How Exposure to Concentrated Disadvantage Shapes Hip-Hop

SREXXX10.1177/2332649218784964Sociology of Race and EthnicityBecker and Sweet research-article7849642018

On Hip-Hop

Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 2020, Vol. 6(1) 61–75 “What Would I Look Like?”: © American Sociological Association 2018 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649218784964 10.1177/2332649218784964 How Exposure to sre.sagepub.com Concentrated Disadvantage Shapes Hip-Hop Artists’ Connections to Community

Sarah Becker1 and Castel Sweet2

Abstract Hip-hop has deep historical ties to disadvantaged communities. Resounding success in mainstream and global music markets potentially disrupts those connections. The authors use in-depth interviews with 25 self-defined rap/hip-hop artists to explore the significance of place in modern hip-hop. Bringing together historical studies of hip-hop and sociological neighborhood studies, the authors examine hip-hop artists’ community connections. Findings reveal that exposure to concentrated racial and economic disadvantage shapes how artists interpret community, artistic impact, and social responsibility. This supports the “black placemaking” framework, which highlights how black urban neighborhood residents creatively build community amid structural disadvantage. The analysis also elucidates the role specific types of physical places play in black placemaking processes.

Keywords hip-hop, rap, community, black placemaking

Since its inception in the 1970s in the Bronx, hip- place affects artists’ lives. Bringing together hip- hop has been tied to communities characterized by hop history and studies of neighborhood inequality, concentrated disadvantage (Chang 2005; Ogbar we ask how exposure to concentrated disadvantage 2007; Watkins 2006). As it flourished in 1980s affects artists’ community ties. Using data from a mainstream markets and quickly saturated sample of 25 southern U.S. artists, we argue the American and global cultures, those connections “black placemaking” framework is a powerful tool arguably faltered, while ties to capitalist market for understanding hip-hop artists’ community con- demands grew (Mitchell 2002; Quinn 2004). nections in ways that elucidate the role specific Academic inquiry on hip-hop’s impact (Collins physical spaces play in placemaking processes. 2006; Perry 2004; Watkins 2006), especially on listeners (Johnson and Adams 1995; Miranda and 1Department of Sociology/Women’s and Gender Claes 2004), also expanded. Many hip-hop schol- Studies Program, Louisiana State University, Baton ars examine representation and authenticity, Rouge, LA, USA exploring issues such as white appropriation 2Fitz Center for Leadership in Community, University of (Kitwana 2005; McCorkel and Rodriquez 2009), Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA crime (Tanner, Asbridge, and Wortley 2009), or Corresponding Author: blackness and masculinity (Oware 2011). In this Sarah Becker, Louisiana State University, Department of study, we forefront hip-hop artists’ own lived expe- Sociology/Women’s and Gender Studies Program, 141 riences. Inspired by the centrality of disadvantaged Stubbs Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA places in hip-hop and sociology, we focus on how Email: [email protected] 62 Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 6(1)

Hip-hop and cocaine sentencing, and mass incarceration domi- Geographically nating inner-cities (Harkness 2014; Quinn 2004). Through it, Los Angeles youth developed a sur- Concentrated vival culture (Glasgow 1980), joining gangs, sell- Disadvantage ing drugs, and working toward social mobility by Hip-hop is rooted in specific aspects of 1970s New creating music centered around their daily realities York: the Black Power movement, Puerto Rican (Harkness 2014; Lee 2016). Similarly, 1990s nationalism, and deindustrialization (Ogbar 2007). southern rap gave birth to trap rap, which As Black Power and Puerto Rican activist efforts soundtracks activity associated with disadvantaged lost steam in the 1970s, deindustrialization caused neighborhoods (Adaso 2017). Trap and gangsta rap a sharp decrease in jobs, pushing many people of distinctions are sometimes unclear because both color into poverty. At the same time, Cross-Bronx reference inner-city experiences. However, trap rap Expressway construction destabilized and divided is typically characterized by its distinctive beat neighborhoods (Chang 2005). The poorest section with Roland TR-808 drum machines, kick drums, of New York, the South Bronx, was deeply affected synthesizers, and hi-hats (Adaso 2017). by these changes. Residents’ dissatisfaction with From the beginning, hip-hop was deeply con- discrimination and economic struggle there gave nected to communities marked by geographically birth to hip-hop. concentrated disadvantage, a concept sociologists Fueled by dire economic conditions and frustra- typically conceptualize as high levels of neighbor- tion with slow civil rights advancement, some inner- hood poverty, unemployment, welfare receipt, city residents turned to violence and gangs as a racial segregation, female-headed households, chil- means of resistance, despite Black Panther Party and dren per household, and/or low educational attain- Nation of Islam efforts to channel people’s discontent ment (Merolla, Hunt, and Serpe 2011; Wodtke, into political progress (Ogbar 2007). Recognizing Harding, and Elwert 2011). Sociological measures that violence left root problems unaddressed, parallel hip-hop narratives of concentrated disad- reformed gang members began using hip-hop music vantage. Conscious, gangsta rap, and trap artists and dance to express themselves and unify people. often highlight racism, segregation, economic As hip-hop caught on outside the Bronx, others deprivation, mass incarceration, poor schools, high joined in, forming crews representing and bonding crime, and lack of legal economic opportunity in area residents. “Hip-hop created a voice and a vehi- black urban neighborhoods. An artist’s proximity to cle for the young and the dispossessed, giving them such spaces remains an important marker of mean- both hope and inspiration” (Watkins 2006:7). It ing and authenticity (Forman 2002; Lee 2016). allowed youth, even those previously gang affiliated, an outlet for creative expression through music, Neighborhood Context dance, and graffiti (McQuillar 2007). and Community Hip-hop quickly became a source of local community uplift and reformation (Universal Zulu Attachment Nation 2014). Expanding to inner cities nationally, Sociological studies of disadvantaged neighbor- it was a culturally prominent voice for youth main- hoods grew for decades after hip-hop emerged stream institutions disregarded (Jones 1994). from the South Bronx. In the 1990s, as deindustri- Artists exposed community conditions, such as alization’s fallout solidified and the social safety Grandmaster Flash in “The Message” (Fletsher, net receded, studies of neighborhood socioeco- Melle Mel, and Robinson 1982), which vividly nomic context and quality of life proliferated documents inner-city living conditions: a destitute (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, and Aber 1997). Scholars apartment complex (broken glass, unbearable have been of two minds when