#raceandclass

The Pequod as a Floating Nation: Melville’s Vision of America

Herman Melville’s portrayal of the Pequod in Moby-Dick serves as both a microcosm of American society and a critique of its contradictions. By gathering a racially and culturally diverse crew under a common purpose, the ship reflects the United States’ ideals of equality and democratic participation. However, as Louis Leiter notes, the Pequod’s strict hierarchy and exploitation of labor reveal how such ideals are undermined by systemic inequalities (Leiter 250).

Last night, it was suggested that I sit down and take a look at the "Versus Hip Hop on Trial debate." 

Found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3-7Y0xG89Q

Spoiler Alert -- I'm going to call out certain events and people that occur a midst this 2 hour debate. If you want to watch it in it's entirety, wait until you have two full hours to do that before reading this critique. Otherwise, I'll ruin it. Though skipping through the video and hearing a few points may give you enough of an idea of whats going on (but I HIGHLY recommend watching every second of this debate). 

"Hip hop does not enhance society. It degrades it."   Agree/disagree

I have to say...interesting issues were brought up within this debate, but probably only about 25% of them actually mattered and pertained to the statement above. People became so irate with the topics discussed and the manner in which they were discussed that they (Slaughterhouse) removed themselves from the debate completely. My only issue with Slaughterhouse's decision is that they claimed to have left the debate because they felt that they were having this debate with people for whom they never created their music in the first place. Granted, the fold who agree that hip-hop doesn't enhance society would never have a problem with the music if they just never listened to it, but to me it seemed like they have mroe social grievances than musical ones. But I'll get back to that...Slaughterhouse then said that the debate was absolutely demeaning; they thought that they were here to be heard out, but the opposing side wasn't mature enough to do that. So they left the debate. NNOO, brothers! It's a DEBATE! They aren't supposed to hear you out (so it doesn't FEEL like they want to - even though some of them may have). I think it would have been beneficial for Slaughterhouse to remain a part of the debate. I think they were right though, there were people on the other side of that panel who had been so disgusted with hip-hop now that they probably don't even give newer "talent" a chance (sometimes with great reason). In fact, before they even listen, they deem it garbage and then find it okay to say "hip-hop degrades society." That's a strong statement. And it encompasses more than just bad rappers.

You're telling me that the hip-hop culture that has allowed young black men and women to sing, produce, dance, spit, and create their way out of poverty (I guarantee you that the getting out of poverty part is an accident - genuine hip-hop artists would be creating what we create regardless of our surroundings and circumstances) is degrading? You're telling me that misogyny within hip-hop degrades the women in society more than the American society already does on it's own (hm, so it is possible)? You're telling me that even though SLAVES EVEN USED THE WORD NIGGA, hip-hop is to blame for the dichotomy of the word. You're telling me that for as long as there has been a separation between race and class, hip-hop is to blame for maintaining that gap? It sounds to me like SOCIETY DEGRADES PEOPLE IN HIP-HOP (I think my man krs-one makes this point at some point in the video). Granted, hip-hop may be the largest weapon in terms of perpetuating these ideas that women are bitches, people you love are your niggas, and jail or death is a rite of passage for young black men before 25. BUT this was already happening. Society creates these social imbalances and then when they need someone to blame, when they need to set up a debate, they pick on hip-hop. I've always hated how when white people do something in America, it's American. Asian people, hispanic people, other indigenous folks do something specific within their culture in society, and it's "cultural," but when NIGGAS do it, it's "degrading," "insulting," "sad," "ghetto (the adjective form - that apparently does exist lol)" etc. Why wasn't there just a debate on misogyny? A debate on the word nigga? A debate on young black men and their position in society? Each of these issues deserved it's own two hour debate and quite honestly, lumping it all together into one debate about HIP HOP ALONE easily makes hip-hop look that much worse than it really is.

But one thing I've always admired about hip-hop is the demographic of the market. People think it's all niggas buying this music, when the majority of the people listening to it are young white males (oh also I'm pretty sure the demographics of prisons arent't the way they are because the white guys listen to these rappers and just get scared of jail lol). But from my experience, in my hometown, on my side of my country, in MY EXPERIENCE, the separation between race and class has been very apparent. And I know more white people with incredible amounts of money than I do black people. What money allows a lot of people to do is hide their problems -- move far away in the country where no one can hear your mom's screams while your dad is beating her, where no one can see your dad stumbling drunk at night, and where no one has to know that your brother is actually in rehab because you have enough money to say you sent him to boarding school. Basically what I'm trying to say, here is that the struggle is the same and people are the same -- across the board. The difference is that when you have money to cover up your struggle, it looks as though you don't have one. But the fact that these young white men are the majority of people purchasing and listening to this "misogynistic," "degrading," and "self-loathing" music is an interesting thing to look at. So, while I appreciated the concentration, here on young black men and the message we give to them, I also thought it might have been interesting to touch on the majority of people buying and listening to this music. 

