Monday, September 13, 2010
Week 4- Hip-Hop's Multiculturalism and Polyculturalism
This week in our readings, Robin D.G. Kelley argues polyculturalism, unlike multiculturalism, recognizes that there are problems with simplistically conflating race and culture. Polyculturalism acknowledges the inter-related connections and fluidity between cultures and their intersections. Multiculturalism keeps cultures separated and static--allowing them to relate alongside one another. In the case of Hip-hop in the United States, discussions of "race" often conflate African American identity and culture. However,the history of culture of Hip-hop is often separated from the people that produce it. In defining the keywords of polyculturalism and multiculturalism in relationship to Hip-hop this week,think about the ways that Hip-Hop and Blackness engage these terms.
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ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism, according to Vijay Prashad, is “the management of underrepresented groups. It promotes the idea of inclusion through representation rather than working to overturn a system of power and privilege” (Lecture 13 September). Prashad explains that “multiculturalism was an ideology from above. It was about the institutional management of diversity…Multiculturalism because about celebration…but white power and white supremacy was off the table…it’s actually power telling you not to engage it” (Chang 38). Polyculturalism “attempts to address issues of power and privilege in institutions. It problematizes dominant narratives that place people of color at the margins of society” (Lecture 13 September). Hip-hop is a polycultural music, one that cannot be separated from complexities surrounding race, gender, sexuality, etc. Artists like Nicki Manaj, the Beastie Boys, and Nas add their voices to a genre that defies simplistic categorization. The hip-hop tradition flowed out blues, jazz and funk, traditions rooted in the black American experience, and has been understood in part as a “black” music. This view of the genre is not accurate, as we know that rap’s “primary audience is white and lives in the suburbs” (Forman/Neal 147). No contemporary popular genre, including hip-hop, can be understood as anything less than polycultural.
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism is the management of underrepresented groups and promotes the idea of inclusion through representation as well as putting up boundaries between cultures (Lecture 9/13). On the other hand, polyculturalism problematizes dominant narratives that place people at the margins of society (Lecture 9/13). Vijay Prashad also mentions that multiculturalism became about celebration by dealing with your history and past (Chang, 37). I think that this idea by Prashad brings up a good point about the differences between multiculturalism and polyculturalism especially in regards to hip-hop. The people who make hip-hop all contribute to not only the genre of music but the culture that goes along with it. With the emergence of white rap groups as well as performers of other ethnic and racial backgrounds, hip-hop has become not just black music but a combination which appeals to all groups of people. Hip-hop cannot be regarded as just black music due to the variety of cultural contributions which allow it to “transcend” blackness (Lecture 9/13). Robin Kelley also states that we all are products of a variety of living cultures which live through us every day (Kelley, 2). In the same way, hip-hop is a product of the people who create it and cannot always be categorized as strictly black.
ReplyDeleteWhen talking about Multiculturalism and Polyculturalism, one has to know the meaning of the terms and how to apply them. Multiculturalism defined by Mark Neal was “the hammer we could bring into the room” referring to how black students could demand a budget for Black history month and that corporate America could use it to make more money (Chang, 36-37). Vijay Prashad states that it “was an ideology from above..the antiracist movement..and became a celebration about dealing with your history and past” (Chang, 37). With Polyculturalism, the term attempts to address issues of power and privilege, encourages the complexity of cultures and assumes that culture is embodied and cannot be separated from those who produce it (Lecture 9/13). To Robyn Kelly, Polyculturalism is best to describe by her and black America stating they are the product of different “cultures” and claims multiculturalism “implies that cultures are fixed and discrete entities that exist side by side…. obscures power relations, but often reifies race and gender differences” (Kelly, 2). Lastly David Samuels wrote “the ways in which rap has been consumed and popularized speak not of cross-cultural understanding, musical or other, but of a voyeurism and tolerance of racism in which black and white are complicit” (Forman/Neal, 153). No one but ourselves can decide wither hip-hop is a multicultural genre or a polycultural genre and is interpreted differently by everyone.
ReplyDeleteBrandt Johnson 2393614
As defined in our lecture on 9/13, multiculturalism is the management of underrepresented groups. It promotes the idea of inclusion through representation rather than overturning a system of power and privilege. I interpret it in the fashion that with multiculturalism, we take the things that are under the radar, and move them closer to the surface. Take for example, in the article “Rap on Rap” , N.W.A. was never above #27 on the Billboard charts. But as soon as Soundscan came out which recorded the actual sales, N.W.A. jumped to number 1 because they were brought from under the radar in most people’s eyes, to the top of the charts.
ReplyDeleteHip-hops use of the cultural contributions of diverse racial and ethnic groups allows it to both “transcend” blackness and produce it through its relationship to difference (Lecture 9/13). I think with the gaining popularity of rap and hip-hop in the 90’s, the music genre was no longer associated as “black” music. It was now music for all cultures of people to listen to. Polyculturalism allows cultures to intermingle or mix. They sample from one another. For example, I am engaging in polyculturalism when I sample Chinese food, or even Mexican food because I am immersing myself in part of their culture.
