The Hip-Hop Genre

Abstract

While conducting research for this essay, I found that it would be best to address recent developments in the hip-hop genre, and thus chose to focus on the discourse surrounding hip-hop since 2010. I located some sources outside of this time frame that reinforced my findings and used the pertinent points to further my analysis. Much of the critical discourse about post-2010 hip-hop music involved two things: the elevation of hip-hop to a proper art form, with similarities to jazz, through experiments in production and songwriting, and the continued prevalence of homophobia and sexism in the culture. I chose to further narrow my focus to these two topics, finding articles about artists typifying these qualities. The chief performers I uncovered discourse on were Macklemore, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Jay-Z, and the Los Angeles rap collective Odd Future.

Annotated Bibliography

Baron, Zach. "On Odd Future, Rape and Murder, And Why We Sometimes Like the Things That Repel Us." Sound of the City. The Village Voice, 10 Nov. 2010. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This article helped me tie together a series of opinions made about Odd Future, centered around a series of reviews released at the time that questioned why their music was becoming so popular. Baron discusses both sides of the discourse surrounding the rap collective, effectively finding a way to link proponents and detractors of the controversial music the members create.

Caramanica, Jon. "Finding a Place in the Hip-Hop Ecosystem." The New York Times 27 Jan. 2014, sec. Arts: n. pag. NYTimes.com. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This article provides background on the rap world’s mixed feelings on Macklemore as an artist. Written in the wake of his Grammy sweep, Caramanica also describes the creep of hip-hop into the mainstream, even though he questions Macklemore’s validity as a rapper, positing him more as a pop star.

Cheek, Philip. "What The Kendrick/Macklemore Debate Means For Hip-Hop." HotNewHipHop. N.p., 4 Feb. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This article is important to the final essay because it is critical of Macklemore’s Grammy victory over Kendrick Lamar, but not in an unfair way. Instead, the critic expounds upon the notion that hip-hop is becoming a divided genre of music with many different subsets and also posits that the genre’s accessibility is important to its future.

Cohen, Ian. "Album Reviews: Magna Carta Holy Grail." Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media, 8 July 2013. Web. 9 Feb. 2014. <http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18247-jay-z-magna-carta-holy-grail/>.

This album review helped me build the argument that Jay-Z was no longer at the top of his game with his latest release. Cohen believes that although the artist is making music that will sell, that music is less complex than other music he’s previously made.

Dyson, Michael Eric. Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip-Hop. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2007. Print.

This book made many good points analyzing the culture of hip-hop but was most effective in helping me understand the role that violence and masculinity have in hip-hop performance and songwriting. Although the source was written before the time period I chose to focus on, Dyson makes good points regarding the cultural standards associated with machismo.

Madden, Mike. “Kanye West’s Yeezus Is Manic, Melancholy, and Brilliant.” Time 20 June 2013: n. pag. Time Entertainment. Web. 9 Feb 2014.

This album review discusses the stylistic choices Kanye West made on Yeezus that helped foster the album’s growing reputation as a thoroughly experimental work that still succeeds as a hip-hop album while pushing the boundaries for what the genre can be defined as.

Jeffries, Michael P. Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-Hop. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print.

This book informed an argument I made in the paper regarding Macklemore’s perceived authenticity as a rapper. A chapter involving the importance of a performer’s authenticity to themselves and hip-hop culture as a whole in the eyes of listeners helped link ideas involving the identification of race and why Macklemore received such backlash in the wake of his Grammy win.

Richards, Chris. "Jay-Z 'Magna Carta...Holy Grail' review: When fans are reduced to consumers." The Washington Post 8 July 2013, sec. Music: n. pag. WashingtonPost.com. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This album review harshly criticizes Jay-Z’s latest album, expressing disdain at the performer’s focus on wealth and name-dropping rather than producing the kind of good, listenable rap he has made in the past. Richards also brings up interesting points regarding Jay-Z’s treatment of his audience as consumers rather than fans, questioning its effectiveness.

Sanneh, Kelefa. "Where's Earl?" The New Yorker 23 May 2011: n. pag. The New Yorker. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This article, while delving deeply into the subject matter regarding the members of Odd Future that is irrelevant to my research, does make notable points regarding the stylistic choices of the group’s members. It also addresses the group’s well-received old-school aesthetic.

