By Alex Pauline
As a white member of the hip-hop community, author Adam Mansbach is often forced to answer questions about his motives.
“It’s the only place where a white person has to be accountable for himself,” he said. “You look around and you’re the only one in the room and someone is going to ask you why you are there.”
However, this is not what makes the author of the novel “Angry Black White Boy,” uncomfortable. It’s the emphasis on the bottom line.
“Hip-hop is supposed to be speaking truth to power, the battle of achieving visibility where there is none,” he said.
To show the many different aspects of culture, music and politics past and present to Northeastern students, the Hip-Hop Studies Collective, in conjunction with the Hip-Hop Culture Club, Brothers About Change and MEISA (Music and Entertainment Industry Students Association), organized Hip-Hop Culture Week, which took place last Tuesday through Saturday.
The four student groups collaborated to sponsor an array of events spanning from a Madden video game tournament to a lecture on the possibilities and pitfalls of hip-hop studies and a live performance by the Perceptionists, one of Boston’s own hip-hop ensembles.
Hip-Hop Week, however, was more than just fun and games. Serious and controversial issues concerning the culture behind the music were also presented by the speakers, filmmakers and musicians involved.
On Thursday night, Northeastern alumnus and filmmaker Byron Hurt showed his latest documentary, “Beyond Beats and Rhymes,” in Blackman Auditorium. The film documented the hyper-masculinity that seems to be taking over hip-hop, Hurt said.
Sexism and homophobia were also key themes in the documentary. Hurt described his film as a “loving critique of certain disturbing developments in rap music culture from a longtime hip-hop head.”
The documentary features commentary from rappers such as Fat Joe, Chuck D and Jadakiss on everything from selling out, degrading women and the portrayal of African-Americans and Latinos.
The movie noted 70 percent of hip-hop CDs are purchased by white men, and during Hurt’s question and answer session, middler Georgia Dufresne said it is possible for many who have had no contact with minorities to begin to typecast the entire race as observing the values of a corporately-created rapper.
“We need to stop entertaining and start educating what it is to be black,” said the anthropology major, defending Hurt’s conclusion rappers have devolved from political to amoral. “We are becoming so homogenized and marginalized that we will do anything for money.”
The idea of entertainment perception as cultural perspective was prevalent throughout the post-documentary discussion.
Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Kanye West were cited by Hurt as mainstream rappers who are trying to create political art as the pioneers of rap did over 30 years ago. He called “Beyond Beats and Rhymes” his contribution to hip-hop culture.
“When you’re trying to be critical of hip-hop, you must consider the negotiation of the balance between bringing the issues to the forefront without attacking the entire genre,” he said.
Friday night, Bakari Kitwana, founder of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention, moderated a panel of four esteemed members of today’s hip-hop community. The panel included Mansbach, Tufts sociology professor Raquel Rivera, photographer and Zulu Nation member Ernie Paniccioli and criminal justice professor Geoff Ward.
The discussion focused on the issue of race and hip-hop. Many agreed white America’s image of many Latinos and African-Americans is actually created by white people, because the majority of record executives selling the rappers’ images are white.
Rivera spoke of the Latino’s role in hip-hop and how the racial issues among Latinos have manifested themselves in such movements as Reggaeton (a combination of reggae and Latin dance influences).
Ward brought up the issue of “colorblind racism” and a national disengagement, meaning people are so afraid of being considered racist that dialogue on race and race relations is becoming harder to provoke among today’s youth.
The panel agreed hip-hop is a movement and in many ways the language of today’s youth, and the “old white men” who control the country either exploit it or fear it.
“Hip-hop is a common language of the youth culture, but our relevance does not have to mean their irrelevance,” Mansbach said.