In lecture on Tuesday, multiculturalism is where cultures are fluid with overlapping histories (Lecture, 9/13). On the other hand, polyculturalism encourages the complexity of cultures where cultures are embodied and cannot be separated from those who produce it (Lecture 9/13). Hip-hop is a polycultural music, that is grouped with each artists own characteristics such as: race, gender, status, sexual preference, and etc. Artists such as Beastie Boys, which are mentioned in the Forman and Neal reading, represent a group that cannot be separated from their own features. Multiculturalism in hip-hop is a form of management for underrepresented groups, such as N.W.A. which happened to remain #27 on the Billboard charts until they were recognized and quickly moved the #1 slot. The idea of polyculturalism allows for other cultures to immerse themselves in different cultures. Whereas, multiculturalism promotes the ideas that cultures are discrete and fixed. Polyculturalism unlike multiculturalism allows for us to sample many of the different cultures. Hip-hop has been beneficial in identifying the different cultural contributions in the genre. It rises above the “blackness” and produces it’s music through a way that relays its relationship to different ideas or cultures.
ReplyDeleteThe terms multiculturalism and polyculturalism have distinct, but important influences over hip-hop and blackness. Multiculturalism is based around the “management of under-represented groups and promotes the idea of inclusion through representation rather than over-turning a system of power and privilege.” (Lecture 9.13) Polyculturalism on the other hand, addresses these issues of power and privileges. Polyculturalism encourages these complexities of culture and does not separate them from on another. (Lecture 9.13) Hip-Hop addresses both view points in its music and culture. Hip-Hop promotes multiculturalism by celebrating the differences between cultures. It also challenges the assumption that cultures are static by over-lapping identities of different races and showing the idea that cultures cannot be separated. This can be seen in the pop media tycoon MTV. “MTV spawned an ethic rainbow of well-scrubbed pop rappers from MC Hammer to Vanilla Ice to Gerardo…” (Samuels 152). Media as well as popular culture have evolved over time from a multicultural view to a polycultural view. Polyculturalism to me has a greater understanding of the complexities within and between races that make them unique. When we think of a culture, we think of them in comparison and correlation with other races, this is a polycultural view point. This is what Kelley is trying to explain when she says, “[w]hat we know as "black culture" has always been fluid, hybrid, and polycultural” (Kelley 2).
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism is defined as “the management of underrepresented groups and promotes the idea of inclusion through representation as well as putting up boundaries between cultures” (Lecture 9/13/10). In other words, minorities, while still having cultural limitations, also still have representation. This is something not really seen in Hip-Hop. With various cultures and ethnicities being represented (as seen by Eminem, the Beastie Boys, Brother Ali, and even Pit Bull). On the other hand, Polyculturalism “engages in the issues of power and privilege; it encourages the complexity of multiple cultures and assumes that culture is embodied and cannot be separated from those who produce it” (Lecture 9/13/10). Polyculturalism is widely represented in Hip Hop as opposed to multiculturalism. David Samuels states that “when Run-DMC covered the Aerosmith classic “Walk This Way,” the resulting video made it onto MTV, and the record went gold” (Foreman & Neal 149). Despite Aerosmith being a rock band, there’s still that notion of polyculturalism, which carries on even today. In recent news it was reported that Jay-Z and Eminem were doing concerts together, one in the Midwest (Detroit) and one on the East Coast (New York City).
ReplyDeleteAs defined in the context of hip-hop and blackness, multiculturalism and polyculturalism address different issues in society. Multiculturalism “doesn’t recognize the fact that cultures are fluid and porous and that many cultures have overlapping histories that cannot be separated from each other” (Lecture 9/13). Polyculturalism on the other hand recognizes the complexities of cultures. It is the belief that culture cannot be separated from the producer. If one were to take an art museum, for example, multiculturalism would attempt to separate all the art work according to the artist’s race, gender, and class. Polyculturalism would simply mix everything up without trying to categorize the art. Based on the definition of polyculturalism, I believe that hip-hop is better defined in those terms. “The ways in which rap has been consumed and popularized speak not of cross-cultural understanding, musical or other, but of a voyeurism and tolerance of racism in which black and white are complicit” (Samuels 153). Hip-hop as a whole has intersections among different racial, ethnic, and class groups that can not be separated. Hip-hop, as the music we know today, would not exist without the interplay between differing groups of people.
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism and polyculturalism sometimes get misconstrued, yet they are very different in meaning. Multiculturalism is mainly a mixture of ideas, but it incorporates overlapping histories, which include over time all the different kinds of cultures that have been intermixed because “we can all exist together,” (Lecture 9/13). As viewed in class, the video “We Are The World” by Michael Jackson and many other artists from all walks of life was created to raise awareness for the people in Africa who suffer everyday from diseases. This video shows that all different kinds of music artists from various genres can all come together as one and compose a very uplifting song. The separation is still present but not in a negative way. Also, “multiculturalism became about celebration; it became about dealing with your history and your past,” (Prashad 37). On the other hand, polyculturalism is where one culture incorporates ideas from different cultures to help advance their style and talent. Hip-hop is a polycultural type of music because it uses ideas from the past to enhance their approach. For example, in Ke$ha’s “Blah, Blah, Blah,” she seems to have a mixture of hip-hop and pop sounds intermixed which has a fresh new take on music in today’s world. I feel that if music from all over starts to be composed together more often, then there would be a higher rate of equality and acceptance in the world today.
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism does not recognize cultures as fluid and porous. It says that cultures have overlapping histories that cannot be separated (Lecture 09/13/10). Thus, cultures are side-by-side with each other and fixed from the start. To some, this can refreshen in the mind the idea of differences between people solely due to race (Robin Kelly). Multiculturalism is “Racism with a distance” (Slavoj Zizeck). On the other hand, Polyculturalism encourages complexity of culture and its relationships in Hip-hop accepts intersections as part of identity construction (Lecture 09/13/10). Polyculturalism assumes that culture is embodied and cannot be separated from those that produce it (Lecture 09/13/10). Polyculturalism is encouraging us to test the role of culture in Hip-hop and in a way is giving us permission to make the definition of “blackness” more diverse. Multiculturalism is about celebrating your history and your past (Vijay Prashad). In Hip-hop music we see a lot of this celebration of “blackness,” but to say Hip-hop is not Polycultural puts up boundaries around different cultures. These boundaries are what cause people to separate due to race or gender, and Hip-hop should not be about separating race or gender. Hip-hop should be about recognizing style in “blackness,” and being able to enjoy the different cultures that go into diversifying and completing that style. In Polyculturalism, Hip-hop’s use of cultural contributions allow it to “transcend blackness” and produce it (Lecture 09/13/10).
