Hip Hop's Place In Pop

~Sheepish Lordess of Chaos~
tygereyz67@aol.com
courtesy of DaveyD.com

I spent the weekend of April 19-22 at the Pop Music Studies Conference at the Experience Music Project (EMP) with Musicologists, journalists and professors from around the country. There were several Hip Hop related papers that were read, and hearing the opinions and research about various aspects of Hip Hop music was quite intriguing.

The first Hip Hop-based panel was moderated by Oakland journalist/deejay Oliver Wang, who attends UC Berkeley. Mark Katz of the Peabody Conservatory gave a very insightful analysis of deejay battling. He likened the craft to 'reverse ventriloquism' - explaining how a deejay's hands create the sounds that speak for him. He used the infamous X-ecutioners vs. Invisibl Skratch Piklz battle as a reference point, and showed a video of Australia's DJ Dexta competing in a DMC Battle at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. Quotes from Rob Swift added extra flavor to Mark's research as he explained various strategies of battling.

Felicia Miyakawa of Indiana University presented "(Re)Hearing Rap Remixes" with tables of information mapping the differences between original versions of songs and their remixes. There was nothing half-assed about her research - she included changes on songs from Stetsasonic, Queen Latifah, Paris, Lakim Shabazz, Brand Nubian, The Fugees, Outkast, Rakim, Scaramanga, Warren G and Missy Elliot to name a few. She explained that although there were some economic advantages to remixing songs after an album was released, the fact that many artists included remixes on their albums along with the original proved that it wasn't always a monetary decision. There were many factors involved, including the artists' ability to 'expand collaborative opportunities' instead of just changing the music in a remix.

Joe Schloss, who attended the University of Washington some time back, flew out from Brooklyn to give his paper on "Making Beats: The World of Sampling Based Hip Hop". He raised some thought-provoking questions- Is it necessary to be an actual deejay to be a good Hip Hop producer? Has sampling made turntablism in Hip Hop recording obsolete? Joe offered several quotes from the Micronots' Kool Akiem Grand Imperial Allah Universal, and quoted Seattle's super producer Vitamin D and mixtape master DJ Topspin.

In other Hip Hop related papers throughout the weekend, Harvard University's Hua Hsu (also the Reviews Editor for URB Magazine) discussed International Hip Hop in relation to American Hip Hop. Kyra D. Gaunt of the University of Virginia offered research from her upcoming book "The Games Black Girls Play - Learning The Ropes of Popular Music and Social Identity" (NYU Press). Her breakdown of how Hip Hop artists utilize little girls' handclap and double dutch chants to create popular songs was captivating. She explained how artists exploit girls' rhymes to make songs relatable to women. Think about that the next time you're singing along with the chorus to a popular song.

Jon Caramanica, Deputy Music Editor at BET Interactive, columnist at the Boston Phoenix, and contributor to Rolling Stone, Complex Magazine, Mass Appeal (and many others) gave a rousing paper called "I'm Gonna Dis You on the Internet: Hip Hop After Race, After Space". I only caught the end of Jon's paper, but what I heard was as fierce and fiery as the man himself. I also had the pleasure of discussing the finer points of the X-ecutioners album with Jon. Agreeing to disagree is a beautiful thing. Much respect.

Then there is always disagreeing in general. Joseph Drew of the Julliard Pre-College Division gave an interesting paper called "Satchmo to Slim Shady: Mapping the Parallel Evolution of Jazz and Rap". He brought up some fair comparisons of jazz soloists to Hip Hop emcees, however when he stepped into the realm of unmasking the early synthesis of jazz to Hip Hop and the 'evolution' of it, he called musical production and vocal deliveries on early Hip Hop 'square' and 'hokey' - enough to make an old school head cringe. In an 'Artists In Review' panel discussion, New York journalist Christopher O'Connor chose to speak upon the contributions of Afrika Bambaataa to modern music. His paper was entitled "Bambaataa's Bronx: Re-Tracing Footsteps at the Dawn of Hip Hop", and for the most part the paper was informative. It wasn't until he called the Zulu Nation website "gibberish-heavy" and "entertaining if you have time" that he lost me. More cringing.

Unfortunately there was just not enough representation from the Hip Hop and Urban Music community at this conference. This was addressed publicly after Robert Christgau of the Village Voice gave his Keynote address on "US and Them: Are American Pop (and Semi-Pop) Still Exceptional?". Mr. Christgau, a veteran in music journalism, stated in his paper that he could find no good Hip Hop with 'African' samples. He suggested that African American artists "need to learn more about African music". I asked him to elaborate on this point so that I could fully understand what he meant, and he stated that he found some inspiration 'in the underground' but that 'we are in the time of the 'post gangsta' era'. Finding his answer somewhat dismissive, I asked him if the problem was that the music wasn't "black enough" for him. Of course he scoffed at my remark, as did some others - however several people stepped to me afterward and thanked me for asking my question. I suppose the reactions were all relative to peoples' personal preferences and perspectives.

Professor Reebee Garofalo of the University of Massachusetts approached the microphone with some comments directed at the organizers of the Pop Studies Music Conference. He suggested that the itinerary for the conference excluded people from genres of music other than 'pop' or 'rock', and that more attention should be directed toward making people representing all genres of music feel included. He also addressed Mr. Christgau with regard to the keynote presentation, much more eloquently than I was able to in my moment.

After all questions had been taken, a book (called a fest shrift) was presented to Mr. Christgau - a collection of essays and thoughts contributed by various journalists and writers whose lives and careers he has affected throughout his forty years in the business.

All in all, the EMP did a wonderful job of bringing together some of the greatest minds in the country. Just know that when you see the words 'Pop Music' labeling a conference of this caliber that Hip Hop IS being discussed. The people who write these papers are teaching students and/or representing the music in mass media - we need to be active in the discussions that could potentially shape the attitudes about the culture worldwide. It will always behoove us to participate or at least to be present at these conferences to know the direction Hip Hop is taking in the mainstream eye.