"The Chain Remain the Same": Communicative Practices in the Hip Hop Nation Author(S): Geneva Smitherman Source: Journal of Black Studies, Vol

Home , A Beautiful Noise, Bop Gun (One Nation), Bring the Noise, Brotha, Cool C, Down for Whatever

"The Chain Remain the Same": Communicative Practices in the Hip Hop Nation Author(s): Geneva Smitherman Source: Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Sep., 1997), pp. 3-25 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2784891 . Accessed: 20/04/2011 07:38

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http://www.jstor.org "THE CHAIN REMAIN THE SAME"1 CommunicativePractices in theHip Hop Nation

GENEVASMITHERMAN MichiganState University

Itis truethat the nature of society is tocreate, among its citizens, an illusionof safety;but it is also absolutelytrue that the safety is alwaysnecessarily anillusion. Artists are here to disturb the peace. Baldwin(1992)

The termhip-hop refers to urbanyouth culture in America. Hip-hopis manifestedin suchcultural productions as graffitiart, breakdancing, styles of dress (e.g., baggy pants, sneakers, Malcolm X caps,appropriately worn backward), love ofb-ball (basketball), andso forth.Although the Hip Hop Nationis predominantlyBlack, Latinoscomprise a significantminority within this nation. Three differentNew York artists have been credited with coining the term hip-hop(which dates back to the 1970s): Busy Bee Starski,DJ Hollywood,and DJ Afrika Bambaataa (founder of the Zulu Nation in New York).It is uncertainwhich of the three is theoriginator of theterm, but according to Kool DJHerc (January 24, 1994,personal communication),the acknowledged father of hip-hop, "only these threecould argue it." Fernando (1994) indicatesthat the term was givenbroad popular exposure by "Rapper'sDelight," the first commerciallysuccessful rap song, which was released by the Sugar

AUTHOR'S NOTE: An earlierversion of thisarticle was presentedat the "Englishin Africa" Conference, Grahamstown, South Africa, September 1995.

JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES, Vol.28 No. 1, September1997 3-25 C 1997 Sage Publications,Inc. 3 4 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997

Hill Gangin 1979.2The songfeatured the lyrics: "With a hip,hop, thehipit, the hipidipit, hip, hip, hopit, you don't stop" (p. 13). Rap musicand rappers-such as Treachof Naughty by Nature, Ice Cube (aka Cube),formerly of NWA [Niggas Wit Attitude], P.E. [PublicEnemy], Ice-T, Queen Latifah,Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dr. Dre,Yo-Yo, Kam, 2 Pac-and othersare the artistic representatives of theHip Hop Nation.Through their bold and talentedproduc- tions,they are fulfillingthe missionof the artist:"disturb the peace." Of course,the United States Ghetto (USG) is a hotbedof unrest,dispossession, and powerlessness;so, forAfrican Ameri- cans livingon the margins,for this "underclass,"there is no "peace."What is beingdisturbed is thepeace of middle-class White andBlack America. Interestinglyenough, the term rap was originallyused in the AfricanAmerican speech community to referto romantic,sexual- ized interaction,usually originated by a man forpurposes of winningthe affectionand sexual favorsof a woman(see, e.g., Kochman,1972). By thelate 1960s,when the term crossed over intomainstream public language, it had lost its sexual innuendo and came to meanany kind of strong,aggressive, highly fluent, pow- erfultalk. One findsboth uses ofthe term in today'sBlack speech community,and of course, rappers represent both meanings in their artisticproductions. Rap musicis rootedin the Black oral tradition of tonal semantics, narrativizing,signification/signifyin, thedozens/playin the dozens, Africanizedsyntax, and othercommunicative practices. The oral traditionitself is rootedin the survivingAfrican tradition of "Nommo"and the powerof the wordin humanlife (see, e.g., Dance, 1978; Dundes, 1973; Gwaltney,1980). The rapperis a postmodernAfrican griot, the verbally gifted storyteller and cul- turalhistorian in traditional African society. As AfricanAmerica's "griot,"the rapper must be lyrically/linguisticallyfluent; he or she is expectedto testify,to speak the truth,to come wit it in no uncertainterms. Further, in theearly formation of rapmusic, the rapperwas expectedto speakwith a quickness. Smitherman/COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES 5

Therate of speech in rap must be constantin order to correlate it withthe beat of the music.... A rapsong averages one hundred forty-fourbeats per minute ... eachbeat of the music can be corre- latedto a stressedsyllable. If the number of unstressed syllables is equalto the number of stressed syllables in a rapsong, the rapper uttersa minimumof twohundred and fifty eight syllables per minute.(Yasim, 1995, p. 38)