interpreting these stench, and pest infestation) and frustration with geographic effects, especially when studying black limited resources to pursue better living conditions. communities. They typically use a “deficit frame,” Such music critiquing urban black social and eco- emphasizing negative impacts of structural disad- nomic struggles often in support of black national- vantage, or an “asset frame,” emphasizing margin- ist ideologies became known as conscious rap alized peoples’ resilience in the face of hardship (Mohammed-Akinyela 2012). Widely popularized (Hunter and Robinson 2016). in Los Angeles during the 1980s, gangsta rap Research on community attachment is no excep- framed crime as a consequence of economic depri- tion. Some studies explicate residents’ resourceful vation (Chang 2005; Harkness 2014; Quinn 2004) community-building strategies for combating disad- and highlighted street gangs, guns, harsh crack vantage. Most use a deficit frame, identifying Becker and Sweet 63 neighborhood disadvantages’ negative impact on The “black placemaking” framework sidesteps community attachment. For example, “broken win- pitfalls of asset/deficit frame-based studies of black dows” philosophy suggests neighborhood disorder urban American life, teasing out asset/deficit ten- leads residents to believe that social control has bro- sions by analytically centering place and acknowl- ken down, weakening willingness to invest in solu- edging the interdependent relationship between tions (Ross, Mirowsky, and Pribesh 2001; Wilson structural forces and human agency’s resistive and Kelling 1982). Although broken windows the- potential (Hunter et al. 2016; Hunter and Robinson ory is contested (Harcourt 2001), studies consis- 2016; Nieves 2008). It does not ignore structural tently demonstrate that perceived neighborhood factors such as “external assaults on black spaces” disorder and disadvantage produce distress, dissatis- (e.g., destructive urban planning) or “internal dan- faction (Hill, Ross, and Angel 2005; Latkin and gers that can make everyday life difficult” (e.g., Curry 2003), anxiety, and anger (Ross and Mirowsky homophobia, harassment, homicide) (Hunter et al. 2009; Schieman, Pearlin, and Meersman 2006). 2016:31–32), nor does it present a simplistic, feel- Disorder also causes residents to experience good narrative of urban black life. Instead, it pro- “greater subjective powerlessness” (Geis and Ross vides a “corrective to the imbalanced social science 1998), eroding their sense of control (Massey scholarship on black communities” that typically 1996) and feeding the belief that neighborhood dis- emphasizes deficits associated with blackness advantage cannot be overcome through individual rather than “the agency, intent, and even spontane- effort (Kim and Conley 2011; Ross and Mirowsky ity of urban black residents—across genders, sexu- 2009). Living with geographically concentrated alities, ages, classes, and politics—in creating disadvantage can foster the impression that state places that are sustaining, affirming, and pleasur- actors have forsaken residents, weakening trust for able” (Hunter et al. 2016:51). authority (Kim and Conley 2011). These effects are Place and placemaking have long sociological not felt equally. Poor residents, racial minorities, histories. Typically, they are conceived of in terms of and less educated persons disproportionately expe- geographical location, material form, and symbolic rience neighborhood disorder’s negative effects meaning and value (Gieryn 2000). Black placemak- because they have fewer resources to combat it ing enhances these conceptualizations by emphasiz- (Kim and Conley 2011). Residents of urban areas ing how black Americans use agency to “create sites characterized by “physical, social, and cultural of endurance, belonging, and resistance, through deterioration” (Gieryn 2000:475) encounter more social interaction” (Hunter et al. 2016:31), often by challenges when attempting to improve living privileging “the creative, celebratory, playful, plea- environment (Oliver and Shapiro 1995; Wilson surable, and poetic experience of being black and 1996). Economically, socially, and racially privi- being around other black people” (Hunter et al. leged residents have resources to combat stress, 2016:32). Black people have historically made and even if living in the same structurally disadvan- remade locales by forging unique connections to and taged neighborhoods. cultural interpretations of the physical settings they Privileged residents often emerge as instrumen- occupy (Hunter et al. 2016; Hunter and Robinson tal in asset frame community cohesion studies 2016; Nieves 2008). In reclaiming urban spaces as (Hunter and Robinson 2016). For example, recent their own, black residents produce a sense of belong- work on community reactions to crime illustrates ing and use culture to influence conceptions of citi- how wealthier residents can lobby for outside ser- zenship and community (Nieves 2008). vices to prevent or reduce perceived neighborhood disorder (Becker 2013; Pattillo-McCoy 2007) or use network ties to cultivate safety (Browning Hip-hop and Black 2009; Pattillo 1998). Social characteristics of dis- Placemaking advantaged neighborhoods are also assets for social Black placemaking sheds light on cohesion and change. For example, places characterized by meaning-making possibilities in spaces such as mutual trust, shared values, and willingness to those hip-hop emerged from. Hip-hop artists are intervene have less crime than otherwise similar part of this tradition, having historically used cre- neighborhoods (Maimon and Browning 2010; ativity to transform repressive settings into places Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls 1997). In addi- of celebration and significance (Lee 2016). They tion, geographically isolated ethnic communities articulate “spatially oriented conditions of exis- sometimes create solidarity, ethnic unity, and eco- tence” by “express[ing] how individuals or nomic development for residents (Gieryn 2000). communities in [urban] locales live, how the 64 Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 6(1) mircroworlds they constitute are experienced, or Methods how specifically located social relationships are negotiated” (Forman 2002:8). Since its inception Long critiqued for being male dominated and hos- among marginalized Bronx youth, however, hip- tile to multiply marginalized voices (Armstead hop has become commodified and is mass- 2007; Morgan 1995; Wilson 2007), hip-hop has marketed to diverse audiences outside the places it nonetheless provided minority populations oppor- emerged from (Kitwana 2005; Quinn 2004). tunity to articulate unique social perspectives Popularization potentially disentangled hip-hop (Chang 2005; Wright 2004). Inspired by this tradi- from its geographic, historical, and social roots. tion, we use in-depth interviewing to allow 25 hip- Hip-hop arguably retained its critical energy hop artists in the southern United States to amid massive commercialization. Referred to as self-define and articulate connections to “commu- “the black CNN” by Public Enemy’s Chuck D nity.” Flyers calling for self-identified hip-hop art- (Muhammad 2008), hip-hop continues to provide ists interested in participating in a study