Painting by Danny O’Connor HIP HOP MATTERS THE SOCIOPOLITICAL MESSAGE OF HIP HOP MUSIC IN THE #BLACKLIVESMATTER ERA Lotte Scharn 4571894 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Frank Mehring BA American Studies 2018-2019 Scharn 4571894 – 2 COVER SHEET ENGELSE TAAL EN CULTUUR Teacher who will receive this document: F. Mehring Title of document: Hip Hop Matters – The Sociopolitical Message of Hip Hop Music in the #BlackLivesMatter Era Name of course: BA thesis Date of submission: June 15, 2018 The work submitted here is the sole responsibility of the undersigned, who has neither committed plagiarism nor colluded in its production. Signed, Name of student: Lotte Scharn Student number: s4571894 Scharn 4571894 – 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Scharn 4571894 – 4 ABSTRACT This research project aims to discover the sociopolitical message of hip hop music from 2013 to today: hip hop of the ‘#BlackLivesMatter Era’. The thesis argues that analyzing hip hop songs helps to reveal key issues in America’s sociopolitical environment. The aspects explored are (the history of) hip hop music as a protest genre, themes in hip hop music from the 1980s, and the #BlackLivesMatter Movement. Through finally analyzing case studies of Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole and connecting these analyses to #BlackLivesMatter rhetoric, this thesis concludes that the sociopolitical message of hip hop music in the #BlackLivesMatter Era is that black lives matter and that changing America’s racist society is necessary. Keywords: hip hop music, protest music, racism, #BlackLivesMatter Movement, N.W.A., Public Enemy, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole. Scharn 4571894 – 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page .................................................................................................................................... 1 Cover Sheet ................................................................................................................................ 2 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7 Research Question, Sub-questions, and Hypothesis .................................................. 7 Defining the Research Question ................................................................................ 9 Literature ................................................................................................................. 10 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 11 Chapter 1: The Intersection Between Hip Hop and Protest ..................................................... 13 1.1 Music and Protest ........................................................................................... 13 1.2 Hip Hop and Protest ....................................................................................... 14 1.3 N.W.A. and Public Enemy ............................................................................. 16 Chapter 2: The #BlackLivesMatter Movement ........................................................................ 21 2.1 Origin and Strategy ......................................................................................... 21 2.2 Rhetoric .......................................................................................................... 22 2.3 Political Results .............................................................................................. 24 Chapter 3: Themes in Hip Hop from the #BlackLivesMatter Era ........................................... 26 3.1 Kendrick Lamar ................................................................................................. 26 3.2 J. Cole ................................................................................................................ 31 Chapter 4: The Relation Between BLM and Contemporary Hip Hop ..................................... 35 4.1 Similarities ......................................................................................................... 35 4.2 Differences ......................................................................................................... 36 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 38 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 40 Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 43 Appendix 1: N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton (1988) ....................................................... 44 Appendix 2: Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988) ...... 78 Appendix 3: Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) .............................................. 103 Appendix 4: Kendrick Lamar – Alright Music Video (2015) ............................................. 150 Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 150 Images ............................................................................................................................. 152 Appendix 5: Kendrick Lamar – Grammy Awards Performance (2016) ............................. 157 Scharn 4571894 – 6 Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 157 Images ............................................................................................................................. 158 Appendix 6: J. Cole – 4 Your Eyez Only (2016) ................................................................ 161 Appendix 7: J. Cole – Be Free Performance (2014) ........................................................... 183 Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 183 Images ............................................................................................................................. 185 Appendix 8: J. Cole – Neighbors Music Video (2017)....................................................... 187 Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 187 Images ............................................................................................................................. 187 Scharn 4571894 – 7 INTRODUCTION “Being part of hip hop is being an activist.” - Killer Mike Rapper Before 2017, I had neither listened to hip hop music, nor had I ever really shown any interest in its history. A last-minute decision to buy $14 tickets to a Jay-Z concert during my study abroad in New Orleans, USA changed my prejudiced attitude. The concert was sold out and the majority of the attendees were African Americans. It felt quite uneasy to be at the venue: the other attendees made it obvious that I, a Caucasian female, was not really wanted there. Why? Because it was not my story that was being told through Jay-Z’s music, but that of the thousands of African Americans that had gathered there to listen to music made by and for them. Listening to the painful, yet empowering, lyrics and speeches uttered, and feeling the hopeful atmosphere right there at that moment gave me goose bumps. I found out hip hop was not just music with explicit lyrics: the artists were truly trying to proclaim a sociopolitical message. This racially tinted message piqued my interest: I was not aware that the racial conversation was a topic of such broad and current discussion in the United States, especially since racial differences do not seem to be as big a problem in my own country, the Netherlands. The message proclaimed in hip hop music thus seemed like a message worth unpacking. Now, less than a year later, this thesis is the result of the spontaneous decision to buy those $14 tickets. RESEARCH QUESTION, SUB-QUESTIONS, AND HYPOTHESIS Little to no research has been conducted on the political message hip hop has proclaimed over the last five years. The main purpose of the present research is therefore to discover the sociopolitical message of hip hop music from 2013 to today: hip hop of the ‘#BlackLivesMatter Era’. Studying contemporary hip hop music is interesting and important because the racial conversation is not only a topic of the past: it is also a topic of broad and current interest in the United States today. Police violence, racial profiling, and the #BlackLivesMatter Movement are all topics that are dealt with in the news on a daily basis. This thesis argues that analyzing recent hip hop songs will help reveal key issues in America’s sociopolitical environment. Scharn 4571894 – 8 The main question guiding this research is: What is the sociopolitical message of hip hop music in the #BlackLivesMatter Era? In order to be able to answer this question, this thesis focuses on four main topics: sociopolitical messages in hip hop music in the past (1980s), the #BlackLivesMatter Movement, the sociopolitical message of hip hop music of the #BlackLivesMatter Era (2013-2018), and the relation between the #BlackLivesMatter