ReplyDeleteAccording to Tuesday’s lecture, multiculturalism is “the management of underrepresented groups and promotes the idea of inclusion through representation rather than overturning a system of power and privilege” (Lecture 9/13). Multiculturalism encompasses various differences among races, ethnicities, classes, and sexualities in the hip-hop world. Polyculturalism “problemitizes dominant narratives that place people of color at the margins of society and attempts to address issues of power and privilege in institutions” (Lecture 9/13). In my eyes, hip-hop is more polycultural than it is multicultural because hip-hop notices the intersections of various cultures. Robin Kelley states, “To acknowledge our polycultural heritage and cultural dynamism is not to give up our black identity or our love and concern for black people. It does mean expanding our definition of blackness, taking our history more seriously, and looking at the rich diversity within us with new eyes” (“The People in Me”). In other words, we must embrace the cultures that define hip-hop today and the cultures that represent hip-hop’s rich historical background. Not one single culture created hip-hop just like one single culture does not define blackness. If we have learned anything thus far, it is that generalizing cultures based on simple categories defined by the dominating power only creates tension, conflict, and inequality in society.
ReplyDeletePolyculturalism and multiculturalism are often thought of as meaning the same thing, but they are really quite different. “Multiculturalism is the management of underrepresented groups and promotes the idea of inclusion through representation as well as putting up boundaries between cultures” (Lecture 9/13). Hip-hop promotes the inclusion of underrepresented groups but does the opposite of putting up boundaries between cultures. Hip-hop brings together people of all different backgrounds. “Polyculturalism engages in the issues of power and privilege; it encourages the complexity of multiple cultures and assumes that culture is embodied and cannot be separated from those who produce it” (Lecture 9/13). To me, this is a much better representation of Hip-hop. Even though Hip-hop has been seen as “black” music there are many white artists as well as racial black artists and people of all races listen to Hip-hop music. It is a great way for cultures to mix and relate to each other. “I feel like Hip-hop was more multicultural in 1975 than it is in 2005, in that its diasporic roots were more acknowledged and celebrated, and in that the immigrant communities that contributed to its genesis were also acknowledged and celebrated” (Chang 44). Hip-hop has evolved a lot since its beginning from being dominant by African American culture only to representative of multiple cultures.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the impacts of blackness within both multi/Polyculturalism, I think that the functions that it served in relation blackness were similar to that of open-recruitments to playing teams or joining clubs; there’s a lot of skepticism from the older members at first, tensions rise and leads to conflict and then some new bond comes out of the aftermath which allows everyone to understand, not tolerate, the fact that every quality in everyone overlaps. Multiculturalism was a discourse that followed the Civil Rights Movement; it was “[a] material change in institutions of integration and assimilation in United States” (Lecture, 9/13). It allowed people of color or other nationalities to enter into previously prohibited workplaces or schools, but it didn’t mean that they were accepted as “one of their own” in those cases. With the idea of Blackness in relation to identity and the double consciousness, I think it really only takes the negative implications of that identity and augment it tremendously; we will allow you to enter the premises but we won’t accept who you are as an individual, only as a person of color etc. With Polyculturalism, it allows people to “[celebrate] differences and experience[s] of individuals who can narrate their ethnicities for consumption of others” (Lecture, 9/14). There are neutral implications to consumption in this context; for people who have never heard of this before and then somehow can identify to whatever the experiences are then it’s a positive idea, while there are without a doubt people who will just listen to it and then think nothing of the subtleties of the message beneath.
ReplyDeletePolyculturalism and multiculturalism have played an intricate role in Hip-Hop, and have also had an effect on blackness within Hip-Hop. According to September 13th’s lecture, polyculturalism “addresses issues of power and privilege in institutions” as well as “problematizes dominant narratives that place people of color at the margins of society”. Therefore, polyculturalism is able to “transcend blackness through its use of cultural contributions of diverse racial and ethnic groups” (lecture, September 13). Polyculturalism in Hip-Hop also led to collaborations between artists in various genres. Run-DMC, for example, covered Aerosmith’s hit “Walk This Way”, which became a hit on MTV (Forman and Neal, 149). Multiculturalism also plays an intricate role in Hip-Hop as it allows cultures to be compared side-by-side. Brian “B+” Cross believes that multiculturalism in Hip-Hop gives a “syncretic, collective way of looking at the social reality we live in” (Chang, 48). This is because multiculturalism “promotes the idea that cultures are bounded and static” (lecture, September, 13). This idea places boundaries around individual cultures and creates the belief that inclusion is achieved through representation. These ideas of polyculturalism and multiculturalism worked in harmony to mold Hip-Hop into a genre in which many cultures can relate to the sounds or references in the songs.
