bullet1 Paper outline

bullet2 Preface

bullet2 Introductions

  • These are our points of view
     

bullet2 Definitions and data points

  • Hip hop is hard to define
     
  • The bernard conference is a starting point
     
  • We'll also look at artist interviews and Jason
     

bullet2 Conscious hip hop

  • Conscious hip hop as mentioned by bernard
     
    • Form of music
       
    • Separate from mainstream
       
      • Refrain from audience about not being represented
         
      • Question   Is conscious just about a distinction in music or a process in individuals and culture?
         
  • Discussion with Greg - spoken word artist
     
    • Conscious as "awoke"
       
    • Conscious as family of artists
       
    • Family has a boundary
       

bullet2 Gangsta rap

  • 50 Cent
     
  • Negative things to say
     
    • Mysoginist
       
    • Violent
       
  • Positive things to say
     
    • Upward mobility
       
    • Speaking the truth from the streets
       
      • Greg
         
      • Charlestown kids
         
  • Gangsta rap as form of social critique and challenge
     
    • Quote from 50 - being what you wanna be
       
  • But maybe this is a form of social critique that white people can't handle
     
    • Bernard's political agenda
       

bullet2 Setting up conscious vs. gangsta contradiction

  • Meaning of life
     
    • Question   Good mourning, good afternoon, good night What have you done with your life? Everybody time comes to be embraced by the light You only scared to die when you ain't livin right, man
       
    • 50 Cent bodyguards
       
  • Question of faith
     
    • Every night I talk to God, but he don't say nothin' back I know he protectin' me, but I still stay with my gat In my nightmares, niggas keep pullin' techs. on me
       
  • Drugs
     
    • You can find me in the club, bottle full of bub Look mami I got the X if you into taking drugs I'm into having sex, I ain't into making love So come give me a hug if you into getting rubbed
       
    • Saturday sinners Sunday morning at the feet of the Father They need somethin to rely on, we get high on all types of drug When, all you really need is love
       

bullet2 Questioning the contradiction

  • Talib Kweli interview
     
    • Conscious distinction imposed on me
       
    • I don't like divisions
       
    • Rappers should support each other
       
    • I like 50 Cent
       
  • Discussion forums on 50 Cent site
     
    • Creates a space for people to sort things out
       
  • Greg's feelings on 50 Cent
     
    • Speaking the truth of the ghetto
       
    • Something every gangsta has to go through
       
    • It's about what he does now, his follow through
       
  • Disparaging 50 could be a class/taste connection a la Bourdieu
     
    • Threatening that a black person could subvert law, bourgeois moral standards to gain extensive wealth
       
    • 50 could be economically empowering where Talib is intellectually, emotionally, spiritually empowering
       
  • Authenticity vs. consciousness
     

bullet2 Complex landscape

  • Distinctions supported by taste, class
     
    • Intellectual appeal
       
    • Niche marketing
       
  • White people both threatened and intrigued by gangsta rap
     
  • Political ambitions of hip hop activists demand submission to dominant class tastes
     
  • Reality that everyone needs to make money, be safe - Maslow
     
  • Quote from audience woman - just listening to the music doesn't mean we agree on stuff
     
  • Neogtiating is process of identity formation AND BOTH conscious hip hop AND gangsta rap can support development in different ways
     

bullet2 My process, my chaos

  • Loving to dance
     
    • Take it when it's good, leave it when it's not my gig
       
    • Liking it for getting a paper out of it
       
  • Getting hooked by Daren and then Talib Kweli
     
  • Feeling pulled by love of kweli, hate of 50 cent
     
    • Wanting sense of belonging
       
    • Hard to sit with contradictions
       
  • Feeling alone, intimidated by social capital, physical power, revolutionary spirit
     
    • No ghetto struggle
       
    • Coming to terms with whiteness
       

bullet2 K.O.S.

  • Greg - you've got to make your own stuf
     
  • Self authorship
     
  • Knowledge of self is life after death
     
  • Hip hop is what the heads do with hip hop
     
  • Question   Did tupac reach it?
     

bullet2 Holding environments

  • My poem
     
  • Question   If building difference, breaking it down, self authoring is developmental process, where is the support and challenge?
     
    • Challenge may just come from ghetto life
       
    • Question is support and safety
       
  • Open mic as space
     
  • Headphones as space
     
  • Envisioning spaces
     
    • Refer to 5-7 lecture
       

bullet2 Developmental process within a culture

  • Connect to Lave and Wenger
     
  • Not necessarily absolute, but a process of gradual emergence into complexity of cultural life
     
  • But maybe i'm only capable of self-authorship in hip hop because i'm generally capable of self-authorship
     
    • But there's always some context that is first or early
       
  • We are constituted of multiple selves, all of which are going through developmental processes