MUSIC 17 - Week Four, Apr22

Paper #2, due Monday, May 6 at noon, submit via triton ed.

Guidelines, also posted on TritonEd

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Why is nobody coming to my office hours?!?!?!?

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Note: Keep up with the listening assignments. For assessments of this type (not multiple choice),experience tells me that cramming is not an effective strategy. See course page for highlightedtracks.

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First in-section writing assignment was completed this week. Reminder that these will happenperiodically, and that prompts are given out in section only.

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Jeff Chang is speaking at UCSD on Monday, May 13th

Quiz #3 review...

• On Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's track, "Superrappin'," the music is created...how?

• Planet Rock involves all the following except:

• The Zulu Nation

• German Electro Pop

• The TR 808

• Def Jam records

• The Signifying Monkey refers to...? (actually refers to two different things we've talked about)

• Who wrote these lyrics...?

Should we practice a listening ID???

To do, Apr 22.

1. Review last week's lecture.

◦ Review in general, but focus on Native Tongues Collective in particular

◦ Listening strategies from last week are the ones paper #2 is asking you to put into practice

2. Then, on to today's materials -- Hip Hop in the "Age of Fracture":

1. Apartheid in South Africa -- before the fracture

2. Crack Epidemic, CIA ironies, militarism in LA city police (Mike Davis reading)

3. 1989, a big year

▪ Central Park 5, Public Enemy in the press, Do the Right Thing

4. Listening: NWA, X-Clan, Brand Nubian, Schooly D

Review from last week

Native Tongues collective refers to a loose association of hip hop groups in the early 80s thatinherits the community orientation of Bambaataa and produces positive, socially consciousmaterials.

Most prominent members of Native Tongues are:

De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Stetsasonic, Queen Latifah

...paved the way for later artists like the Roots, Common and Mos Def

Q Tip on the formation and purpose of Native Tongues:

" Yo these kids, De La Soul, you gotta meet ’em! I swear we’re just alike!” I went there, met them,and it was just fuckin’ love at first sight. It was disgusting. In hip hop, it praises individualism. Ithink that’s the main achievement of the Native Tongues. It just showed people could cometogether.”

Note: Native Tongues is explicitly positioned against "individualism." It's about coming together, or,another way to say it, "collectivism."

Following on our discussion from last week, the crucial thing is to notice how this "positivity"emerges from more than just the lyrics. It's in the whole aesthetic presentation: the production, thetimbre, the ride cymbals, the fashion, the album art, whatever.

Stetsasonic, “Talking All That Jazz,” 1988

• Wise, Daddy-O and Prince Paul

• Samples Jazz - upright bass. Lonnie Smith, Expansions

• note double entendre on "Jazz" - or is it a triple entendre?

• It's a rap song about sampling as a serious aesthetic working method.

• Note in-group mentality specifically addressed at outsiders, using the concept of sampling asthe wedge.

Selections:

Well here's how it started, heard you on the radioTalking 'bout rap, saying all that crapAbout how we sample, giving examplesThink we'll let you get away with that?

You said it wasn't art, so now we're gonna rip you apartStop, check it out my manThis is the music of a hip-hop bandJazz, well you can call it thatBut this jazz retains a new format

...

Think rap is a fad? You must be madCause we're so bad we get respect you never hadTell the truth, James Brown was old'Til Eric and Ra came out with "I Got Soul"Rap brings back old R&BAnd if we would not, people could've forgot

TC: James Brown was old until 1987: Erik B and Rakim, I know Uou Got Soul

There's a very straightforward connection to make to Henry Louis Gates here -- can we make it?

Tribe Called Quest, Scenario, 1991

• begins with verse by core members: Phife Dawg, Charlie Brown, and Q-Tip

• Very significant and influential track featuring a classic verse from a young Busta Rhymes

• Also features Dinco D, who, with Busta Rhymes, would found the Leaders of the New School

Here we go, yo, here we go, yoSo what, so what, so what's the scenario?Here we go, yo, here we go, yoSo what, so what, so what's the scenario?

