politics.

Widely influential and sampled: e.g. BIG The Gansta thing takes off:

Ice T, 6 in the mornin', 1986

Easy E, Boyz in the Hood, 1988

• First really big LA hit.

• Famously (thanks to the movie), actually wrote these lyrics, while Easy E was just trying to launder money.

NWA, Straight Outta Compton, 1988

• From debut album Straight Outta Compton. After success of Boyz in the Hood, this group forms and really catapults the Gangsta style into public visibility. Also makes Compton famous as a symbol of urban apocalypse (think of Demo Man)

NWA, Fuck the Police, 1988

• Important to consider what else is happening in this track besides its notorious violence and provocation.