‘When we consider hip hop’s origins and
purpose, we understand it is a revolutionary cultural force that was intended
to challenge the status quo and greater American culture’ - (Asante, 2008) [1]
To what extent is hip-hop instrumental
in allowing for social commentary on the issue of police brutality?
Having only
been formed just under 50 years ago in the Bronx borough of New York City, the
genre of hip-hop is one that has seen many evolutions take place within it. Initially
it acted as an outlet ‘chiefly concerned
with the social conditions of (black) working-class (urban life)’[2] or struggles
whether that relate to marginalisation or racism. Rap groups from the 1980s and
90s like the NWA and Geto Boys exemplified and embodied this, through the
release of their songs ‘F*ck Da Police’ and ‘Crooked Officer’ respectively. Fast
forward to 2016 and things aren't at all the same. 'Mainstream' has taken a
hold, where commercialism and braggadocio are conventions held at the utmost
importance, with hip-hop even being referred to as ‘the very language of the advertising world.’[3] However this doesn't mean
that the genre as a form of social commentary has been totally eradicated. In
the case of police brutality, 'the use of excessive and/or unnecessary
force by police when dealing with civilians'[4] which is something that's been rife in the USA since the Civil Rights
Movement, artists like Joey Bada$$ are still taking it upon themselves to
address the issue. His 'Like Me' video, released amidst the deaths of
individuals like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown at the hands of police
brutality, depicts a fictional case of it which other artists like Kendrick
Lamar and YG have also followed in the line of. This is representative of the
influence that the artists have through their music to shine light on social
issues to their listeners. At the same time though, while commentary is allowed
for through the genre, the effectiveness of it in actually solving issues like police brutality are yet to be seen and this
essay will explore whether it’s capable of it at all.
In response to the ‘last few years of heightened public
attention to shootings of unarmed black men,’[5]
on February 11th 2015 through the
YouTube channel of his record label Pro Era Records, Joey Bada$$ published the
video for Like Me (a song off of his debut studio album B4.DA.$$). Being over 5
minutes in length, the video takes the theme of police brutality and threads in
a whole narrative element to it featuring Joey himself as the main character. ‘Embroiled in a
love triangle, Joey ends up held at gunpoint by his girl’s ex, then escapes
when police shoot both of them during the chaos. Later, police find him again
and shoot when he tries to flee the scene.’[6]
The representation of black males throughout the course of
this video is significant as it both reinforces and subverts stereotypes in
particularly interesting ways.
In a scene involving Joey’s love interest’s ex, we’re
presented with what is a common portrayal of the young black man of today. During
the late-night hours the ex and two others ready up to perform a mugging on a
passer-by. Looking at him in particular just moments before approaching the
soon-to-be victim, a slow motion medium close up shot shows him raising his
hood, already donning a blue bandana as well as a snapback cap. This type of
clothing alone has certain connotations attached to them, the hoodie in
particular with it being something that was once referred to by American talk
show host Geraldo Rivera as ‘thug wear’[7]
in reference to the shooting of Trayvon Martin. The coloured bandana just goes
on to reinforce this idea of the ex being involved in criminal, possibly
gang-related activity with the appearance of a golden gun essentially confirming
this. It could easily be said though that this links into this idea of a ‘distorted pattern of portrayal’[8]
where ‘black males are overrepresented
when media touch on certain negative topics, such as criminality, unemployment,
and poverty, for instance.’[9] Not only this, but the intricacies behind
characters like this never end up being expanded upon, such as why they’re
committing the crimes they are, resulting in ‘one-dimensional characters’[10] defined by the many
stereotypes associated with the minority group that they’re in (Medhurst). In contrast Joey, who as described by himself, is that ‘cool
guy, who is away from all the violence’[11]
subverts the stereotype that the ex helps
reinforce, creating a sense of binary opposition between the two.
