A 2PAC Analysis of the Black Male Baller in Amerikkka2
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Sociology of Sport Journal, 2020, 37, 207-219 https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2020-0019 © 2020 Human Kinetics, Inc. ARTICLE My Ambitionz az a Qualitative Ridah1: A 2PAC Analysis of the Black Male Baller in Amerikkka2 C. Keith Harrison Rhema Fuller Whitney Griffin University of Central Florida The University of Memphis Cerritos College Scott Bukstein Danielle McArdle Steven Barnhart University of Central Florida Seton Hall University University of Central Florida The purpose of this paper is to contextualize and analyze the lyrics of Tupac Shakur by using the research methodological approach of concatenation to merge hip-hop and sport so that the qualitative data from these songs might serve as a cultural map to constructs of identity, race, social class, and black masculinity in the context of sport and the black male athlete experience in America. Applying critical race theory and White’s framework of black masculinity and the politics of racial performance, a connection is made with themes of the artists’ (rapper) social commentary and the athlete (baller). The themes from Tupac Shakur’s lyrics are follows: (a) Trapped, (b) Against the World, (c) The Streetz R Death, and (d) Ambitionz. Synergy with the rapper and baller are articulated, as well as implications for scholars and practitioners that work with high school, collegiate, and professional black male athletes, along with other men of color. Julius Erving (McLeod, 2009, p. 216). Funk bled into basketball fashion trends and wove into militant black pride in the late 60s, “The most dangerous weapon, an educated Black man” as many athletes sported Afro hairstyles popularized by musical —Tupac Shakur, 1991 artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. Both Hendrix and Stone reciprocated the exchange and adopted headbands, multicolored The links between music and sport in African American wristbands, and decorated knee-high socks into their images. The communities date back to the post-World War I Negro Leagues first endorsement between a musical group and an athletic company and the Jazz Age (Haddock, Ross, & Jackson, 1996). Both move- was solidified in the 1980s with Run D.M.C.’s song and music ments exploded out of resistance toward the myth of white video, “My Adidas,” a deal that would influence future endorse- superiority in the music and sport industries. McLeod (2009) cites ments between brands and hip-hop musicians. As black culture and several compelling examples that illustrate how black performers music continued to evolve, rap artists uniformed themselves with are allowed freedom in bodily and creative expression through the oversized basketball and hockey jerseys in their music videos cross-pollination of music and sports, more so than other media, for (McLeod, 2009). Football Super Bowl halftime shows have hosted fi example, lm. The Harlem Globetrotters were an all-black basket- black jazz performers from Lionel Hampton and Ella Fitzgerald to ball team engaged in the African American cultural renaissance of hip-hop artists like Missy Elliot, Nelly, P. Diddy, and Nicki Minaj. fi the 1930s. Their performance style exempli ed the fusion of team Despite significant attention given to hip-hop culture and rap collaboration, solo improvisations, and clowning routines that are within the disciplines of English, history, psychology, sociology, unique to jazz, rather than the orderly and strict discipline of all- and religion (see, e.g., Durham, 2014; Kitwana, 2005; Rose, 2008; white symphonies and sport teams that were used to justify their Smith & Jackson, 2012; Watkins, 2005), the sport sociology and superiority. Jazz musician Miles Davis openly discussed how sport management communities have been virtually silent about boxer Sugar Ray Robinson’s discipline influenced him to over- the intersection of sport and hip-hop (for notable exceptions, see, come his heroin addiction in 1954. Shortly thereafter, he recorded e.g., Harrison, Moore, & Evans, 2006; Marston, 2017; Martin, his renowned “Jack Johnson Sessions,” a tributary album to the 1997; Sudre, Joncheray, & Lech, 2019). This is a striking omission, very first black heavyweight boxing champion. for lyrics and language in popular culture can serve as a way to As the cultural renaissance transformed into brazen empow- critique race, gender, class, and sexual orientation, (Morrell & erment, the “‘in your face’ style” of the Black Power Movement Duncan-Andrade, 2002) and also the American educational system was fueled by black funk artists like Dr. Funkenstein, (a.k.a. with its complicated performances of blackness in the historical George Clinton) and the new slam dunk move epitomized by present. In this paper, we focus on the late Tupac Shakur (hereafter 2PAC) and in specific lyrics from his music archive so as to map Harrison, Bukstein, and Barnhart are with the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA. Fuller is with The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, constructs of identity, race, social class, and black masculinity in USA. Griffin is with the Journal of Higher Education Athletics & Innovation, the context of sport and the black male athlete experience in Cerritos College, Norwalk, CA, USA. McArdle is with the Seton Hall University, America. Raised in Los Angeles, CA, Shakur (1971–1996) was South Orange, NJ, USA. Address author correspondence to C. Keith Harrison at a prominent hip-hop artist in the 1990s. With lyrics that addressed [email protected]. contemporary social issues, Shakur achieved massive commercial 207 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/26/21 11:20 AM UTC 208 Harrison et al. and critical success as a musical artist. His life came to an early 2003). Second, scholars have focused on “the code of the street” in end when he was shot and killed on the Las Vegas Strip after terms of identities of the “gangstas” and “thugs” (Kubrin, 2005) attending a Bruce Seldon–Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM and have empirically tested the violent content of rap music in hip- Grand Hotel. hop culture (Johnson, Jackson, & Gatto, 1995). These two areas are It is commonly accepted that Shakur’s lyrics function as predicated on or grounded as deficit studies, that is, those that find a written and spoken narrative account of his human experience, negative associations and problems embedded within the form of as well as that of other black males in American society. As expression itself. This body of work collectively suggests that hip- Stanford (2011) once remarked: “Outside of his most incendiary hop music negatively influences academic aspirations among black critics, Tupac Shakur is generally perceived as a socially conscious youth, promotes illicit drug use, is misogynistic toward women, artist whose political credibility is located in his lyrical critiques of and so forth (Armstrong, 2001). racism and his mother’s membership in the Black Panther Party” Other narratives exist that do not center on deficit perspectives. (p. 3). Iwamoto (2003) similarly asserted that 2PAC was “regarded Critical theorist and black feminist scholar bell hooks wrote as a sensitive and progressive person who was more knowledge- poetically about male creative expression specific to rap where able than most people gave him credit for” (p. 44), largely because men “require[d] wide-open spaces, symbolic frontiers where the of the “thug” persona popularized in media accounts of his life and body could do its thing, expand, grow, and move, surrounded by music at the height of his popularity. In addition, McCann (2013) a watching crowd” (Hooks, 1992, p. 377). For example, researchers notes that 2PAC’s discography reveals how “Black affect is both have examined the coping mechanisms and expression of agency malleable and relative autonomous within the circuitries of music by urban youth in relation to identity and cultural perspectives. capital, White supremacy, and Black radicalism” (p. 408). Spencer, Fegley, Harpalani, and Seaton’s(2004) work on the Dyson (2001) further locates 2PAC’s place in hip-hop history in intersection of black masculinity and adolescent male coping his book Holler if You Hear Me: “Tupac’s genius can be understood behaviors is instructive when examining identity and emotional only by tracing the contours of contemporary rap and placing him health: within its rapidly expanding boundaries” (p. 108). Dyson’s analysis of hip-hop culture reveals several themes, but one of the more Masculine norms tend to discourage the display of vulnera- important aspects of his assessment is the intersection between the bility; consequently, many adolescent males adopt a presenta- fi athlete and the artist—specifically the black male athlete and black tion of self that may seem con dent and stable when in fact, male artist. The temptations that often come with celebrity and the internally, this may manifest itself as hypermasculinity: the challenges of managing success thus form a major theme of this exhibition of stereotypic gendered displays of power and paper; 2PAC’s lyrics highlight one racialized performance of the life consequent suppression of signs of vulnerability. This exag- of the “baller”—the complicated performance of black masculinity gerated presentation of masculinity can lead to conflict in rendered visible if indeed marketable within popular and political school, neighborhood, and family settings, but it can also culture—with threads that connect the athlete and artist within the serve as a coping response to deal with environmental stressors broader scope of sport and music. such as lack of economic opportunities and fear of victimiza- Clearly, 2PAC (or, rather, 2PAC’s music and legacy) reside in tion. (p. 234) a contested space in the landscape of both American popular Although hypermasculine behaviors can combat racism, they can culture in general and hip-hop music in particular. In what follows also degrade the self-esteem of young men of color. Iwamoto below, we draw from Rehn and Skold’s(2005) work in challenging (2003) likewise highlights the dangers of biased and specious the binary of hip-hop and rap lyrics as simply positive or negative, portrayals of hypermasculinity in cultural media that limit mascu- and instead attend to how the performance of black masculinity line ideals as reflected in larger social values.