Is there ANY significant meaning BEHIND these Gangsta Rap Tunes?

The most popularized forms of violence within rap music are those acts of violence perpetuated by black males against other black males (see Cave, et. al, 2006; Hari, 2002; Hiatt, 2005; Mitchell & Johnson, 2005). This intra-racial violence is commonly referred to as horizontal violence and/or intrinsic violence (Fanon, 1963; Roberts, 2004). It is Neil Roberts (2004) who defines intrinsic violence in juxtaposition with instrumental violence (anti-hegemonic/vertical) by suggesting “in contrast to instrumental violence, [intrinsic violence] refers to a metaphysical concept in which the act of either random irrational or calculated rational violence itself contains inherent value” (p. 146). Frantz Fanon (1963) uses a psychological approach to introducing intrinsic violence through a discussion on the freedom experience that dreams provide the oppressed. Fanon’s argument is that while dreaming the oppressed individual experiences a freedom of motion through physical acts of running, jumping, and climbing. Once the dream is finished, the oppressed individual exiting repose first exercises this physicality against his own people. Because the colonizer/oppressor is much an exhibitionist with power, and as a result an intimidating force, “the muscular tension of the colonized periodically erupts into bloody fighting between tribes, clans, and individuals” (p. 17).

Anthony Pinn (1999) suggests that a condition of absurdity plagues severe economically deprived communities. He defines absurdity as a phenomenon that “connotes alienation from self, and leads to a collapse of self-esteem” (p.10). He continues by stating that self-hatred, which is manifested in Black-on-Black crime, is a result of inhabiting in a state of absurdity. The hostile environment essentially creates absurdity that many inner-city Black Americans face as a result of economic malaise and institutional and political racism. Pinn (1999) does an excellent job in connecting the notion of absurdity with the awesome defects of ghetto life. However, what he does even better is that he connects these traumatic situations in the Black community with the need for renewed combat and a new vision for the Black community. He offers both gangsta rap and progressive rap as a rhetorical means for social transformation.

This black-on-black violence is thoroughly documented throughout the chronicles of Hip-Hop culture and rap narratives. A mere 10 years ago intrinsic violence reached its peak within the Hip-Hop culture with the deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. in an intense, media-infused, East Coast/West Coast rap war. To date, this is the most unequivocal example of the intensity and tragedy of intrinsic violence within Hip-Hop. It is still important to not that though not as publicized, there were violent deaths of rap artists before Tupac and Biggie and rappers have met violent deaths afterward as well. One of the latest violent deaths being that of Detroit-rapper, Proof, Eminem’s hype man and member of the popular rap group D-12 (Cohen, 2006; Zahlaway, 2006).

Opposite Fanon’s (1963) psychological approach to understanding intra-racial violence, Arthur Pressley (1992) opts to take a more cultural approach to the problem. Placing more of an emphasis on the culture of impoverished inner-city communities, it becomes important to note that in 1978, the same period as the birth of Hip-Hop, death figures for black men were around 37,000 a year (Pressley, 1992). These deaths are illustrated as “920 suicides, 650 homicides, 20,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 500 deaths from cirrhosis of the liver” (p. 93); remaining deaths were distributed between prisons and hospital drug treatment facilities. Sharing this stance with Pressley (1992), Rose (1994) reminds us “poor people learn from experience when and how explicitly they can express their discontent” (p. 99). So, whether using indirection, signification, other forms of metaphor, or direct verbal confrontation, American blacks have consistently resisted the hegemonic powers that be. In essence, the dances, languages, and musics produce communal bases of knowledge about social conditions, communal interpretations of them and quite often serve as the cultural glue that fosters communal resistance (Fanon, 1963; Rose, 1994). Though total black resistance is duly noted, the vehicle of rap music and Hip-Hop culture is characteristically masculine. Kitwana (2003) offers the idea that “rap music has given young Black males {italics added} a primary avenue through which to access public space” (p. 87). It is Eithne Quinn (2005) who proffers the notion that “gangsta rap is seen both to reflect and to be constitutive of the worsening problems facing African-American communities and especially young black men” (p. 19). It is this collective scholarly emphasis on black masculinity, within Hip-Hop culture more specifically, and African-American resistance more generally, that create a catalyst for research dedicated to uncovering phenomena concerning black masculinity. As an astute advocate the feminist movement, bell hooks (2004) comments on the paucity and/or whimsical treatment of black masculinity in contemporary research on black men. She notes “the absence of this work stands as further testimony validating the contention that the plight of black men is not taken seriously” (p. xvi). hooks’ (2004) concern, being quite valid, provides significant reason for brief examination of black masculinity and resistance.



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