ReplyDeleteMany people believe that multiculturalism is similar to polyculturalism because of the fact that both ideologies condone diversity. However, I agree with Mark Anthony Neal when he says, “…multiculturalism from the onset was a deeply conservative- in fact, reactionary- ideology which we have now unfortunately come to hold on to, believing it’s actually liberal when indeed it’s actually power telling you not to engage it” (Chang 37). Multiculturalism focuses too much on “cultures” having autonomy, resources, and so on. Polyculturists focus more on the people and the society as a whole. Polyculturalism acknowledges the fact that a single person holds multiple identities and various allegiances. We speak different cultural ‘languages’, and we can change. To go from the individual to the society, polyculturalism recognizes that cultures overlap; they change and evolve over time. Hip-hop is a great example of how societies are in a permanent state of flux, with all kinds of often very creative exchanges and interactions happening. In “Massive Attack” by Nikki Minaj, we can see a blending of genres melting together. Hip-hop as almost been a pioneer in our society, showing the positive impacts of polyculturalism by showing that a particular artist is more than just a black artist or more than just a female artist. Artists could not represent only one culture through their music even if they tried because everyone is innately a product of multiple cultures.
ReplyDeleteThere are two ways to look at Hip-Hop, either with a multicultural view or a polycultural view. These two terms are very different from each other. Multiculturalism separates cultures into groups that are connected while polyculturalism emphasizes the fluidity between cultures and their connections (Lecture 9/13). When I think about Hip-Hop I think about it polyculturaly. I don’t think of it as primarily associated with black culture because Hip-Hop is a combination of many cultures that are permanently interlocked and if separated Hip-Hop would cease to exist. What I have come to realize is that white culture has had a big influence on rap as well. David Samuel's makes a point of how “the closer rap moved to the white mainstream, the more it became like rock’n’roll, a celebration of posturing over rhythm (Forman & Neal 150). Rap was something new and raw for the suburbs and white rebellious teens clung to it and helped Hip-Hop establish the place where it is now. Robin Kelly describes all peoples in the Western world as “polycultural hybrids” (People in Me). I completely agree with her and view Hip-hop the same way because like people, Hip-Hop is composed of many overlapping and intersecting cultures that come together to define it.
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism is many cultures together, but it does not recognize that cultures are overlapping. It distinguishes each group as separate and bounded. (Lecture) What it doesn’t say is that culture is more complex than that. It can overlap and borrow from another group; it can’t be separated from the people that produce their culture. (Lecture) That is polyculturalism, which means that all cultures are inter-related and many can be alive in one person or one group of people. Hip-hop includes many ethnicities within itself. Some people may claim that “white kids stole black culture”, but you can’t steal a culture (Forman & Neal). If some aspect of a culture is alive in you, then you become a part of that culture. Hip-hop borrows from a diverse range of ethnicities and cultures that allow it to pass beyond the limits of “blackness” (Lecture). It is polycultural music; it uses many aspects of completely different music genres, which allows it to be just that. Even just within the many black ethnicities that contribute to hip hop there are many cultures being represented. Everyone is diverse in their own way, and the term “blackness” should be expanded to include its polyculturalism (Kelley). Just within the one race we normally associate with hip hop, there are many ethnicities, nationalities, genders, and sexualities being represented. Each aspect of a person can bring a whole new piece of their culture to the music they make. This makes hip hop a polycultural phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism has positive and negative connotations to its ideals. “Multiculturalism is the management of underrepresented groups and promotes the idea of inclusion through representation as well as putting up boundaries between cultures”. (Lecture 9/13)The first step to recognizing multiculturalism is to acknowledge that different cultures are completely separate from one another. It’s putting us in boxes away from the other cultures so then it’s easy to just build the boxes on top of each other to create an imaginative building of diversity. In reality, it’s not as simple as that; cultures are not separate from each other. There are no boxes in life, we are all in an intermingled web where some cultures don’t know when they end and the other begins. Polyculturalism encourages the complexity of cultures where cultures are embodied and cannot be separated from those who produce it (Lecture 9/13). I think hip-hop is polyculturalistic, it is the common ground where cultues can come together and intertwine their ideas and way of life to create a new, refreshing style. When Jay-Z sampled Punjabi MC’s “Mundian To Bach Ke (Beware of the Boys)” in 2003, critics questioned if it was acceptably black. “[w]hat we know as "black culture" has always been fluid, hybrid, and polycultural” (Kelley 2). Hip-hop being polycultural gives it freedom and more significant meaning to more people by bridging cultural gaps.
ReplyDeleteThe differences between the concepts of multiculturalism and polyculturalism were difficult for me to grasp at first because they are very similar; however through an examination of the terms within the context of American history as well as hip hop culture their parameters have become a bit more clear. As discussed in lecture, the concept of multiculturalism or acceptance of other cultures, races, and ethnicities, began with the Jim Crow laws and the following Civil Rights movement in America. During this time and extending into the 1970s and 1980s (exemplified by the release of “We Are the World” in 1985), hip hop music was a major conduit for the assimilation of traditionally poor, lower class minority experiences into white middle class suburbia. As Prashad describes, “Multiculturalism became about celebration; it became about dealing with your history and your past” (37 Chang), this notion transcended the race barrier because people of all races could relate. David Samuels proposes a different opinion stating that, “The ways in which rap has been consumed and popularized speak not of cross-cultural understanding, musical or otherwise, but of a voyeurism and tolerance of racism in which black and white are both complicit” (153 Forman and Neal). Although conflicting views of multiculturalism are obvious, the idea of polyculturalism is a bit more difficult to refute. Especially in more recent times, it is becoming harder and harder to deny that cultures within American society are overlapping. The idea of polyculturalism laid out in Robin Kelley’s “The People in Me”, explains that people no longer fit into one single “culture”, rather people are becoming the product of a mix of several cultural experiences. This is evident in the hip hop music we see today where artists with various cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic roots are able to produce music that send the same messages.
