2. Questions:
• What is the relationship between globalization,
neoliberal capitalism, and the development of hip-hop
music and culture?
• How did hip-hop spread globally? Has hip-hop become
a global form of resistance music, and if so, why?
• Has hip-hop become appropriated and/or
commodified? Do we see examples of commodification
and appropriation in the Chang and Aidi articles? Given
this, can hip hop still be a form of resistance (to
capitalism, oppression, inequality, etc.)?
• What forms of resistance have we encountered in
previous course readings, and what happened in these
situations? Resistance to what and how? What actually
needs to be resisted - neoliberal capitalism,
globlalization, etc. or something more specific? And
how has/should resistance actually occur?
3. The Global Politics of Hip Hop
• Hip hop as “global” genre from its beginnings
• Neoliberal capitalism and the American context of
the emergence of hip hop (1970s/early 1980s)
• Impact on African American communities
• Globalization of neoliberal capitalism and hip hop
• Hip hop perceived as “music of resistance” globally
4. “… taken as a whole, breaking, writing, rapping were means by which urban youth could
seize public space that had been increasingly denied them. In the pioneer days of hip hop,
DJs tapped into public power sources and set up huge outdoor speakers to get the party
started, turning playgrounds and parks into places of celebration and community. There
were no speeches about police brutality or dilapidated housing, but their surroundings
never let them forget where they lived and their memories and observations often made
it into their lyrics, their samples, and their masterpieces painted on the sides of subway
cars that spread their message through the city. Hip hop, in other words, was a creative
means to try to escape poverty and oppression while commenting on it.”
- Robin Kelley, pg. xiii
5. “… there are historical and political reasons why the ghettoes of North America and
African Americans continue to loom so large in the imaginations of hip hoppers all over
the globe. Black America’s inner cities have been perceived by aggrieved populations as
sites of resistance. Before the proliferation of images of gangsterism as authentic
representations of Black urban life, African-American popular culture was embraced
from Brazil to South Africa to Ghana as a source of inspiration and liberation. Even in
the early years of hip hop, groups like Public Enemy, X-Clan, Jungle Brothers, Queen
Latifah, Poor Righteous Teachers, to name a few, were sometimes seen as models of
libratory politics, And these same artists, in turn, resurrected traditions of Pan-
Africanism and international solidarity by their willingness to address the oppression of
people outside the U.S. …”
- Robin Kelley, pg. xv
6. Commodification & Appropriation
• Commodification
• “The transformation of goods, services, ideas or other
entities that normally may not be considered goods for
sale into a commodity (a marketable and saleable item)”
• Cultural appropriation
• More neutral meaning: “The adoption of some specific
elements of one culture by a different cultural group.”
• More negative view: “Borrowing of an element of a
minority culture by the dominant culture or a dominant
cultural group.”
7. “I’m like Che Guevara
with bling on!”
- Jay-Z, from “Public Service Announcement”
on the Black Album
