Before we begin listening to the music, really hearing it, we want to expand our minds on what we think Hip Hop Culture is.
Here are some of the main elements of the culture: 1) b-girling/b-boying, 2) MCing, which we call Femceeing, 3) graffiti (we will call the artists GRAF WRITERS), 4) Deejaying, 5) KNOWLEDGE (fashion, styles, beatboxing, flyers as another element of graphic design alongside graffiti, etc are also elements). We will take seriously this FIFTH ELEMENT and not simply focus on MCs. We might also debate whether Hip Hop Feminism should be its own element. |
(2015 Public Statement) Hip Hop Feminism is . . .
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Spotlight on Lauryn Hill by Christina Berthaud (2013)Lauryn Hill’s rhetoric is not only in the lyrics but also in how she sings it. A performance can set a better tone to a song, a better understanding to the audience. Often artists add more to their songs as they perform, from repeating lines, holding a note longer, or simply “sanging”--- not singing (there is a difference!) More than once, Hill has shared her heartache from past relationships in her music. In her MTV Unplugged performance, Hill allows listeners deeper into her wounds with her song “Find a Peace of Mind.” To find a peace of mind is to be at ease with yourself; normally someone’s mind is all over the place doing a multitude of things: from the to-do’s, to the what-if’s, to the why’s. Many find it near impossible to keep a clear mind, but it is, in fact, possible.
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In her comfortable jeans and Yankee cap, Hill speaks her soul, her experience... her rhetoric. In her lyrics, she shares how an unhealthy relationship is like a parasite holding her back from so much more, tainting her spirit:
He takes all my energy
trapped in my memory
Constantly holding me
constantly holding me
I need to tell you all,
all the pain he's caused
As Hill straps you into this emotional rollercoaster with her performance, she brings herself to tears, rhetoric literally falling from her eyes. The tears show deliverance through God from the pain that was binding her. In her lyrics, she makes multiple references to God and his mercy on her, stating that God is her peace of mind, teaching her to love herself. Hill sings that God has shown her the “meaning of a lasting relationship not based on ownership.”
African American women take the world they perceive and translate that into the new world they desire simply with the power packed in their words and experiences. Hill has presented both the world she lives in and her realities therein; but she also presents what she desires and has gained through God. Rhetoric exceeds its book definition more than most realize. Any one can be a rhetor, but only an African American woman has an African American woman’s rhetoric.
He takes all my energy
trapped in my memory
Constantly holding me
constantly holding me
I need to tell you all,
all the pain he's caused
As Hill straps you into this emotional rollercoaster with her performance, she brings herself to tears, rhetoric literally falling from her eyes. The tears show deliverance through God from the pain that was binding her. In her lyrics, she makes multiple references to God and his mercy on her, stating that God is her peace of mind, teaching her to love herself. Hill sings that God has shown her the “meaning of a lasting relationship not based on ownership.”
African American women take the world they perceive and translate that into the new world they desire simply with the power packed in their words and experiences. Hill has presented both the world she lives in and her realities therein; but she also presents what she desires and has gained through God. Rhetoric exceeds its book definition more than most realize. Any one can be a rhetor, but only an African American woman has an African American woman’s rhetoric.
Playlist #1: Graf Writers, Bgirls, and Deejays
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Playlist #2: Femcees
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