ReplyDeleteMulticultural and polycultural are just two ways of looking at hip-hop. Multiculturalism is the management of underrepresented groups and promotes the idea of inclusion through representation rather than overturning a system of power and privilege.” (Lecture 9/13) While polyculturalism address issues of power and privilege, encourages the complexity of cultures and assumes that culture is embodied and cannot be separated from those who produce it. (Lecture 9/13) Vijay Prashad also mentions that multiculturalism became about celebration by dealing with your history and past (Chang, 37). To me multiculturalism is similar to inducing yourself into different cultures to understand their views and traditions. Hip-hop is a culture of its own and has transcended many different traditions from across multiple backgrounds. From the call and response from churches to the sounds of blues and jazz. Although Multiculturalism is present in hip-hop, polyculturalism is just as essential. Polyculturalism encourages the complexity of multiple cultures and assumes that culture is embodied and cannot be separated from those who produce it.” (Lecture 9/13) Hip-hop has used both of these terms to evolve into the different sounds from the different regions and become the widely popular genre it is today.
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism, though at times controversial, is still very important to American history. When you hear people talk about the U.S., the word multicultural will most likely get thrown around, but one word we aren't as used to hearing is polyculturalism. For some, these two words may be hard to differentiate from one another. Polyculturalism promotes the "complexity of cultures" and multiculturalism "celebrates the differences and experieces of individuals who an narrate their ethnicity for consumption of others". And when you relate polyculturalism to hip-hop, you see the overlap of the different races, backgrounds, class groups, and lifestyles and you see the hip-hop community embrace these differences. whereas when you relate hip-hop to multiculturalism, you begin to group the individuals based on their differences. I would relate hip-hop more closely to polyculturalism though, because it seems in the hip-hop community that regardless of the individuals' race, ethnicity, or background, those individuals still remain artists, they still are accounted for as rappers.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at multiculturalism we see words such as “discreet, bounded and static,” (Lecture, September 13). Basically, unchanging. Such as the idea that hip-hop is poor “black” music. The word “black,” referring to “Blackness,” which has been seen so often throughout the history of hip-hop, is more of a lifestyle, as discussed in the August 30 lecture. Lifestyle is intertwined with culture, yet it is naive to believe that hip-hop only falls under the black culture. It is now prevalent in the middle class, white societies, and beyond (Lecture). The proof was shown in June 1991, when Niggaz4life by N.W.A was the top selling record (David Samuels 147). The advancements in hip-hop show that this genre of music (and much more than just a genre) cannot be described as “bounded,” but more so as forever expanding. Polyculturalism, relates more to the idea of hip-hop and furthermore, “Blackness.” Polyculturalism “encourages cultural complexity” as well as “assumes that that culture is embodied and cannot be separated by those that produce it” (Lecture). In other words, Polyculturalism, much like hip-hop, has no definite state. It is influenced by other cultures and in a way is just a mega-culture (for lack of a better word). We cannot bound hip-hop to one direct culture of race. Hip-hop is a polycultural aspect to society. If hip-hop were asked to check the box which best fits their race, hip-hop would check “all of the above.”
ReplyDeleteVijay Prashad's definition of polyculturism, the idea of cultures being interrelated, differs from the idea multiculturalism in many ways. Multiculturism can be explained as the idea that cultures support personal identification and a divided society. Blackness ties into both of these ideas and can be supported from either standpoint. Using hip-hop, for example, a multiculturalist would take the job of cubby holing genres of music, skin colors and regions of ethnicity to properly define and comfortably label each group while the polyculturist would, in opposite, try to argue the idea of cultural synergy and interrelation throughout music, race, gender and ethnicity. Prashad states: "I think partly where we have any conversation we're always stuck by words or labels or categories." (Chang 38). He recognizes the difficulty to stray away from categorizing human interaction and agrees in cases, even politically, multicultural engagement can be hard to separate. I think within hip-hop, many genres and ethnicities overlap. After watching the "We are the World" video in class it makes it clear that many superstars from multiple genres of music overlap easily and show a meshing of cultures. While some may find it necessary to label and categorize cultures and ethnicities within music, I personally think there's more connection between artists than meets the ear.
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking of polyculturalism I think about the University of Kansas as a whole. We are students from different cultures who are combining and blending. We are all related because we come together to go to this school. On the other hand, multiculturalism states the comparison of the different students instead of the relation. Multiculturalism does not accept the things that we have in common. They realize that we are combining but have no relations with one another. In hip hop, one will see that artists compare many cultures, but are they accepting them? I feel that’s the challenge to look at. When watching the video “blah blah blah” by Ke$ha, I found that she does not accept the guy that is trying his hardest to make a move. She is seeing that they are combining in the same club, but will not carry any relation with him. On the other hand, the song “Low End Theory” by A Tribe Called Quest is using the form of Polyculturalism. There are a few lines combing and blending different cultures but saying how they all are related. They are all related because it is stating they all have the vibe. No matter where they are from and what culture they were brought up in, they have the vibe. Some people think this can refreshed in the mind the idea of differences between people solely due to race (Robin Kelly). Also, multiculturalism is “Racism with a distance” (Slavoj Zizeck), whereas, polyculturalism encourages complexity of cultures as well as the combining and blending of the cultures.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in a very diverse community, I know exactly what Robin Kelley is talking about in People in Me. Numerous times I have hear “are you mixed” or “what are you?” Multiculturalism says that cultures have overlapping histories that cannot be separated (Lecture). Vijay Prashad puts it best: “[Multiculturalism] is a celebration about dealing with your history and past.” On the other hand, Polyculturalism encourages the complexity of culture and its relationship with Hip-hop accepts intersections as part of identity construction (Lecture). Hip-hop music constantly celebrates “blackness,” but at the same time, Hip-hop could not have come as far as it has without the help of surrounding, “non-black” cultural influences. These influences are why people choose to separate according to race or gender, which really is the opposite of what Hip-hop is about. When thinking about Hip-hop as a whole, I begin to see that not only are the people involved with influencing Hip-hop multicultural, but Hip-hop holistically, is polycultural. From Eminem, a white rapper from Detroit with black influences, to Jennifer Lopez, a Puerto-Rican entertainer from the Bronx, there are many artists in Hip-hop with a background that derives from multiple mixed cultures. Culture is shaped by life experiences, your background, and ideals. Hip-hop embodies polyculturalism because the boundaries set and created by Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, and all other cultures are erased and allow each culture to flow into one another to produce what is Hip-hop.
