Gazing the hood: Hip-Hop as tourism attraction (original) (raw)
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Swag' and 'Cred': Representing Hip-Hop in the African City
The Journal of Pan-African Studies, 2013
From its urban roots in 1970s and 80s America, hip- hop has grown exponentially through the processes encapsulated by transculturation (Morgan and Bennet, 2011), where cultural exchange is not just a hegemonic flow from the West to the g lobal South, but an interchange and exchange that is complex and layered, the resultant effects being uniquely 'African' and at the same time 'global' in its self-expression and representation. The same can be said of the African (postcolonial) city, which according to Achille Mbe mbe, is first established as mimetic of the European city, which after a while acquires its own 'aura', a distinct characteristic that makes it truly 'African', even as it well maintains its colo nial roots. As an urban cultural expression, hiphop and the city are therefore copulatory, and hip- hop expression is itself a representation of the urban space. My paper examines the ways in which African hip-hop represents itself and the urban spa...
Aesthetic Alternative: Hip Hop as Living Art
2013
With over thirty-five years in the making, hip-hop has grown and developed into a global phenomenon. Despite its global expansion from the Bronx, New York, in the 1970s, the hip-hop arts confront criticism, both aesthetically and culturally. Repeatedly criticized as an art that glorifies misogyny, pimping, prostitution, objectification of women, crime, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination, scholars denounce the hip-hop arts as ignorant, offensive garbage, devoid of any aesthetics and culture. However, this is a limited, one-sided view of the hip-hop arts and culture. From local urban streets to global metropolitan stages, the hip-hop arts and culture continue to evolve many artistic and cultural traditions from across the globe, which are in opposition with the image of commercial, media-driven hip-hop. Through its commercial, mediadriven image, which rap music represents, hip-hop identifies with that which is unaesthetic and not cultural. The dissertation argues that the hip-hop arts, especially hiphop theatre, return to an aesthetic sensibility. Additionally, the hip-hop arts return to a somatic and sustainable sensibility to combat conditions of crisis in culture. Beginning in aesthetic philosophy, and moving forward with aesthetic spirituality and psychology, and cultural studies and criticism, the study applies a hermeneutic and creative/artistic method. In the theoretical component, the study describes several bodies of literature: (1) aesthetics, (2) cultural studies, and (3) criticism. The amplification of the hip-hop arts iii perspective in these bodies: aesthetics, cultural studies, and criticism, identifies the hiphop arts as a platform for change. In amplifying the hip-hop perspective, the hip-hop arts maintain an artistic function and a cultural function grounded in the etymology of hiphop: movement in the know, in the now. Movement in the know, in the now serves as a vital function for artistic and cultural expression. The theoretical component concludes that tending to hip-hop may serve the future as an alternative perspective across the globe. The study closes with a production component that calls for hip-hop literature as an alternative mode of criticism that imagines an aesthetic culture and cosmos. iv Without his motivation, often understated and unspoken, there are no subsequent pages. Dr. William Boone, committee member, challenges perspectives and reflections and has an effect on commentary, especially explanation of the hip-hop arts and culture. The insight of Dr. Linney Wix, committee member, also influences commentary, in particular, spiritual and psychological aesthetics. Although distant geographically, the solidarity of John Marboe and Diane Coffey, who are both classmates and friends, tend to, accommodate and nurture musings as well as lived experience. v
Backpackers and Gangstas: Chicago’s White Rappers Strive For Authenticity
This project contains an ethnographic and interview-based study of White rappers in Chicago. The research was fueled by a single question: How do White rappers create and maintain authenticity when they are clearly inauthentic by the standards of hip-hop? Though the term authenticity is used often in sociology and other literatures, the author seeks to unpack this mechanism in search of the specific social processes at work. The author begins with a brief account of his methods and then moves to a literature review that includes a broad study of culture and identity; an ethnographic account of White rappers in the United Kingdom; studies of authenticity in the country, punk, blues, and rap music scenes; and an examination of linguistic and rhetorical devices used by rappers. The body of the article explores several aspects of culture: how the rappers in the study learned how to rap, an examination of two cultural objects (live performance and recorded music), and an exploration of two broad categories of rappers, described as backpackers and gangstas. Throughout the article, the author focuses on areas where the current literature does not match up with his own research in hopes of nudging these theories in new directions.
