A Study into the appeal of Hip Hop culture, focusing on Ali G

From the time of Elvis Presley and his pelvic thrusts being found offensive and un-Christian, to today's icons of hip hop culture, the most outrageous part of youth culture is what young people enjoy or find most appealing, which is normally material that is very rebellious or subversive. For today's youth, icons such British comedian Ali G are seen as appealing as well as offensive mainly by the older generation for their portrayal of hip-hop culture, which is defined as: ‘A popular culture movement originating in the USA in the 1980's, incorporating rap music, break dancing, and graffiti, and the wearing of characteristically baggy clothes' Chambers Dictionary In its main rap music and graffiti art are seen as offensive due to their unsociable aspects; graffiti art is mainly done in places where it is not welcome, and rap music has always been portrayed in a negative light. From the time of Public Enemy and NWA (Niggaz with attitude), who were the forefront and pioneers of gangster rap music, to recent rappers Xzibit, and Snoop Dogg. Gangster rap music (which is the main sub-genre of rap) represents violence as being an integral part of gangster life. The following song lyrics reflect hip hop culture: ‘The only reason you alive cos I aint said the word'- Represents the power rappers have, killing is represented as part of the gangster life. (Snoop Dogg-Lay Low)-LYRICS(year 2001 Misogyny is also represented as a feature of the gangster life. ‘I never go to clubs, I never chase a bitch'- Bitch a term used casually for females, with negative animal connotations. (Snoop Dogg-Lay Low)-LYRICS (year 2001) Rappers also promote the use of drug taking. ‘Smoke weed every day'-The use of drugs is represented as an acceptable, and sociable thing to do. (Dr.Dre-The next episode)-LYRICS (year-2000) The common use of expletives only adds to the ideology that the gangster life is one of being socially unacceptable, for example commonly used expletives include, ‘I'm a down town nigger so fuck all you niggers' (Snoop Dogg- Back up off me)-Lyrics 2001 The term nigger even though they are black could be seen as racist. Though mainly from outsiders or people who do not understand the hip hop culture, because with a twist of irony it is the derogative term given to black people by white western society, black people have taken this term and in the majority use it the sense of stating someone who is a friend. ‘U're my nigga dowg, and Eazy im still wid u' (Dr.Dre-Forget about dre)-Lyrics 2001 Thought it is still true the term can be used in a derogatory term to describe black people, the same way white people used it to decribe black people. ‘Nigga u'ze a penguin lookin' mutherfucker' (Dr.Dre-The Chronic)-Lyrics 1992 Ideologically the representations made of the gangster life are as true as can be perceived, but rappers produce an image of themselves in the mould required to sell the records, it is true that some rappers do live the life of the music they produce. Evidence can be seen in the drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur, and soon later the killing of rival rapper ‘Biggie Smalls' after there verbal assault on each other which included Tupac claiming to have had sex with his wife, and also threatening his life in a song. â€Å"You claim to be a player but I fucked your wife† â€Å"We gonna kill all you mutherfuckers† (Tupac-Hit em up)-Lyrics 1995 Yet in the same field you have rap stars such as ‘P Diddy' who has recently changed his image to a much softer one, and does not proclaim his relationship to the gangster life. However he was portraying a completely false image as he was brought up as a rich middle class boy, who started his career in hip hop as a music producer for ‘Biggie Smalls' Rappers do this to give them some type of authenticity, so it is believed that what they talk about is true and real, and this makes ‘the trip' a better and more real one. The difference between rap artists, and more mainstream pop artists even though you now have people who are merging them borders just look at Princess Superstar, is that rap artists produce talented work based upon their culture. Take DMX for example, his debut album ‘Its Dark and hell is hot opened at No 1 on the American music billboards. The album was given no official advertising or promotion by the record label, but due to the underground hype which was created by his sheer talent as an ‘M.C' which would most likely have been realised by his undertaking in lyrical battles with other MC's. Another example of underground hype shining through is Eminem who won came second in an olympic rap battle, and by listening to his talent Dr.Dre signed him up and now he is a hold house name selling million s of records including the smash hits such as, Stan, and The Real Slim Shady. Where as Hear'Say a manufactured pop band found fame through media construction, or whereas the winner of pop idol will also find fame in the same way. The concept by Nigel Lythgoe is an exceptionally creative one, but it would obviously not work for rap artists because of the different image they