Brayden Gibson

Introduction
-

Music along with other cultural creations, reflects social power and positioning
(Rose 1995)
This article examines political rap music as a form of cultural expression and
contributes to the literature on music and culture
African Americans have adapted to their marginalized position in a class centric,
and capitalistic society, through various cultural elements
Rose says that people in oppression use transcripts in language, dance and
music to mock those in power, and express emotion
Political rap emerged in post-industrial America as a form of resistance, giving
voice to the private troubles of African Americans
This paper examines political rap lyrics to understand how often and in what
context these themes were used
Most of the content of new black cultural expressions are directly or indirectly
political, demanding and justifying the legitimacy of a black identity and
tradition in order to establish a cultural basis for racial equality (Gans 1974)
Political Rap surfaced as a major strain of rap music in the 1990s, it incorporated
Black ideals and feelings
Black rappers advocated black and white working class, as well as the classbased oppression they felt
Political rap told individual experiences d racial oppression
o By offering up alternate interpretations, it was used as social activism
Political rap offers up a uniquely African American view of society, not offered
anywhere else

Previous Studies of Political Rap

-

Political rap provides a street ethnography of racist institutions and social

practices
This article differs from previous because there has been no focus on lyrical
content and their connection to the major theme of oppositional resistance, and
the themes of police brutality and unemployment.
Related literature served as topical guides for this articles research
This type of rap is broken down into several major themes, they go as follows:
Redefined Concept of the black family as the racial community.
o
o

Rappers hope to reconstruct black social life by an appeal to community

(McDonnel 1992)
In Imagines communities, although a member will never know every
other member, the image of community is still evoked (Roseberry 1996)

Loss of economic opportunities.

o

Relocation of work to the suburbs; globalization of manufacturing;

White/Upper-Working Class Black Fight

Often prospects for economic betterment through illegal activities

Educational Bias.
o

Rap music introduces black youth to their heritage and identities

(Decker 1994)

Health Care Inequality.

o
o

Health services were inequitable, because of the lower class care in

poorer neighborhoods
When America sneezes, black America gets a cold

Criminal Justice Discrimination

o

Criminalization, surveillance, incarceration, and immiseration of black

youth in the post-industrial city have been a central theme in political
rap (Kelley 1994)
Ice cube argued that the incarceration of black youth was inevitable do to
police repression, as well as economic inequality

Police Brutality
o

Several reports say that the Lost Angeles Police Department treated Black
community members unequally and brutally.
Even including several homicides as justifiable
They arrested many of the Black community members and used
justified extreme physical force

Mass Media Misrepresentation

o

Media often misrepresented Blacks, telling only a negative one-sided

story of their lives.
They often framed them lawless and amoral

Racial Genocide Conspiracy

o
o

Political rappers often suggested that the high rate of, incarceration,
mortality and police brutality were due to a conspiracy
Several logos and symbols of the time show African American youth at
the end of a gun or scope, to signify that they are sighted for
elimination

Research Design and Methods

-

In this study, they describe the frequency and notion of oppositional resistance
and the themes mentioned above.
The data was drawn from music lyrics that were categorized to answer the
questions
They selected 6 representatives of political rap, Ice-T, NWA, Paris, PE, Ice Cube,
and KRS-One

Raps selected from the late 1908s and early 1990s, when this style first
reached prominence
The sample included ever rap track from the 20 albums released by these
artists, totally 306 songs.
o An analyst was given 5 albums and chose their thematic content, this was
cross checked with another analyst to verify that the content was there
A scale was implemented to gauge the potency of the theme
o 0 = None
o 1 = Implied
o 2 = Clear
o 3 = Extreme
The contextual meaning and significance of the various themes within the rap
tracks was further explored by uncovering thematic connections, illuminating
the context in which those lyrics rose.
o

Results
-

Oppositional resistance was gauged on whether or not the track took a resistive
stance
Of the 306 samples, 209 songs expressed some notion of oppositional resistance
o 44% of the songs, resistance was Clear (2) or Extreme (3)
Black family as a racial community was a common theme sampled in rap lyrics
o Consisting of 45% of 306, or 138 songs
Other than that, no other themes were particularly present
Themes of Criminal justice discrimination and Racial Genocide Conspiracy
expressed in combination in 44% of the lyrics
o This expressed an ideal that gang life was one of the only ways to
survive in these poor areas, it was the only way to be safe
Boasting as the baddest rapper was also common

Interpretation and Conclusions

-

In this study, they demonstrated the pervasiveness of oppositional resistance in

political rap music between 1988 and 1992
The most prominent theme was the affirmation of black nationalism by using
images of an extended family
Main Stream media portrayed these cultural icons as people who challenge the
status quo and are potentially dangerous (Rose 1991)
These rappers use powerful symbols of black men wielding guns or in military
outfits, in order to invoke ideas of resistance
The media seldom mentioned the positive aspects of the music, including
personal empowerment, anti-drug rhetoric and a celebration of the black
community

Catherine Beighey and N. Prabha Unnithan, Political Rap: The Music of Oppositional
Resistance. Sociological Focus 39 (2) (2006), 13343.