Critical Investigation: Project proposal

Critical Investigation: Project proposal

Working title

'To what extent is hip-hop instrumental in allowing for social commentary on the issue of police brutality'

Angle

What impact is hip-hop music having on the general public's perception of police brutality and do they perceive it in a positive light in the sense that it acts as a therapeutic means to 

Hypothesis

Linked production piece

A music video relating to police brutality, perhaps from a UK perspective. The track used for it could be one of the ones mentioned below or a newer one.

MIGRAIN

• What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text?

• Iconography that sticks out especially in the music video is firearms. Throughout the video whether it's in the hands of a criminal or the police, the gun appears as both a pivotal and all-powerful object. While this might just be for the sake of progression in the narrative, it has to be said that it really does seem that this targets yet another issue ingrained in American society - gun violence. Whether it's intentional or not though, just adds to the ambiguity that the video itself has

• To what extent are the audience’s generic expectations of the text fulfilled or cheated by the text? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it treat them playfully or ironically?

• As a whole the video doesn't conform to the general characteristics of hip-hop videos to quite a large extent. It doesn't portray women as being interchangeable, doesn't glorify gang violence and neither does it work to aid the braggadocio of the artist himself, all things we typically see in hip hop music videos. In this sense the generic expectations of the audience aren't really fulfilled at all and rather the video ignores a lot of these in place for a more meaningful narrative-based affair on a significant current issue

• In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it?

• We see the label's [Pro Era's] identity being an influence through the more 'conscious' direction the video takes, with the label recognised for being particularly vocal on world issues such as racial discrimination and just being quite anti-establishment as a whole - non-conformity

• What are the major values, ideologies and assumptions underpinning the text or naturalised within it?

• The values and ideologies we're presented with in 'Like Me' is that racial discrimination as a whole, which ends up leading to things like police brutality has to stop because even those doing no wrong in the eyes of the law can simply become another statistic due to the carelessness of one person. This too matches up with what Pro Era as an institution is associated with as said before, blasting things like discrimination and the establishment that exists in the world

• How do you, as an audience member, read and evaluate the text? To what extent is your reading and evaluation influenced by your age, gender, background etc?

• Personally, I would say that the video is quite enlightening on the current injustices that take place within the USA. I can also manage to identify with it too because I myself am a young black male. Although I'm living in the UK it constantly makes me imagine how different life would be if I lived in the States and how I wouldn't be able to do certain things I do here with no worry there and how you could easily become just another statistic, innocent or not. As a fan of hip hop too, I feel that I'm able to connect with the video even further with such an important issue being displayed through a medium that I really enjoy. 

SHEP

Social - 

Historical - from this aspect, there an ample amount of cases of police brutality that have occurred in the United States to look at. One of the more notable ones would be the Rodney King case in which four police officers were caught on camera beating up taxi driver, Rodney King

Economical - 

Political - from a political standpoint the particularly controversial 2nd Amendment comes to mind as this is what states that people have the right to bear arms. While this remains in the Constitution, (black) people have still been killed for possession of them putting pressure particularly on Barack Obama to assess the changes that he could possibly make to it

Issues/Debates

• Racism
• Stereotypes
• Connotation
• Consumerism
• Demonisation?
• Product placement

Theories

• Binary opposition - here it links particularly to the black community and the police force who tend to be at opposing ends of the spectrum
• Preferred reading - relates to the portrayal of young black people in the media as being menaces to society
• Propp's character types - police generally fit within the 'villain' character type particularly just after cases of police shootings
• Audience theories -
• Two-step model - links as the social commentary on the issue is done through hip-hop music which is created by quite well known musicians (opinion leaders)
• Cultivation theory - this music can often mean that listeners develop views that quite strongly oppose police brutality, possibly to even more extreme levels

Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)

Media text

• Joey Bada$$ - Like Me

Other media texts

• Kendrick Lamar - Alright
• Killer Mike - Pressure ft. Ice Cube
• NWA - Straight Outta Compton
• Vince Staples - Hands Up
• YG - Police Get Away Wit Murder

Academic texts/books

• Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-hop and Black Politics by Lester K. Spence
• From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
• Pulse of the People: Political Rap Music and Black Politics by Lakeyta M. Bonnette
• Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement by S. Craig Watkins
• Deadly Injustice: Trayvon Martin, Race, and the Criminal Justice System by Devon Johnson
• It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Hip-Hop Generation by M.K. Asante