The Mixtape: a Case Study in Emancipatory Journalism
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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE MIXTAPE: A CASE STUDY IN EMANCIPATORY JOURNALISM Jared A. Ball, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Directed By: Dr. Katherine McAdams Associate Professor Philip Merrill College of Journalism Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies During the 1970s the rap music mixtape developed alongside hip-hop as an underground method of mass communication. Initially created by disc-jockeys in an era prior to popular “urban” radio and video formats, these mixtapes represented an alternative, circumventing traditional mass medium. However, as hip-hop has come under increasing corporate control within a larger consolidated media ownership environment, so too has the mixtape had to face the challenge of maintaining its autonomy. This media ownership consolidation, vertically and horizontally integrated, has facilitated further colonial control over African America and has exposed as myth notions of democratizing media in an undemocratic society. Acknowledging a colonial relationship the writer created FreeMix Radio: The Original Mixtape Radio Show where the mixtape becomes both a source of free cultural expression and an anti-colonial emancipatory journalism developed as a “Third World” response to the needs of postcolonial nation-building. This dissertation explores the contemporary colonizing effects of media consolidation, cultural industry function, and copyright ownership, concluding that the development of an underground press that recognizes the tremendous disparities in advanced technological access (the “digital divide”) appears to be the only viable alternative. The potential of the mixtape to serve as a source of emancipatory journalism is studied via a three-pronged methodological approach: 1) An explication of literature and theory related to the history of and contemporary need for resistance media, 2) an analysis of the mixtape as a potential underground mass press and 3) three focus group reactions to the mixtape as resistance media, specifically, the case study of the writer’s own FreeMix Radio: The Original Mixtape Radio Show. The research shows that while FreeMix may need technical fine-tuning, the mixtape itself does offer potential as part of a powerful underground mass press and source of cultural expression. THE MIXTAPE: A CASE STUDY IN EMANCIPATORY JOURNALISM By Jared A. Ball Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2005 Advisory Committee: Professor Katherine C. McAdams, Chair/Advisor Professor Maurine Beasley Professor Alice Bonner Professor Michael Gurevitch Professor Ronald Walters Copyright by Jared A. Ball 2005 ii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge first my mother Arnette Solon Ball who from my first day has encouraged and developed within me a sincere concern for humanity and the powerful ability to think critically. I need also recognize her sister Judith LaChance whose death in 2004 has left us with a severe sense of loss and whose loving guidance and support had become a norm in my life never to be replaced. Nelisbeth Ball to whom I am now married is absolutely responsible for providing the love, strength and space needed to confidently proceed in pursuit of all goals, not the least of which, this one. Our unborn child has already profoundly changed my world and the ordering of what is to be considered important. This child has made the imperatives described in this work that much more important as I now have to consider the world not only as it is but as it will be for our new baby. My new and growing family has been a loving impetus for the completion of this degree. I would like to also acknowledge my extended family and friends from Organized Community of United People (COUP), Suzette Gardner, Mark, Grettel and Ajani Bowen, Ciatta Baysah and Maleena Lawrence. They are my comrades who are constant reminders of the real work that needs doing and who without judgment have had my back now for years. Thank you. A very special recognition needs be made of The Council. Dr. Todd Burroughs who has humbled me through strong mentorship and guidance, Malik ‘Melki’ Russell the 21st century inter-galactic revolutionary spiritualist and my brother warrior poet and intellect Saswat Pattanayak whose principled work has been nothing short of the bearer of standard. The Council, we have much to do and I know we will. iii And finally I need to thank the expert teaching and counsel of Dr. Katherine McAdams. For several years now Dr. McAdams has demonstrated the kind of concern for students and the ideal academic freedom of open and honest debate and discussion that remains unfortunately rare. The process toward completing of