A blend of realityand fiction,rap musicis a contemporary responseto conditionsof joblessness, poverty, and disempower- ment(Smitherman, 1994), which continue to be thenorm for the Black UN workingclass. A culturalcritic, describing himself as fromthe "front lines of the White Struggle," provides this descrip- tion of rap music: "[It is a rebellionagainst] white America's economic and psychologicalterrorism against Black people" (Upski,1993). Morgan (in press)expresses it this way: "Petulant, raw,and screaming with vibrant and violent images ... [rapmusic] representspeople who are angry that the power apparatus tried to buryit alive." Givenits mission "disturbthe peace"-much ofrap music has a moraledge. As PoorRighteous Teachers (a Five PercentNation rapgroup3) says, "The gods are rulingup in hip hop" (quotedin Ahearn,1991). This music has becomea-or, perhapsthe-prin- cipalmedium for Black youth to "express their views of the world" and to seek to "createa senseof order"(Allen, 1996) out of the turbulenceand chaos of their,and our,lives. Despite the 1990s' emergenceof guns,violence, misogyny, and overusedtaboo languagein rap music, the founding mission of rap remains that clearly reflectedin Rapper Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's 1982 hitsong, "The Message." Here they decry, for all theworld to hear, thedeplorable conditions of the hood:

Brokenglass everywhere, Peoplepissin on the stair, Youknow they just don't care. I can'ttake the smell, I can't take the noise ... Don'tpush me cause I'm closeto the edge, 6 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997

I'm tryingnot to lose my head. It'slike a junglesometimes Itmakes me wonder HowI keepfrom going under. (used by permission, Sugarhill Publish- ingCompany)

For contemporaryBlacks, then, as Naughtyby Natureraps, the chainremains the same as in enslavement.

[Introduction]:I think it's about time you explained to everybody the realreason you wear this chain aroundyour neck ... [Treach]:Too many of my people got time Itshows as crimeunfolds ... theirgoals locked in a facilitywhere time is froze Godknows the heart hurts To seeno sky, just dirt Theygive a mana cellquick before they give a manwork ... Barsand cement instead of help for our people Jailsain nothin but the slave-day sequel Tryinto flee the trap of this nation Seeinpenitentiary's theplan to plant the new plantation ... Who'slocked up, who's shot up, who's strung out, who's bleedin-keepreadin I needto explain:the chain remain the same ("Chains Remain," Naughtyby Nature, 1995; used by permission, ? 1995 WB Music Corp.[ASCAP] & NaughtyMusic [ASCAP])

Thereis currentlyafoot a concertedcampaign against rap music despiteits political and moralmessages and itscelebration of the Black oraltradition. On June5, 1993,African American minister ReverendCalvin Butts held a "rapin" in Harlem,New York,to whichhe hadinvited participants to bringoffensive tapes and CDs tobe runover with a steamroller.(The steamrollereffort was foiled by membersand supportersof theHip Hop Nationwho blocked thesteamroller. Reverend Butts and supportersthus took the pile ofCDs andtapes to the Manhattan office of Sony and dumped them there.)In 1994,Dr. C. DeloresTucker, head of the National Political Smitherinan/COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES 7

Congressof Black Women,was successfulin gettingthe U.S. Congressto hold hearings against rap music. She joined forces with a Whitemale conservative, former Secretary of Education William Bennett,to mountan all-outcampaign against rap music. By late September1995, Tuckerand Bennetthad succeededin forcing TimeWarner to sell offtheir interest in Interscope,the recording companyfor the most prominent of the "gangsta" rappers. Admittedly,rap has its violence,its rawlanguage, and its mi- sogynisticlyrics. However, it is an artform that accurately reports "thenuances, pathology and most importantly, resilence of Amer- ica's best kept secret . .. the black ghetto"(Dawsey, 1994). Hip- hop/rapculture is a resistanceculture. Thus, rap music is notonly a Black expressivecultural phenomenon; it is, at thesame time, a resistingdiscourse, a setof communicative practices that constitute a textof resistanceagainst White America's racism and itsEuro- centriccultural dominance.