of hip-hop marginalized populations space to critically dia- artists and their communities were posted in librar- logue about lived experiences. Hip-hop amplifies a ies, in bars, at open mics, at music events, and on new generation of activist voices (Clay 2012; Nasir Craigslist. We recruited participants via flyers, in 2015). Listeners promote change through hip-hop person at hip-hop functions, and by word-of-mouth culture, music, and lyrics. Artists are also change referrals. Nine participants responded to flyers. makers engaging in social commentary, pursuing Eight were recruited at events or referred by people community transformation (Muhammad 2008), in our social networks and another eight through and doing gender and sexuality (Armstead 2007; snowball sampling. All were between 18 and 53 Wilson 2007), religious (Banbury 2016; Nasir years of age, with an average age of 26. A majority 2015), political, economic (Schneidermann 2014), (20 of 25) were black men. One white man, one and human rights (Morgan and Warren 2011; Nasir white woman, and three black women are also in 2015) activism. “Conscious” or “politically pro- the sample. Twenty respondents resided in gressive and racially conscious” art makers Louisiana, two in Tennessee, one in Arkansas, one (McCorkel and Rodriquez 2009:367) are particu- in Georgia, and one in Florida. Interviews were larly likely to educate, empower, and inspire voluntary. No participants were compensated. change via art (Mohammed-Akinyela 2012). Names were changed for confidentiality. Context shapes artists’ interpretation of oppor- Castel conducted 24 of 25 in-depth interviews tunities for change via music (Forman 2002; at local coffee shops or in public library meeting Harkness 2014). Individuals from lower social rooms in 2013 and 2014. Sarah conducted one classes typically personify rap hustler tropes, using interview with a contact from her social network. hip-hop’s commercial success to achieve social Interviews used a semistructured interview guide mobility with existential urgency (Lee 2016; covering community attachment, community Harkness 2014). Message-oriented rappers often involvement, perceived connection between music exhibit connections to middle-class spaces and ide- and community, and definitions of “community,” ologies (Harkness 2014). Divergent freedoms class in addition to background questions about making statuses provide to create music for meaning rather music. They ranged from 45 to 90 minutes. In than income help explain these patterns (Sweet 2017, Castel conducted follow-up interviews with 2017; Young 2013). However, hip-hop’s historical eight subjects whose first interviews did not pro- ties to geographically concentrated disadvantage vide sufficient data on their childhood or current could powerfully influence artists’ willingness to neighborhoods. engage local communities above and beyond their Each interview was audio-recorded, transcribed artistic “wokeness” (McCann 2012). We examine verbatim, and transferred into Atlas.ti, a qualitative this by looking at how place-based experiences data analysis program. Analysis took place in three affect hip-hop artists’ articulations of, connections stages. First, Castel conducted extensive line-by- to, and responsibility for “community.” Drawing line open coding, searching for themes relevant to on data from an economically and ideologically community. Second, we met to discuss emergent diverse sample of artists, we examine how geogra- patterns. Sarah conducted a second round of phy, class, and race influence definitions of com- focused coding on how artists defined “commu- munity and motivations to uplift it. nity” and viewed their roles in it. In this stage, Becker and Sweet 65

Sarah coded and thematically categorized respon- neighborhoods as their communities. They were dents’ (1) descriptions of hometown and current also disproportionately likely to see their responsi- neighborhoods, (2) definitions of “community,” (3) bility to community in terms of direct engagement beliefs about how their music affects community, or financial investment. and (4) perceived responsibility to community. We put artists into three residential history Artists with Middle-class Neighborhood groups according to neighborhood experiences: concentrated disadvantage (artists who spent con- Experiences: “I Think I Am the Light siderable time exposed to areas of geographically around Here” concentrated disadvantage), lower middle class/ Five artists had largely middle-class residential expe- working class/mixed income (people who grew up riences. Two white and three black artists grew up and currently lived in such areas), and middle class and remained in predominantly white middle-class (people who grew up and currently lived in middle- neighborhoods or grew up in white lower middle- class areas and those who grew up in lower middle- class or working-class neighborhoods and moved class or working-class areas but experienced into middle-class communities as adults. They upward mobility as adults). In the last stage of described their neighborhoods with middle-class analysis, we divided transcripts into Atlast.ti docu- markers such as comparatively high median incomes, ment groups by residential history and race/gender. educational attainment, homeownership, two-parent This facilitated examination of how community families, and low crime. Joseph, a black artist, definitions, self-perceived impact, and community described his childhood neighborhood as a lower responsibility varied by residential experience and middle-class/working-class white neighborhood: race/gender. Most of the people in my neighborhood were plant workers or elderly. The black families How Residential there were all two-parent homes, parents mostly Experiences Shape Hip-hop college educated. It’s hard to say we were living Artists’ Conceptions of in poverty, but I’d say the majority of the people and Connections to there had 3–5 person households with a median income between $40,000–$60,000 a year. Community Artists grew up in largely middle-class areas and In adulthood, he moved to a middle-class black continued to live in similar places as adults; spent Baton Rouge neighborhood. Lauren, a 25-year-old most of their lives in primarily lower middle-class, white artist, “grew up in a middle-class [Nashville] working-class, or mixed-income neighborhoods; or neighborhood” where “no percentage [of people had extensive exposure to neighborhoods charac- were] in real poverty.” It had “a lot of strip malls” terized by geographically concentrated structural and “a suburbs quality” to it. Tiffany, a 21-year-old disadvantage (i.e., high poverty, unemployment, black artist, grew up in “a very, very small” pre- single-parent households, crime, and low educa- dominantly white Louisiana town with relatively tional levels). Each residential experience group low poverty and many two-parent households. captures closeness to or distance from lived effects All but one person in this category defined com- of co-occurring, concentrated racial and economic munity socially or emotionally. Lauren, for exam- disadvantage (hereafter referred to as concentrated ple, felt membership in a “community of young disadvantage). Which group an artist fell into people making challenging art”: affected how he