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A Hip Hop-Ological Study

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A Hip Hop-Ological Study Cultural Democracy: A Hip Hop-ological Study Sarah Leigh Little Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Performance and Cultural Industries July 2019 This work was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/L503848/1) through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities - 2 - The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his/her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Sarah Leigh Little to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2019 The University of Leeds and Sarah Leigh Little - 3 - Acknowledgements A huge thank you to my supervisors Alice and Leila for being there to help me every step of the way, for your patience, and for maintaining confidence in my ability to do this. It has meant the world to me. Thank you to the WRoCAH team for making this possible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to my family, to Idris, mum and dad for their unwavering moral, mental, practical (and baby-sitting related) support and love. I could not have done this without you. Thank you to all the scholars and artists who have contributed to this research, for sharing their thoughts, ideas and materials with me and for their invaluable feedback on hearing mine. A special acknowledgement to Anna Upchurch who was part of my original supervisory team. Your teaching helped to inspire this project, your support and belief in my abilities has helped me throughout my academic studies. You continue to be dearly missed. Rest in Power. Finally, I would like to thank little Leila (Pookie) – my world – for forcing my priorities to stay right. - 4 - Glossary A Hip Hop state of mind – to approach all aspects of life with a Hip Hop sensibility (see also Hip Hop consciousness) Architect(s) – a term used to refer to individuals who played a significant role in the inception and early development of Hip Hop culture. The phrase ‘respect the architect’ means to respect the original creators of Hip Hop culture. Bars – rap lyrics Battle – a competitive rap contest where two opponents deliver rap bars in turn aiming to out-wit, humiliate, and out-perform their opponent B-Boy/B-Girl – a breakdancer Boom Bap - a style of hip hop music signified by a hard bass drum and snapping snare, usually c.80-90 beats per minute tempo, first came to popularity in the 1990s Cipher – rap equivalent of a ‘jamming session’ in which an informal gathering of rappers take it in turns to rap. It can either be a cappella, accompanied to music or with a beatboxer. Lyrics can either be freestyled or pre-written verses (Speers 2014). Crew – an assemblage of people in a rap group or other element of Hip Hop culture (e.g. Graffiti crew). Drill – a type of music and culture descended from Hip Hop, originally emerged in Chicago, but more recently a London based iteration has emerged. Usually includes rapping containing dark or violent lyrics. Fast tempo trap influenced beats. Elements – the group of interrelating practices and values that are commonly termed to constitute Hip Hop culture. The number and composition of the elements are contested, however most commonly they are referred to as DJing, MCing, - 5 - Breakdancing (B-Boying), and Graffiti. Knowledge is often positioned as a fifth overarching element. Flow – The specific way a rapper delivers their rhymes, including intonation, tempo, style and cadence Freestyle – when a rapper delivers lyrics that are spontaneous and have not been pre- written Freeze – a type of breakdance move Getting up – to describe the process of a Graffiti writer or artist developing their reputation by executing acts of writing Graffiti Grime – a musical style (and culture) descended from Hip Hop, which first developed in London, UK in the 2000s. A faster tempo than Hip Hop (c.140 beats per minute), usually includes rap, draws in elements of speed garage Handstyle – a term used to denote the unique writing style of a Graffiti artist. Head/Hip Hop Head – someone who identifies as a knowledgeable lover of Hip Hop music and culture Hip Hop consciousness – to approach something with a Hip Hop sensibility (see also Hip Hop state of mind) Hip Hop Generation – the generation of people who have grown up during the time since Hip Hop first emerged in the 1970s. Hip Hop Nation – a collective term encompasssing all the local Hip Hop scenes in countries across the world. - 6 - Knowledge – to mean the ‘5th’ element of Hip Hop culture, to mean knowledge of the self and a focus on self education and conscientisation (originally posited by Afrika Bambaata of the Universal Zulu Nation) ‘mersh – slang term to refer to commercial rap music Mic – microphone Mic Snatching – the act of taking the mic from a fellow MC or rapper on stage without invitation (usually a mild act of disrespect to demonstrate that the previous rapper’s skills were lacking or that they were failing to engage the audience) Old Skool – refers to hip hop made between the period of the 1970s to 1980s Overstanding – to mean the ‘6th’ element of Hip Hop culture, to mean not just an understanding of the world around oneself, but also a contextual understanding of the reasons why things are as they are (originally posited by Afrika Bambaata of the Universal Zulu Nation) Pioneer generation/Pioneers – the generation of individuals engaged in the production of Hip Hop culture from the point of its emergence (1970s) Second Wave/Third Wave Generations – to refer to the generations of individuals engaged in Hip Hop culture following the pioneer generation (1980s onwards). Socially conscious rap – rap that contains an explicit social or political message (sometimes referred to as message rap or conscious rap) Throw-up – a term used to describe Graffiti drawings or tags designed for speedy execution Top Rock – a type of breakdance move - 7 - Underground – a contested term, but generally used to refer to Hip Hop that is produced and consumed outside of the dominant commercial infrastructure - 8 - Abstract This research explores how the conditions for cultural democracy may be encouraged through Hip Hop as a critically engaged, creative practice. It focuses on the spaces where cultural democracy may be encouraged within the context of Hip Hop as a form of organic, grassroots cultural engagement, as a commercial endeavour, and, specifically, as an externally commissioned, socially engaged arts practice. Hip Hop studies theory, cultural advocacy ideology theory and accounts from Hip Hop artists working in communities are brought into multilogue to investigate what is happening to Hip Hop when it is transposed into these contexts and what its resulting relationship is to notions of empowerment, agency and cultural freedom. This thesis provides a UK based Hip Hop perspective on the growing academic discourse around cultural democracy, and begins a critical academic discussion on the subject of Hip Hop as ‘community arts work’ in the UK. This thesis argues that spaces within Hip Hop as externally commissioned, socially engaged practice do exist for encouraging the conditions for cultural democracy. It is also suggested that there is a current deficit within Hip Hop ‘community arts’ in the UK where practitioners are forced to negotiate the parameters of their practice within very thin boundaries that are challenged by the systemic and institutional conditions that surround their work. At times this constriction can result in a diminution of the very things that are originally claimed to make Hip Hop a suitable vehicle for social and critical engagement in the first place. Whilst a Hip Hop consciousness often permeates the work that practitioners undertake in this context there is space for its application as a methodology to be made more explicit, for artists to engage in a greater degree of self-reflexivity to fortify the approach they take to their work in order to work towards an enhanced methodological conceptualisation and to further explore the scope of Hip Hop’s conceptual tactical ‘tools’ to create space for encouraging agency and critical engagement. - 9 - Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ 3 Glossary ........................................................................................................ 4 Abstract ......................................................................................................... 8 Table of Contents ........................................................................................... 9 List of Figures .............................................................................................. 11 1. Introduction ........................................................................................ 12 2. Literature Review ................................................................................ 18 2.1 Introduction ..............................................................................................18 2.2 The origins of cultural democracy ...............................................................21 2.3 Cultural democracy today ..........................................................................39 2.4 Cultural democracy and Hip
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