rap

bell hooks' writing about rap & Leesoid's blog have me wanting to say a million things, but since I'm presenting tonight & i'll probably talk more than enough then, I'll try to just mark a few main points:

-hooks writes that "much postmodernist critical inquiry has centered precisely on the issues of 'difference' and 'otherness'...in the absence of any sustained research into what artists of color and others outside the mainstream might be up to..."

First of all, where is all the research? Does it even exist? I've spent the past hour looking for some supporting evidence of a statistic that I've cited and heard many times in my life, but never gotten around to actually looking up: 80% of rap, r&b, and jazz production companies are owned by whites. Has anyone else heard this, and can anyone find any solid source?

-Secondly, the difference in substance between mainstream and underground rap is too harsh to ignore. Mainstream rap topics revolve around sex, money, and dissing other rappers. Underground lyrics question this (The Grouch - Rap is Senseless), revolving around political issues (anything by Immortal Technique), and often have positive messages (Devin the Dude, Blackalicious and Atmosphere if they can be called underground).

In trying to find some substance to the claim that black music is owned by white CEOs, I found an article in the Wall Street Journal stating that 70% of rap music listeners are white. If the CEO stat is a myth (doubt it), could this explain the difference in substance between mainstream and underground rap? It would make sense that whites are less concerned about racism, an issue you see in both genres but that actually builds towards something in much underground rap (ie, not just directionless anger blaming everything on cops). The "walking nihilism" bell hooks speaks of seems to be directly reflected in mainstream rap.

ok more to come but for now it's time for class...