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9781426731143.Pdf Wake Up! Hip Hop Christianity and the Black Church By Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Marlon Hall Abingdon Press Copyright © 2011 Abingdon Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4267-3114-3 Contents Preface: It's Bigger Than Hip Hop, Acknowledgments, 1. I'm Bound to Wreck Your Body and Say Turn the Party Out: Physical 2. Hip Hop Is Dead: Musical Characteristics, 3. I Used to Love Her: God, Hip Hop, and Spirituality, 4. G.O.D. (Gaining One's Definition): Black Church and Black Culture, 5. Put Down the Pimp Stick to Pick Up the Pulpit: The Impact of 6. Jesus Walks: Youth, the Church, and the Need for Transformation, Epilogue, Notes, CHAPTER 1 I'm Bound to Wreck Your Body and Say Turn the Party Out Physical Bodies and Embodiment Hip Hop as Cultural Phenomenon Historian Carter G. Woodson, in his classic volume Miseducation of the Negro, warned us of the generational problems and traumatic loss that occur when society and the church miseducate their own. Miseducation affords distraction, loss of focus, lack of critical thinking, and irresponsible actions or passiveness. Miseducation creates an enslaved mentality. When slave runners stole God's children from Africa and brokered in human cargo, they did not believe that the slaves had souls or could even think. So slave runners were content to limit their restraints to the physical. However, allowing enslaved persons to read or write was illegal once they were on shore in the United States. Limited and segregated life and education mades miseducation a systemic reality. Similarly, Jesus' disciples were miseducated, for they did not listen well, interpret, or process information given to them, either. In Matthew 16, after a confrontation with the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus had to deal with his disciples who, yet again, did not "get Jesus" or his message; particularly, they did not understand Jesus' use of bread as a metaphor after feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. Later, when Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi, he asked them about the identity of the Son of Man. They tried to dodge the question by stating what "some say." But Jesus wanted to know who they said he is. Simon Peter responded that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Jesus blessed him and recognized that divine wisdom allowed Simon Peter this knowledge. Jesus then said, "You are Peter [petros], and on this rock [petra] I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). We begin this chapter by situating how we came to Hip Hop as we reflect on Hip Hop as a cultural phenomenon. We explore the sociohistorical context in which the music began and the dynamics of East Coast/West Coast/Southern musical and sociocultural sensibilities; the emotional engagement and objectification of the body in Hip Hop; the function of physicality and rhythm; the role of violence, sexuality, and sexism in this genre; and the effect of the Internet in the development and popularity of Hip Hop. Marlon Hall speaks as one who grew up on Hip Hop. We first hear his voice as he recounts how his own sense of agency and coming- ofage parallel the birth and development of Hip Hop. The Humanity of Hip Hop Birthed in the 1970s on street corners and at block parties by DJs and MCs, Hip Hop went from being considered "underground" to "Top 40" when Sugarhill Gang made "Rapper's Delight." There are three key trajectories of Hip Hop. The first began in the 1970s and went into the early 1980s and was generated by Afrika Bambaataa, Cold Crush Brothers, DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Moe Dee, Kurtis Blow, Sugarhill Gang, Treacherous Three, and Ultramagnetic MCs. The gangsta rap part of this trajectory emerged from Compton, California, in 1989 and involved an outlaw script and a derrière-shaking beat. From the 1990s came the work of N.W.A., Schoolly D, Ice-T, and Too Short; then came Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Coolio, Warren G, the Notorious B.I.G., Master P, Juvenile, Cash Money, Jay-Z, Ja Rule, Ruff Ryders, Eve, and DMX. The second trajectory, Hip Pop, also known as Pop Hop, had risqué lyrics that at one time no black radio station would play. These Hip Pop artists included the Beastie Boys, Heavy D, Biz Markie, Will Smith, RunDMC, LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Salt-N-Pepa, TLC, Missy Elliott, Foxy Brown, Tone-Loc, MC Hammer, Young MC, Da Brat, Jermaine Dupri, Vanilla Ice, Kris Kross, Busta Rhymes, Naughty by Nature, Puff Daddy, D'Angelo, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, the Notorious B.I.G. (gangsta and Hip Pop), Lil' Kim, and Sisqo. The Radicals, the