I was sort of excited to see a small wave of what seem to be hip-hop theory books hitting the shelves, but the reviews coming in have sort of changed my mind… The first one that caught my attention was All About The Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can’t Save Black America by John McWhorter.
Finally McWhorter asserts that “being art, especially popular art, hip-hop is automatically disqualified from being meaningfully political.” If this were true, the specifics of McWhorter’s musings would be irrelevant — even to him. Why write a book detailing the case against a particular form if you believe no art can be political? Why not do something else with your afternoon?
They end with a zinger:
For McWhorter, hip-hop may be all about the beat, but only because he isn’t listening.
What does it say about the political impact of the hip-hop generation that the Democratic nominee is not only African-American but evidently fluent in hip-hop culture, and able to craft a message that speaks to the politically disaffected young people for whom hip-hop is the air they breathe? No more than rock ‘n’ roll, hip-hop will never revolutionize politics, but its ethos – of skepticism, of brash outspokenness, of unconscious diversity – will begin to seep into the mainstream of political discourse.
Most of the reviews tear huge holes in these books, from being so outdated that they are irrelevant to not quite bringing the game their titles promise (although another big promotion of the term “Hip Hop generation” from author Goff gets big props from The Globe). I’m not running to Borders anytime soon, except maybe to pick up this.
I know I just posted about Yo Majesty, the all-female underground hip hop group from Tampa, FL that is fastly rising to national acclaim. I think writing about their show in San Francisco only got me more pumped about them (ie: I think “Club Action” has played first thing in the morning in my house for two weeks straight) – so I decided to get the gospel straight from their mouths. Shunda K is a busy woman – as a leader of Yo Majesty, a solo artist, and an entrepreneur starting her own management and production company (GMEQCA; pronounced “G-Mecca”), it’s amazing she had time to answer my questions. Here are some of the ones I got to ask:
Emily from Rolling Jack:You’ve been working so hard for so long – now you’re getting written up in the New York Times and playing Coachella. What’s the measure of success for you?
Shunda K. from Yo Majesty: There is no measure of success. Success is…it jus keeps goin and goin and I want as much of it as I can get during this life time.
E: Who do you want to listen to your music? Who are you speaking to?
SK: I would love for the people in general to listen to me. I’m speaking to the whole wide world. The Lord has called me to be a prophetess to the nations and my mouth piece is for the people. Some of my messages are inspirational, and then some are words of judgement if people don’t get themselves together. The world has a responsibility to itself, and as a people, we are failing the most important test of all: LOVE!!!
E: By default you represent a minority in the industry – strong, talented women who aren’t being pimped out. Now that you are here, what do you want to say to other women/girls out there who are looking at this industry (myself included) and not seeing themselves in it?
SK: In the word of God it says that we are in this world but are not to be a part of it. In my opinion, the music industry is the modern day slave master. The slave, sadly to say, is everyone, even the ones who think they’re gettin over on others, because what you sow you will reap. So, my responsibility is to sow good, not to reap good, because that’s what’s needed in this world. My heart is for the people and I intend on restoring as much as I can when it comes to the lives of the people through this music…jus spitting the truth even at the cost of my life!
E: Where do you start writing a song – hearing the beat first? the lyrics?
SK: Most of the time I write from listening to music. However, when I go into a season of my life where I’m jus so hungry to write and have a lot to let out, I jus write with or without. I jus have to get it out ya know!!!
E: What are now classic quotes on the death of the genre aside, what are your thoughts on the state of hip hop?
SK: Hip Hop, jus like every other genre of music, is suffering. The character and integrity of music has almost vanished. Nowadays people are portraying illusions to be the truth in the minds of the people. This is one main component of the industry I plan to put a stop to.
E: Who are you listening to? Who would you go see live?
E: What’s up with your beats dude? Is it a different guy now? What’s up with the beats for the new album? They sound so good live, are they being re-done for the album in August?
A million thank yous to Shunda K for getting back to me so quickly, and to both current members of Yo Majesty for being such an inspiration. You can hear them on MySpace; links are posted in-text to check out the peeps Shunda recommended. If you didn’t pick up on it, the album drops in August!
Oh, and if I have to tell you one more time to go see them, it’s not gonna be pretty.
Next show on schedule:
June 20 – Barcelona (Sonar Festival)
(photo cred goes to another fan at the SF show – Gretchen Robinette)
The basic perception of a lot of black people is that white people buy hip-hop to enjoy the violent tales of black people killing each other. It’s really that simple. When you hear that 70% of all rap records are purchased by white kids in the suburbs, that makes people insanely mad. White people are enjoying this, especially young white people, and we’re allowing them to say things like “n****r”. They hear it on the record so they feel like they can use it as well. And then there’s the question: what is this doing to black people? When you look at the numbers of people incarcerated, you look at the unemployment numbers, the dropout rate, you can see this downward spiral that has been happening since the 70s. Rap records have been a phenomenon of this period, so people want to blame it all on the music.
Support independent hip hop!
The Paid Dues Festival comes to the Berkeley Community Theatre June 14.
Why is it sweet? This is from their mouths:
Paid Dues is a new urban event presented by Murs 3:16 [an underground MC looking to change the face of hip-hop, whose past albums boast the complete absence of swearing or the n-word] in association with Guerilla Union. There’s a vibrant rap scene with advanced lyricism, stinging political commentary and quality DJ performances that continues to flourish in a seemingly parallel universe, largely shunned by the mainstream media.
