Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 399

“This thing is deeper than what you thought it was”: Brother Ali, Mark Anthony Neal, and 9th Wonder in Conversation

[image error] “This thing is deeper than what you thought it was”: Brother Ali, Mark Anthony Neal, and 9 th Wonder in Conversation by Tyler Bunzey | @t_bunzey | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
The following are taken from notes on a conversation between underground hip-hop artist Brother Ali, James P. Duke Professor Mark Anthony Neal, and Duke professor and Grammy Award-winning hip-hop producer 9th Wonder that took place during Duke University’s History of Hip-Hop course on 3/6/19.
Hip-Hop and Minneapolis
The conversation between the three panelists began with a discussion of Brother Ali’s work in Minneapolis and why the city was an artistic home for him. Brother Ali suggested that Prince defines the musical legacy of Minneapolis, and the city’s musical production really can’t be understood outside of Prince’s legacy. Prince married a deeply nuanced political and racial consciousness with a wide-ranging musicianship, and the pop legend’s ability to play every instrument imbued the city with a spirit of musicianship. According to Brother Ali, everybody plays something. This musical spirit in Minneapolis enlivens its hip-hop scene, and Minneapolis hip-hop really developed with inspiration from groups like Little Brother, 9th Wonder’s legendary underground hip-hop group from the Triangle. Minneapolis hip-hop developed in the message board era in which underground music was developed and distributed on message boards and chat rooms.
Politics, Community, and Hip-Hop’s Religious Life
The conversation then shifted to discuss the interweaving of politics, religion, and community in hip-hop. Brother Ali suggested, “When we say politics, we are really talking about community. When we say art, we are really talking about culture.” Brother Ali reads hip-hop as inextricably linked to community cultural expression, and the connecting material that intertwines politics, community, art, and culture is energy. For Brother Ali, “energy is everything,” and it defines the beautiful intersections that he tries to capture in his music.
Brother Ali in an offhand comment also mentioned that “Islam is the unofficial religious tradition of hip-hop” to which Professors Neal and Douthit nodded in agreement. From the radical numerology of the Five Percenters to the legacy of Malcolm X for nationalist artists to the long history of Islam in African cultures dating before the transatlantic slave trade, it’s not difficult to see the truth in Ali’s comment. After all, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, Brand Nubian, the Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Busta Rhymes, and Jay-Z all incorporate the Five Percenter Supreme Mathematics into their lyricism. Lauryn Hill incorporates prominent Islamic phrases for keeping it on the straight and narrow in the lesser-discussed religious aspects of her opus Miseducation. Hip-hop also provides a framework for many black Muslim youth in the U.S. as detailed by Su’ad Abdul Khabeer in Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip-Hop in the United States. Undoubtedly Brother Ali’s comment suggests an important reality about hip-hop and Islam’s often overlooked intimacy.
The Role of Celebrity in the Black Community
Professor Neal suggested after the brief discussion about energy, community, and hip-hop’s religious history that black community leaders are held to different standards than others in American public culture. Brother Ali agreed, quoting Malcolm X, “In what other community would entertainers be called their leaders?” Professor Neal pointed out the robust contribution of figures like Charles Barkley to the contemporary political moment and asked the class if there are any white entertainers or athletes who are expected to speak on political issues the same way. Students did not have any substantive suggestions, and the idea that Tom Brady was the best that white folks had to offer was resoundingly rejected by the panel. 9th Wonder agreed that Stephen Colbert may be the closest that white culture has to a leader who fulfills this role, but there still wasn't really a substantive comparison.
Brother Ali said that he sees the greatest entertainer-leader in the black community as Muhammad Ali because of the nuance of his politics and the extent of his fame in the boxing realm. The panel then continued to affirm that black celebrities are always expected to comment on politics, and they often fill roles as political scientists on network news shows, a fact that black political scientists as a profession likely meet with a bit of ire. 9th suggested that this dynamic in the black community opens up space for conscious emcees to be taken seriously, and hip-hop expands the artist-cultural critic figure into the 21st century.
Black Wisdom is Life-Giving
In a profound moment after being asked about some of the figures that he was quoting in his answers to Professor Neal’s questions, Brother Ali said, “Life was made livable for me by black wisdom. Elders, friends, enemies, antagonists—it’s all important. The protest music that I make is for them.”
The Working-Class Artist