TC: opens with chorus/posse -- actually a throwback to older styles of hip hop

Phife Dawg

Ayo, Bo knows this (What?) And Bo knows that (What?)But Bo don't know jack, 'cause Bo can't rapWell, what do you know? The Di-Dawg is first up to batNo batteries included and no strings attachedNo holds barred, no time for move-fakin'Gots to get the loot so I can bring home the baconBrothers front, they say the Tribe can't flowBut we've been known to do the impossible like Broadway Joe, soSleep if you want, Nytol will help you get your Zs, troopBut here's the real scoopI'm all that and then some, short, dark, and handsomeBust a nut inside your eye to show you where I come fromI'm vexed, fuming, I've had it up to hereMy days of paying dues are over, acknowledge me as in there(Yeah!) Head for the border, go get a tacoWatch me wreck it from the jump street, meaning from the get-goSit back, relax, and let yourself goDon't sweat what you heard, but act like you know

Charlie Brown

Yes, yes, y'all, (Yes, y'all!)Who got the vibe? It's the Tribe, y'all (Tribe, y'all!)Real live, y'all (Live, y'all!)Inside, outside, come around(Who's that?) Brown!

TC: again, posse interlude introduces Charlie Brown

So, may I say, call me CharlieThe word is the herb and I'm deep like Bob MarleyLay back on the payback, evolve, rotate the gates (Contact!)Can I get a hit? (Hit!) Boom, bipWith a brother named Tip, and we're ready to flipEast coast stomping, ripping, and rompingNew York, North Cak-a-laka, and ComptonChecka-checka-check it outThe loops for the troops, more bounce to the ounceAnd wow-how-now-wow, how now, Brown cow?

TC: note gibberish syllables, another throwback

We're ill 'til the skill gets downFor the flex, next, it's the textbook, old to the newBut the rest are doo-dooFrom radio, to the video, to ArsenioTell me, yo; what's the scenario?

Dinco D

(True blue!) Scooby Doo, whoopie dooScenarios, radios, rates more than fourScores for the s'mores that smother dance floorsNow I go for mine, shades of sea shoreShip-shape, crushed grapes, apes that play tapesPapes make drakes baked for the wakesOf an (L-ah-!), an (-eader!), simply just a leaderBase (TC or bass?) in the space means peace, see ya laterLater (Later!) later, alligatorPop blows the weasel and the urge to inflate herSo, yo, the D, what! The OIncorporated I-N-C into a flowFunk flipped, flat back, first this, foul, fight, fight, fightLaugh, yo, how'd that sound? (Ooh!)

Q Tip

It's a Leader-Quest mission and we got the goods here (Here!)Never on the left 'cause my right's my good ear (Ear!)

TC: Shakespeare? "Come over to my right side, because this ear is deaf, and tell me what youreally think of Cassius."

I could give a damn about a ill subliminalStay away from crime so I ain't no (criminal!)I love my young nation, groovy sensationNo time for hibernation, only elationDon't ever try to test the water, little kidYo, Mr. Busta Rhymes, tell him what I did—

Busta Rhymes

—I heard you rushed and rushed (and attacked!)Then they rebuked and you (had to smack!)Causing rambunction throughout the sphereRaise the levels of the boom inside the ear—

Q Tip

—You know I did itSo don't violate or you'll get violatedThe hip-hop sound is well agitatedWon't ever waste no time on a played out egoSo here's Busta Rhymes with the scenario:

Busta Rhymes

Watch as I combine all the juice from the mindHeel up, wheel up, bring it back, come, rewindPowerful impact (Boom!) from the cannon!Not bragging, tryna read my mind, just imagineVo-cab-u-lary's necessaryWhen diggin' into my library

TC: cf. Q Tip's vocabulary -- "sensation, hibernation, elation." More rarefied words than we're usedto hearing.

Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh!Eating Ital Stew like the one Peter ToshUnh! Unh! Unh! All over the track, manUnh, pardon me, unh! As I come back!As I did it, yo, I had to beg your pardonWhen I travel through the town I roll with the squadronRawr! Rawr! Like a dungeon dragonChange your little drawers 'cause your pants were saggin'Try to step to this, I will twist you in a turbanAnd have you smelling rank like some old, stale urineChickity Choco, the chocolate chickenThe rear cock diesel, buttcheeks, they were kickingYo, bust it out before the Busta bust another rhymeThe rhythm is in sync (Uh!) the rhymes are on time (Time!)Rippin' up the sound just like HoratioObserve the vibe and check out the scenarioYeah, my man, mothafucka!

Queen Latifah and Monie Love, Ladies First, 1989

• Although perhaps better known today for her acting career, Queen Latifah started as a rapper.

• Monie Love is the first "BritHop" artist to rsell well in the US market.

• This is from Queen Latifah's debut album from 1989, All Hail the Queen

[Clever three part harmony]

Queen Latifah

The ladies will kick it, the rhyme that is wickedThose that don't know how to be pros get evictedA woman can bear you, break you, take youNow it's time to rhyme, can you relate toA sister dope enough to make you holler and scream

Monie Love

Ayo, let me take it from here, Queen...Excuse me but I think I'm about doTo get into precisely what I am about to doI'm conversating to the folks that have no whatsoever clueSo listen very carefully as I break it down for youMerrily merrily merrily merrily hyper happy overjoyedPleased with all the beats and rhymes my sisters have employedSlick and smooth throwing down the sound totally a yesLet me state the position: Ladies first, yes? (Yes)

[Monie Love]

Believe me when I say being a woman is great, you seeI know all the fellas out there will agree with meNot for being one but for being with oneBecause when it's time for loving it's the woman that gets someStrong, stepping, strutting, moving onRhyming, cutting, and not forgettingWe are the ones that give birthTo the new generation of prophets because it's Ladies First

[Queen Latifah]

I break into a lyrical freestyleGrab the mic, look into the crowd and see smilesCause they see a woman standing up on her own twoSloppy slouching is something I won't doSome think that we can't flow (can't flow)Stereotypes, they got to go (got to go)I'm a mess around and flip the scene into reverse(With what?) With a little touch of "Ladies First"

Who said the ladies couldn't make it, you must be blindIf you don't believe, well here, listen to this rhymeLadies first, there's no time to rehearseI'm divine and my mind expands throughout the universeA female rapper with the message to send theQueen Latifah is a perfect specimen

[Monie Love] My sister, can I get some?

[Queen Latifah]

Sure, Monie Love, grab the mic and get dumb

[Monie Lovie]

Yo, praise me not for simply being what I amBorn in L-O-N-D-O-N and sound AmericanYou dig exactly where I'm coming fromYou want righteous rhyming, I'mma give you someTo enable you to aid yourself and get paidAnd the material that has no meaning I wish to slayPay me every bit of your attentionLike mother, like daughter, I would also like to mention

I wish for you to bring me to, bring me to the rhythmOf which is now systematically givenDesperately stressing I'm the daughter of a sisterWho's the mother of a brother who's the brother of anotherPlus one more; all fourHave a job to do, we doing itRespect due, to the mother who's the root of itAnd next up is me, the M-O-N-I-E L-O-V-EAnd I'm first cause I'm a L-A-D-I-E

[Queen Latifah]

Contact and in fact, the style, it gets harderCooling on the scene with my European partnerLaying down track after track, waiting for the climaxWhen I get there, that's when I taxThe next man, or the next womanIt doesn't make a difference, keep the competition comingAnd I'll recite the chapter in verseThe title of this recital is "Ladies First"