or she viewed community and his or her ties to it. Some artists defined community I feel like my community is online. My day-to- geographically, naming their cities or neighbor- day life is pretty reclusive . . . as an artist, I don’t hoods as their communities, for example. Others interact much with the [local] community. There defined it socially or emotionally, speaking are a handful of people who are kind of scattered abstractly in terms of emotional bonds or as a group across the globe, but we all hang out on the of people they were connected to. Artists from mid- Internet together and we are all making art. dle-class or lower middle-class or working-class areas tended to speak of community socially or Tiffany also defined community socially: “the peo- emotionally. Those who grew up or lived in areas ple that I am around. Specifically, my community of concentrated disadvantage tended to speak of would be like myself and my artists and my 66 Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 6(1) organization that I am in because we are like a huge white middle-class neighborhood. He spent most family that is constantly growing.” Travis, a black of his youth there in trailer parks or apartments artist who grew up and lived in a middle-class with his single mother. Growing up poor in a mid- neighborhood, spoke similarly: “If I were to have a dle-class area could have sensitized Zachary to community, it would spread love. That’s all I can structural disadvantage’s impact in a way that made say honestly, is to spread love. A lot of guys like to his vision of community contrast with his peers’ act hard, but nobody really wants all the stupid shit elastic, individually centered, and geographically to happen.” unrooted conceptions. Joseph also defined community socially and When asked to speak on impact and responsibil- emotionally, but for him, shared blackness tied him ity to community, all five artists reported positive to “the black underground hip-hop community,” impact and emphasized role modeling. Lauren spoke trying “to stay true to the culture of hip-hop as we of role-modeling for her musician community: see it,” unlike I have had several people tell me that they have the white hip-hop community. They want to been inspired by me to pick up their own art party. They don’t give a damn, like they turn again or to pick it up just to begin with, or to up—like they got their own version of turn up. rejuvenate their artist expression just because I As long as it’s some good hip-hop going on and stay so busy. the music is loud, they don’t care. Zachary and Tiffany talked about role modeling Zachary was the only artist in this group to define generally. Tiffany said she hopes people can hear community geographically and socially: “To sum her music and think: me up, I am just a Jesus representor and a Louisiana representor, you know. Lafayette, Louisiana repre- “Oh, her song says that she went through this, sentor. That’s me and that’s my community.” but when I see her, it doesn’t come off that she Zachary and Joseph shared another characteristic: went through such a hard time” and they can see they made conscious music “with trap beats.” As that I didn’t let it affect me. I don’t let it make Joseph said, “I’m a nontraditional conscious rapper who I am or create who I am. I just let it kind of who in the past has made a pro-Black revolutionary inspire me to push through and I hope that my project over trap beats. My music is equally as music can be an inspiration to others. street as it is conscious/militant.” Zachary said his lyrics are “definitely conscious,” “but as far as the Role modeling was also common when speaking of beats and the style you would probably say trap community responsibility. Zachary, for example, because I grew up on all that.” said, “I think I am the light around here for my Zachary and Joseph’s community definitions community. I’m part of just bringing more positive and trap beat affinity can be linked to their residen- in it, the music scene and everything.” Tiffany sim- tial experiences. Joseph grew up in an “85 percent ilarly articulated, white, 14 percent black, 1 percent Native American” neighborhood. Other black artists in this residential As an artist, I feel like it’s my job to kind of be group grew up differently. Travis’s parents were in the voice for my community. . . . Sometimes they the military, so he moved during childhood. may just come to me with a problem that they Although not free from racism by any means, “the are having and I can just translate that into a daily work life of service members is not segre- song. gated and differentiated by race as it is in civilian life” (Teachman and Tedrow 2008). Tiffany’s small In sum, most artists with middle-class residen- hometown was not as predominantly white. tial experiences defined communities socially or Although they both likely faced discrimination emotionally, reported positive community impact, associated with being black in mostly white com- and expressed a sense of responsibility involving munities (Becker 2014; McCabe 2009), hip-hop’s role-modeling by living their artist lives. Because gendered and racialized networks could have all five made conscious art, role-modeling seam- meant that Joseph bonded to black male artists lessly aligned with their creative ventures. These while making sense of such experiences (Shabazz flexible, individualistic ideas about community, 2014) in ways Tiffany could not. Zachary was the impact, and responsibility contrast to artists with only artist in this category who grew up poor in a other residential experiences. Becker and Sweet 67

Artists with Lower Middle-class, emphasis on geographic spaces or people facing Working-class, and Mixed-income inequality in ways the middle-class group did not. Neighborhood Experiences: “It’s Almost For example, Keith said, “I think that in some way I represent all of them [communities in Baton Like Being a Prophet” Rouge], I have a probably bigger voice or a bigger Five black artists grew up in working-class white, desire to represent some of the underdogs in some lower middle-class black, or mixed-income neigh- of the inner-city communities.” John, who said his borhoods, often socially or geographically proxi- “community is the world,” also felt “a community mate to ghettos or high-poverty rural communities is a group of people who share some commonal- (Massey and Denton 1998; Pattillo-McCoy 1999). ity,” including, “the same struggle, they have the Malcolm, a black artist, had a “lower working- same ZIP code.” He added, “so if I really looked at class/working-class” home neighborhood but dis- this, I would say that my community is probably tinguished between his street and the broader area. like anybody I have come across, anyone who has “My street was—it had people who worked, there a story similar to mine, anybody who probably was families. I don’t know. I just think the environ- shares my skin color or socio-economic status.” ment was, it just wasn’t conducive to defiant Keith and John’s residential experiences behavior.” In nearby areas, “it was the exact oppo- uniquely shaped what community they felt tied to. site. Unemployment might have been high. A lot of They grew up in mixed-income areas of Baton single-parent families. Households with a lot kids