Later in the video on another day, the ex spots
Joey and his former girlfriend wandering around the streets with one another
and with the same gun shown in the night scene, runs up to him and holds him at
gunpoint. A tussle then ensues between them which results in
the girl accidentally being shot, the police pulling up nearby just moments
after this. As the ex goes back to holding Joey at gunpoint in blame of shooting
her, two police officers (one African-American, the other Caucasian) arrive on
the scene. Both point their guns at the ex appearing to tell him to drop the
weapon and while Joey uses this a chance to flee the area, the ex ends up
getting shot in the torso by the black officer. Similarly to the robbery scene, firearms are
displayed almost as an all-powerful weapon whether they are in the hands of the
police or anyone else for that matter. Whether this iconography’s purpose is solely
furthering narrative or adding another level of social commentary on the
current issue of police brutality and/or gun violence in the USA as a whole is
ambiguous though, and audiences are bound to come away with different views on
it. The most notable thing here though is the fact that the ex is murdered at
the hands of a black police officer.
This alternative representation really works to subvert the stereotype there is
that it’s always white officers behind the trigger in cases of police brutality
in the USA, while still maintaining the binary opposition (Levi-Strauss) that
exists within the police force and black people. This subversion is further
cemented when towards the end of the video, this same black officer shoots Joey
to death as he runs away from him. Not only does it assert the dominant
representation that there is in the media of American police as being trigger-happy,
regardless of race, but the way in which Joey dies must be paid attention to since
‘with
a hoodie on and his hands raised, Bada$$ embodies some of the most pointed
signifiers of these cases.’[12]
With the sound cutting out completely after the second
gunshot, bar the ominous howling of the wind, and blood splattering on the
screen, ‘a resurrection sequence spurred on by
halos of white light around the fallen unfolds.’[13]
Two of these fallen include other unarmed victims of police
brutality, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, evidenced with the latter by the
white hoodie. This simple yet direct reference to the issue highlights the way
the genre of hip hop can act as ‘the most powerful tool when it comes to spreading messages
and getting words across,’[14] for artists as Joey puts across himself.
Heralded
as ‘making conscious rap […] trying
to point out the problems of African American society to outsiders, critiquing
its socioeconomic status and promoting social progress as opposed to
criminalization and violence,’[15]
it’s no surprise a video of this nature came from Pro Era Records. Founded
in 2011 by teenagers ‘born in dangerous
neighborhoods and facing many obstacles’[16]
non-conformity and anti-establishment sentiments are features that were
bound to shine through their content, and the social commentary we see on
police brutality (just one of the obstacles) in the Like Me video is
illustrative of this. The extent to which this commentary is actually done to raise
awareness and eventually solve the issue is questionable though, particularly
when you come to find that Pro Era Records is owned by Cinematic Music Group
(CMG) as part of Sony Music Entertainment (SME). This ownership by a major
record label raises doubts as to whether the video was uploaded to bring about
social commentary on police brutality or just further the interests of the
parent company. Factor in the date the video was published on (11/02/15), just
over 3 weeks after the release of the album the track was on, then it starts to
appear that the latter could be true, and maybe the primary purpose of the
release of the video was just for product promotion of B4.DA.$$. Regardless of its primary goal though, the
video still speaks volumes on the issue at hand through things like the ‘visual
reference to some of the most widely protested cases of young, unarmed black
men who have been shot to death’[17]
towards
the end of it. It could even be said that perhaps the
involvement of a major record label in it is of assistance in the sense that it
means the video reaches the masses it needs to ‘to help galvanize a
generation’[18]
on what’s an
increasingly burning issue in modern day society.