9th and Brother Ali began talking about underground hip-hop and the idea of a working-class artist. Brother Ali said that artists like Murs and Little Brother getting record deals was a big deal for underground artists because it provided a framework in which underground artists could make a living without having to compromise their artistic vision. He joked that a lot of underground artists bragged about not selling out, but it’s pretty easy to not sell out if you don’t have any offers. The working-class artist development that came alongside the rise of the internet allowed underground artists with offers to make the music they loved without aiming towards the superstardom of some of rap’s bigger names.
9th agreed that being a working-class artist is defined by doing the thing you love and always making a living out of it, and he illustrated his point with the film I Am Legend. He said that when he got his start in 1996 that all of the music lovers were being run into the house by the radio zombies. There didn’t seem to be a public space in which non-commercial or non-radio artists could thrive and be exposed to fans craving their style of content. The internet served as the connective space for these artists, and message boards and chat rooms became the home of the working-class artists.
While streaming services like Spotify largely mirror the same type of commercial separation that radio did in the 90s, Soundcloud and similar sites can continue to be homes for artists who want to be financially comfortable and make compelling political music. 9th concluded this discussion with the suggestion that working-class artists have to A&R themselves until investors will put money into their work, and that’s what lands working artists a record deal; 9th reads working-class artistry as very similar to self-entrepreneurship in the business sector.
Brother Ali’s Top 5
Professor Neal then asked the perennial question, who are in Brother Ali’s top 5. In a true hip-hop head’s fashion, Ali qualified that these are the top five not necessarily for him personally but the five who he thinks are the greatest for the culture.
First, Ali listed Jay-Z. For him, Jay-Z’s longevity and lyricism combined to make him one of the best to ever do it. Only LL Cool J really develops the same longevity, but he doesn’t share the same business acumen and lyricism as Hov. Jay-Z’s music—according to Brother Ali—really only develops one theme: his life. This quality changed hip-hop for the better because it makes Jay-Z’s genius seem human. We are forced to look at Jay-Z’s growth and fallibility alongside his accomplishments, which lends a supremely human quality to his art.
Second, Ali listed Lil’ Wayne. To Brother Ali, Lil’ Wayne’s consistency in producing great music is very compelling to his legacy. He also loves that every bar of Wayne’s is lyrical and that he has more true hip-hop bars than anyone else.
Ali followed Wayne with Kendrick Lamar, who he sees as the Frankenstein of great rappers. Kendrick is the first second-generation (Ali reads the second generation of hip-hop as Jay-Z and up) to put the best of all of hip-hop into one person. Kendrick Lamar pulls strongly from the hip-hop tradition, so his music is accessible and interesting to old heads as well as to young folks. Additionally, Ali thinks that Kendrick hasn’t missed. From Section.80 to Good Kid to To Pimp a Butterfly to DAMN., Kendrick has produced more tight albums than any of his contemporaries and many of his predecessors.
Brother Ali then turned to discuss his next in the top 5, Rakim Allah. To Ali, Rakim represents a monumental shift in emceeing stylistically, and his innovation is unrivaled. Rakim lies at the center of the aesthetic shift in hip-hop’s rhymes from nursery-rhyme level simplicity to complex poetic expression. Additionally, he marries this aesthetic innovation with great stories. Ali said that Rakim’s raps are almost as if he is simply saying “these are the words that come out of me,” and he relies almost solely on his genius to construct his music.
Lastly, Brother Ali added Ice Cube to the list. He thinks that although 2Pac was undoubtedly great, he owes a lot to Ice Cube stylistically, and as the primary author of gangsta rap, Ice Cube deserves some credit. Ali did mention that Cube’s legacy is tainted by his steep musical falloff in the mid-1990s, but his historical body of work is nonetheless irreplaceable in the hip-hop canon.
Performing Self/Performing Other for Black Entertainers in Media
The conversation concluded with a few ruminations on how black performers engage with the entertainment industry. Brother Ali made the important point that hip-hop artists who enter into the film world—artists like Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Mos Def, and Queen Latifah—almost always perform in films as their rap personas. These artists’ film performances are particularly complex because they are a performance from a performance identity, and performances like Queen Latifah’s in Set It Off are twice removed from her identity as Dana Owens. We must then read black media performances in these contexts differently than other performances.
The panel also pointed out to the class that black performances that they see in mainstream media outlets are always promoted by an interested media, one that is selective of the black images that it places on its airwaves. Artists like Janelle Monae perform explicit sexuality as rupture to this curation of black images in national media, and her anti-definitional sexuality gives space for black women’s pleasure. The panel concluded by encouraging students to consciously consume black performances within media representation.
+++
Tyler Bunzey is a  Teaching Fellow and Doctoral Student  in Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.  Follow him on Twitter: @tbunz3