Speaking of which, now that I think about it, I frequently took offense when the white students at my predominantly white high school listened to hip-hop. "Like they understand," I thought. But the more I read into hip-hop and the more I pay attention to social interactions between wealthier people and themselves, between wealthier people and poor people, between people of color and ourselves, between white people and themselves, and between people of color and white people ... I admire hip-hop so much because it takes that struggle that everyone has and makes it understandable across the board. quite honestly, I think wealthy, racist, white people are just mad that niggas have cracked a code and finally figured out how to appeal to their kids whose lives they thought were perfect. And wealthy black people are mad because they thought they got out of the hood a couple generations ago...but not hip-hop is fucking shit up for them. It's a stretch, I know. And it's very biased and prejudice, I know. But........I don't care. 

Moving on, I thoroughly appreciated my girl Estelle for her esteemed disgust with the name these people gave hip-hop. She was so adamant about speaking on what hip hop has done for her, on a spiritual and individual level. Imagine if we canvassed the people who listen to and create hip hop and asked them why? Why do you listen to this? Or why do you create this? ..... how many of them would say "because I want to maintain a society in which black males are criminals, drug users/offenders....in which black women are trophies, bitches, hoes without minds and opinions..in which black people are simply niggas"...LIGHTBULB! I think I've figured out why so many young white men listent o  hip-hop ;) .............. the point here - if hip-hop DOES degrade society, the reason isn't because it INTENDS to.....which is even more of a reason to nurture it, not torture it and slander it. Quite honestly, I thought Tricia Rose would have been a better leader for the side in agreement with the above statement - because I thinks he actually does love hip-hop. I'd be interested in seeing her share a general discussion about hip-hop with Estelle, Slaughterhouse, and Shaun Bailey. There were such great ideas from all of them within this debate and they seem, to me, like they have the minds of community organizers --- meaning they don't just say, they do.

And that's ultimately what this is all about --- doing. I dislike a lot of mainstream hip-hop music, but that has never stopped me from understanding how we can and will relate to it as well as what hip-hop will show us about other kinds of music (thank you for sharing that experience, quest love). Blaming hip-hop for the degradation of society that was already occurring before hip-hop was even considered as a mainstream art form is preposterous. If you want black men and women to be looked at in a different light, you need to change their communities in addition to how they see themselves on tv. I guarantee you one effects them more than the other. If people ever wanted language to be used perfectly, they wouldn't have stripped slaves of their native tongues and deprived them of the opportunity to learn proper english in the first place. I'M NOT SAYING THAT NIGGAS ARE ALLOWED TO BE STUPID BECAUSE THAT'S HOW WE WERE TREATED. I'm saying that niggas are allowed to use whatever we want when we're making art - and if we so choose to use improper English (that our parents' parents' parents' spoke BECAUSE they had no choice) then so be it. it's historical, in my opinion. Keep in mind...it's ONLY been some DECADES since niggas have been treated even somewhat fairly, education wise (and we still aren't! Not in Baltimore, anyway). Y'all act like it's been centuries and niggas are denying a proper education and therefore utilizing improper English to keep the disadvantaged community down. Stop. A lot of hip-hop artists DO go to college. They're not stupid; they're merely modernizing rituals. And just because we try to display the struggle and keep the idea alive doesn't mean we don't plan on getting out of it. You can't know where you're going unless you know where you come from.  

Michael Eric Dyson is one of my few heroes. His magical wordplay and smooth demeanor helped to gain them their 13% at the end of the debate, and I'm glad so many people came to their senses. 

You can't BLAME anyone for what's happening in society anymore. There are too many people, circumstances, places, businesses, and events on which this blame can be placed. At this point, we (everyone) need to do what we can to strengthen communities, to broaden our horizons, and harbor connections with people who are like us and understand our struggle as well as people who aren't just like us and don't understand what we got through. At the end of the day, placing such a blame on hip-hop is offensive to me, as a young, intelligent black woman who adores it. It's offensive to people like krs-one, questlove, lauryn hill,  q-tip, eminem, wu-tang, estelle, kanye west, common, a tribe called quest, de la soul   --- people who have used this very art form to save lives, in a sense..but more importantly to express themselves!!! If you're going to pull out the bad apples, then please, pull them out......but don't make hip-hop a bad apple in and of itself. Doing so makes you look rather unintelligent - probably even moreso than these people who "need to speak proper english." It is, in fact, poetry. And to question that is classist, racist, pompous, and disrespectful. Shakespeare would bite his thumb at you. 

I'll close with this:  I love hip-hop. There have been times in my life where it's been the only thing to which I could relate (which does help me realize that there may, then, be some issues in my community and my home life, but certainly not with hip-hop); there have been lyrics, beats, rhymes, murals, dances...that have given a sort of voice or expression to feelings I didn't know how to explain. Estelle and Slaughterhouse were right - this is about raising your kids. Good parents monitor exposure, but with something like hip hop, I would hope that it isn't something they completely cut off. Because that --taking a group of artists, dreamers, intellectuals who MAY go against socially accepted norms every now again .. deeming them a disgrace to society -- THAT doesn't enhance society. In fact, it makes it more ignorant. Hip-hop has been a part of my growth. And if helping me (a young, black woman) grow, think and critique is  what you think is degrading society, I seriously question what that means. 

like what I have to say?