AFRICANAMERICAN LANGUAGEIU.S.EBONICS ANDHIP-HOP It is criticalto keep in mindthat the racialized rhetoric of rap musicand the Hip Hop Nationis embodiedin thecommunicative practicesof thelarger Black speechcommunity. The languageof hip-hopis AfricanAmerican language (hereafterAAL), also known as Black English,African American vernacular English, and Ebonics(from "ebony," for Black, and "phonics,"for sound; see Williams,1975). AAL hasbeen studied extensively during the past threedecades (see, e.g.,Baugh, 1983; Costello& Wallace,1990; Dandy,1991; Dillard, 1972; Fasold & Shuy,1970; Garofalo, 1992; Ice-T,1994; Jones, 1994; Kochman, 1972,1981; Labov, 1972; Major, 1970,1994; Nelson & Gonzales,1991; Rickford, 1992; Rickford & Rickford,1976; Scott,1986; Smitherman,1977, 1994; Stewart, 1967;Wolfram, 1970). AAL is a productof freeAfrican slave labor,having evolved froma 17th-centurypidgin English that was a linguafranca in the 8 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997 linguisticallydiverse enslavement communities throughout Bri- tian'sNorth American colonies that became the United States of America.The pidgin blended European American English (hereaf- terEAL) withpatterns from the Niger-Congo family of African languages(e.g., Yoruba, Wolof, Efik, Twi-see, e.g.,Asante, 1990; Turner,1949). The result of this blend was a communicationsystem thatfunctioned as botha resistancelanguage and a linguisticbond ofcultural and racial solidarity for those born under the lash. Althoughthe lexicon of AAL can readilybe identifiedas EAL, it is thenuanced meanings, the linguistic rules, the rhetorical and semanticstrategies, the ways in whichthe EAL wordsare strung togetherto forma setof discursive practices that distinguish AAL fromEAL. Considerthe statement, "The Brothabe lookingood; that'swhat got the Sista nose open!" (From a 30-ishAfrican Americanwoman at a hair-braidingshop on Chicago's South Side, 1992). "Brotha"is AAL foran AfricanAmerican man, "lookin good" refersto his attractiveappearance, "Sista" is AAL foran AfricanAmerican woman, and her passionate love forthe Brotha is conveyedby the phrase "nose open." The use of"be" meansthat thequality of "lookingood" is notlimited to thepresent moment butreflects the Brotha's past, present, and future essence. Althoughsuch an examplemay be consideredillustrative of impliedracial resistance-thatis, in thecontinued use of these kindsof verbalforms despite White America's linguistic disap- proval-otherforms of AAL suggesta moreexplicit rhetoric of resistance.In LonneElder's late 1960s'play, Ceremonies in Dark OldMen, there is a debatebetween the central protagonists inwhich one Brotha,articulating a key theme in thedrama, says to another, "Don't nobodypay no attentionto no nigga thatain't crazy!" Because EAL stigmatizesthe use of doublenegatives, AAL goes one betterand uses multiplenegation (a characteristicfeature of AAL grammar).Because "nigger"is a racializedepithet in EAL, AAL embracesits usage, encodinga varietyof unique Black meanings.And "crazyniggas" are therebellious ones, who resist racial supremacistdomination and drawattention to theircause becausethey act in ways contrary to the inscribed role for Africans inAmerica. Smitherman/COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES 9

As we move towardthe 21st century,it is clear thatAfrican Americacontinues to constitute itself as a distinctspeech community,with its own linguisticrules and sociolinguisticnorms of interaction.

COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES AND LINGUISTIC PATTERNS IN RAP AND HIP-HOP

GRAMMATICAL AND PHONOLOGICAL FORMS

One of themost distinctive and widelycited grammatical fea- turesof AAL is theuse ofaspectual be to indicateiterativity; that is,actions or attributes that are continuous, intermittent, orongoing, as in "The Brothabe lookinggood" statementcited above. Also referredto in the AAL researchliterature as "habitualbe," this featureis pervasivein theHip Hop Nation.In his big seller,"Big Poppa,"the late Notorious B.I.G. used thisform extensively. And fromthe Geto Boys:

He be in fora squabbleno doubt/SoI swungand hit thenigga in hismouth/He was goindown, we fig'ged, butthis wasn't no ordinarynigga/He stood about six or sevenfeet/Now thass the nigga I be seeinin mysleep. ("My Mind is PlayingTricks on Me," GetoBoys, 1992; lyricsreprinted with permissionC N-TheWater Publishing, Inc.)

Anothercopula patterncommon in AAL is zero copula. This formoccurs in environmentswhere the meaning is noniterativeor static.The senseof the utterance characterizes the present moment only,as in "Thisbus on timetoday, but most times, it be late";or theutterance has theforce of an all-timetruth, as in "This my brother."Some examplesfrom hip-hop can be foundin Ice-T's (1988) "I'm YourPusher" and in QueenLatifah's "Ladies First": "Yeah,there gon be somechanges over here" (Latifah with Monie Love, 1989;used bypermission, T-Boy Music L.L.C., ? Warner- 10 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997

TamerlanePublishing Corp. [BMI], Now & ThenMusic [BMI], QueenLatifah Music [BMI], & FortyFive KingMusic [ASCAP]). The pastparticiple been, when stressed, is used to denotethe remotepast. It appears in written form in the following excerpt from an interviewin TheSource (a widelyread hip hop magazine):

Source:Tell me about the beef you had with Three Times Dope. RapperSteady B, aka MC Boob: That'sa old story.... Come to find outthe tables turned and they was right ... Source:Y'all workedthat out? Are you down with E-S andthem now? CoolC: Webeen worked that out.