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ReplyDeleteIn "People in Me” Robin D. G. Kelley argues ‘multiculturalism’ is “ a kind of zoological approach to culture”. This implies that we are all separated solely based on our racial identifications or ethnicity. Kelley then argues that this furthers racism because it categorizes people. We also discussed how multiculturalism puts boundaries on groups making them “discrete, bounded, and static” (Hodges Persley lecture 9/13). Kelley explains that polyculturalism is an alternative to imaging cultural identity as fixed through its examination of the ways in which diverse racial and ethnic groups influenced and borrow from one another. For example, Eastern cultural philosophy greatly influenced The Nation of Islam which has influenced many Hip-Hop artists. Hip-hop celebrates this fusion of cultures and has a polycultural essence. Polycultural relationships in Hip-Hop interrogate places of intersection and overlap of cultural identity (Hodges Persley lecture 9/13). An example of how these interrogations of the intersection of cultures can be seen in the collaboration between Hayley Williams and B.o.B on the Hip-Hop song “Airplanes.” Rock and hip-hop intersect demonstrating the ways that white and black artists and their cultural practices influence and inspire the other. Other polycultural influences we see in Hip-Hop include Reggae, Asian, and Punjabi beats backing various Hip-Hop tracks. These are representative of polyculturalism in Hip-Hop, which reflects the polyculturalism of the people who make it.
ReplyDeleteIn our reading from “Total Chaos”, Greg Tate and a group of panelists describe multiculturalism as “the forming of different alliances around issues of social justice”(Chang 38). “It became about celebration; it became about dealing with your history and your past,” (Chang 37). Polyculturalism was defined in class as something that “encourages the complexity of multiple cultures and assumes that culture is embodied and cannot be separated from those who produce it” (Lecture 9-13-10). With these two definitions I can see where both polyculturalism and multiculturalism play a role in Hip-Hop. To me multiculturalism would pertain more to the earlier stages of Hip-Hop because it wasn’t as “fluid” or polycultural as it is today. When I say this I mean that in the beginning it was viewed by the general public as “black” music, because the people creating and producing this new music were mostly black. With artists such as Afrikaa Bambaata being influenced by many different cultures, and perhaps borrowing a beat or two from a culture other than his own. We can see the multicultural aspect of bringing people and instruments, and sounds together in hip-hop because they are from backgrounds other than your own. Polyculturalism is more apparent in today’s Hip-Hop because there are more cultures represented, and they flow together more smoothly now then they did in the beginning of Hip-Hop.
ReplyDeleteHip hop is one of the most diverse sectors of music, in relation to both the audience that listens to it and the artists that produce it. Segregation prior to the first half of the twentieth century led to the demand for a civil rights movement, which would eventually give birth to multiculturalism beginning in the late sixties through the seventies (Lecture 9/13). This is when ethnic studies were introduced in many universities and the social imagination of the country was slowing expanding. As multiculturalism quickly spread the romanticized disco era and stereotypical soul music began to evolve into the realm of hip hop which addressed social angst concerning race and spoke out about political injustices (Public Enemy “Fight the Power”). With the advances in technology, specifically media outlets, many were exposed to these audio and expressive innovations; though at the time the message was received with speculation due to the audiences’ (and some producers) exclusivity (DMC “Proud to be Black). And as Du Bois foreshadowed, “the problem of the 20th century would be a problem of the color line” (Prashad 37); these varied expressions created in the music industry was a reflection of the growing need for definition or a sanctioned place in society. Thus the birth of multiculturalism, which Prashad claims to “want the fun, but not the fundamentalism” (39). Despite the numerous and eclectic artists that broke out on the hip hop scene in the seventies, they were all seen as “black” performers (Prashad 51). Today there are more distinguishable heritages and a heightened ethnic pride. The artists are no longer all grouped in this category of “black,” there are artists from the Caribbean (Sean Kingston, Rihana), Senegal (Akon) ect. Hip-hop has broken away from multiculturalism that left many grey areas unaddressed (such as not every black rapper is in fact a black rapper), and began to unite the artist under a more unanimous polycultured view. As David Moore describes this link “based on experiences” rather than the consciousness of color (54). Today hip hop is full of ethnically diverse backgrounds and SES, we allow this blending of diversity to create such platforms where all grievances are heard from Kanye’s complaints about the ignorant suburbs to Eminem’s struggle out of poverty and into rehab. Hip hop has surpassed multicultural boundaries and began to draw new lines of unity and expression.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Tuesday’s lecture, multiculturalism is, “the management of underrepresented groups, that promotes the idea of inclusion through representation rather then overturning a system of power and privilege” (Lecture 9/13). We watched the music video “We Are The World” brought together by Michael Jackson, and sang by various artists to create awareness of the disease and suffrage that people in Africa deal with on a daily basis. The video shows that all different kinds of music artists from different genres can all come together as one and compose a remarkable song. Hip-Hop is very multiculturalism because it shows and uses vast differences between cultures. MTV for one is multiculturalism. According to our book That’s The Joint, it states, “MTV spawned an ethic rainbow of well-scrubbed pop rappers from MC Hammer to Vanilla Ice to Gerard” (Samuels 152). Polyculturalism differs from multiculturalism; it addresses the issues of power and privileges. According to lecture, polyculturalism encourages these complexities of culture and does not separate them from another. (Lecture 9/13). Eminem is a perfect example of polyculturalism, he is a white rapper from Detroit who has black influences. Hip-hop has used both multiculturalism and polyculturalism to evolve into different sounds from the regions all over the country, to become the most widely listened to genre in today’s music generation.
