Running Head: Message of the Beat 1 MESSAGE OF THE BEAT: Portrayals of African Americans in Three Political Rap Music Videos A Senior Seminar Paper Presented to Faculty of the Department of English School of Arts & Humanities Ferrum College Ferrum, VA In Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts by Kathleen Corey Boxley 2018 Running Head: Message of the Beat 2 APPROVAL SHEET This senior seminar paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts ______________________________________________ Author (Full Name) Approved, December 2018 ______________________________________________ Lana A. Whited, Ph.D., Senior Seminar Professor ______________________________________________ Allison Harl, Ph.D., English Program Coordinator ______________________________________________ John Kitterman, Ph.D., Professor of English ______________________________________________ Mingxiao Sui, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Media & Communication Running Head: Message of the Beat 3 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The author of this senior seminar paper hereby gives consent to the English Department, School of Arts & Humanities, of Ferrum College to reproduce this whole document in whole or part for educational or publicity purposes. This permission extends to both print and electronic publications. __________________________________________ Author (Full Name) __________________________________________ Date Running Head: Message of the Beat 4 Message of the Beat: Portrayals of African Americans in Three Political Rap Music Videos Kathleen Corey Boxley Ferrum College Running Head: Message of the Beat 5 Acknowledgements Firstly, I’d like to thank my parents. Without their love, support, and at times necessary firm hand, I would not be where I am today. I know that I can be very stubborn and determined to do everything on my own. You’ve always stood by with open arms, ready to be there when I need you. Thank you, so much, for everything you’ve ever done for me. I hope that I can make you proud to call me your daughter. I’d like to thank Dr. Karl Roeper for always giving me a hard time in jest and asking how my paper is coming along. You’ve been a huge part of my college career and a fantastic mentor. You’ve taught me so much. Thank you for all your dedication to the Media Communication program. I’d like to thank Dr. Lana Whited for teaching this Senior Seminar class. But more specifically for giving me feedback, articles, and being there when I had a billion questions. Thank you for your dedication to Micaela and I. Your honesty and support has helped us both get through this thesis paper. I’d like to thank my committee members: Dr. Harl, Dr. Kitterman, and Dr. Sui for all of your honest feedback, correcting my endless drafts of thesis papers, and having open office doors when I needed advice. Thank you, so much, for your time and dedication in helping me write this thesis paper. I’d like to thank my roommate Alexis Toliver for having Game of Thrones constantly playing in the background when I wrote. Also for making me coffee, giving me hugs, and lending me an ear when I needed to vent about how stressed I was. I’d like to thank all of my sisters in Delta Phi Epsilon for encouraging me, pushing me to never give up even when I really wanted to, and always keeping me on my toes. Without each and every one of you, I don’t know where I’d be right now. I hope that I can become a woman you’re all proud to call “sister.” Running Head: Message of the Beat 6 I’d like to thank my little Madison Harris for listening to me when I’m raging about having to do more research for Senior Seminar, riding around campus with me for late night talks, and just being there when I need a hug. I love you so much. I hope I can be someone you really look up to someday. Lastly, I’d like to thank my boyfriend Will Philips. Thank you. I’d really be lost with you sometimes. Thank you for many, many late night phone calls, huge hugs when I was too stressed to function, and being patient with me when I complain for an hour about something really dumb. I truly love you. Here’s to having some stellar careers after we’ve both graduated. Running Head: Message of the Beat 7 Abstract This content analysis looks at how African Americans are portrayed in three political rap music videos. The music videos were observed for three specific variables: issues, values, and images. The specific issues that were documented were police brutality, racism, poverty, and gang violence. The specific values that were documented were whether or not the rapper brags about his or her wealth, whether or not the rapper explicitly tells the audience to practice humility, whether or not the rapper expresses the importance of cultural appreciation, and whether or not the rapper expresses the importance of having a natural physical appearance. The specific images documented were positive portrayals of African Americans and negative portrayals of African Americans. The results of this content analysis were calculated by