Hip hop versus rap : The politics of droppin’ knowledge

178 Pages·2017·2.394 MB·English

by  Patrick Turner

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Hip Hop Versus Rap
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7 ‘What is the real hip hop?’
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: ‘To whom does hip hop belong?’
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1 ‘For what constructive purposes can hip hop be put to use?’
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a These arethreekeyquestions posed byhip hopactivistsinHip HopVersus
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o Rap,whichexploresthepoliticsofcultural authenticity,ownership,anduplift
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e in London’s post-hip hop scene. The book is an ethnographic study of the
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identity,role,formation,andpracticesoftheorganicintellectualsthatpopulate
an and propagate this ‘conscious’ hip hop milieu. Turner provides an insightful
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, examination of the work of artists and practitioners who use hip hop ‘off-
ia street’ in the spheres of youth work, education, and theatre to raise con-
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or sciousness and to develop artistic and personal skills. Hip Hop Versus Rap
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i seeks to portray how cultural activism, which styles itself grassroots and
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C mature, is framed around a discursive opposition between what is authentic
f and ethical in hip hop culture and what is counterfeit and corrupt. Turner
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y identifies that this playof difference, framed as an ethical schism, also presents
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si hiphop’sorganicintellectualswithanarrativethatenablesthemtoaligntheir
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e insurgent values with those of policy and to thereby receive institutional
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ni support.
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This enlightening volume will be of interest to post-graduates and scholars
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y interested in hip hop studies; youth work; critical pedagogy; young people
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d and crime/justice; the politics of race/racism; the politics of youth/education;
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d urbangovernance;socialmovementstudies;streetculturestudies;andvernacular
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o studies.
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o Patrick Turner is a Senior Lecturerin Sociology at Bath Spa University, UK.
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Routledge Advances in Ethnography
Edited by Dick Hobbs, University of Essex and Les Back, Goldsmiths
College, University of London
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1 Ethnography is a celebrated, if contested, research methodology that offers
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21 while the final product is a vivid human document with personal resonance
7 impossible to recreate by the application of any other social science methodol-
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7: ogy. This series aims to highlight the best, most innovative ethnographic work
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g 12 Boy Racer Culture
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i Youth, Masculinity and Deviance
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n Karen Lumsden
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a, 13. Strong and Hard Women
ni An ethnography of female bodybuilding
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o Tanya Bunsell
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of The Aesthetics and Ethics of London’s Rap Scenes
y Richard Bramwell
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v 15 Young Homeless People and Urban Space
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n Fixed in Mobility
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[ Emma Jackson
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d 16 Policing the Olympics
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d London 2012
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o Gary Armstrong, Richard Giulianotti and Dick Hobbs
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o 17 Mischief, Morality and Mobs
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Essays in Honor of Geoffrey Pearson
Dick Hobbs
18 Hip Hop Versus Rap
The Politics of Droppin’ Knowledge
Patrick Turner
Hip Hop Versus Rap
’
The Politics of Droppin Knowledge
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2 Patrick Turner
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Firstpublished2017
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
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1 ©2017PatrickTurner
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2 TherightofPatrickTurnertobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhasbeen
e assertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,
n DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
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1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
2 utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
7 knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin
2 anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting
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7 fromthepublishers.
1
at Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor
] registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanation
o withoutintenttoinfringe.
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i BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
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AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
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a LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
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a, Acatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenrequested
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n ISBN:978-1-138-67975-7(hbk)
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o ISBN:978-1-315-54466-3(ebk)
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a TypesetinTimesNewRoman
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byTaylor&FrancisBooks
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Contents
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7 Acknowledgements vi
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at Introduction: journeyof the spoken word 1
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g 1 Tending the conscious hip hop family 17
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2 Hip hop esoterics: energy and consciousness 41
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S 3 From periphrasis to personal development: a cultural biography
a, of a hip hop poet and teacher 57
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o 4 ‘Life-bars’ for grime prevention 83
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C 5 White boy hip hop suite: hip hop theatre and the colouring
f of culture 112
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it Conclusion: the politics of hip hop edutainment 139
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v Methodological coda: catching knowledge as it drops 151
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y Index 164
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Acknowledgements
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7 This book and the research it is based on probably have their true origins
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: somewhere in the distant proto London hip hop culture of my youth. So my
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1 firstshoutoutshould gototheLanguageLab,theclubupstairs fromGossips
at in Sohowhere I first clumsily took up the mic avery long time ago alongside