Rouge and St. Louis where some streets held lower that may have lacked supervision from time to middle-class black families bonded to one another, time.” John, another black artist, grew up in a other streets wealthy white families, and both were mixed-income part of St. Louis: “You kind of get nearby predominantly black, high-poverty, high- everything there. You catch people that are like crime areas. Exposure to concentrated disadvan- super broke and then you will get people that have tage could explain why Keith and John defined stupid money. So, it definitely varies but you get a community socially and emotionally, but later taste of everything from that.” Keith, a black Baton claimed connection to disadvantaged black neigh- Rouge artist in his 30s, grew up in a “lower middle- borhoods. In addition, Kenneth and Christopher, class neighborhood” with “a lot of plant workers, a black artists who defined community geographi- lot of state workers, a lot of people that worked for cally, grew up in similar areas. This suggests expo- the post office.” Most homes were dual-income sure to concentrated disadvantage in black spaces black households that “had just moved from a place uniquely influenced their community connections. in town that was considered pretty bad.” A move to When asked about impact and responsibility, most his neighborhood was “a step up.” All five artists of this group focused on messaging. Four made con- lived in similar neighborhoods as adults. scious hip-hop, one trap. All five, however, spoke of In this group, two artists defined community as their music’s message or relatability as impact. Again, hometown neighborhoods, and three did not. they seemed to echo middle-class artists who framed Christopher, a young black artist, said, “The com- artistic work as fulfilling community responsibility. munity that I grew up in, it could be better, you However, these artists placed emphasis on their music know?” In contrast, Keith said, and social change. For example, Malcolm said,

I think of like a melting pot of various I think an artist has to be provocative . . . you communities is what I think of myself. I don’t have to spark something in people to cause think of the community that I live in or the them to do something. So, I think it’s my role to community that I grew up in or the academic be a spark. It’s almost like, like being a prophet, community, or this community or that community. like when a prophet come, he gives a word and You know, based on city lines or race or anything it can be something people want to hear or it can like that. I don’t really think of that, so I guess my be something people don’t want to hear, but it’s answer would be kind of a mixture of communities going to cause a reaction. would be my community. Malcolm stands distinct from artists in the middle- At first glance, answers such as Keith’s being more class category when highlighting hopes his of common in this group seems to echo middle-class music “causing [people] to do something.” answers. However, two artists in this group stress- John put it directly: “I think I have a responsi- ing broad human connection placed particular bility to evoke change.” When asked about 68 Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 6(1) responsibility to his childhood neighborhood, he for money. It was just a troubled area, drugs identified an “even greater responsibility to posi- around but just the typical inner-city activity in tively impact it.” Keith answered similarly: “For an urban area. It was just bad. the underrepresented communities, I think I have a responsibility, whether—not that anybody put that Ashley, a 22-year-old black artist, spoke similarly on me, necessarily.” Christopher, a trap artist, also of her childhood Baton Rouge neighborhood: spoke of messaging and social change as his responsibility to community, but rather than mak- I was exposed to more than just drug deals, but ing music with conscious lyrics, he directly inter- a lot of gun violence. I remember vividly in acted with youth in his childhood mixed-income elementary school the conversation the other Baton Rouge neighborhood, situated close to areas kids and I would have about who was killed and of concentrated disadvantage: how they were killed. I had to be around seven when I witnessed and man being shot right I just feel like, man, make the youngins in that across the street from the home we lived in. community know the stuff that they see don’t There was a brief altercation between he and his have to be the stuff that they do. Take other group of friends and another group of guys. A choices or other routes, you know? You can do few minutes later, the guys ran down the street better than that, though. It’s not all about what and fired their weapons five times. Car tires you see. You don’t have to be a follower, you screeched and then more gunshots and then can be a leader. That’s why I try to tell the more screeching tires. I don’t know if that community, the youngins, growing up man: gentleman lived or died. don’t follow—be a leader. Two people relayed slightly different experi- Christopher’s approach to managing community ences. Bryan, a middle-aged black artist, described responsibility stands out in this group, more closely his childhood Baton Rouge neighborhood as a aligning with artists in the final residential experience “poverty-stricken community, long generations of category, who espouse strong views of responsibility poverty” where “there were a lot of families, but to geographic communities and see that work happen- mostly single parent households.” He said, “it was a ing outside musical creativity and entrepreneurship. lot of crime going on, but not always violent crime. In the neighborhood, it was like small crimes and based on the area every now and then it was vio- Artists with Experiences in lent.” Unlike Ashley and others, Bryan spoke of Neighborhoods Characterized by deep bonds between residents. When asked if peo- Concentrated Disadvantage: “What ple helped each other, he said: “Absolutely, back Would I Look Like?” then of course you could count on one another. We really depended on one another to get by.” Simon, a Fifteen black artists spent significant time in urban 23-year-old black artist, described his home neigh- or small-town neighborhoods with concentrated borhood similarly: “90 to 98 percent black,” “80 to disadvantage. Some grew up and continued to live 90 percent” of people living in poverty, and “no there (or similar places) as adults (n = 5), some nuclear families, I mean, very few,” but many peo- grew up there but moved to places they described ple lived there for generations and were bonded. as better (n = 8), and some lived in black lower When asked if people would intervene with trouble- middle-class or mixed-income neighborhoods and making kids, he explained: structurally under-resourced areas in their lifetimes (n = 2). They described their neighborhoods as pre- There would be some type of engagement with dominantly black spaces marked by strains associ- the adult and the child, especially if it’s in the ated with exposure to geographically concentrated middle of the day after school or on the weekend racial and economic inequality. For example, while people are outside moving around. There Walter, a black 