potray which is why they appeal to their target audience. It is clearly evident that some pop artists are not manufactured and work through in the regular way of having talent, a bit of luck and a gap in the market. Take the Beatles for example who were friends who started playing with each other, and then got signed up. Even though rappers are being racist their main target audience has become teenagers from white sub-urban areas in America. They target the â€Å"E† socioeconomic group but appeal to the students of the families in the â€Å"B/C† socioeconomic group, because of the rebellious and unacceptable statements they make, and the fact that they take their audience on a fantasy tour of the ghetto- a forbidden zone of killers, drug dealers, whores, pimps, and gun shootings. It could be said they allow them the offer of escapism in which they give a chance to see the â€Å"gangster world† from a safe distance Former congresswoman C. Delores Tucker and Harlem minister Calvin Butts helped to try to boycott hip hop records, but this had done nothing more than to reinforce and help target the main target audience due to the outrage it caused. They complained about the use of the Nigger word on American TV, but this sis nothing to appeal to the target audience of the music as Def Jams Co-Producer says best:- â€Å"Whatever they try to do only fuels the fire† Russel Simmons Ali G is also seen as offensive character because of his misogynistic comments, and his racial portrayal of the character Ali G played by Sacha Baron Cohen who is a Jewish, Cambridge graduate. The idea behind his shows and character is that he is a white man (who he actually he is) pretending to be from an Asian origin(he refers to an uncle Jamal, and his skin is slight tan brown), which is where the name Ali G comes from. He impersonates an ignorant misogynistic black man. He wears Tommy Hilfiger branded clothing, which from the 90's created links to hip hop culture through gangster rappers such as Snoop Dogg who wore the label, and gave the brand name a â€Å"street cred†) and Wu-wear which is another brand name clothing of the group Wu-Tang Clan who are a gangster rap group. Ali G also has a goatee which has socially become more â€Å"hip† and popular with youth culture, and the big oversized gold chain he wears around his neck. His accent is full of colloquialisms and references to urban street culture ie â€Å"skunk† â€Å"aiiggh† â€Å"innit†. There are numerous variations to the idea of his origin and who he is trying to represent, and as Sacha never gives interviews we are left guessing as to where the humour lies. He first started his comedic career, after having graduated from Cambridge, by starting a comedy club with his brother. They played two bitter Jews doing a song called ‘Shitzving' ( Yiddish for sweating) where they complained about being hot whilst stripping to their underwear. Here he is taking humour out of his own culture, which could be seen as racist, yet as it is his own culture it is not. When he does the same out of a section of British people, it is seen as racist. His big break came when he created the character Ali G reporting on â€Å"Yoof issues† for the '11 o clock show'. This was a humorous topical programme which was a hybrid of genres from interviews to â€Å"news reporting† (the word should be taken lightly) and Trigger Happy TV type spoofs on the street with the public. The show involved Ali G interviewing famous people such as The Bishop Of Corsham, and General Alexander Haig, former United States Secretary Of State. He became increasingly popular he was put on later and later until he was the last part of the show, so as to keep the audience watching until the end. He was later rewarded by been given his own show. On his own show for Channel 4, a show he engrossed viewers by interviewing semi-celebrities such as The Hamiltons at the time. This led to him being reported at the time Guardian reporting on him as â€Å"the most talked about figure in British popular culture.† www.theage.com/au/entertainment/2001/07/24/ffxq15u4hpc.html Thus it became obvious that his Target Audience, which are very similar to the one of the rap music, but more clearly a youth audience equally male and female of socioeconomic groups of â€Å"C,D,E†, find him funny; and those which are not directly targeted i.e. middle class older people, see him as offensive, like Andy Parfitt complained about his outrageous interview he gave on Radio 1. One of his more offensive comments in an interview with Sara Cox on Radio 1 he asked: â€Å"How come peoples on this show is allowed to say the c-word and mutherfucker but me can't say puni?