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o such eminences as Dizzy Heights and Nutrament. That is where I first got
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e hooked on hip hop and learnt to do bad impressions of Kurtis Blow et al.,
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D but alsowhereI first experimentedwith the one part stoner, one part political
an diatribe lyricism I got to perform around London’s one-nighterswith Savajazz.
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ia, AandspBecaiza…ld’e.dicationtoallofyou,butespecially‘Graham, Gav,Rob,Barbara
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or I was extremely fortunate to be able to do the original research for this
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i book as a Ph.D. student at Goldsmiths, in the Department of Sociology. The
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C intellectual culture and dedication to the craft of qualitative, empirical work
f was invaluable and made this a highly rewarding project from which I have
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y learnt an enormous amount. I would like to thank, in particular, fellow tra-
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si vellers Alex Rhys-Taylor, Stephen Howard Jones and Kimberly Keith for
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e their comradely and patient support and friendship.
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ni Les Back and Michael Keith were brilliant, stimulating supervisors. Your
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encouragement, shepherding, and ideas made the difference. Thanks also to
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y Bev Skeggs and Bridget Ward for friendship and support.
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d Thanks to my fantastic colleagues at Goldsmiths and London Metropolitan
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d Universities. You have been a continuous support, sounding board and intel-
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o lectual and emotional oasis. Special thanks to Aminul Hoque, Thomas
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n Zacharias,YaelGerson,AnnaTraianouandKenJonesatGoldsmiths,andto
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o DavidBlundell,PeterCunningham,RossanaPerezde-Aguila,HeatherAllison,
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NathanFretwell(exof),JessieBustillos,SandraAbegglen,AdamBeck,Chris
Ryan, Brian Mcdonough, Veronica Mason, Tara Young (ex of), and Paul
McGilchrist (ex of), at London Metropolitan. To Tozun, RIP. And thanks
also to the many students I have taught in these and other institutions. Your
appetite to make sense of the world and your place in it is a restorative and
the reason I love teaching.
My family, all of them, have had to put up with my many absences these
last many years as I completed the various phases of work that would
Acknowledgements vii
eventually become this book. Thanks for the encouragement, and love to all
of you – mum, John and Molly, my sister Jayne, Franny and Den, my niece
and nephews Alannah, Ruari, and Olli.
To my friends, you have all been great fun and have sustained me intellec-
tually and emotionally over countless days, evenings, and years. So a big
shout out to Dave B, Claudia BH, Mark N, Dave R, Tag L, Rachel L, Pascal
7 L,BethC,ManojN,TomB,BenT,AntonB,Katherine T,KirstyM,Sophie
1 R, PollyS,Fiona,KathyB,LeonF,KevinK,JerryW,CareyD,Sophie,LizA,
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2 and Graeme S, Paul B, Drake, Peter K and Johnny I.
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n IthasbeenbrilliantbeinginvolvedinHipHopEdtheselastfewyears.The
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J seminars and events have given me so much pleasure and enhanced my under-
1 standingofhiphopculturepast,present,future,noend.Thanksinparticularto
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7 DarrenC,Chris/PoetCurious,SamB,JeffreyB,Will,Reveal,ShayDandTy.
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: Thanks to the Economic, Social and Research Council, who funded this
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1 research with grant PTA-031-2005-00216.
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a Thanks to the editorial team at Routledge and to Dick Hobbs and Les
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o Back for encouragement and patience.
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e A special word of gratitude to all the ‘post-hip hoppers’ and others who
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participated in this research and were so generous with their time and ideas;
an you share the book’s dedication with my nearest and dearest.
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a, Finally,Iwishtoexpressmygratitude fortheunstinting loveIreceivefrom
i my wife and two children. To my wife Sarah I say thanks for your serenity
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or andforkeepingmelevel;tomydaughterLolathanksforyourvivacity;tomy
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i son Ciaran thanks for your strong speech (parrhesia).
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Introduction: journey of the spoken word
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7 Hip hop versus rap
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7 From my field notes:
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a
] Tuggs Starr edges a little closer to the front of the lecture theatre stage
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g and looks out over our heads with mock portentousness. He is about to
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Di launchintoapoeticfablethatwilltellofhisculturalandpoliticalformation
n as hip hop artist and teacher. His unaccompanied oration, we will soon
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S learn, is peopledwith characters from popular culture and modern history,
a, including Morpheus from the film The Matrix, Chuck D from the band
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n Public Enemy, assorted comic book superheroes, founder of the Nation of
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f Islam, Elijah Mohammed, and Hitler. The narrative will feature him on a
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al quest toobtainhiphopknowledgefromsomeofthese luminariesso as to
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f be able toapplyit as righteousweapon.Thepoem’sprojective,syncopated
o flow, which fuses rap and jazz scansion, will tag it as ‘spoken-word’.
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t Tuggs crumples and falters, and begins his performance in the voice of
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r a person unable to express himself due to a stammer. We meet him here
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v at an early unripe phase in the story when he’s yet to find his voice and
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U vocation through hip hop culture. A couple of lines in and he sketches a
y [ fantastical scenario where he is summoned to a summit ‘in the desert’ to
b receiveguidanceandinspirationfromwiseeldersMorpheusandChuckD.
ed This processofinitiationhelps him toovercomehis vocal afflictionand he
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a is transformed from stammering tyro to fluent superhero ‘Poet Man’.
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l Now metamorphosed into Poet Man, Tuggs’ onstage personabecomes
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w louder, more expansive and boastful. He launches into a high paced self-
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D apostrophe to foes vanquished, iconsencompassed and garlandslavished.
Poet Man declares to us the audience that he has the ability to commu-
nicate worlds and experiences beyond the range of all previous white
superheroes, to tell black history ‘deeper than dungeons and dragons’.
Like a revving motor, he boasts ‘So now I just flex with “Poet” on my
chest/See I was just taught to teach the word/To preach and teach the
way it’s spoke is no joke, yo/Now the minute they hear me fear me/I’m
the epitome child of Public Enemy/I’m that neo neo – that hard core