20-year-old, said of his childhood was a higher level of visibility of seeing if New Orleans neighborhood, people was up to no good, in a sense. So, they would be able to engage. Not an exaggeration. We heard gunshots—and this was like the early mid- to late 90s. So, I Simon and Bryan benefited from residential stabil- mean this was when it was really out of control. ity, shared values, and willingness to intervene, or It was just poverty. There were people begging collective efficacy (Sampson et al. 1997) in their Becker and Sweet 69 neighborhoods. Most people, however, had dis- community. Joshua, a black trap artist who still lived similar experiences. there, said, “Oh, Lord [laughs]. I ain’t lying. It’s a lot A majority grew up in areas characterized by of jealousy. It’s a lot of lying. Don’t get along. It’s a concentrated disadvantage and later moved to small town, everybody know everybody.” neighborhoods they described as better. Eric, a The same pattern emerged around impact and black artist who moved to a wealthy white New responsibility: a few spoke in ways paralleling Orleans neighborhood, said, “I have moved on up.” other groups, especially conscious artists who Walter moved to Memphis, where his family has “a moved out as adults. Most did not. For example, six lot to be thankful for”: “The neighborhood is pretty artists spoke of influencing people via messages quiet, there is no bad activity.” Only one person, producing social change. Five were conscious and Justin, a black artist, started out in a lower middle- had moved from childhood neighborhoods. For class black community but moved to a high-pov- example, Richard said that if people from his home erty black Baton Rouge neighborhood with “lots of neighborhood heard his music, they might think, drugs, a lot of killing” and “gun shots every night” “Okay, maybe this school isn’t bad if he actually after Hurricane Katrina. made it out of it. Maybe I will be able to get out of Most people currently residing in concentrated it, make some sounds, go the same route, go to col- disadvantage areas made trap music. Most who had lege.” David, a young black artist, remained in the moved out made conscious hip-hop. Together, same area he grew up in and was the only trap artist musical style and experiences with concentrated who highlighted messaging and social change: “I disadvantage affected how they viewed and feel like my music lets you know that my commu- engaged with community. Only a small proportion nity is poverty and that’s where I come from, this is of artists—all conscious—defined community how it is and this is how it’s gone be.” When asked socially or emotionally. Comments such as Walter’s to explain his responsibility to community, he said, came mostly from conscious musicians who moved away in adulthood: Letting people know just what type of community you come, just what’s happening in My community is, I mean, everybody. The these streets and just letting—what actually worst thing—anything bad that I see with happens in the streets, because most people community living and societal interactions is don’t get a chance to see that. And a lot of that it usually causes this whole us-versus-them young parents and stuff don’t get a chance to mentality. This is my community and we have see that, so I think it would help people who are to go against their community so our community raising kids to actually hear what’s going on in can come up. I don’t want it to be like that. . . . I the streets so that they can keep their kids away feel like my community is everywhere. from that.

Simon said, “I wouldn’t separate my community A unique pattern also emerged in this group: with street signs and subdivisions,” concluding “any- lack of concern about music’s impact and, alterna- body who is around me is a part of my community.” tively, worry about negative, insufficient, or no The overwhelming pattern among artists exposed impact. Most trap artists who grew up amidst con- to concentrated disadvantage starkly contrasts with centrated disadvantage answered this way, as did other residential experience groups. Two-thirds one conscious black artist, Lawrence. His music called home neighborhoods their communities, covers issues such as prison abolition and mass including a slightly higher proportion of people who incarceration, but he worried it did not “[affect] the remained in concentrated-disadvantage areas and all community as much as [he] would like it to” seven trap artists. Justin, who wrote trap music but because when he is invited to perform at activist sold it, preferring to produce more neutral, upbeat events, advertising did not reach people hardest hit dance tracks himself, defined community as “the by inequality, meaning his music “doesn’t have as neighborhood where you stay at.” Richard, a con- strong of an impact as [he] would like it to.” scious black artist who moved away, “mentioned Anthony, another black artist, and Bryan worried [the] street [he grew up on] a lot” when defining about negative musical impact. Bryan, who made community “because a lot of the people that really gangsta rap in his youth, said: “It kills me when I influenced me lived on the same street or lived right go back today and talk to a young man. He is in around the block.” Other artists jumped into describ- trouble and he says ‘man, I listened to [one of your ing home neighborhoods when asked to define albums].’” These experiences are “one of the things 70 Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 6(1) that actually turned [his] life around,” leading to proportion of people expressing these views cur- decades of anti-violence activism. Anthony’s rently resided in neighborhoods characterized by answers reveal a parallel worry: concentrated disadvantage. Regardless of musical style, they reported more intense and qualitatively It be on my mind when I write certain songs and different community commitments. do certain things that it might tell me in my For example, Carl, a black trap artist who still heart that this here gone cause problems. As in lived in his neighborhood, said, “The way I feel, violence. And it kind of stun on me for a minute, the role is from one generation to the next is to and I just ask the Lord to be with, because I make sure the generation after you is better or just don’t know. as good as your generation was.” Lawrence resided in this type of neighborhood but made conscious Three conscious artists echoed such concerns, music. He committed to engaging directly with framing role modeling for other artists as their youth in addition to continuing his long history of responsibility. For example, a black artist named social justice activism: “I just try to have some type Darren argued a lot of hip-hop is materialist or of relationship with the younger folks may that be misogynist and said, “I like to be able to provide a the younger males—a few of them I speak to and ying [sic] for that yang” by “trying to put myself kind of check up on them and see how they are out there as somebody who is leading by example doing.” He added, with that type of the difference within the music.” Two trap artists decoupled their art from commu- Just being a black male and seeing other black nity concerns. Michael, a black artist who moved males growing up around here, I feel