Step out into the nightQueens of civilization are on the micThe scene is right, the crowd is hypeI expel the wack and those who biteWhy, cause I'm that typeSwaying with beats 45 King styleHe wants me to sing but I swing, so meanwhileA footnote for the opposite sexMonie ripped the mic, I rocked it nextPlex, you never catch me at my worstYou get the drift? It's Ladies First

Other classic Native Tongues recordings:

Tribe Called Quest, Bonita Applebaum

• Samples 1970s soul-jazz: Ramp, Daylight

• Sitar sample

De La Soul, Me Myself and I

• Satirizes commercialized Hip Hop industry

• Connection to the thing Qtip was quoted as saying earlier?

• Uses a wide array of samples: language instruction, hippie stuff, rock, etc.

Tribe Called Quest, Check the Rhime, 1991

• Funny conga beat

Turn to your neighbor. Learn their name, if you don't already know it :)

How do you characterize the "Native Tongues" sound?

How does the sound go with the lyrics?

Is it corny?

Is it "Black CNN?"

From conscious to gangsta

Apartheid

• Apartheid <-- Afrikaans (dialect of Dutch), cognate with english "apart-ness"

• Institutionalized racial segregation

• National Party of South Africa

• Prohibitions on miscegenation, separate public facilities, voter disenfranchisement.

• Involvement in broader Cold War struggle. Support corrupt (or racist, or violent, or,occasionally, drug-dealing) forces so long as they support the supreme evil of the Communistmenace.

• Jean J. Kirkpatrick, Ambassador to the UN under Reagan, foreign policy advisor

• Famous article, "Dictatorships and Double Standards," 1979, establishes the "KirkpatrickDoctrine"

• "Although most governments in the world are, as they always have been, autocracies of onekind or another, no idea holds greater sway in the mind of educated Americans than the beliefthat it is possible to democratize governments, anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances. "

• "In the relatively few places where they exist, democratic governments have come into beingslowly, after extended prior experience with more limited forms of participation during whichleaders have reluctantly grown accustomed to tolerating dissent and opposition..."

• "Since Moscow is the aggressive, expansionist power today, it is more often than notinsurgents, encouraged and armed by the Soviet Union, who challenge the status quo."

• "Traditional monarchies" preserve power in the hands of a few (bad?) but "such societiescreate no refugees" (good)

• "History is a better guide than good intentions"

• "Liberal idealism need not be identical with masochism, and need not be incompatible with thedefense of freedom and the national interest."

... that is, we should sometimes collaborate with unsavory autocrats so long as they, like us,oppose the Soviet Union

Kirkpatrick Doctrine and Apartheid

• Under Nixon, we accommodate apartheid South Africa.

• Jimmy Carter, responding to growing protest movements in USA and abroad, institutes an armsembargo.

• Ronald Reagan, elected 1980, creates policy of "constructive engagement," officially opposingracism but in many ways accommodating the South African regime.

• Divestment campaign grows. Compare with contemporary BDS (boycott, divestment andsanction) movement, which sees itself as heir to South African divestment movement.

• 1986 Comprehensive Anti Apartheid Act passes congress. Reagan vetoes, but congressoverrides veto.

• 1990, Nelson Mandela released from prison, elected 1994 as first black President of SouthAfrica. Regarded (not without qualifications) as a post-civil rights social justice success.

• 1991 Apartheid laws officially mostly repealed

Nevertheless, "Fracture"

• "Neoliberalism"

◦ disinvestment, small government ideology

◦ de-industrialization, free trade

◦ growth of financial industries

◦ tax cuts for the wealthy ("trickle down", "supply side" economics)

◦ corporate deregulation, mergers of multinational conglomerates -- really really bigcompanies

Results?

Extraordinary prosperity for some, economic stagnation (or worse) for most. Free trade. Rise inincome inequality. Further urban decay. Cultural stigmatization of poverty, fetishization of wealth."Welfare Queens," the "prosperity gospel," state colleges that cost money to attend, a million otherthings.