repeatedly watching each political rap music video. A coding sheet was used when documenting any instance of issues, values, or images that occurred in the music video. The assumption that African Americans are likely depicted in a positive way, such that the music video primarily pushes the importance of good values like appreciation for natural appearance, cultural appreciation, socio-economic status, and humility, was found to be true. The assumption that African Americans are likely depicted in a positive way, such that the music video primarily focuses on African Americans’ positive images than negative images, was found to be false. The assumption that African Americans are likely linked to politically “black” issues, such that the musical video primarily relates African Americans to historically black issues i.e. police brutality, racism, gang violence, and poverty, was found to be true. Running Head: Message of the Beat 8 Introduction Three-fourths of the way through the music video of “Humble,” Kendrick Lamar, wearing white, stands among a group of African-American men clothed in black. The scene is set with the group of men standing on a rather large set of stairs. At first, there isn’t really anything special about the scene other than Kendrick’s difference in clothing – but then we get a closer look. The men surrounding Lamar are dressed as though from the 1950’s Civil Rights Movement – perhaps a tribute to African-American history and how far our nation has come. Kendrick, in the dead center of the group, repeats the lines, “Bitch, sit down. Be humble. Sit down.” As the scene progresses, the men begin to move forward down the stairs and out of the scene. Kendrick remains right where he is, waiting. Time moves forward as if signifying a movement on toward the future as the final tune of the song is played. Finally, Lamar begins to walk down the stairs alone following in the footsteps of those who left before him. Most music videos start and end with something that grabs our attention and occasionally makes us think. They are embedded with messages, sometimes blatant and sometimes hidden. These messages, regardless of how they are conveyed, are always presented with purpose. They are intricate and detailed. The underlying messages of “Humble,” “Formation,” and “Warzone” are each intricate. Within each of these intricacies, there are messages waiting to be uncovered. The present study, therefore, explores the following research questions: what specific issues are portrayed in modern political rap music videos? What are the values promoted in modern political rap music videos? How do political rap music videos portray African-Americans? The assumptions of this thesis are that African-Americans are generally portrayed in a positive manner within modern rap music videos, that rap music is used to promote specific political and social issues such as police brutality, racism, gang violence, and poverty, and finally that rap artists push the importance of Running Head: Message of the Beat 9 certain values such as appreciation for natural appearance, cultural appreciation, socio- economic status, and humility within their music. The Beginning of Political Rap Music When people think about modern rap music, most generally don’t think about political and social framing. They think about high fashion, attractive women, flashy cars, and occasionally booze. At least, this is usually the case. However, within the political rap genre, lyrics and visuals provoke the audience to think deeper about the message in the beat. The words, plus the visuals, have a deep effect on the viewer. Lakeyta Bonnette (2015), Associate Professor at Georgia State University, states in her book tilted Pulse of the People: Political rap, a subgenre of the larger rap genre, follows the model of uniting African Americans through music by discussing issues relevant to the Black community and providing information about injustices the community members face (p. 8). From its beginning, political rap was not inherently “political” by nature. But regardless of original intent, the influence of political rap music spread throughout the world. Bonnette (2015) states, “Many cultures and nations utilize rap songs as a means of resistance, motivation, information and entertainment for marginalized movements and groups” (p. 114). The start of political rap began in the 1970s and was mostly about “the message.” The first instances of social and political problems, police brutality and gang violence, are brought up by artists in rap music. They use their lyrics as “the message” to begin creating awareness in society. By the 1980s political rap music was swiftly becoming hard-core in the form of “gangsta rap.” Michael Dyson (1993), author of The Culture of Hip Hop, states, As it evolved, rap began to describe and analyze Running Head: Message of the Beat 10 the social, economic, and political factors that led to its emergence and development: drug addiction, police brutality, teen pregnancy, and various forms of material deprivation (p.