third trajectory, are more revolutionary, politically engaged, and historically aware in their music, where theyview themselves doing edu-taining as opposed to entertainment. These artists include include Big Daddy Kane, Queen Latifah, EPMD, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. and Rakim, Tupac Shakur, Nas, Redman, Wu- Tang Clan, Raekwon, Method Man, De La Soul, Gang Starr, Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Leaders of the New School, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Arrested Development, Outkast, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Black Eyed Peas, Common, Mos Def, Fugees, Lauryn Hill, and Wyclef Jean. The once-dominant New York political themes of activism in the 1980s began to diminish in the 1990s. I (Marlon) grew up with Hip Hop, not just around it. I literally grew up with the music. The music and I were born around the same time in the 1970s, after the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Together we grew and learned to navigate our way around an ever-changing world. We were raised like second cousins, this music and me. This kindred music visited me from all over the nation, by way of my Sony Walkman and headphones, sharing stories and life experiences that would reflect and shape my own. My first fight was coached by the East Coast group Brand Nubian, who taught me that "punks step up to get beat down." My second public dance routine was choreographed by West Coast cousins Digital Underground, who taught me the "humpty dance." In the humpty dance, you move the midsection of your body while your arms move in a wing- like motion. Even the fire that fueled my last crush on a teacher, Mrs. "Got It" Gibbs, was energized by the muscle-bound rapper and actor LL Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James), who told me I needed a girl (or teacher) "who's as sweet as a dove for the first time in my life, I see I need love." This music has been a well-traveled and experienced relative and friend to me, and to many others of my generation. This music is a companion and not just a culture, which has a compelling quality that connects with masses of people in personal ways. Hip Hop seems human or biological in the way it has spawned an original art form, dance expressions, and styles of dress. Its set of shared attitudes, values, and practices are infectious. This inspiration positively and virally travels like it is airborne. Here are some of its characteristics: (1) sudden involuntary motor and repetitive vocal expressions when clever metaphors are spoken at varying volumes; (2) grimaces that resemble a person eating sour lemons when particular chord progressions are heard; and (3) sporadic head nods with facial frowns when acute drum patterns are played. Hip Hop is an international human phenomenon that draws us in, one song and metaphor at a time. Hip Hop lives and breathes with us like a person; and unlike most cultural movements in human history, Hip Hop is human. It effortlessly connects with what makes us human because it is human. Because it was unconsciously shaped by the meek and not manufactured by the affluent, Hip Hop has a freedom and truth that is distinctly human. By exploring the vulnerability, passion, and truth of Hip Hop, we discover what it means to be more fully human. Hip Hop Is Human I realized that Hip Hop was a living and breathing phenomenon at the age of sixteen. I traveled to Eastern Europe a few weeks after the Iron Curtain fell in 1989. I was there to distribute an unlikely combination of gifts on the streets that would have had me and my delegation jailed just two weeks before. As a delegate of the United States Youth Council, I had a mission to pass out condoms and Bibles. The novelty of our mission was only overshadowed by the unique culture shock I experienced as the only African American delegate. We traveled to places in Moscow and Leningrad where black people had never been seen in person. The only experience many of the Eastern Europeans had had with young black men was through media images and entertainment portrayals of life in the United States. Many older folks grimaced at me, while others called me "monkey" or "darkie" as I walked the streets. Some even spit on the ground to show their disgust as I walked past. This was not a shock because to some degree I had experienced this treatment at home. The real shock, however, was the way young people in Moscow and Leningrad treated me. They treated me like the young prince of the 1989 cult classic film Coming to America, starring James Earl Jones and Eddie Murphy. Often running up to touch my skin and smiling as I moved about the city, they made me feel like family.
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