The Africanist Aesthetic in Global Hip-Hop: Power Moves

230 Pages·2007·23.83 MB·English

by  Halifu Osumare (auth.)

THE AFRICAN 1ST AESTHETIC IN
GLOBAL HlP-HOp

THE AFRICANIST
AESTHETIC IN GLOBAL
HlP-Hop
POWER MOVES
HALIFU OSUMARE
palgrave
macmillan
* THE AFRICAN 1ST AESTHETIC IN GLOBAL HIP-HOP
© Halifu Osumare, 2007.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007978-1-4039-7630-7
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in 2007 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLANTM
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
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and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European
Union and other countries.
ISBN 978-0-230-60961-7 ISBN 978-1-137-05964-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-05964-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Osumare, Halifu.
The Africanist aesthetic in global hip-hop: power moves /
by Halifu Osumare.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Rap (Music)-Social aspects. 2. Rap (Music)-Political aspects.
3. Hip-hop-Influence. 4. Intercultural communication. I. Title.
ML3918.R370882007
782.421649-dc22 2006049846
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: February 2007
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Transferred to digital printing in 2007.
For Baba Ochosi and Yeye Oya
for always keeping me pointed in the right direction,
and the ancestors
who I know were always looking over my shoulders,
for the hip-hop generation
who is inheriting the twenty-first century
&
for those who will come afterwards
to continue the beat in new forms

CONTENTS
Illustrations IX
Acknowledgments Xl
Introduction: Power Moves from the Hip-Hop Nation to the
Hip-Hop Globe 1
1. Phat Beats, Dope Rhymes, and Def Moves: 21
The Africanist Aesthetic Meets the Hip-Hop Globe
2. Beat Streets in the Global Hood: 61
Hip-Hop's Connective Marginalities
3. Props to the Local Boyz: Hip-Hop Culture in Hawai'i 105
4. "It's All About the Benjamins": 149
Postmodernism and Hip-Hop's Appropriation
Notes 181
Bibliography 203
Index 213

ILLUSTRATIONS
1.1 Hip-Hop's Two-Pronged Bodily Text 57
1.2 TeN's B-Boying Style 59
2.1 Diagram of Connective Marginalities of Global Hip-Hop 69
2.2 1995 New York Times Front Page: Hammer Performing
at Russian Political Rally 75
2.3 The So-Called Jiggers of Japan 95
2.4 Non-Jigger Japanese Hip-Hoppers 97
3.1 Hawaiian Islands in the Northern Pacific Geographically
Connecting the Pacific Rim, U.S. Mainland, and
Polynesia 106
3.2 Kutmaster Spaz at Work 123
3.3 Partial List of Mainland Rap Artists Who Performed
in Honolulu (1987-99) 126
3.4 Ku'e CD Cover by Sudden Rush 143