This Hip-hop in Angry Black White Boy is somewhat foreign to us. Macon talks about groups like X-clan who are older than what we think the 90s rap scene is really like. This is probably what shaped more of his militant attitude towards race relations.
For me 90s rap is really categorized by Nas' first two albums which were released 1994 and 1996. But Macon is very skeptical of this type of rap scene. Even though it can argued that Nas has socially conscience songs on these albums, with songs like "NY state of mind" speaking about drug violence and even referencing Five Percent philosophy on "The World is Yours," Macon thinks that all of his songs are just bragging about his monetary wealth. Nas is interesting in this case because he intersperses his lyrics with both lines that glorify himself and lines that really talk about the real world and how things aren't all really that great. One example of this can be seen in "The Message" on the album It Was Written where he basically says that he can kill any one that tries to test him, but it has an underlying message of how drugs and gang warfare control the ghetto and controlled his life when he was growing up.
Macon seems to be very set in his ways with categorizing Hip-hop as having to be solely militant to get a point across, but that is not necessarily true. Again with Nas, the lyrical mixture proves a point that while boasting, one can really get at the foundation of what is causing the problems.
There is some substance to the militant views Macon does have. Groups like NWA whose album Straight Outta Compton was released in 1988 have songs like "Fuck Tha Police" which is very aggressive and wants to expose the stupidity and corruption in favor of the police.
Basically, Macon seems to be stuck in his ways concerning newer rap, thinking that it really doesn't show anything, and doesn't add to his ideology. Macon seems to be wrong in some aspects of this, but the progression of Hip-hop in the 90s favors brag raps more than socially and racially conscience songs.
For me 90s rap is really categorized by Nas' first two albums which were released 1994 and 1996. But Macon is very skeptical of this type of rap scene. Even though it can argued that Nas has socially conscience songs on these albums, with songs like "NY state of mind" speaking about drug violence and even referencing Five Percent philosophy on "The World is Yours," Macon thinks that all of his songs are just bragging about his monetary wealth. Nas is interesting in this case because he intersperses his lyrics with both lines that glorify himself and lines that really talk about the real world and how things aren't all really that great. One example of this can be seen in "The Message" on the album It Was Written where he basically says that he can kill any one that tries to test him, but it has an underlying message of how drugs and gang warfare control the ghetto and controlled his life when he was growing up.
Macon seems to be very set in his ways with categorizing Hip-hop as having to be solely militant to get a point across, but that is not necessarily true. Again with Nas, the lyrical mixture proves a point that while boasting, one can really get at the foundation of what is causing the problems.
There is some substance to the militant views Macon does have. Groups like NWA whose album Straight Outta Compton was released in 1988 have songs like "Fuck Tha Police" which is very aggressive and wants to expose the stupidity and corruption in favor of the police.
Basically, Macon seems to be stuck in his ways concerning newer rap, thinking that it really doesn't show anything, and doesn't add to his ideology. Macon seems to be wrong in some aspects of this, but the progression of Hip-hop in the 90s favors brag raps more than socially and racially conscience songs.
Macon comes off as a generally arrogant, overconfident character, at least at the beginning of the book before he is forced to think about what he's going to say in interviews. Some rap music also sounds super aggressive, so Macon's personality might have been influenced by his love of hip hop.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the background to hip-hop in this post, plus the one that you gave in class. I knew a bit, but I wish I knew more about it, as it probably enhancing the experience of this novel. Macon's attitude towards rap is kind of paradoxical, though. He states he wants more people to behave like him, more white people to became "race traitors." Hip-hop can be accredited with getting a lot more people interested in black culture, which would seem to accomplish that goal, but Macon argues that the popular hip-hop isn't true to it's roots and the people that are into popular hip-hop aren't really renouncing their whiteness, they are just appropriating black culture. So, Macon appears to Nique and Andre (up until he gets famous, that is) as these new kids interested in hip-hop appear to Macon.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if he really wants everyone listening to renounce their whiteness. As we touched on in class, most of X-Clan's music doesn't really talk much about race relations, rather it just uses Afrocentrism to try and educate people about their culture. Macon just wants other people to educate themselves and realize that even if it may be sub-conscience, they are suppressing a culture and hundreds of years of history that came before the slave era.
DeleteFirst of all, I really enjoyed your presentation today regarding rap and Macon. The lyrics in "Fuck Tha Police" are definitely quite violent, which kind of caught me off guard. But regardless of the lyrics, the song is very good; I enjoyed it. It comes to me that Macon was undoubtedly influenced by the violent lyrics of not just only "Fuck Tha Police", but by other raps regarding race in the 90s.
ReplyDeleteIt is fairly easy to see where Macon gets some of his attitude from when looking at hip hop. He was probably heavily influenced by ¨Fuck Tha Police¨ due to its extremely militant views which he shares. He does complain a bit about how modern (for his time) hip hop lost the ideals and messages that older hip hop had, and instead focuses on shameless promotion of self. I think this is hypocritical of him because Macon really is quite cocky. He is very pushy and seems to have a higher opinion of himself than others. Maybe thats just one reflection of Macon's completely contradictory nature.
ReplyDeleteDoes Macon ever dis Nas? He might have some problems with SOME of his mid-90s output, but I can't imagine he wouldn't LOVE _Illmatic_, and in general would view Nas's occasional celebrations of guns and cars within the more nuanced lens of his art in general. He doesn't live to see _Untitled_, but I think he'd be very interested in that album's complicated explorations of racial identity in hip-hop culture and America more generally.
ReplyDeleteWhen he complains about 90s rap, he seems to have P.Diddy/Puffy/Puff Daddy in mind more than anything--which is why that scene takes place in Diddy's club, which is where the ranting madman lifted straight out of _Native Son_ directs him.