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism and polyculturalism is arguably more apparent in America than any other country in the world. Multiculturalism is the idea of many different cultures getting together and being able to respect and share attribute of one’s specific background with another. It is more than just a toleration of differences it is the embracement of them. It is more than different ethnicities in one room; it is the interacting and learning process of one another. America is full of people from all descents; and this has led us to a place of polyculturalism. Today it is not as easy to find someone who would categorize themselves as just one race; black, white, Indian or asian. As time goes on more and more people have mixed blood and cannot be organized as maybe ethnicities could 20 years ago. Our culture goes beyond ethnicity now, in my opinion. I think it has more to do with your upbringing, personal experiences and individual perspective on politics as well. I agree with Kelley when she says, polycultural works a lot better than multiculural since the latter often implies cultures are fixed, discrete entities that exists side by side.” Multiculturalism in hip hop basically started after the music industry found out that white people were the primary audience of rap in the late 1970s, early 1980’s. Russel Simmon’s was one of many black hip hop figures that was put off but new “white lines” in songs that seemed to be assimilating to what white people want to hear. There was also Run DMC performing “Walk this way” with Aerosmith and the introduction of “Yo! MTV Raps” It created a spiral out of just blackness in rap, and turned into another culture being inspired and intrigued by the culture of blackness that hip hop was portraying. Even in white suburban kids could not identify directly with some of the specific lyrics; Samuel says it best when he comments, “It’s like going to an amusement park and getting on a roller coaster ride—records are safe, they are controlled fear, and you always have the choice of turning it off.” (153) Today, people from all different ethnic, economic, and perspective backgrounds can be found being represented in Hip Hop. Hip Hop lends such a crucial example to other parts of society that are not as multi or polycultured. It shows that if we blend together, instead of coexisting, we can reach higher levels of creativity and enlightenment than we ever could if we separated ourselves. I believe that this generation is the first to have the pleasure of recognizing what it means to be a citizen of the country and the ethnically evolving world. In our lifetime I think we will see the final diminishment of a dominant race, because the boundaries of race are blurring. We’re becoming less African-American, Asian-American, Indian- American, White-American and more just plain American.
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism and Polyculturalism are two very different terms but can get confused very easily. Multiculturalism is defined as, “the management of underrepresented groups and promotes the ideas of inclusion through representation rather than overturning a system of power and privilege, (Lecture 9/13). On the other hand, polyculturalism “attempts to address the issues of power and privileges in institutions. It problematizes dominant narratives that place ethnic minorities at the margins of society, (Lecture, 9/13). I believe that hip-hop plays a role in multiculturalism. Brian (B+) states that what “hip-hop maybe does describe….this sort of syncretic, collective way of looking at the social reality we live in,(Chang, 48). In my opinion, we no longer live in a society with such racial boundaries and roadblocks. This claim can be further supported this claim because of David Samuel’s article “Rap on Rap: The ‘Black Music’ that isn’t either” where he proves that hip-hop songs were not making Billboard’s charts until the use of the soundscan. This is when NWA’s song Niggaz4Life became number 1 from under the radar in American society. Culture is more that just the color of your skin but can also have to do with your religion, region or family. Robin Kelley has a problem when people try to identify her as one identity because she is made up of multiple cultures. Polyculturalism helps challenge the roles of hip-hop and takes the “blackness” out of the assumed persona. There are now many white artists of hip-hop such as the Beastie Boys and Ke$ha.
ReplyDeleteAs hip hop progressed through the years, it became caught up in the ‘blackness-whiteness’ debate and the multiculturalism movement. As originally a black art form, the integration and slow desegregation of society enabled it to reach a diverse and indeed ‘multicultural’ society.
ReplyDeleteBut what exactly does a multicultural audience mean for hip hop, and how does the music engage with race and diversity? The ideologies and themes surrounding hip hop (of social inequality and disparity) alone meant it was able to resonate not only with African-Americans but with most minorities and eventually whites. Closely-engaged in race, hip hop was able to defy racial categories and social boundaries, giving birth to successful white artists like the Beastie Boys and Eminem.
David Samuels suggests white groups in a black musical form precedes “the mainstreaming of the form… and the resulting dominance of white performers” (Forman & Neal, p.149) which might imply multiculturalism does hip hop no favours beyond the point of incorporating whiteness.
In contrast, polyculturalism goes beyond cultural and racial barriers to the underlying systems of power and privilege, for example white privilege. If multiculturalism takes hip hop away from black artists, then polyculturalism gives it back, by stating culture is embodied and cannot be taken away from those who create it, for instance African-Americans.