Music
contemporary Kendrick Lamar, is another artist who has used ‘his “influence” to
comment on the ongoing discussion about the killing of black men by white
police officers.’[19] His music video for ‘Alright,’ a track
off of his To Pimp a Butterfly album released just months after Like Me, doesn’t
fall short and in some respects exceeds the feats of social commentary on
police brutality achieved by Bada$$ in his video. Featuring ‘striking imagery’[20] throughout of ‘graphic police brutality, the Los Angeles
skyline cast in soft, smoggy light, and Kendrick floating through the city’s
streets with fire in his eyes’[21] the video is as
fascinating as it is disturbing. Releasing in a time (June 30th
2016) when ‘the
number of fatal shootings by officers increased from 465 in the first six
months of last year to 491 for the same period this year,’[22] Alright couldn’t have come at a more
appropriate period than it did. Consider the fact that the shootings of Alton
Sterling and Philando Castile took place just under a week after its release,
in a rather eerie way at this, and the appropriateness of its time of release
is asserted.
Looking at the actual video itself, throughout the intro
sequence and entirety of it there’s a monochromatic black-and-white filter
which works to establish this quite dark vibe to it, something that already
comes with its subject matter. The intro features a variety of different scenes
to it, going from one ‘that looks like a
kid getting jumped’[23] to all-out ‘rioting’[24] at one point,
with a burning police car and a Molotov cocktail being thrown at a graffitied
wall. This ‘bleak and almost apocalyptic
imagery’[25]
doesn’t end here though, and more notably in a way akin to the Like Me
video, we see a case of police brutality take place. An officer attempts to
make an arrest on a citizen, slamming them against a wall, raising their arms and
putting handcuffs on him. Before he can manage to get both on, ‘the man pushes the officer and makes a run
for it.’[26]
Just as this happens, the officer draws for his pistol and in seemingly
mouthing the word ‘freeze,’ the video goes into slow motion zooming into a
close-up where the only things in frame are the barrel of the pistol and the
‘POLICE’ hat the officer behind the trigger is wearing. With this the gun
discharges, and all that can be assumed from this point is that the arrest
victim was shot and killed as the video progresses to the next scene in a
straight cut. Unlike Joey’s take on the issue, everyone behind the trigger in
this video (police officers) is
white, pertaining to the more dominant reality in high-profile cases of police
brutality. All of this is before we see, similarly to Bada$$’s video, the death
of the artist himself. Standing on top of a lamppost overlooking the city,
dancing to the beat of the song, an officer pulls up nearby. He exits his car
with a rifle in hand, though when he shoots Kendrick he does so with two
fingers, mimicking a gun. This is followed by him falling back down to the
earth as the bullet rips through his body, blood spilling as this happens,
while he recites a poem. Eventually he lands and the video cuts to black, but seconds
after in a close-up shot of his face, he smiles at the camera. This theme of
artists dying in videos appears to be more than just a narrative feature and
really what it could be is stressing the mortality that every black man has
within America today – famous or not. What’s interesting here is how there’s no
sense of new equilibrium (Todorov) reached, as what would be the evil forces/villains
(police - Propp) are never defeated and the conflict that goes on between them
and black people remains to be. Social commentary on police brutality at this
magnitude has eventuated into the song being referred to as ‘the anthem to civil unrest in 2015.’[27]
Throughout #BlackLivesMatter protests in the USA, whether it be against
the arrest of a 14-year-old ‘taken in by
police after allegedly being intoxicated on a bus’[28] or ‘for the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man
March’[29] the song’s refrain ‘we
gon’ be alright’ [30]
has been one repeated by thousands across the country. The essence of hope that
it contains despite all the odds against ‘police
brutality of black and brown bodies,’[31] is something that
brings hip-hop back to the ‘form of
African-American and bohemian dissent’[32] that it was
initially known for. As a ‘resistance
mechanism that Blacks
utilised to assert their visibility in arenas whose majority players deemed
them invisible,’[33]
the
genre has allowed artists to ‘disseminate
information, increase solidarity, fight against injustice, and maintain
political and social movements.’[34]
Alright is undoubtedly testament to this, and perhaps with its use in
actual protests against the issue of police brutality, it could be said that
its use of social commentary within both the lyrics and the video went further
than Joey Bada$$’s Like Me. Nonetheless though, this commentary going onto
solve the issue just like Like Me, is highly unlikely when looking at it
realistically.
