Comments on Marco McWilliams and the film "Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhythms"

Class was packed full of interesting discussion. Marco first drew us into the fact that hip hop is a part of everyone's life, and has some impact on us all, even if we don't realize it. He also cleared up the difference between rap and hip hop- rap consists of vocals and hip hop is a lifestyle; a culture- 2 very different things. He told us about block parties, and how crucial they are in the developement of hip hop as part of black culture. Block parties are community parties that were born from urban communities that had little private outdoor space. He referred to them as cookouts that the whole block is a part of, and, more importantly, participates in. There is no discriminatiing involved in who is invited; the guests are your neighbors and community members. People meet eachother, hang out, socialize, and have a genuine interest in getting to know one another. He told us that the suburbs rarely have block parties because they have big yards and want privitization of leisure. In the urban communities, homes are very close together, there are more multi-family residences, there is little/no yard, porches are extended outward, and people are more forethcoming publically. There is no desire to seclude oneself away from neighbors and everyone else.

---> a noteoworthy part of this discussion was how class jumps across racial lines when it comes to the topic of block parties. Even the wealthier black suburban neighborhoods are significantly less likely to know their neighbors and partake in block parties compared to those who live in urban communities.



--->What does it mean when someone in the minority is referred to as acting "white"? Does that mean that they stray away from the stereotypical behaviors (and perceived class) of their minority group? Is that the term given to minorities who are successful in this country? For example: Is that a term used to describe a black person who lives in the suburbs and/or is college educated?


A story to go along with this topic that was brought up in class discussion:
I have a friend who is half Dominican and half Puerto Rican. She lives in East Greenwich, and I have heard her joke around about being "the whitest Spanish girl ever". TO her, it seems as though there is a marginalization, or a "disconnect" she feels when she visits her Puerto Rican family members. She says its because she doesn't know Spanish, she doesn't have the same sense of "Puerto Rican pride" that they seem to share, and she doesn't refer to herself as "ghetto" like she sometimes refers to them.



Marco led us in discussing about how racism and sexism are represented in the larger society, and are not born out of hip hop. The U.S. is a culture of violence. Hip hop was born in the displaced ghettos; the war zones. It was a response to the systematic violence forced onto a people.

"The violent man", as described in the video, is a metaphor for manhood and masculinity, symbolized through several things, like the visual and audio references to the gun. "Are black men trying to deny or defend their own frailty?"
The "hip hop music videos today are filled with violent hypermasculinity. An example of this is depicted through physicality. Black men elicit perceived power through body posture, and white men elicit perceived power through intellect.

'BET is the cancer of black manhood in the world"

Feminization of other men to make them seem powerless was discussed in the video s well. 50 cent was used as an example, when he called Ja Rule out for being a "bitch ass ni**a" for crying in his music video. There is no room for femininity or emotion that depicts anything but power and hardness in black hip hop videos. Also, when it comes to homosexuality, it became evident that the rap artists are aware of the fact that they are appealing to both sexes, even though they don't admit it. The homo eroticism that is evident through "greased up bodies and shirts off, as well as through sagging pants-which comes from being in jail and not being allowed a belt.
Further, it was noteworthy to learn that the corporate executives to many hip hop labels are white men in suits. These are the men who make the ultimate decisions, the men whose signatures are on the checks of the rap artists. These are the men in the most control; they are profiting off of the violent, ignorant depictions of the suffrage of the black race in music videos.

Tricia Rose, Author of THe Hip Hop Wars (Text)

"Radio is killing hip hop..."



"...community regulation in early hip hop." I like this part of the text. Rose tells us that the block parites that gave rise to the hip hop culture acted to regulate the culture itself because of the array of generations of people that were present and who played an active role in it. She said that young MC's and lyricists would not get away with the vulgarity that fills the mainstream hip hop world today because of this regulation in content.

more on this piece to come...

Hip Hops's Herstory -Tricia Rose

"...commercialized mainstream hip hop further marginalized and under appreciated the complexity of women's participation...leaving more space for men, but also limiting their representation. Women MC's must must fit into a very narrow mold"

The audio commentary by Tricia Rose was brief, but thought provoking. She explained the difference between an MC(vocals) and a lyricist(writer), and that the two are not always the same person behind whats heard. She says that "women need to answer back", meaning women have to address their relationship to their sexuality in mainstream commercialized hip hop. Whether this is through a tough, "gangsta" persona--Eve, being portrayed as a sexual vixen--Lil Kim, Trina, or through a masculine/controlling/dominant persona--Missy Elliot. Rose explains that hip hop like Salt N Peppa and TLC-hip hop that was sexually empowering for women, has fallen through the cracks and is left outside the commercialized hip hop market of today. I remember growing up listening to these musicians and even I can see how much the lyrical content has changed. It seems like it was so gradual that it almost went unnoticed.

Rose also talks about "Hypersexualization". Women are hypersexualized in music videos all of the time. They are always seen as sex objects, and they are always surrounding the very few dominant males, and focusing their every bit of attention on them. Sometimes their faces' are cut out of the scene, leaving behind their scantily clad bodies as focus points. Often times, the men are seen grabbing, staring, slapping, and seemingly harassing these women. However, the women don't seem to mind, so it's all OK. All of the males in music videos are overly dominant; they are showing off their money, guns, cars, muscles and bling, and they show little respect for their female counterparts. These videos send the message that men are in control and women are only there to please them.

"Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" -Marc Prensky

The late 20th-21st century singularity that makes today's K-college students fundamentally different from those the educational system was designed to teach; digital technology. 

"...our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language."

To start off, I loved this reading! Even though I can't relate to this point the author makes directly from an educator's perspective, I can say that I find that, as a student, it is easier to learn (and much more fascinating and engaging) when professors incorporate digital media into their classroom (and further discussions outside the classroom through Blogger, Wiki spaces, and other interactive online websites) as part of lessons and interaction between students themselves and student/teacher. This interactive co facilitation among students and teachers encourages further expansion of ideas brought up in class, helps those students who are less likely to verbalize their ideas feel comfortable communicating, and really seems to bring the learning atmosphere to life. This is the new age of learning. The professors who are still doing straight lectures (and even straight powerpoints at this stage of the game) are not going to engage their digital age students like they could if they were using some of these more advanced modes of communication , and, in turn, students suffer because they are bored, leading to less retention of material in a meaningful and applied way. Students' attention spans are growing shorter because technology is so instant now. They are not used to waiting or being patient anymore. They want their information now, and don't want to waste any time. They connect to a learning environment that incorporates digital media because it parallels what they are comfortable with. Students need to be constantly challenged with multiple tasks and educated in a multitude of ways to stay engrossed in the lesson at hand. 

We live in a society of NOW.

A society that wants it faasteer...

A society that wants to communicate instant message style

It won't settle for snail mail or dial up ever again

it demands the NEWest... the best

It demands wireless and automatic everything

Everyone walks around plugged in

Disconnected from the world surrounding them...

or are they?

-> I understood all of the points the author was making. He was clear and concise, and explained himself well if he thought his idea or vocabulary could be confusing. His writing seemed to be addressed directly to the teenagers who were at the forefront of the digital age, and who seem to be the most impacted by the educational system that is designed for pre-digital age learning. 

->This text is an excellent follow up to Thomas Hines. This text serves to show that teenagers are.. I love how Prensky refers to being knowledgeable in digital technology as a language, and that this language is not native to those "immigrants" who have not grown up with it, thus causing conflict. I would like to talk more about this language in class.

"The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager" -Thomas Hine

Some quotes I found to be insightful from the reading:

"...teenagers' priciple occupation is to adapt, to find a place in life"

This sums up an unconcious desire that many teenagers are on a quest for. I can only speak from personal opinion and observation, but it does seem to be that teenagers are constantly struggling to fit in wherever they can. Sometimes its with the wrong crowd, sometimes its with people who share a similar hobby, and sometimes its with someone whom the teen lusts becasue of a socially acceptable quality (the cool guy, the pretty girl, the jock..ect) , and the teen wants to be "just like them", because they are socially accepted.  Perhaps, as Hine's emphasizes, this is why teenagers seem to be so mysterious, unstable, unpredictable, and just plain bizarre. Its becasue they are constantly evolving, and constantly sampling new environments and behaviors to see what works best for them, and to see where they feel the most accepted. A lot of time as a teenager is spent worrying about what others think of you. Less is spent on worrying what you think of yourself; this comes later in life. 

"... all of us have been teenagers, and we ought to be experts on how teenagers tink. Oddly, few people can actually remember the experience."

I really liked this part of the reading. It made me stop and remeber what it was like for me as a teenager. I find that as the years go by, the memories (with some exceptions) become more distant and less explicit; the feelings and emotions they used to generate are slowly fading. The experiences (and feelings/cognitions/emotions linked to them) that were once novel and exciting are now becoming more routine or familiar, and, in a way, take a little something from the original memories. The fact that Hine states that his book began when he was a teenager made me really think about how much change has happened for me since then, and I can only imagine the changes that will take place once decades start going by. 

What is Media Literacy?

There are several websites chock full of definitions and explanations for the meaning behind "media literacy". A popular and widely accepted definition I found was as follows:

"Media literacy is an expanded information and communication skill that is responsive to the changing nature of information in our society. It addresses the skills students need to be taught in school, the competencies citizens must have as we consume information in our homes and living rooms, and the abilities workers must have as we move toward the 21st century and the challenges of a global economy."

Extracted from:

http://www.ced.appstate.edu/departments/ci/programs/edmedia/medialit/article.html#What is Media Literacy

However, to fully understand the complexity behind this pair of words is not going to be accomplished through reading a bunch of definitions. To me, media literacy began in our last class when we dissected Beauty & the Beast and the music video by Madonna. It began when I started seeing the images as highly complex and particular, as opposed to simple and entertaining. Media literacy begins when you notice this change, when you stop viewing images as simple entertainment, and when you start seeing the reasons why they were chosen in the first place. I used to watch films and feel my emotions act in accord with the images and sounds I was experiencing. Now, I find myself beginning to look deeper into the film. To read between the lines; to actively watch what my subconcious has been absorbing for all of these years.