Somebody Scream!
Rap Music's Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
For many African Americans of a certain demographic the sixties and seventies were the golden age of political movements. The Civil Rights movement segued into the Black Power movement which begat the Black Arts movement. Fast forward to 1979 and the release of Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight." With the onset of the Reagan years, we begin to see the unraveling of many of the advances fought for in the previous decades. Much of this occurred in the absence of credible, long-term leadership in the black community. Young blacks disillusioned with politics and feeling society no longer cared or looked out for their concerns started rapping with each other about their plight, becoming their own leaders on the battlefield of culture and birthing Hip-Hop in the process. In Somebody Scream, Marcus Reeves explores hip-hop music and its politics. Looking at ten artists that have impacted rap—from Run-DMC (Black Pop in a B-Boy Stance) to Eminem (Vanilla Nice)—and puts their music and celebrity in a larger socio-political context. In doing so, he tells the story of hip hop's rise from New York-based musical form to commercial music revolution to unifying expression for a post-black power generation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Reeves proves himself an insightful and capable historian in this collection of essays examining the rise of ten distinct hip-hop movements and their respective avatars. The author displays a remarkable talent for linking lyrics and interviews with broad artistic and historical themes. Locating each artist within their larger social context, he also uses artist lyrics as apertures to overriding socio-political motifs, combing through tracks and imputing rhymes to the relevant racial struggles of the day. This method is convincing when applied to early hip-hop pioneers such as Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, and Grandmaster Flash, whose art stood in direct response to the urban decay of their communities, or used side-by-side with a discussion of the feminist movement in a history of Salt-N-Pepa. It is less effective when connecting politics and more contemporary hip-hop practitioners. For example, Reeves curiously intertwines Jay-Z's iced-out swagger with the Affirmative Action dispute of the late 1990's, and DMX's thug spirituality with the incarceration and release of Black Panther leader Geronimo Pratt. That these links are harder to forge perhaps speaks to hip-hop's ever-growing disengagement from identity politics and the hardships of the communities it claims to represent.