InAAL, futuretense is oftenindicated with go, a nasalizedvowel soundclose to,but not identical with, EAL's "gone,"and not the sameas colloquialEAL's "gonna."Artistic pioneers of rap, Public Enemy(known as "P.E.")-consistentlypolitical-give us: "Black is back,all in, we gon win" ("Bringthe Noise," 1988; used by permission,courtesy Bring the Noiz, Inc.). (See also theQueen Latifah-MonieLove lineabove.) AAL speakersuse theyfor the third singular plural possessive. In hip-hop,we hear:

Allthe girls had they turkish link/If itbroke, they madeerrings toit, like they meant to do it. ("Back in the Day," Ahmad, 1994,used by permission, Interscope Records)

Andfrom Nation of Islam Rapper Kam:

Youknow, we all looking out for Number One That'swhy Brothas sell dope and girls get they nails done. ("Trust Nobody,"1995, by DJBattlecat and Kam, used by permission, ? FamousMusic Corporation, Vent Noir Music Publishing, and I-SlamMusic)

Postvocalic-r deletion is widespreadamong AAL speakers.And, ofcourse, in hip-hop, as forexample in Snoop Doggy Dogg's 1993 topseller, "Gin and Juice." And from the Geto Boys Smithermnan/COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES 11

Hey,yeah, man, I gotWillie D. on theother end Say,fellas, I beenkickin a fewlyrics in theback ofmy mind ... I'm tied[tired] of muthafuckas disrespec- tinus becausewe're Black-ownand won'tsell out.("Do It Like A G.O.," GetoBoys, 1992; lyrics reprinted with permission ? N-The WaterPublishing, Inc.)

AmongAAL speakers,lAng/ and lank! are used in wordssuch as think,sing, and drink. This is howwe getthe popular expression, "It's a Black Thang" [not"thing"]. From The Source,we read: "Sangin' sistahsBrownstone feelin' it in Oaktown. . ." (photo caption,July 1995). Giventhat the rapper has to meetthe artistic demandfor rhyme, use ofthis systematic AAL pronunciationrule can generatea uniquerhythmic line, as in thefollowing:

Hittinall thespots but I'm cominup blank I'm headedto theliquor stowe [store] to gitmyself some drank. ("Big Pimpin',"Tha Dogg Pound,1994, used bypermission, C 1994WB MusicCorp. [ASCAP] & SugePublish- ing [ASCAP]; also on themotion picture soundtrack, Above the Rim)

Notwithstandingthegrammatical integrity ofAAL, by now well establishedin thescholarly literature, the syntax of rap musicis oftenattacked for its departures from "standard English." Because manyrap artists are collegeeducated, and mostare adeptat code switching,they obviously could employ "standard English" in their rap lyrics.However, in theirquest to "disturbthe peace," they deliberatelyand consciouslyemploy the "antilanguage"of the Black speech community,thus sociolinguisticallyconstructing themselvesas membersof thedispossessed. Even whenthe mes- sagein the music does not overtly speak to racial resistance, the use ofthe Black speechcommunity's syntax covertly reinforces Black America's400-year rejection of Euro-American cultural, racial- andlinguistic-domination. 12 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997

RHETORICAL AND SEMANTIC STRATEGIES/DISOURSEMODES

Giventhat the rapper recalls the griot of old, rap lyrics are often woveninto a narrative.Indeed, although there are ritualized forms of storytellingin AAL-such as the Toasts(see, e.g., Jackson, 1974)-Narrativizingis a characteristicfeature of generalBlack discursivepractices. Everyday conversational talk may be rendered as a "story."Narrativizing is a Blackrhetorical strategy to explain a point,to persuadeholders of opposing views to one's ownpoint ofview, and to createword-pictures about general, abstract obser- vationsabout life, love, and survival. Rapper Ice Cuberules [reigns supreme]in his artisticdeployment of thisBlack communicative practiceto explainracialized oppression, for instance,how it happensthat such huge numbers of African American men are in prison:

[Voice]:In anycountry, prison is wheresociety sends its failures, but inthis country, society itself is failing. [IceCube]: How you like me now? I'm inthe mix, it's 1986, and I got thefix ... /Droppedout the 12th cause my welfare's shorter than a midgeton his knees ... ./Fuckedup in the pen, now it's '94, back in L.A. andI'm fallinin the door/Everybody know I gotto start from scratch... /Noskills to pay the bills/Talkin bout education to battle inflation/Nocollege degree, just a dumb-assG . . / gota babyon theway/Damn, it's a mess/Haveyou ever been convicted of a felony?-Yes!/Tooksome advice from my Uncle Fester, all dressed up in polyester/"Welcometo McDonald's. May I pleasehelp you?"/Shit,what can I do?("What Can I Do?"Ice Cube, 1993; used bypermission [Street Knowledge Music (ASCAP)])

Braggadociois richlyinterwoven into the everyday AAL con- versationalcontext, and it is ritualizedin thetoasts, long-standing narrativeepics fromthe oral tradition."Shine," "Stag-o-Lee," "Dolemite,""the Signifyin Monkey," and other well-known toasts are renderedwith clever rhymes, puns, and culturally toned expe- riencesand referencesfrom a freshand new perspective.The toast-tellerprojects himself (or herself,but usually himself) as a Smitherman/COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES 13 powerful,all-knowing, omnipotent hero, able to overcome all odds. In thisway, he personifiesthe self-empowerment dreams of his Blackaudience and symbolizes for them triumph and accomplish- mentagainst the odds. In thehip-hop/rap generation, the bragga- docio themeis generallyabout the rapper's lovemaking or verbal skills.While Notorious B.I.G. boastsabout his rapping prowess in male-femalerelationships (see, e.g.,his "Big Poppa"),gifted pro- ducerDr. Dre bragsabout his abilityto "flow"[verbal skills]:

