Ethnic Notions had a large discussion about how the stereotypes of blacks created in the slavery and post-slavery eras continue and are reinforced today. Particularly, the stereotype of the aggressive, uncultured black man that is not respectable and can't do much with his life is and was present and depicted very often. Although this stems from the thought that African Americans were dependent on white population, the stereotype still somewhat exists today.
One major form of this today is in music, specifically the G-rap, or gangsta rap genre. Iconic rappers such as Dr. Dre have many songs that exemplify this stereotype. Songs like "Forgot About Dre" on The Chronic 2001 where Dre asserts himself in an aggressive way as one of the most important people in the era. Other songs like "Bring Da Ruckus" by Wu-Tang Clan on Enter the Wu-Tang Clan- 36 Chambers also show this fairly well.
Many rappers tap into this stereotype, making song about drugs, sex, or killing people and all of these songs seem to be a descendant of this stereotype of the aggressive black man that was created so that people would regret stopping slavery. In addition, many rappers are only characterized by this style of song when in many songs there are deeper messages.
The main rebuttal those making the songs have to say about this is that what they are representing is generally just a depiction of life in the ghetto. Instead of being aggressive because they can't not be aggressive, its is because these people had to survive through rough times and they want to represent their hardship through music. Although this may be true, many also do not like this representation because people tend to generalize more than is needed and this seems to reflect badly on the others of the population.
Overall, this stereotype is still very present today, and I believe it will continue to be as long as it is being used in situations like these.
One major form of this today is in music, specifically the G-rap, or gangsta rap genre. Iconic rappers such as Dr. Dre have many songs that exemplify this stereotype. Songs like "Forgot About Dre" on The Chronic 2001 where Dre asserts himself in an aggressive way as one of the most important people in the era. Other songs like "Bring Da Ruckus" by Wu-Tang Clan on Enter the Wu-Tang Clan- 36 Chambers also show this fairly well.
Many rappers tap into this stereotype, making song about drugs, sex, or killing people and all of these songs seem to be a descendant of this stereotype of the aggressive black man that was created so that people would regret stopping slavery. In addition, many rappers are only characterized by this style of song when in many songs there are deeper messages.
The main rebuttal those making the songs have to say about this is that what they are representing is generally just a depiction of life in the ghetto. Instead of being aggressive because they can't not be aggressive, its is because these people had to survive through rough times and they want to represent their hardship through music. Although this may be true, many also do not like this representation because people tend to generalize more than is needed and this seems to reflect badly on the others of the population.
Overall, this stereotype is still very present today, and I believe it will continue to be as long as it is being used in situations like these.
It's interesting that you brought this up. The fact that these rappers are the ones writing the songs shows how this racial stereotype can be perpetuated by the victim, not something I would expect. Maybe this is because they are trying to fit the mold of society (that is what they need to do to gain popularity). Whether they mean to or not, you are right that they are showing how this stereotype is still present today.
ReplyDeleteI think it is more complicated than simply rappers perpetuating a popular stereotype for profit or popularity. Alice has an excellent blog post partially on how minstrelsy and stereotypes create this very confusing middle ground, between reality and minstrelsy--and this is the source of Wright's issue with TEWWG. Hurston just wants to present this reality, whereas Wright sees it as minstrelsy, because the two sometimes overlap. There is a similar discussion of this in Invisible Man with the yams--where the reality (he likes yams) and the stereotype (poor southern blacks like yams) overlap, and this is where questions of authenticity get complicated. I think rappers like Dre simply believe in presenting their reality, without being held back by concerns of perpetuating a stereotype--the reality is more important to them.
DeleteThat is an interesting point. I also think to some extent the rappers are just trying to represent the reality of the situation, but at some point I think a line can be drawn where the rappers are just exaggerating and playing into the stereotype because it works for the style of music. Most of the rappers that rap about topics like the life in the ghetto also have songs that really fit into the stereotype of the uncultured, aggressive black man that acts purely off of desire. Not all rappers do this, but some do a a fairly large extent (Many of 50 Cent's songs come to mid here).
DeleteThere is a confusing middle ground, as many stereotypes are based off of reality in some way or another, but in addition, there definitely is some perpetuation of the stereotype by the rappers just because it can make good music.