3. Dancing Lessons: Hearing the Beat and Understanding the Body
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Learning to Listen, Learning to Be: African-American Girls and Hip-Hop at a Durham, NC Boys and Girls Club by Jennifer A. Woodruff Department of Music Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Louise Meintjes, Supervisor ___________________________ John L. Jackson ___________________________ Mark Anthony Neal ___________________________ Diane Nelson ___________________________ Philip Rupprecht Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2009 ABSTRACT Learning to Listen, Learning to Be: African-American Girls and Hip-Hop at a Durham, NC Boys and Girls Club by Jennifer A. Woodruff Department of Music Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Louise Meintjes, Supervisor ___________________________ John L. Jackson ___________________________ Mark Anthony Neal ___________________________ Diane Nelson ___________________________ Philip Rupprecht An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2009 Copyright by Jennifer A. Woodruff 2009 Abstract This dissertation documents African-American girls’ musical practices at a Boys and Girls Club in Durham, NC. Hip-hop is the cornerstone of social exchanges at John Avery, and is integrated into virtually all club activities. Detractors point to the misogyny, sexual exploitation and violence predominant in hip-hop’s most popular incarnations, suggesting that the music is a corrupting influence on America’s youth. Girls are familiar with these arguments, and they appreciate that hip-hop is a contested and sometimes illicit terrain. Yet they also recognize that knowledge about and participation in hip-hop-related activities is crucial to their interactions at the club, at school, and at home. As girls hone their listening skills, they reconcile the contradictions between behavior glorified by hip-hop and the model presented to them by their mentors. This project examines how African-American girls ages 5-13 use their listening practices to claim a space within hip-hop’s landscape while still operating within the unambiguous moral framework they have learned from their parents, mentors and peers. Through ethnography and close analysis of vocal utterances, dance moves and social interaction, I consider how individual interactions with mass-mediated music teach girls a black musical aesthetic that allows them to relate to their peers and mentors, and how these interactions highlight the creativity with which they begin to negotiate sexual and racial politics on the margins of society. iv For Mom and Dad v Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... x 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The John Avery Boys and Girls Club .................................................................................. 7 1.2 Children, Childhood, and the Media in Anthropology ...................................................... 28 1.3 Children and Everyday Listening ...................................................................................... 35 1.4 Black Children and Black Music ....................................................................................... 37 1.5 Listening and Integrity ...................................................................................................... 44 1.6 Chapter Outline ................................................................................................................. 48 1.7 Ethnographic Method ........................................................................................................ 50 2. Singing Lessons: Feeling the Music and Hearing the Feeling ................................................... 54 2.1 “We Belong Together”: March 2006 ................................................................................ 54 2.2 Singing and Hip-Hop ......................................................................................................... 57 2.3 Conventions in R&B Singing ............................................................................................ 60 2.4 Singing at John Avery ....................................................................................................... 62 2.5 Listening to Mariah ........................................................................................................... 69 2.6 “We Belong Together”: December 2006 .......................................................................... 75 2.7 Sincerity ............................................................................................................................ 77 2.8 Authenticity in Hip-Hop .................................................................................................... 78 vi 2.9 “We Belong Together”: March 2007 ................................................................................ 80 2.10 Singing Together ............................................................................................................. 82 3. Dancing Lessons: Hearing the Beat and Understanding the Body ............................................ 84 3.1 Learning to Dance ............................................................................................................. 87 3.2 The “Motorcycle” .............................................................................................................. 91 3.3 “Wait til the beat drops” .................................................................................................... 96 3.4 “I gotta get the beat to it!” ............................................................................................... 103 3.5 Dancing as Embodied Listening ...................................................................................... 109 4. Morality Lessons: Nasty Dancing and Inappropriate Behavior ............................................... 112 4.1 “Can We Do Nasty Dancing?” ........................................................................................ 115 4.2 The Dancing Black Female Body .................................................................................... 118 4.3 Right Moves…SMART Moves! ..................................................................................... 122 4.4 Gendered Responsibility ................................................................................................. 130 4.5 “That Ain’t Cute!” ........................................................................................................... 136 4.6 “Men Like Butts, and That’s All” ................................................................................... 143 4.7 Private Pleasures, Public Concerns ................................................................................. 151 5. ____ Lessons: Meaning and Critique in Movement and Gesture ............................................ 156 5.1 Talk, ____, and Talk about ____.................................................................................. 160 5.2 “That was just unnecessary when they did that” .................................................... 163 5.3 Walk It Out Like ____ ................................................................................................ 172 5.4 “She was like ____” .................................................................................................... 177 5.5 Interrogating Meaning ................................................................................................... 181 vii 6. Epilogue: Listening Lessons ................................................................................................ 187 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 192 Recordings ................................................................................................................................. 202 Biography ................................................................................................................................... 204 viii List of Figures Figure 1: Ms. Kia sitting at the front desk at the end of the day. ...................................... 13 Figure 2: Girls singing into my field microphone. ........................................................... 64 Figure 3: Girls stand ready to do the "Motorcycle." ......................................................... 92 Figure 4: Girl tilts her torso back and presses her shoulders down. ................................. 93 Figure 5: Entrance of the bass in the chorus of Yung Joc's "It's Goin’ Down." ............. 100 Figure 6: Tamika and Tamyra imitate the chorus of "It's Goin’ Down" ........................ 102 ix Acknowledgements This project would have been very different had it not been for the wonderful people at the John Avery Boys and Girls Club. Thank