Well,uhm beepin and uhm creepin and uhm freakin ... ./Nowit's timefor me to make my impression felt/So sit back, relax, and strap on yo seatbelt/You never been on a ridelike this befo/With a producerwho can rap and can throw the maestro/At thesame time witthe dope rhymes that I kick/You know and I knowI throwsome ol funkyshit/To add to mycollection, this selection symbolizes/ Takea toke,but don't choke/If you do, you'll have no clue of what meand my homey Snoop Dogg came to do. ("Nuthin'but a 'G' Thang,"Dr. Dre, 1992, used by permission, Interscope Records)

The artof verbalinsult is displayedin AAL's communicative ritual,the dozens/playin the dozens (traditional terms) or snappin (newlyemerging term; see, e.g.,Smitherman, 1995a). It has ana- loguesamong some ethnic groups in WestAfrica, such as theEfik inNigeria (see, e.g., Dalby, 1972; Simmons, 1963). This linguistic- culturalpractice involves what Black womanwriter Zora Neale Hurston(1942) referredto as "low-ratingthe ancestorsof your opponent."Although any relative may be thetarget of a snap,the motheris generallythe preferred subject. Given its ritual nature, thereare stocklinguistic conventions for launchingthe verbal insult,the most common being "yo momma."And there are some criticalrules. For one thing,the insult must be funnyand original (or a newtwist on an old line).And, most important, itmust not be literallytrue because, then, it is no longera game.

Yallremember way back then ... ./Ithink I was about ten/Oneof those happy little niggas ... /Alwaystryin torag ... ./Sayin,"Yo momma black," "His momma this," "Hismomma that." ("Back in the Day," Ahmad, 1994) 14 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997

Yo mommaso fat,she fell over, her leg broke off, andsome gravy poured out. I sawyo momma kickin a can down the street I askedher what she was doin, and she said movin. (White Men Can't Jump,1992 film)

Yourmother is so old,she went to the Virgin Mary'sbaby shower. Yoursister is so nasty,I called her on the phoneand got an ear infection. (Double Snaps, by Percelay, Dweck, & Ivey,1995; collected from hip-hoppers, older musicians, and others fromacross the United States).

Signification/signifyinis a type of verbal insult that is leveledat a person,rather than at hisor her mother or relatives. Whereas the dozensis fairlyblunt and pointed, signifyin is subtle,indirect, and circumlocutory(see e.g.,Asante, 1972; Lee, 1993;Mitchell-Kernan, 1969; Morgan,1989; Smitherman,1995b; Watkins,1994). Al- thoughit maybe employedfor just plainfun, it is oftenused to makea point,to issue a corrective,or to critique through indirection andhumor. For instance, Malcolm X oncebegan a speechto a Black audiencewith a bitof signifyinto lethis audienceknow that he knewhe had enemiesamong them. He said,"Brother Lomax [the moderator],ladies and gentlemen, friends and enemies." In rapand hip-hop,as in contemporaryAfrican American literature, women rulewhen it comesto signifyin.Female rappers use thisage-old rhetoricalstrategy to launchcritical offensives against the sexual objectificationof womenpracticed by some male rappers. In "Fly Girl,"the ever-inventive Queen Latifah strikes back at whatmany women consider a disrespectfulform of address:Yo, baby!Other female rappers respond to rap's sexism by coming hard themselves.Smooth provides such an examplein her 1993 hit, "Ya Been Played":

Ya beenplayed and I thinkyou know it Youtoo large to even try to show it ... I usedyou as a steppingstone Thenwhen I wasthrough, I sent yo sorry butt home ... Smitherman/COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES 15

You knowthat ya beenplayed, git out my face. (used by permission, ? 1993Zomba Enterprises, Inc. [ASCAP], Teaspoon Music [BMI])

In their1993 hit, "Shoop," Salt N Pepa notonly create an entire rap (and music video) full of sexual hyperboleand the sexual objectificationofa Blackmale, they also weavein a bitof signifyin on rapperBig DaddyKane. In his"Very Special" jam, Big Daddy Kane celebratesthe sexual beauty of a womanand gives tribute to herfather: "For giving me somethingthis beautiful, have mercy, I wantto kiss yo father." So in"Shoop," Salt N Pepacredit the mother forthe sexual beauty of the male they rap about.

Like Princesaid, you're a sexymother ... Makesme wannado trickson him Lick himlike a lolypop shouldbe licked... Don't knowhow you do thevoodoo that you do So well,it's a spell,hell Makesme wannashoop shoop shoop You'repacked and you're stacked Especiallyin theback Brotherwanna thank your mother for a buttlike that ... You'rea shotgun bang! What's up withthat thang! I wannaknow, how does ithang.... (usedby permission, ? 1993Bed ofNails Music,Inc., Tyran Music, UniChappell Inc., Next Plateau Music,IZA MusicCorp., and Sons ofK'Oss Music,Inc.)