Festivals like this are fighting to counteract this truth. Plus, check out the lineup (Berkeley):
De La Soul, Blackalicious (here we go BAY AREA), Little Brother, Sage Francis, Hieroglyphics (Oakland), Supernatural and Scratch (the Roots), Kidz in the Hall, Braille, E. Dolan.
The festival will also make its way (with a few lineup changes) to NYC, Ft. Lauderdale, and Denver in June.
Tickets are through Ticketmaster. We’ll be out there – say what’s up!
The High Decibels are hosting Tuesday night open mic at The Starry Plough in Berkeley – then on Thursday, they head over to Club Anton’s in Oakland for Thursday night R&B/soul showcase (DJ, dancing, $5 wells before 11). Ya ready?
Tuesday May 20 – Starry Plough no cover!
3101 Shattuck Ave
(uphill from Ashby BART)
Berkeley (map)
Thursday May 22 – Club Anton’s
428 3rd Street (off Broadway)
Oakland (map)
(You can send an email to
bayareabreedz(at)yahoo(dot)com
to get a discounted pass)
An all female rap group from Florida who’ve been at it for seven years, trying to carve a better path for women in rap and the music industry in general. Known for attracting hard core lesbian audiences and dancing topless, Yo Majesty can, at first, seem to bring novelty to the game, if nothing else. I saw them Saturday night at Slim’s in San Francisco; novelty was absolutely blown out of the water.
The band opening for them was UK-based electro-rock band Does It Offend You, Yeah?, who were also at Coachella last week, whose defining moment came at the end, in a sort of last minute energy-saving finale, the lead singer pointed to a sign which read “No moshing, no stage diving…etc” and yelled “See that sign? Fuck that sign!” and got a bunch of jumping moshing fanatics to come up on stage and, potentially (as I saw it), be kicked out and not get to stay for Yo Majesty. So by the end of that I was definitely ready to have my night be picked back up. I didn’t know what I was in for.
I went down to the basement coat check to put mine away in preparation for Yo Majesty. The “Be Back Soon” sign on the door didn’t bother Dyl (who was along for the ride) and I nearly as much as it did the girl who appeared after us, obviously drunk, looking for her coat.
“I wish I had a fucking axe so I could break down that door – How the hell am I supposed to get my coat? God DAMNIT!”
She was having a little bit of an episode. We tried to assure her they’d be back any minute, all of us commenting about the necessity of some sort of clock decal that indicates how long it would be till their return. Suddenly, down the hallway directly in front of me, the emergency exit door busts open. Yo Majesty herself, Jwl B, is barreling down the hallway wearing a sweatshirt with the hood over her half her face and ban sunglasses. She is at once masculine and feminine, carrying a strange air of purpose and divinity. I pull on Dyl’s arm, not even sure what to say to alert him of her presence, when she’s appeared right in our little circle, charging right into Dyl’s high five and shaking my hand. She turns to the drunk girl, who is still whimpering about her coat and nearly whispers into her face,
“You at a Yo Majesty show.”
The girl continues. Jwl B. grabs her shoulders and says in a light, sweet but serious tone,
“You at. A Yo Majesty show.” The girl is bewildered. “Who? What are you talking about?”
“Yo Majesty,” Dyl and I chime in. “You’re lookin’ at her right now, man,” I clarify.
The girl isn’t having it. She starts in about the coat. Jwl B. is still holding her by the shoulders and is speaking slowly, sweetly. Almost hypnotically. She takes off her sunglasses and gets eye to eye with the girl.
“You want your coat. It’s gonna come back to you. You want somethin’ bad enough someone gonna bring it to you. You gonna be alright.”
The girl shuts up for a second, and seems to calm down. Jwl B. gives Dyl and I one more round of high fives and charges back down the hallway, out the emergency exit.
“Holy Shit,” escapes from all of us.
The girl shakes out of it and turns to us “And out the emergency exit! Okay. Obviously that woman is bless-ed… but I still want my damn coat.”
We didn’t know how it happened but we had all just experienced this sort of surreal moment, and then we heard them being announced on stage upstairs. We checked our coats (they were back) and ran upstairs. What proceeded was one of the best shows I’ve been to in a long time.
They kicked off the show with “Never Be Afraid,” an overlooked anthem for what they’re trying to do. Get over the hump, do what they feel, have a good time doing it, not give in to what people want them to. It was a great example of what a hip hop show can be: serious, funny, righteous, sensational. Female break dancers (Austin’s The Born Ready Rockers), great flow, danceable, funky beats that had everybody moving. To top the show, a guy repping an Oakland org called Silence The Violence came on stage and had a word about the peaking violence happening right now in the city. Silence The Violence’s working motto is decreasing violence by increasing opportunity. I’m sure I’ll be back on here soon talking about them, but check them out!
We talked to Jwl B. again after the show, about what they’re doing out here, the album coming out in August, women in the industry. She was in a much different place than before the show, certainly. Both women are smart, strong, and doing it all themselves. They’ll tell you straight up that they are out here hustlin’, selling homemade shirts and playing almost nightly on their tour. Strong women have been long neglected in rap, and they are making a fair stand against it.
Check them out on MySpace, and make sure you check them out live if you’re lucky enough to live in one of their tour destinations through the end of the month (more coming soon!). Seriously.