like I just out as an adult, said “it’s just music” and did not need to peek in some type of way and let them need impact: know that I am concerned in some type of way about their well-being. That’s not what it’s for. The music is meant to entertain, to convey emotion, and to have fun Ashley, a conscious artist from a neighborhood her with. You can, you can give a message if you college friends fear, similarly connected to youth: want change it, but that’s not my goal. My goal “I know a lot of the little kids in [my] neighborhood right now is popularity so I can get the money to because I always talk to them and see how— help my community in a bigger way than just ‘what’s going on with y’all?’” music can. Anthony, a trap artist who moved to a better area, said his responsibility to community was “to Justin did not feel responsibility to community as come give back and lift up the community. To try to an artist but looked after his neighborhood directly: stop the violence and show people that you can get “No, ma’am. I don’t feel like I have a responsibility attention, positive, not just negative.” His role was because I don’t take it that serious.” He clarified, “cleaning [himself] up fast as possible and leading the people towards positive as young black men I take my music serious, but I don’t focus more and to keep them from trying to go to jail. You on telling kids to do right. Not in music form. know, [right] the wrongs.” Although he spoke of But if I see them, I’m gone be able to talk to “coming back” cleaned up once he made it big, he them, but I never looked for it as far as music also worked on it now: “I be trying to spit positive form, to direct them like that. messages even though it may not sound like that is the intent. But if you really listen, it has a positive As Justin and Michael’s answers suggest, lack of message always.” Michael said his community is concern about musical impact was not indicative of “in dire need of help” and “young people are lack of concern for community. To the contrary, com- around us at all times and just really seeing it makes munity commitment was particularly intense in this me want to do something about it.” group but came in different form. Where most artists Some focused on contributing financially. in the middle-class group focused on role modeling Richard, a conscious artist who moved, said, and most in the second group focused on messaging, a unique trend emerged here: a large proportion of If I was to make it big and to end up coming up respondents, especially trap artists, focused on pro- on some income to where I would be able to ducing social change through direct engagement or give back, then I most definitely would. Because financial contributions to community. The greatest I would hate for anybody who grew up on Becker and Sweet 71

[street name] like I did to see or go through the neighborhoods disproportionately expressed things that I did. strong commitment to social change through direct or financial engagement, regardless of musical Michael felt responsibility to community “more so style, underscores the connection between experi- than most people.” He felt encing concentrated disadvantage and artists’ community ties. As Michael said, seeing neighbor- like a co-harbinger of peace, like a—not in the hood kids galvanized his desire to help. As Richard near future or whatever, but maybe in ten, 15 years stated, his childhood street was his “community” when I have unmasked the funds and the resources because “a lot of the people that really influenced to help my community in the way that I want to. [him]” lived there. Although many interviewees volunteered, were activists, or created or ran non- Walter, a conscious artist, shared that sense of profits, those with greatest exposure to concen- responsibility: “You have to realize that enjoying trated disadvantage, especially those still in it, the music and making music for people to relate to were disproportionately committed to community is not enough.” He continued, “You have to main- uplift through direct engagement outside their music. tain a point to where you are comfortable and then people put you in a good spot, you have to give back to the people and go back to the community that you Discussion were in.” He said you should use your money to This study builds on previous scholarship by analyz- “set up things that are conducive to the growth of ing how hip-hop artists’ exposure to concentrated that community like school and hospitals in areas disadvantage affects community ties. Findings indi- that don’t have medical care,” elaborating, cate degree of closeness to concentrated racial and economic disadvantage influences artists’ ideas about What would I look like signing a million-dollar and connections to community. Most conscious art- check when my best friend, he is living on his ists with middle-class residential experiences own? . . . Literally this man made beats for me defined community socially or emotionally and saw for free and things like that. What would I look role modeling as their impact and responsibility: like? What would I look like not giving the lady “being a light,” as Zachary said. Most with lower who bought my first CD, what would I look like middle-class, working-class, or mixed-income resi- not investing in her business because she dential experiences also defined community socially invested in me when I was coming up? You or emotionally but framed messaging as their impact have to have that—your biggest responsibility and responsibility: “being a prophet,” in Malcolm’s as an artist is once you get successful, if you get words. For both groups, community obligations successful, is to give back. seamlessly aligned with their lives: being a light (role model) or prophet (messenger) happened Giving back is part of Walter’s “whole mantra,” through art. Most artists with extensive exposure to because “my whole life everything I have had peo- concentrated disadvantage, however, called child- ple have been giving to me, so. It’s only right that I hood neighborhoods their communities and, espe- give back in some kind of way.” Joshua, a trap art- cially for those still exposed to spatial inequality, ist still living in his home neighborhood, framed held a deep sense of obligation to it, regardless of providing resources to community as a form of musical style. As Walter wondered, “What would authenticity. He planned crawfish boils to unify [they] look like” if they did not? people. “I don’t see no other rappers throwing no Working in a genre deeply rooted in community crawfish boils,” he said: engagement (Kitwana 2003) and critical analysis of inequality (Chang 2005; Nasir 2015; Nuruddin They say they in the hood and they from the 2004; Wright 2004) might bond hip-hop artists to hood but they ain’t doing nothing for them, you disadvantaged communities. Our findings, how- know. Real talk, I don’t see nobody giving no ever, suggest that genre alone does not produce bikes or nothing away you know. Other than hip-hop artists’ community ties. Community ties Boosie, he did it, but I’m talking about now. among hip-hop artists in our sample varied in ways They not real to me. that suggest living in racially segregated or predominantly black areas marked by concentrated Intense desire to give back to