Revisitingthe Black musical tradition is whatrap's sampling is all about.Some criticsof rap musichave arguedthat the use of lyricsand melodies from older work in the Black musical tradition demonstratesthat rap is notinnovative, that it merely imitates rather thancreates. Yet, whatrappers are doingwhen they sample is revisitingand revising earlier musical work. As a rhetoricalstrategy,sampling is a kindof structural signifyin, similar to what Henry Louis Gates (1988) and othershave shownthat contemporary Blackwriters, such as ToniMorrison, Alice Walker, and others are doing:They are indirectly commenting on the work of earlier Black writerswithin the narrative structure of their own literary productions.The samplingof rappersthus represents a conscious preoc- 16 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997 cupationwith artistic continuity and connection to Black cultural roots.In thissense, the Hip Hop Nationis groundingitself squarely and unabashedlyin theBlack musical-culturaltradition, even as theyextend that tradition and put their own imprint on thegame. In fact,there are clearaesthetic distinctions between this kind of sampling,which triggers the cultural memory associated with a givenmusical work, and sampling,which simply duplicates that work.An exampleof thelatter is "Bop Gun,"from Ice Cube's LethalInjection album, which merely replays George Clinton's 1970s' hit,"One NationUnder a Groove,"with no modification, throughoutthe entire song. (However, this purely imitative sam- plingis rarefor Cube, who is one ofthe most verbally clever and innovativerap artists.) As withother discursive practices, sampling reflects the way in which rap music capitalizes on Black cultural expression as a scaffoldfor resistancerhetoric. P.E.'s "By the Time I Get to Arizona"was releasedin 1991,when Arizona was theonly state thatdid not honor the national holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.With appropriate irony, P.E. sampleswhat was a populartalk- singinglove jam, "By The TimeI Get to Phoenix,"recorded by musicalgiant Isaac Hayesin 1969.The rhetorical effect is a textof racial protestthat became a popular1990s' rallyingcry against racism,Arizona-style.

Whywant a holiday?Fuck it, cause I wanna/Sowhat if I celebrateit standinon a corner/Iain't drinkin no 40 I be thinkintime with a nine/Untilwe getsome land Call me thetrigger man ... ./Theycan't understand why he theman/I'm singin bout a king/Theydon't like it When I decideto mikeit ... ./I'mon theone missionTo geta politician/Tohonor or he's a goner/Bythe time I getto Arizona.(used by permission, courtesy Bring the Noiz, Inc.)

The late2 Pac [TupacShakur], whose mother was a memberof the 1960s'-1970s'revolutionary group, the Black Panthers,pays tributeto his motherin "Dear Mama." The songrecalls "Sadie," recordedin the 1970s by theSpinners, a male ballad/RhythmN Blues group.In "Sadie," theycelebrate the devotion and love so Smitherman/COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES 17 unselfishlydisplayed by the mother of one ofthe Spinners. Simi- larly,in 1995,2 Pac raps:

WhenI was young,me andmy momma had beefs Seventeenyears old, kicked out on thestreets ... Back at thetime I neverthought I'd see a face Ain a womanalive that could take my momma's place ... I reminisceon thestress I caused/Itwas hellhuggin on mymomma from my jail cell ... /Oneday, runnin from thepo-lice, momma catch me, put a whuppinto my backside... ./Evenas a crackfiend, momma, you always was a Black Queen,momma/I finally understand for a womanit ain easytryin to raise a man/Youalways was committed/Apoor single mother on welfare-tellme how youdid it/There'sno wayI can payyou back, but my planis to showyou that I understand/Youare appreciated [Chorus]:Lady, don't you know we love you,sweet lady/ Place no one above you,sweet lady. (used by permission,Interscope Records)

