Robbing Hood
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Robbing Hood Re-appropriation of an African-American ‘keeping it real’ in hip-hop through the sampling of films, during times of glocalization and appropriation Stef Mul 10523537 Erik Laeven Second reader: Catherine Lord Word Count: 17.936 PREFACE Hip-hop is, and has from the very first beat, rhyme and dance, been a culture with a certain narrative. One that for purists and originators might be seen as lead astray in a globalizing circus of commercialization and remediation of itself, handing this hip-hop narrative over to people, who do not stem from the streets of suburban New York and of African-American decent, initially, as well as Latin- Americans and other ethnic minorities living in these same neighborhoods. Hip- hop artists are often anxious to defend its own original ethnical and socio- geographical confines. “First there was African music,” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson firmly states in his book about his life as a hip-hop artist – among other things. “You know how Public Enemy says, in “Can’t Truss It,” that they came from “the base motherland, the place of the drums”? Africa, that’s the place they’re talking about,” quoting the hip-hop moguls, formed in 1986 (9). If one feels like subscribing to these thoughts, they might agree on the idea that the authentic culture of hip-hop stems from 1970 to 1979 and is interwoven with a great deal of African heritage. This was “before hip-hop was “commercialized” in the form of recordings,” according to some of the firmest purist fans, artists and scientists out there (Justin A. Williams, 22). Thus, there seems to be a strong, yet troubling liaison with notions of ‘being original’ or ‘authentic’ coded deep inside hip-hops own genes, that gets more and more troublesome after hip-hops is spreading and being appropriated around the world, in several cultures, media and lifestyles. Furthermore, this entanglement gets a paradoxical turn when one takes into account hip-hop’s appropriative use of other material as mode of artistic expression, being the samples of music, textual or musical interpolation and other multimedia references, both intra- and extra-musical. However, it was the same “commercialization” that brought the hip-hop culture to a European man from the Netherlands. I am historically and demographically – and ethnically – unfit to act up as a purist, as I only got to listen to and learn from the already “commercialized” version of a re-cultured hip-hop community. But from this very same distance I got to learn about how the seminal quartet of hip-hop – graffiti, breakdance, DJ-ing and MC-ing – together embrace the notions of a cultural heritage, authenticity and nostalgia into a shared experience that transcends the musical aspect. 21st Century 2 globalized hip-hop is now mostly associated rapping and rhyming, being the most distinguishable aspect of the (musical) culture when compared to other genres. It is being mostly sold around the world as a mere musical experience, without any other cultural substance or historical value, with solely the rappers on the forefront as the big stars. I myself, being late to the block party, have also had a predominantly auditory hip-hop experience, falling in love with the genre after many auditory encounters. However, quickly it also started to speak directly to my visual imagination, through the words and, moreover, a seemingly infinite variety of samples that added a certain kind of image to the narrative on tape. It was a first grasp on hip-hop’s modes of communication an introduction to its power to speak on behalf of the people living in the culture, coming from a non-white (and predominantly black) lineage and growing up in poor socio- economical situations. Not only through the graffiti on the walls and the provocative imagery of a break-dancer, but also through its quotations of so many other media-expressions, hip-hop expresses itself as an intrinsically audiovisual hodgepodge of mythological proportions, to tell the story of those in this minority position. I never considered it an accident that, while hip-hop was straying away from the Bronx “to folks who had never heard of rap or hip-hop”, already two films were made (Jeff Chang, 132). Through Wild Style (1982) and Style Wars (1983) flows a highly determined desire to show, tell and express. To show whom they are, where they come from and which conditions brought about their cultural expressions – almost as if they knew what hip-hop was going to be; to already establish grounds for authenticity. “Frequently cited as the most accurate representation of the early hip-hop period, (…) [and] though filmed in 1981, Wild Style is considered the quintessential hip-hop film