The Cases For Reparations: How 2020 Presidential Candidates Address The Issue

'Democratic presidential hopefuls are talking about reparations for slavery. They’re talking seriously, but with few specifics. What would a reparations policy actually look like? Guest include: Errin Haines Whack, national writer on race and ethnicity for the Associated Press, covering the 2020 presidential election (@emarvelous); William Darity, professor of public policy; African and African-American Studies; and economics at Duke University (@SandyDarity); John McWhorter, professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. Contributing editor at the Atlantic.(@JohnHMcWhorter)' -- WBUR | OnPoint

The History of Hayti, The Anchor Of Durham’s African-American Neighborhood

'What was once the commercial and social hub of Durham’s African-American community now looks very different. The Hayti neighborhood was initially established in the years following the Civil War around St. Joseph’s Church. Black people from surrounding areas were drawn to Hayti to do their banking and business because of its proximity to Black Wall Street, and many Black-owned businesses thrived in Hayti, including the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.  Host Frank Stasio learns about the history of this area from Aya Shabu, who gives walking tours in Hayti. Justin Robinson joins the conversation to talk about the history of the area and a new initiative to reconnect Hayti to downtown Durham. And Stasio talks to Angela Lee, the executive director of the Hayti Heritage Center, about the cultural significance of Hayti and how she is carrying that forward into the future.' -- The State of Things

#ArtistatCB: Genevieve Gaignard on "Black is Beautiful"

'Genevieve Gaignard is a Los Angeles-based artist whose work focuses on photographic self-portraiture, sculpture, and installation to explore race, femininity, class, and their various intersections. The daughter of a black father and white mother, Gaignard’s youth was marked by a strong sense of invisibility. Was her family white enough to be white? Black enough to be black? Gaignard interrogates notions of “passing” in an effort to address these questions.' -- Crystal Bridges

Lawrence Jackson: Mapping Billie Holiday

'Lawrence Jackson—a writer, historian, and Johns Hopkins professor who specializes in recasting the study of modern African-American literature and culture—has a beguiling new project: to build an interactive digital map of the life of Baltimore native, Billie Holiday. Through the use of old-school research methods, Jackson and a team of his students are able to uncover previously undiscovered historic and contextual information—to reveal a life. The team then pours that found, analog data into a series of interactive online maps: richly layered with biographical snippets and historic artifacts. Jackson joins us to share not only a visual tour of Billie Holiday's Baltimore, but also a glimpse at the dazzling potential of the digital humanities.' -- Chicago Humanities Festival

Derrick Baskin Talks About The Broadway Musical, "Ain't Too Proud"

'"Ain’t Too Proud" follows The Temptations’ journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. With their signature dance moves and unmistakable harmonies, they rose to the top of the charts creating an amazing 42 Top Ten Hits with 14 reaching number one. The rest is history — how they met, the groundbreaking heights they hit and how personal and political conflicts threatened to tear the group apart as the United States fell into civil unrest. This thrilling story of brotherhood, family, loyalty and betrayal is set to the beat of the group's treasured hits. The entire play is told through the lens of Temptations' front man, Otis Williams (Derrick Baskin).' -- BUILD Series

50 Years of the National Black Theater Company in Harlem

'In 1968, Barbara Ann Teer founded the National Black Theatre Company in Harlem. It was the first revenue-generating black arts institution in the city, and this year, it celebrates its 50th anniversary. Teer's daughter and the company's CEO, Sade Lythcott, join us to talk about the role the National Black Theatre played in the fight for civil rights and its legacy today.'-- BRIC TV

Trailer | Boss: The Black Experience in Business (dir. Stanley Nelson)

'The history of business and entrepreneurship lies at the heart of the American story, but often absent from that narrative are the experiences of African Americans. From the country’s earliest days, African Americans have embodied the qualities of innovation, risk-taking and determination to forge a path toward a better life.   Boss: The Black Experience in Business , by Peabody and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson, traces the lives of African American entrepreneurs over 150 years, from those bound by bondage to moguls at the top of million-dollar empires. Premieres Tuesday, April 23 at 8|7c on PBS.'

Sound and Vision: Georgia Anne Muldrow -- 'Overload'

Sound and Vision for "Overload," the title track  Georgia Anne Muldrow's latest recording.  Directed by Capricorn Clark; produced by Matt Morello.

'Scared of Revolution' -- A Film on the Art and Struggle of Umar Bin Hassan of The Last Poets (Trailer)

'Umar Bin Hassan is a member of the revolutionary African-American art collective The Last Poets who rose to fame in the late 1960s. Music pioneers, seen as the founding fathers of rap. Umar himself, is a legend that captures the spirit of an era, and of a community. He takes us back to his past, where he was raised in an environment poisoned by racism, poverty and self-hate. With an absent father unable to forge lasting emotional ties. Yet Umar chose to be a poet. He made his personal message political, shocking both the white and black audiences; “Niggers are scared of revolution!” Umar’s visionary poetry proved to be more powerful than himself, who fell prey to drugs and self-hate, and turned into an absent father and husband himself. Today, 50 years later, Umar has a second chance; to be the father he could never be before. This film, dealing with the self-image of this legendary man; the personal story of a black man’s redemption, is the hopeful bridge to this generation.' -- (dir. Daniël Krikke | Netherlands | 2018)