One ofthe least understood communicative practices in AAL is themanipulation of EAL's semanticstructure. Often inappropri- ately dismissedas "Black slang,"this rhetoricalmaneuvering amountsto linguisticappropriation, what late linguist Grace Holt (1972) called"semantic inversion." Today hip-hoppers call itflip- pinthe script. It is a processwhereby AAL speakerstake words and conceptsfrom the EAL lexiconand either reverse their meanings or imposeentirely different meanings. In thehip-hop world, New Yorkand Los Angeles,gigantic sites of Black oppression, become "Zoo York"and "Los Scandalous."Semantic inversion/flippin the scriptwas an actof linguistic empowerment as Africans in America took an alien tongueand made it theirs;simultaneously, they createda communicationsystem that became linguistically unin- telligibleto theoppressor, even though it was hislanguage. Giventhis origin as an antilanguage,when an AAL termcrosses overand gains linguistic currency in the EAL world,AAL speakers generatea newterm to take its place. Of course, many words in the scriptdo notcross over. For example, historically, MissAnn did not 18 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997 referto anywoman named "Ann" but, derogatorily, to the White mistressof theslave plantation.Today, the term still refers to the Whitewoman, and by extension,to anyBlack woman,who acts uppity,or "White."Historically, the Man was notany manbut, again,derogatorily, the White man. In the 1960s and 1970s,the termcame to be appliednot only to theWhite man but also to the policeman.Among hip-hoppers, this script has beenflipped again, as theMan has cometo meana personwith great power, knowledge,skill, and so forth.(This sense of the term is inthe process of crossingover.) Semanticinversion: in thehip-hop lexicon, to be downis to be "up forsomething," that is, enthusiasticand supportive,like Ice Cube whois "downfor whatever," and like Brandy who croons to herwould-be man: "I wannabe downwith you." Kam playswith semanticinversion when he raps "People make the worldgo round/Theyask me, What'sup?/I tell 'em what'sgoin down" ("TrustNobody," 1995, by DJ Battlecat and Kam, used by permission, ? 1994 by Famous Music Corporation,Vent Noir Music Publishing,and I-Slam Music). D-Knowledge[i.e., THEE Knowledge],a "spokenword artist," flipsthe script to createa textcontrasting hip-hop/AAL meanings withthose from the EAL culturalcontext. The resultingsubtext symbolizeslinguistic resistance to thedominant culture's lexicon:

Like whena brotha'stalkin' 'bout a beautifulsistah An' he saysthat this sistah is phat But not"fat" like overweight or obese 'Cuz thissistah's fresh An' notfresh like she's got attitude or fresh like she'sinexperienced 'Cuz thisgirl's tight But nottight like uptight or stiff 'Cuz thisgirl's dope An' notdope like the stuff some of us smoke 'Cuz thisgirl's fine But notfine like "just awright" or finelike "that'll do" . . . 'Cuz thishoney's the shit An' notand not like the real, stanky shit Smiitherman/COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES 19

'Cuz thishoney's fly Butnot like the buzz, buzz flyin'fly that hangs around theshit ... ("All ThatAnd A Bag ofWords," D-Knowledge/Derrick I. M. Gilbert[9/28/93; recorded, 1995], wordsby D-Knowledge, music by Mark Shelby,? 1995 D-KnowledgeMusic/Chrysalis Songs/MarkShelby Music. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission)

The inversion/scriptflippin that has takenplace with"nigger" is oftenmisunderstood by European Americans and castigated by someAfrican Americans. When used byAAL speakers,"nigger" has a differentpronunciation, because of AAL's postvocalic-r deletionrule, and in today'ship-hop world, a differentspelling: nigga,and for the plural, niggaz. In AAL, theterm has a varietyof positivemeanings. Your best friend, your homey, is yournigga; so, 2 Pac dedicateda rap to his "homiez,"titled "Strictly for My Niggaz."Black womenuse niggato referto theirboyfriends and lovers;so, femalerapper Yo Yo celebratesthe fact that she has a "down-assnigga on myteam" in "theBonnie and Clyde Theme" duetshe recorded with Ice Cube.Further, even the negative meaning of "nigger"has a differentnuance from the racial epithet of WhiteAmericans in thatthe genetic/racial/bloodline association doesnot apply. Rather, in AAL, negative "nigger" refers to negative social behavior,and thus, anybody-including White folk!-who is "actingout" may be called"nigger." Encodedwithin the rhetoric of racial resistance, nigga is usedto demarcate(Black) culturallyrooted from (White) culturally as- similatedAfrican Americans. Niggaz are thoseBloods (Blacks) whoare down for Blackness and identify with the trials as well as thetriumphs of theBlack experiencein theU.S.G. N.W.A.provides: "EFIL4ZAGGIN" [NIGGAZ 4 LIFE representedback- ward],title of their1991 album,a reaffirmationof cultural pride andlife in thehood. In yetanother flippin of thenigga script, rap groupArrested Developmentplays on thenegative meaning of nigga,that is, the negativemeaning in AAL, to illustratethe differencebetween Black,Nigga, and African.In their1992 hit,"People Everyday," theyuse "Black" as a genericracial term to referto anybodyof 20 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997

Africandescent. "Nigga" refersto thenegative antisocial behavior of a Black person who lacks a sense of kinshipand brotherhood. "African"is the positive "Black" person,who doesn't "act out," and who practiceslove, brotherhood,and respectfor other Blacks.