† This question was obviously found offensive to some people like Andy Parfitt the Producer of the show, and Sara Cox had to give an apology on air ‘I do apologise if you've got any children in the car with you, because I know its half term in some parts of the country. I do apologise' But this would not have damaged his popularity because the target audience would expect this type of behaviour, and would appreciate it as it is so un-acceptable and rebellious. These are the type of antics and outrageous things Ali G would ask or say, and these are the reasons he got his own pilot show, and one of the reasons he is talked about so much especially in the tabloids, were they are known for focusing on famous people particularly in the leisure and entertainment industry. For example analyse the attention, and press coverage David Beckham is and was given when he changed his hair style to a Mohican which was reported in The Sun even though the news had no relevance to sport whatsoever. The reasons Ali G has so many admirers is that his humour has many angles. He is a clear parody of Black Culture, as he plays the black gangster rapper stereotype image with lots of street â€Å"cred†. He uses X-rated dancers who would easily be seen in a rap video (look at the Dr.Dre-Next Episode video), and wears the accepted hip hop culture uniform clothes which I mentioned earlier. He also has a DJ on the show playing Jungle/ hip hop tunes which are very popular within predominately black youth culture, and therefore also they can relate to them. He could also be trying to poke fun at white/Asian people who look to black youth culture, and find it appealing. He then takes this attitude and tries to imitate the culture with the clothes and the language, which can also be seen as to why Gangster rap's main TA is white people. A very famous example of white popularity of hip hop culture could be DJ Tim Westwood who has adopted a black sounding accent for his Radio1 Hip-Hop/Rap slot. These types of people are very evident in society and have even therefore been given a tag â€Å"Wiggers†. DJ Tim Westwood is also evidence of people who try to imitate or represent themselves as being gangsters to imitate their authenticity to the roots of the culture, in his case attempting to encourage people to tune into his show. Yet due to the social change of youth culture in relation to race, and the way the youth as a whole dress and talk, which is very similar regardless of race, some of the humour is aimed at the youth as a whole. His interview technique works around the ideology or questioning the structure of our society and in doing so attempts to become the voice of the youth in a sense as he is representing them, and enforces the ideology that young people know what is actually going on in the world or that they hope/wish that they do. â€Å"he questions knowledge of the past and in doing so makes the young feel smart† www.theage.com/au/entertainment/2001/07/24/ffxq15u4hpc.html He does this by breaking taboos which is evident in the question he asks Royal watcher James Whittaker: â€Å"Why was Diana knobbing that Pakistani?† This was a question after Princess Diana passed away, but at the time it was still seen as offensive due to the language he used â€Å"knobbing†. This represents a negative image of having sex, and also the comment, â€Å"that Pakistani†, suggests an alternative more sinister motive as though what is important or different in that particular Pakistani. In another interview with Sir Rhodes Boyson: â€Å"Do you fink kidz should be â€Å"caned† in school?† The joke here is not racial, but generational as under 35's would understand that he is talking about the use of drugs, yet people over this age would think he is talking about physical punishment in school. Ali G for the reasons explained above has became ever more popular as well as hip hop culture in general as well as rap music who are selling more and more records. Ali G has became so popular that he is made his own move ‘In Da house' which will be released on March 22, and he has in collaboration with Shaggy created a song called ‘Me Julie', whose video has been produced, and stays in line with Ali G the character and show women as sex objects Ali G asks Shaggy if he has any spare in reference to women, and shows mostly very sexy women who have very little clothing on. He is also represented as a ‘wigger' who takes it too far, and tells shaggy in the video ‘aren't we all' in reference to being from Jamaica where the video was shot. He also uses hand gestures which black people are predominately using. Though with this ever increasing popularity, and public awareness it would be interesting to see if he will not die out like Dennis Pennis who was caste out by the celebrities. But as far as rap music goes as well as Ali G if the music and comedy stays rebellious, and makes the young feel important it will always be popular by the youth audience, but contrary to this you have pop/rap artists such as Will Smith who created a popular album in ‘Willenium'. This was not rebellious at all but did well but this appealed to a different target audience much younger kids as it was not gangster rap music. You can now see how widespread and popular gangster rap music is getting by the fact that white people are finding fame in a predominately black art form, and the success they are receiving, such as Eminem who has stretched the genre of gangster rap music as he also talks about his problems in his own life which are not gangster related, he was the first rap artist who had a #1 album ‘The Marshell Mathers LP' at the same time as a #1 single ‘The real Slim Shady.'