Hip-Hop Culture in a Global Context: Interdisciplinary and Cross-Categorical Investigation
American Behavioral Scientist, 2011
Hip-hop permeates modern global society, and yet, there remains remain various divisions within it. Following up on an interdisciplinary academic conference, the Lehman Conference on Hip-Hop, this special issue highlights a number of aspects in hip-hop's development, and looks toward an ever increasing globalization of what was, initially, a neighborhood based cultural practice. The authors assembled here examine hip-hop within such contexts as social protest, entertainment, and identity formation, and also as a response to dominant structures, such as race, gender inequality, and capitalism. Their investigations consider hip-hop's roots and branches, and its connections to politics, culture and consumption. This special issue also focuses, in detail, at some of hip-hop's many practices, raising questions about its use for expressing the thorny topics of race, class, national identity, gender and sexuality. But the overall theme is one, which was expressed in the conference's initial theme: from local to global practice. It is this process, in particular, which we are attempting to better understand. We are also particularly concerned to explore ways marginal groups within hip-hop and the larger society, like LGBTQ communities (especially of color) and women of color also use hip-hop as a form of protest to critique social ills.
Revista da ALESDE, 2011
Recent scholarly analysis of hip hop's global popularity has focused on its role in defining and expressing particular forms of identity. However, coinciding with this interest are concerns from both scholars and policy makers about particular aspects of some hip hop which has been described as being: "materialistic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, vulgar and violent" (Chang, 2007: 58). Consequently, public views influenced by the media and politicians have raised concerns and even directed blame at hip hop for social problems such as gangs, negative attitudes towards women and violent crime. Thus we have a globally popular form of physical culture that may be a key part of contemporary youth identity and lifestyles; but which has also been labelled as not only a menace, but a potential threat to society. Rarely are the positives of hip hop recognised, particularly those within youth education programs. This study examines how global/American hip hop culture has manifested itself within New Zealand youth culture, including how it influences appearance, behaviour, physical activity, sport, fashion, consumption and education. The overall research question focuses on how New Zealand youth define, consume and make sense of hip hop culture?
The Global Hip-Hop Diaspora: Understanding the Culture
Journal of Business Research, 2008
From New York to Paris, Tokyo and Sydney, hip-hop culture is a Diaspora transcending ethnic, linguistic, and geographic boundaries. As Osumare [Osumare H. Beat streets in the global hood: connective marginalities of the hip-hop globe. Journal of American and Comparative Cultures 2001; 2 (Spring/Summer): 171–181.] indicates,“Global hip-hop youth culture has become a phenomenon in the truest sense of the word and has affected nearly every country on the map (171).” We extend our knowledge of the worldwide diffusion of ...
Tracing the Roots of Trip Hop: How One City’s History Influenced a Global Genre
Trip Hop exploded onto the popular music scene in the early 1990s, its unique blend of hip hop, reggae, funk and soul conquering the airwaves of England before attaining worldwide popularity. Before becoming a global phenomenon trip hop was born and developed in the underground music scene of Bristol, England, crafted by artists such as Smith and Mighty, Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky, and the city itself has played a part in shaping the music it produces. Two seminal events in Bristol’s history have helped to define trip hop music, contributing to its development in three important areas. Bristol was a leading port in the international slave trade and the city has an equivocal relationship with its own history, a city with a proud sense of its own identity that also struggles with its nefarious heritage. This cultural uneasiness nurtures a dark undercurrent that is outputted through the city’s music and art, creating a melancholy sound that reflects the locality’s discomfort. Bristol also experienced mass waves of post-war migration from the Caribbean, an event that impacted the future of the city’s music in two distinct ways. The black and Caribbean populations, established during the trading years, grew exponentially in number and migrants from Jamaica brought reggae music with them where it was disseminated into the wider community. These communities also provided a point of access for the invasion of American hip hop in the 1980s, which, together with reggae, would play an integral part in developing the Bristol sound. Many children born to black and island migrants were forced to deal with issues of identity, what it meant to be black and British. This struggle has been played out in the creation of trip hop music as artists attempt to pay homage to the American originators while still developing their own brand of British hip hop music that speaks to their own cultural identity.
Toward a Critical Analysis of Tourism Representations
Annals of Tourism Research, 1994
This paper advances a “critical analysis of tourism representations” through examination of photographic postcards of African Americans from the South during the period 1893 to 1917. Analysis of these photographic images reveals that specific iconographic strategies were employed by postcard photographers to culturally inscribe black bodies with “Otherness”. Analysis of the postcard senders' messages reveals that these texts were often interpreted by tourists as interchangeable images of the mythic Old South or as attempts at humor. These images positioned black subjects in a racist regime of representation that constructed subjectivities for those depicted and identities for their viewers.