I was pleased,my day was goinggreat, and my soul was at ease/Untila group of Brothas started buggin out,drinking the 40 oz., goingthe nigga route, dis- respectingmy Black Queen, holdin their crotches and beinobscene/At first I ignored'em cause,see, I knowthe type/They got drunk, they got guns, and they wantto fight/Andthey see a youngcouple havin a time that'sgood, their egos wantto testa Brotha'sman- hood/Istayed calm and prayed the niggas please leave me be/Butthey squeezed a partof my date's anatomy ... I toldthe niggas please let us pass/Isaid, please, cause I don'tlike killin Africans/But he wouldn'tstop And ... I was madby then/It took three or four cops to pullme offof him/That's the story, yall, of a Black manactin like a niggaget stomped by an African.... The moralof the story is thatyou better look very hard at whoyou steppin to/You might get killed or shot at, and it'snot worth it. Africans supposed to be lovinone another.(used by permission, Speech/Arrested Development)

CONCLUSION

The communicativepractices of the Hip Hop Nationare firmly rootedin the AfricanAmerican speech community.Hip-hop's rappersare both in and of this community, sounding the clarion call, arousingthe dead citizens of America [those lacking in conscious- ness],showcasing the culture of theU.S.G. and representingthe case ofAmerica's still dispossessed slave descendants. Chuck D., ofPublic Enemy, summed itup this way: "Rap music is Blackfolks' CNN" (quotedin Chambers& Morgan,1992, p. 83). Smiitherman/COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES 21

Rappingabout their pain and theviolence they live withhas rescuedseveral rappers from "thug life" and given them legitimate, productivecareers-such as Ice Cube and Ice-T, both former Californiagang members,and NotoriousB.I.G., formerdrug dealer.In fact,it is no secretthat the culture of hip-hop has created a multi-billion-dollarindustry. What is a secret,however, is thatthe bigpaper [lots of money] in this multi-billion-dollar industry goes tobig business. For instance, out of every album, CD, ortape sold, theartist gets only 5.7%, the songwriter, only 3%, butthe recording companygets 43.4%, andthe record store, 31.7% (Vibe,1995). In theabsence of a nationalmovement to providea cohesive politicalframework, such as thatwhich emerged during the 1960s- 1970s,the Hip Hop Nationgrapples with contradictions itlacks the politicalexperience to resolve.Moreover, there is littlehelp from theirelders, as fewof theseAfrican Americans, those who have "madeit," are offering guidance to rappers.Legendary singer and entertainmentartist Stevie Wonder (1995) addressedthis void when he was askedto commenton rapmusic:

I learnfrom rap.... Listenhard, and you'll hear the pain.Without feeling the pain yourself, you'll neverunderstand. And what we don'tunderstand, we can'tchange, can't heal. I hateit when the very folkswho should be listeningto rapare attacking it so hardthey miss the point. The pointis thatchildren andthe neighborhoods-the whole country ... is drowning in violence.

TheHip Hop Nation employs African American communicative traditionsand discursive practices to convey the Black struggle for survivalin theface of America's abandonment of the descendants ofenslaved Africans. The rapmusic of the Hip Hop Nationsimul- taneouslyreflects the cultural evolution of the Black oral tradition and the constructionof a contemporaryresistance rhetoric. Of course,one mightbe movedto reflecton Maya Angelou's(1981, p. 22) words:"My people had used musicto sootheslavery's tormentor to propitiateGod, or to describethe sweetness of love 22 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /SEPTEMBER 1997 andthe distress of lovelessness, but I knewno racecould sing and danceits way to freedom."Nonetheless, the rap artists of hip-hop appear to have heededpoet MargaretWalker's admonition to "speakthe truth to the people," and they are doing it in a language thatthe people know and understand. As a womanistactivist from backin the day, I applaudthe Hip Hop Nationfor seeking to disturb thepeace lestthe chain remain the same.

NOTES

1. FromNaughty By Nature.(1995). Chainsremain. Poverty's Paradise. Tommy Boy Records. 2. Although"Rapper's Delight" was thefirst big rap hit, selling over 2 millioncopies in theUnited States (Rose, 1994,p. 196),it was notthe first rap record. That "first' occurred earlierin 1979: "King Tim III (The PersonalityJock)," recorded by the FatbackBand (George,1992, p. 16). 3. Theirname derives from a centraltenet of the Five PercentNation. The peoplewho areall wiseand know who the true living God is areonly 5% ofthe population. This 5% are calledthe "poor righteous teachers." The PoorRighteous Teachers rap group comes from a ghettoproject in Trenton,New Jersey,dubbed "Divineland" (Ahearn, 1991).

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GenevaSmitherman (aka "Dr.G. "), Ph.D.,is an internationallyrecognized author- ityon Ebonics who has beenat theforefront ofthe strugglefor Black language rights for morethan 20 years. Currently,she is UniversityDistinguished Professor of Englishand Directorof the African American Language and LiteracyProgram at MichiganState University. From 1977to 1979, she was thechief advocate and expert witnessfor the children in King(the "BlackEnglish"federal court case). She is the authorofeightbooksand more than 100articlesandpapers on the language, culture, and educationof AfricanAmericans, most notably the classic work,Talkin and Testifyin:The Languageof Black America(1977, revised1986), and Black Talk: Wordsand Phrases From the Hood to the Amen Comer (1994). A pioneer in the Black Studiesmovement and an educationalactivist, she is thedaughter of ruralshare- croppers,with roots in thetraditional Black Church.