Multiculturalism is a term that can almost define itself. This is a culture with many backgrounds, and when talking about hip hop and African American history, multiculturalism really started to take fruition between 1976 and 1987, according to our lectures. Hip hop emerges as a form to both address and escape issues of social inequality for African Americans and other low to moderate income urban youth. Hip hop really made its transition into mainstream “white” audiences with groups like Run DMC (Forman and Neal). On the other hand, polyculturalism states that all the cultures of the world are related, and should be celebrated as such. This encourages the complexity of culture in society. Now, under this new term, hip hop music was being distributed under “multicultural” music and not “black” music. This way of describing hip hop music made it much more appealing to suburban youth of the 1980s. MTV gave hip hop a universal feel and brought together a melting pot of cultures through music. Polyculturalism’s place in hip hop is one that accepts the places of intersection and overlap as part of its identity construction.
ReplyDeleteThe way that I see it, polyculturalism is more trendy and politically correct in our current day and age than multiculturalism. Whereas multiculturalism is fixed and static, polyculturalism acknowledges that color, ethnic, and cultural lines are not in relation to each other to the point where there isn't a layering or shared heritage. Many, if not all, of the authors we have read agree "how multicultural "hip-hop" has always been" (Kelley). By this the author means that there has been a strong showing of different racial and ethnic groups such as West Indian, Puerto Rican, and African Diasporic groups in hip-hop culture. But, as Mark Anthony Neal points out during "Got Next", A Roundtable on Identity and Aesthetics after Multiculturalism, "the multicultural conversation became much more complicated and very conservative...[during the Reagan Era] because it's this debate about what gets identified and what gets embraced as a representative multicultural model" (Chang). According the Samuels' article called "The Rap on Rap", "The ways in which rap has been consumed and popularized speak not of cross-cultural understanding, musical or otherwise, but of a voyeurism and tolerance of racism in which black and white are both complicit" (Forman and Neal). So over time, hip-hop culture has become codified into a black and white binary of consumerism and violence, and has been depoliticized into a cultural and material export of America's continuing division of racial and ethnic lines, without thinking about polyculturalism except to a select few who realize that nothing is permanent except change.
ReplyDeleteMulticulturalism is defined as “the management of underrepresented groups and promotes the idea of inclusion through representation as well as putting up boundaries between cultures” (Lecture 9/13/10). Looking at hip-hop through the eyes of the two terms we are dissecting this week… polyculturalism and multiculturalism, understanding the two words is essential. We live in a world that is “multi”cultural but to live a successful and diversified life, society needs to be polycultural. The use of hip-hop can bridge the gap of cultures. Hip-hop speaks of experiences that most cultures don’t experience. Regardless if someone has had a run in with the cops or is reduced to poor living conditions, the people who listen to hip-hop relate in their own way. It may not be the cops nagging you; it could be your parents. Someone may not live in the projects but their college dorm may be tattered and dysfunctional.
ReplyDeleteWe know that rap’s “primary audience is white and lives in the suburbs” (Forman/Neal 147). Not only hip-hop but all music cannot be looked at as multicultural because the influence it has on all cultures. The conceptual understanding of hip-hop from its’ diverse audience can be one of the reasons why we saw hip-hop go from an underground sensation in major cities across the country to a mainstream and globalized phenomenon.
What is Multiculturalism and Polyculturalism? "Multiculturalism is the managment of underrepresented groups and promotes the idea of inclusion through representation rather than over turning a system of power and privilege."(09-13-10 Lecture) As many of us have taken a survey or a standardized test we are given the chance to mark down our race, though its nice to feel that our race is included. Thought many races are included but are separated by the boundaries when statistics come in hand. Multiculturalism is representation of many cultures separating each culture with boundaries. " Soundscan measured the number of records sold national.....within weeks number of computed record leapt, as demographics shifted from minority focused urban centers to white, suburban middle class mall.(Forman&Neal) "Multiculturalism became about celebration; it became about dealing with your history and your past."(Chang) Blackness in hiphop is a representation of multiculturalism because society categorize it as African American, and other racially black groups like Jamaican etc as an example of just a celebration of just black culture.
ReplyDeletePolyculturalism proves that idea wrong hip hop isn't just in black culture but has inspired and intergraded into many other cultures too. "Polyculturalism assumes that culture is embodies and cannot be separated from those that produce it... encourages hat complexity of cultures.(Lecture) Hip Hop has inspired people from wide range of cultures for example rapper M.I.A. she's from Indian decent but was born in London. Her song Paper-Planes was then remixed for the T.I. song Swagger Like Us feat. Jay-z, lil wayne and Kanye West. That song is an example of cultures inter- related Hip hop is polyculturalism.
Multiculturalism does nothing but keep cultures distinct and apart but give the idea that races can get along . It says that “ It’s many cultures together, but it does not recognize that cultures are overlapping and it distinguishes each group as separate and bounded” (lecture Sept 13). Polyculturalism differs because it “is a concept which asserts that all of the world's cultures are inter-related” (wikipedia polyculturalism). I believe that hip-hop falls, and should fall, under the polyculturalism idea. I think hip-hop is sometimes looked at a primarily black and/or only black culture when in reality it’s not, “It’s primary audience is white and lives in the suburbs” (Forman Neal 147). To back that up, “ Yo! MTV Raps, became for the first time the music of choice in the white suburbs of middle America,” (Forman Neal 152). If hip-hop is supposedly divided among races (multiculturalism) that statement is far off. You can clearly see that the idea of hip-hop flows from one culture to another. The idea of DJ Kool Herc sampling music that is said to be promidently listened to by white folk, shows that the idea of polyculturalism has been around from the very beginning.
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