Soderberg, Brandon. "Hip-Hop at the Grammys: Macklemore Wins, Kendrick Lamar and the Rest of Rap Music Lose." SPIN. SPIN Music Group, 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This article helps provide further critical backing for the viewpoint that Macklemore’s actions as a performer feel false. The assumption that he has the clout and reputation to be a mouthpiece for hip-hop as a genre isn’t examined thoroughly, but Soderberg makes the point well.

Secondary Sources

Abebe, Nitsuh. "Odd Future, energy, inclusion, and exclusion." A Grammar. N.p., 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This blog post offers up a critic’s analysis on Odd Future, explicitly stating that he wrote this post because he felt the publication he originally wrote an Odd Future-centric article for diluted his point too much. Abebe tries to set his audience straight on his actual views: that his acceptance of Odd Future as a group is marred by his ability to share the music with others. This source effectively summarizes why, despite the group’s viral popularity, some critics have had a hard time endorsing Odd Future’s music.

DeRogatis, Jim. "Pitchfork & Odd Future: Endorsing rape or showcasing art?" Pop N Stuff. WBEZ Chicago 91.5, 2 May 2011. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This interview between a music critic and two executives at Pitchfork regarded the inclusion of Odd Future as a prominently featured act in Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival. While I ultimately did not use the source in the final paper, it did prove useful in helping understand the kinds of questions critics had about the artistic legitimacy of Odd Future due to their misogynistic lyrics.

Hamilton, Jack. "Don't Hate Macklemore Because He's White." Slate Magazine. The Slate Group, 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This article, written by a pop music critic rather than a hip-hop critic, addresses concerns regarding Macklemore’s controversial Grammy sweep of the rap categories. While Hamilton’s comments are extreme and perhaps too overtly opinionated, his insight helps flesh out a viewpoint held hip-hop purists who decry his inclusion in the pop canon, and vice versa.

Lyubovny, Vladimir. “T-Pain Angered By Homophobia in Hip-Hop.” Online video clip. VladTV. YouTube, 8 Feb. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This video interview, while too vulgar to be heavily quoted in an academic paper, does provide a performer’s perspective on the homophobia present in hip-hop. T-Pain’s words help illustrate that there are performers from the mainstream who do disagree with the treatment of homosexuality within the culture.

Picasso Baby: A Performance Art Film. Dir. Mark Romanek. Perf. Shawn Carter. Jay-Z’s Life + Times, 2 Aug. 2013. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This music video, while coming from Jay-Z, a performer whose album was poorly reviewed by the critics I researched, does make great points about the hip-hop genre and serves to help articulate what performers are trying to do with hip-hop music in the post-2010 era.

Reed, Lou. "Lou Reed > Kanye West." The Talkhouse, n.pag., 2 July 2013. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This album review from legendary musician Lou Reed helps explain the complexity of Kanye West’s album Yeezus from a musical standpoint. By seeing the opinion of a musician who doesn’t perform hip-hop music, I was able to better flesh out the case that, from a critical perspective, West’s album is one of the most important rap records to be released in years, and certainly in this young decade.

Samuels, David. "American Mozart." The Atlantic 22 Apr. 2012: n. pag. The Atlantic. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

This article profiles Kanye West, focusing on his public persona and the controversial moves he has made over the course of his career. Since one of his most notable missteps – stealing the microphone from Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards – occurred in the time period I chose to analyze in my essay, I used this to obtain background information on the public perception of West during the dawn of the decade.

Tinsley, Brian, Shaun Wilson, and Margaret Beale Spencer. "Hip-Hop Culture, Youth Creativity, and the Generational Crossroads from a Human Development Perspective." Art and Human Development. Eds. Constance Milbrath & Cynthia Lightfoot. New York: Psychology Press, 2010. 83-96. Print.

This chapter within a book wound up being a dead-end source citation-wise since the points the authors made were unable to be ascribed to the arguments made in the final essay. However, the insights into why young people, in particular, find solace in the hip-hop genre as both performers and listeners are interesting to juxtapose with the content of the songs created by popular rappers.