community disadvantage deepens artists’ connectedness to stands out in these narratives. The fact that artists their neighborhoods. For those with longer histo- who currently lived in concentrated disadvantage ries of living in or near such spaces, community 72 Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 6(1) remained geographic and specific. For those who his city his community, not his neighborhood. In did not, community could be defined more ethere- addition, artists in the lower middle-class and ally. In addition, a greater proportion of artists working-class group expressing attachment to dis- exposed to neighborhood-based inequality worried enfranchised neighborhoods lived near predomi- about impact and expressed a strong sense of com- nantly black disadvantaged areas. All concentrated munity responsibility. disadvantage-exposed artists were raised in pre- The centrality of residential experiences in art- dominantly black areas. Furthermore, at least four ists’ conceptions of and approaches to community artists defined community in terms of shared black- highlights the power of specific place types in ness, claiming black artists as their community. black placemaking processes (Hunter et al. 2016). These patterns suggest that race and class, not just Black Americans’ agentic creation of belonging class, matter in producing neighborhood attach- and meaning in places affected by social-structural ment. However, disentangling their unique inter- disadvantage has a long history (Gieryn 2000; secting effects for nonblack artists and other Hunter et al. 2016; Nieves 2008). Our results sug- neighborhood types requires further study. gest experiencing life in areas of concentrated dis- Our findings also highlight the historical impor- advantage intensifies hip-hop artists’ sense of tance of cross-class alliances in black placemaking neighborhood connectedness, above and beyond strategies. Research shows that materially privi- their commitment to socially conscious art. leged neighborhood residents (Pattillo-McCoy Recognizing this pattern risks romanticizing 1999, 2007) and hip-hop artists (Young 2013) are black resilience in the face of structural oppression, better able to engage in informal community build- or of seeing the power hard-hit communities have ing. Linking artists from different residential expe- to produce commitment to social change without rience categories who share ideas about community properly acknowledging the problematic nature of could shift the structure/agency tension to support those structural conditions. The black placemaking making and remaking the places artists feel con- framework buffers against this risk by allowing nected to, through hip-hop (Hunter et al. 2016). scholars to acknowledge resilience and excellence Finally, our analysis suggests that the black place- in artists’ community connections while pointing making framework could be powerful for future out problems with the structural conditions giving analyses of rural black places. The fact that some rise to it. Although it is remarkable that artists who black artists in our sample who felt allegiance to spent most of their lives in economically disadvan- geographic communities came from small, pre- taged areas are uniquely committed to community, dominately black southern towns suggests studies they occupy a challenging position: they dispropor- of these spaces might be a fruitful line of future tionately express connectedness and responsibility research for the black placemaking framework. to geographic neighborhoods but have fewer social Our sample is mostly black men from the southern and material resources to live up to those ideals. United States. To get a deeper understanding of how The tenuous intersections of structural forces place shapes artists’ sense of community and responsi- producing a need for creative agency while limit- bility, future work with other populations is necessary. ing people’s available tools highlight four implica- Because post–civil rights southern social life carries tions of our work. First, it is important to centralize unique spatial inequality patterns (Hendry and Edwards actors such as the artists in our study when legisla- 2009; Hunter and Robinson 2016), interviewing artists tors and city officials are making decisions affect- outside the South could yield fruitful analyses. ing their communities. Artists’ connectedness and Although we found no significant gender differences, commitment to black places and local visibility gender socialization encouraging women’s sense of make them powerful assets in redevelopment responsibility for others and black women’s additional efforts guided by within-community perspectives. responsibility to collective “black community/ies” Second, our findings speak to the roles race and (Schieman 2005) and uniquely precarious position in class play in black placemaking. Although expo- hip-hop (Collins 2006; Fischer 2012; Perry 2004) sure to concentrated disadvantage deeply affects mean that replicating this study with additional female artists’ conceptions of and ties to community, expo- artists could yield nuanced findings about how social sure to poverty did not produce strong neighbor- status and residential experience combine to influence hood attachment; exposure to concentrated hip-hop artists’ community work. disadvantage in black places did. The one white Limitations notwithstanding, our findings artist who grew up poor in a white middle-class underscore hip-hop’s social significance and area differed from others in his group, but called unique ability to affect listeners and initiate social Becker and Sweet 73 change (Mohammed-Akinyela 2012; Rose 1994; Fischer, Dawn-Elissa T. 2012. “Hip-Hop Within a Watkins 2006). It exposes the power of specific Womanist Lens.” Western Journal of Black Studies geographic spaces in black placemaking processes 36(1):86–96. by illustrating how artists’ exposure to black spaces Fletsher, Ed, “Duke Bootee ”, Grandmaster Melle Mel, and people affected by structural inequality shapes and Sylvia Robinson. 1982. “The Message.” In The Message. New York: Sugar Hill Records. beliefs about community and artistic responsibility. Forman, Murray. 2002. The ’Hood Comes First: Race, Considering known advantages of hip-hop in edu- Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop. Middletown, cation, social justice, and personal and communal CT: Wesleyan University Press. uplift (Ginwright and Cammarota 2002; Hill 2009), Geis, Karlyn J., and Catherine E. Ross. 1998. “A New Look it could arguably be even more influential if it pro- at Urban Alienation: The Effect of Neighborhood vided additional opportunities for artists to embrace Disorder on Perceived Powerlessness.” Social and affect communities they claim as their own. Psychology Quarterly 61(3):232–46. Gieryn, Thomas F. 2000. “A Space for Place in Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology 26:463–96. Acknowledgments Ginwright, Shawn, and Julio Cammarota. 2002. “New Terrain in Youth Development: The Promise of a We would like to thank all the artists who gave their time Social Justice Approach.” Social Justice 29(4):82–95. to be interviewed for this project. We would also like to Glasgow, Douglas G. 1980. 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