Having foundations in the ‘principles
of rebellion’[35]
as a ‘cultural vehicle for open
social reflection,’[36] social commentary
on police brutality in hip-hop’s earlier days must be cited, with NWA’s ‘F**k
tha Police’ being the first port of call for this. Released on August 9th
1988, unlike the other two videos discussed, the track doesn’t have a music
video accompanying it. However, this by no means diminishes any of its impact
whatsoever. Starting off from a lyrical standpoint, the lyrics featured
in F**k tha Police are a lot more incendiary in their nature especially when
pitted against tracks we have nowadays speaking out on police brutality.
Examples of these lines include ‘I'm a sniper with a hell of a scope, taking out a cop
or two, they can't cope with me,’ ‘a sucka in a uniform waitin' to get shot by
me, or anotha n***a’ and of course ‘police think they have the authority to
kill a minority.’ While a song like ‘Alright’ has the line ‘and we hate po-po,
wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho,’ of course in relation to police
brutality, Kendrick never goes as far as to advocating the killing of officers
and this is representative of how certain sentiments within the relationship
between black people and the police have changed. The NWA track essentially
contributed to moral panic (Cohen) at the time, evident with the censorship and
banning of the performance of the song by police, but regardless of this its
impact couldn’t be stopped. The track still remains today ‘a rallying cry for protests against police brutality’[37] almost
as if ‘the song was written yesterday’[38]
as Ice Cube puts across himself which frankly, is quite a troubling thing to
note. This impact is amplified too when you pay attention to the fact that in
‘Like Me,’ Joey says the line: ‘Blacks
get their a** sprayed just for making a move, that’s why we get high and say
“f**k the police.’ This of course is in direct reference and homage of the NWA
song itself, and while Joey doesn’t have that same inflammatory nature that the
group had in the lyrics of their song, it’s still clear that their influence
has almost been unmatched. Their ‘political
critiques’[39]
of police and their excessive force is 100% representative as to how
hip-hop is an avenue for social commentary on the issue of police brutality.
When we return to
modern day though, sadly it can’t be said that hip-hop being used for social
commentary on issues like police brutality is a common sight. As the genre has
been brought into the mainstream, ‘more defined by codeine and clubbing
than raising awareness’[40]
there has been an
indisputable ‘decline in politically charged material, as
major-label hip hop artists began to focus on radio-friendly topics like
relationships, personal beefs, and bling.’[41]
Something said to have taken over as recent as
the year just gone is ‘mumble rap,’ with
this involving artists ‘mumbling words
over a hard beat - - utilizing the sounds from their mouths as part of the
instrumental.’[42]
Speaking out on real issues is something that is becoming more and more of
a rarity within the genre, and this has been a gradual process that has meant
that ‘over the past decade it has been lulled into being a conservative
instrument, promoting nothing now or remotely challenging to mainstream
cultural ideology.’[43] With the immense influence that these artists have over their
audiences as opinion leaders (Katz and Lazarsfeld), some in society possess
this worry that young people particularly will be negatively affected by the
kind of messages that this music shares. Described as the ‘cultural arm of predatory capitalism,’[44] ‘blaring redundant, glossy messages of violence without
consequence, misogyny and conspicuous consumption,’[45] people cultivating views (G. Gerbner) that
reflect music like this can spark a moral panic in the sense that copycats can
start to spring up and audiences can become desensitised to things which they
shouldn’t be as they’re ‘injected’ (hypodermic needle model) with certain
values through the music.