because it sought to capture the energy of prerecording, pre-1979 hip-hop,” Justin A. Williams honorably describes the film (26). But it is not only literally in film that the hip- hop cultural has a visual voice, but the music itself also borrows from cinematic modes of communication. Sometimes long intermezzos between songs, directly quote whole sequences of films, dialogue gets intermingled with the lyrics or the melody of a soundtrack is reshuffled, and formed into a new beat. In what auditory fashion are the films integrated in hip-hop songs, what meaning do the film samples bear in the greater hip-hop narrative and how does it add up to the 3 notions of authenticity, as well as the paradoxical liaison with appropriation? These are the questions this thesis seeks to answer. The intermingling of film and hip-hop has never escaped my mind and interests, it being just as much part of this discussion on authenticity, sampling and appropriation, as it is left out of scientific texts on the matter. After years of trying to canonize hip-hop’s entire discography – a seeming impossibility – and a great desire to discover the origins of the samples, I found a staggering amount of films, put to use in several ways of sampling. Hence, the reason for this thesis, as an open exploration into the realm of hip-hop, and it’s discourse, as well as it’s tendency therein to include film, especially films that are not part of the African-American anthology. I feel obliged to carry out a disclaimer, acknowledging the fact that I am probably appropriating and framing myself, by talking about this distant culture. However, I think, and will hopefully prove as trustworthy, that the amount of non-African- American film samples is evident and interesting enough, to examine. Also, any potential misconceptions of things will be avoided to my power. Even though I am aware of my white, European (pre-)conditions, I feel like it is important to at least give it a try and possibly hand over some exploratory work on film samples that one might take into further research. 4 CONTENT Preface 1. Taking back what is not yours 1.1 Re-Appropriation authenticity 1.2 A Hip-Hop Origin Story: keeping what real? 1.3 Corpus - Threefold of film genres 2. Postcolonial framework: introducing… 2.1 (Re-)appropriation: keeping it real 2.2 Meaningful borrowing: sampling or appropriating 2.3 Glocalization: a global narrative 3. Methodology 4. Analysis: Film-reels to keep it real 4.1 Tales from the Hood – lyrical depictions 4.2 Images and sounds from around the world 4.3 Film-reels to keep it real The black Soprano Family Afrofuturism: re-appropriating history 5. In conclusion – Japsploitation appropriation Reference guide Filmography Discography Appendix 5 1. Taking back what is not yours Lupin III is the illegitimate grandson of the anarchist antihero Arsène Lupin.1 Still, he stays true to his family origin: he is a grandmaster and gentleman-like thief. As contradictory as it sounds, this means that he holds up an admirable reputation, while stealing ”rather for the love of his art than to acquire wealth,” which gives him “a certain moral legitimacy when he relieves [dubious figures] of their ill-gotten gains” (Drake, 114). The respected rebel steals from those who do not fully appreciate or rightfully appropriated their wealth, making him a Robin Hood-like character full of moral and political potential. From his manga origin on paper, Lupin III went on to have a prolific anime career, with thirty- eight films and different series. Lupin III also appears to be of some inspiration to African-American hip-hop artists, as different parts of its soundtrack by Yuji Ohno and his Explosion Band2 are being sampled. Acknowledging the supposition that hip-hop’s sampling often bears certain meaning or critique, why then does this sample of a Japanese animation occur in this African-American part of hip-hop’s culture? Which cultural and global developments might cause hip-hop artists to use Lupin III’s music as the base of their songs? As such, Lupin III is the starting point and most salient object of this thesis on hip-hop’s relation with film-samples. What does this Japanese cartoon character tell about a hip- hop’s notion of ‘keeping it real’ and appropriation? 1.1 (Re-)Appropriating Authenticity The more hip-hop’s culture gets glocalized and universally commodified, the lesser the claim of “keeping it real”, as a common authentic ground of a relatively local inner-circle, is expressed through African-American centered sampling – a form of appropriation.3 In this thesis it also taken as a well-known 1 A fictional gentleman thief created by the French writer Maurice Leblanc in the 2 The references to the various LP’s that are sampled can be found in the textual analysis.