Blogs
Hip Hop and Cultural Imperialism
Loading ...Impressions from the 5th Annual Trinity Hip Hop Festival
The timing and location of the Trinity International Hip Hop Festival feels quite appropriate as we see this new surge in attention to immigration reform and the question of human legality, rights, and sovereignty. Plus, its only two hours from New York City, the birthplace of Hip Hop, a city infamous for it’s internationality. It is no coincidence that this legacy of internationalism exists: Ellis Island, Chinatown, Little Italy, Boricuas, and so on, have contributed to Hip Hop culture. Even so, I thought “Hartford of all places?” It is this duality of assumed acceptance and a sense of being out-of-place that has come up again and again throughout the two-day festival.
This dual force constantly challenged me as I witnessed the performances, panel dissuasions, and film screenings. This feeling resonates strongly with me as a light-skinned, Latino, first-generation U.S. born Hip Hop head, being one with the culture of Hip Hop and simultaneously out of place with themes such as the afrocentricity of the early 90’s, the gangsta-ism and West Coast approach of the late 90’s, the southern culture of the 2000’s, and now internationalism in a U.S cultural product.
What struck me most in the performances was how the artists were getting Hip Hop right, in the way I imagined my beloved culture to be but somehow lost. For instance, Palestinian group DAM’s showmanship was incredible, carrying on the raucous of a Beastie Boys concert, busting out huge Arab/English flashcards as they performed on stage. Wageble did classic Double-Trouble / Run-DMC, with two MC’s tossing bars back and forth. And the ReadNex Poetry Squad drew from Gil-Scott Heron’s spoken word. These groups also brought in the new by using samples from their home countries, waving flags, rapping in multiple languages. This marking of geography is no different to me than regional Hip Hop like Houston chopped n’ screwed, Bay area Hyphy, West Coast G-Funk, and so on. Seeing these elements come together and rock the crowd of international and U.S. Hip Hop heads was amazing. Quite sad that these are the elements I miss most from Hip Hop, which very exist, buried under a pile of blogs, MP3 files, and message boards. It took people from Pakistan, Senegal, Brazil, China and Chile to remind me of the Hip Hop of years past.
And it’s this discrepancy that brings me to my biggest question, what does Hip Hop mean internationally? A respo
nse I heard constantly was that Hip Hop was a ‘bringing it back’ by artists from developing and oppressed nations that felt the heavy hand of Western imperialism. Using their languages and samples from their home was a way of reappropriating, putting their own mark on the culture. A lot of artists claimed Hip Hop was ‘pure’, the rebel music for this generation. This sounds no different than U.S. underground artists who feel an urge to ‘maintain the elements’ of original Hip Hop, disillusioned by the way Hip Hop has gone, the whole “Hip Hop is Dead” argument.
There was something not complete in these arguments, realities not included. Foremost, Hip Hop is a U.S. cultural product. And, the U.S. has prided itself on spreading its culture to the rest of the world. From Nike, McDonalds, Levi’s Jeans, and Rock, we can now take pride that “Hip Hop is a global phenomenon” How is this any different from other cultural products this nation has exported? How is Hip Hop not connected to the historical legacy of cultural imperialism of Western values? Has the ease of Hip Hop spreading around the world not benefited from this past? Hip Hop was poor people’s music. It is now a huge industry. This is not new, as Jazz was spread around the world during WWII and James Brown headlined the “Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974. With the rise of other music such as Brazil’s Baile Funk, UK’s Grime, and Angola’s Kuduro, the world has been able to make their own soundsystem musics, putting Hip Hop in a more U.S. lens than ever before. This discrepancy was brought out quite openly during one panel: “Social Moves: Social Change through Hip Hop”. The moderator, Dr. Vijay Prashad, Professor of South Asian History and International Studies, explicitly questioned the role of Hip Hop as a function of cultural imperialism and critic. Unfortunately, this charge was pretty much avoided by the panel of MCs, producers, and promoters.
Today is a new day, and it is important to see Hip Hop for what it is. One of the greatest features of the genre is its ability to contain the contradictions of humanity. We want to party, we want to go hard, we want to be conscious, we want to outwit the next person, we want to share our story. In classic Hip Hop, all these elements can be found in one track, one verse, or one line. That’s why we love Biggie and Tupac. That’s why we love Hip Hop. Lets own these contradictions. Hip Hop is an adult now, and we should hold that responsibility. And it is that realization of your privilege and struggle that makes this music great.
Hugo grew up on Yo MTV Raps, cassette tapes, and pupusas. A b-boy at heart, he discovered electronic music and dub reggae and has been exploring the intersections of all styles of beat, bass, and DJ music since. By day, he serves as an advocate for underrepresented intellects and leaders in higher education. These explorations can be read and downloaded from his blog, Chronicles of the American Pupusa (www.americanpupusa.blogspot.com). His own music can be heard at www.mysppace.com/illselection. An American from El Salvador and Guatemala, he lives in Washington DC.
You might also like
|
|
|
|
|