this work could not have been as rewarding absent her involvement. Thank you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I: Introduction: Polemics, Emancipation and Revolution……………………………………………………………1 The Mixtape and FreeMix Radio………………………………….....5 Mixtapes and the Panopticon View………………………………….7 It’s Not Really “Radio;” It’s Underground…………………………..8 Mixtape Flexibility………………………………………………….10 Hip-Hop: From Free Expression to Commodity……………………11 Hip-Hop and the Mixtape…………………………………………...14 Uses of the Mixtape………………………………………………....18 The Mixtape as Emancipatory Journalism and the Challenge of “Conventional Wisdom”………………………………………...20 Chapter II: Literature Review Emancipatory Journalism…………………………………………..24 Emancipatory Journalism and the West……………………………29 Colonialism and Resistance Media: A Liberating Response to Conventional Wisdom………………………………...32 The Issue of Culture………………………………………………...37 Through the Colonial Lens………………………………………....39 The Political Economy of Colonization………………………….....44 Control and Hegemony……………………………………………..53 Colonization, Culture and Politics……………………………….....60 Resistance Media: Historical Context……………………………...64 Resistance Takes Shape…………………………………………….71 The Complexity of Education……………………………………....74 Further Development of Resistance Media………………………....80 Extension of Resistance to Pop Culture…………………………….82 The Present Research and Colonialism……………………………...93 Chapter III: FreeMix Radio and the Problematic of Hip-Hop, Culture and Journalism………………………………………………………94 Sound, Music and Social/Political Organization…………………...103 Music, Speech and Ethnomusicology………………………………107 Study of the Mixtape……………………………………………….111 Radio and the Mixtape……………………………………………..112 Copyright and the Lack of Media Diversity………………………..118 Payola………………………………………………………………121 Chapter IV: The Focus Groups………………………………………………….128 Chapter V: Analysis: The Mixtape and The Focus Groups………………..….....132 From the Basement to the Streets: FreeMix Radio, Mixtape Production and the Hows, Whys and Whos…………….....134 v The Mixtape, Politics and Organizational Development…………….137 A Quick Word about the White Left………………………………...141 The Economy of Free Exchange…………………………………….143 Demographics of the Study………………………………………....146 Focus Group Responses…………………………………………….147 Going Forward from the Focus Groups…………………………….156 The Colonial Psyche………………………………………………...158 Chapter VI: Conclusions………………………………………………………......163 Northeast Washington, DC…………………………………………..171 The Mixtape as Hope’s 21st Century Representative………………....174 Suggested Uses of this Analysis……………………………………...176 Recommendations/Future Study……………………………………...178 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..181 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: POLEMICS, EMANCIPATION AND REVOLUTION I studied law to become a better burglar. - Huey P. Newton When worst comes to worst my peoples come first. - Dilated Peoples Europe’s Black possessions remained – and do remain – in Europe’s colonies. - James Baldwin Freedom: The very being of the For-itself which is “condemned to be free” and must forever choose itself – i.e., make itself. “’To be free’ does not mean ‘to obtain what one has wished’ but rather ‘by oneself to determine oneself to wish’ (in the broad sense of choosing). In other words, success is not important to freedom. - Jean-Paul Sartre In the future, when social scientists study the mix tape phenomenon, they will conclude – in fancy language – that the mix tape was form of “speech” particular to the late twentieth century, soon replaced by the “play list.” -Dean Wareham Polemic po·lem·ic Pronunciation: p&-'le-mik Function: noun Etymology: French polémique, from Middle French, from polemique controversial, from Greek polemikos warlike, hostile, from polemos war; perhaps akin to Greek pelemizein to shake, Old English ealfelo baleful 1 a : an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another b : the art or practice of disputation or controversy -- usually used in plural but sing. or plural in constr. 2 : an aggressive controversialist : DISPUTANT - po·lem·i·cist /-'le-m&-sist/ noun -Webster’s Dictionary 2 Marimba Ani, in Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior (1994), begins with the following: “Bolekaja!1 This study of Europe is an intentionally aggressive polemic. It is an assault upon the European paradigm; a repudiation of its essence” (p. 1, original emphasis). Just as Tupac Shakur once ended an interview saying that after 20 years of life “this is my report” (Lazin, 2003) so too is this a summary of my own after years of academic study and personal experience. What follows is my own attempt to challenge aggressively the prevailing “wisdoms” as they relate to notions of freedom, journalistic practice, history and theoretical approaches applied thereto.