But perhaps in the
future, social commentary on police brutality could ascend the boundaries of
hip-hop altogether. Citizen journalism, ‘the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and
information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet,’[46] seems to be doing exactly what the genre intended to do
in its inception. With it involving, at least in respects to police brutality
specifically, someone recording a show of excessive force by an officer on a
citizen and then uploading this onto social media to where it circulates, local
issues get brought to a global stage. This same filming as of recent ‘has led to a
wave of protests and calls for reform across the US,’[47] and what’s really interesting here is that these
demonstrations are being driven by predominantly black people, all through a
cameraphone. Just like hip-hop/rap, which ‘Blacks
utilised to assert their visibility in arenas whose majority players deemed
them invisible,’[48]
citizen
journalism is allowing those that we may never heard a peep from before, to
speak out on injustices they happen to bear witness to. Something worth looking
at over the next few months is the impact that the inauguration of
President-elect Donald Trump will have on this type of journalism. Having announced
plans to ‘take the
controversial stop-and-frisk practice nationwide,’[49]
it’s not
outlandish to think that the amount of these kind of citizen journalism videos could
rise, as these practices are often prone to targeting black people the most. As
it is, this seems like the inevitable reality that it is going to have to take
place but only time will tell if it comes into fruition.
In conclusion, it
can be said that hip-hop is instrumental in allowing for social commentary on
the issue of police brutality to quite a considerable extent. As the ‘town
hall for the culture, a sounding board, a place to vent […] to help galvanise a
generation,’[50]
it allows those within the very margins of
modern America, the opportunity to comment on an issue that if not for its existence [hip-hop], would only be covered by
the media. With it, through all the adversity, comes gems which we see in the
form of songs like Like Me by Joey Bada$$ and Kendrick Lamar’s Alright. It does
have to be remarked though that perhaps galvanising is all hip-hop’s commentary
on police brutality can do. Member of Geto Boys, Big Mike, in an intro to the
song ‘Crooked Officer,’ released back in 1993, stated that: ‘The
song’s not enough, the song is just saying we need to take some kind of action.
This is just the beginning in the step towards the right way.’[51]
What’s
being said here is that although the song gets the social commentary necessary
across that they want, he understands that it’s something that’ll only capture
the attention of certain members of the public on the issue and not actually outright
stop it. Looking at the use of a song like Alright as a protest anthem for
police brutality and it’s clear that this may be the case. The song doesn’t
solve problems, but rather just raises awareness of them and perhaps that’s all
that’s actually needed on the road to getting to the solution of issues of its
kin.
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[1] Asante,
M. (2008). p. ???
[2]
Spence, Lester K. (2011). p. 23.
[3]
Asante, M.K. (2008). p. ???
[4]
Danilina, S. (2010)
[5]
Spanos, B. (2015)
[6]
White, C. (2015)
[7]
Rogers, A. (2012)
[8]
Kerschhagel, M. (2011)
[9] ibid
[11]
Canon, G. (2015)
[12]
Spanos, B. (2015)
[13]
White, C. (2015)
[14]
Spanos, B. (2015)
[15]
Karakurt, A. (2015)
[16] ibid
[17]
Spanos, B. (2015)
[18]
Stereo, W. (2016)
[19]
Makarechi, K. (2015)
[20]
Cox, J. (2015)
[21] ibid
[22]
Kindy, K. (2015)
[23]
Yoh. (2015)
[24] ibid
[25] ibid
[26] ibid
[27]
Thompson, D. (2015)
[28]
Nguyen, D. V. (2015)
[29] Complex
News. (2015)
[30] Genius.
(2015)
[31] ibid
[32]
Asante, M. (2008). p. ???
[33]
Bonette, L. M. (2015) p. 8.
[34] ibid
[35]
Asante, M. (2008). p. ???
[36]
Rose, T. (1994). p. 18.
[37]
Moore, C. (2015)
[38]
Carter, K.L. (2015)
[39]
Spence, L. K. (2011). p. 2
[40]
William, S. (2016)
[41]
Moore, C. (2015)
[42] Iandoli,
K. (2015)
[43]
Asante, M. (2008). p. ???
[44]
Elliot-Cooper, A. (2012)
[48] Bonette,
L. M. (2015) p. 8.
[50]
Williams, S. (2016)
[51] Diazmuñoz, C. (2006)