Jeff Chang on results of 1980s economic policy:

"Trickle-down economics and local taxpayer revolts starved local governments and encouragedsuburban sprawl, which in turn speeded white flight and racial resegregation. These trends wereoccurring as demographers projected the most racially diverse generation of youths the UnitedStates had ever seen." (223)

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, premieres in 1984, a new kind of TV show gawking at thegrotesque accumulation of the super-wealthy.

Donald Trump, lifestyles interview in 1994, about his then 1-year old daughter:

Well, I think she’s got a lot of Marla and she’s a really beautiful baby. And she’s, uh, she’s got, uh,she’s got Marla’s legs. We don’t know whether or not she’s got this part yet (puts hands overbreast area), but time will tell.

• Income inequality

• Social alienation

• The fraying of the black-jewish political coalition (Public Enemey's 1989 PR disaster)

Daniel Rodgers, Age of Fracture, Belknap Press, 2011

The "market" supplants other ideas we may have used in the USA to order our lives and anchor ouridentities. The result is a widespread conceptual fracture with all kinds of fasincatingconsequences.

"War on Drugs" (Mike Davis, City of Quartz)

• LAPD Chief Daryl Gates Speaks on Drugs

"We have a shooting war on the streets."

to the "Andean Nations," he says, "we're not hypocrites."

• Vice President George HW Bush Visits "Crack House" in 1988

• Gates is usually regarded as the founder of the SWAT thing, bringing Vietnam stylemilitarization to municipal policing.

The Hahns, Kenneth (elder) and James (junior)

• Kenneth Hahn, city supervisor

• Jim Hahn, then city attorney, later mayor

◦ Both make "tough on crime" part of their political platform.

◦ Jim Hahn files civil suit against street gangs, capitalizing on rhetorical climate of the dayand broadening the reach of the war on drugs.

◦ Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act (STEP), 1988, "sentencingenhancements"

◦ Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH)

◦ SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics)

• media sensationalism of "gang culture" and crime is extreme, especially in los angeles.

• George Bush, Willie Horton Ad, 1988

◦ Davis: "terrified a generation of Democrats into believing that their political survivaldepends on being even more bloodthirsty than Republicans" (Davis, p. 290)

• Demolition Man, 1993

◦ Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) vs. John Spartan (Stallone)

◦ Opening Scene

◦ San Diego-Los Angeles-Santa Barbara Corridor has become a very peaceful place in the21st century, so it's no match for Simon Phoenix when he manages to unfreeze himself.Only one man still has the grit and know-how from 1990s policing to take him down...

Sensationalism has real legal consequences. Here is Davis citing the LA times:

Crack Cocaine Epidemic

Overproduction in South America of coca crops leads to new product, crack. Two major Colombiancartels: Medellin and Cali.

Trafficking moves from South Florida to Southern California, via Mexico in early 1980s.

Noam Chomsky in 2009 on Drug war in South America

Iran Contra Scandal

Two regions in question: Iran and Nicaragua.

This is during the Cold War: Reagan wants to support the "Contras" in Nicaragua, who oppose thesocialist government there (Sandinistas), but Congress has forbidden him to do so. After years ofhostility, the US is also forbidden to deal with the state of Iran.

Nevertheless, it is revealed in 1986 that the US has been meddling in Nicaragua's struggle,funneling arms to the Contras. Furthermore, it comes to light that the money to support thisproject is coming from the profits of arms sales to Iran.

Making matters worse, the Contras were brutal and, crucially for our purposes today, involved inthe cocaine trade.

This policy was probably led by Oliver North, who was on Reagan's National Security Council. Hewas convicted of obstruction at the end of the 1980s, but the ruling was overturned as he hadbeen granted limited immunity for cooperating in the investigation.

He spent years as a host on Fox Business and is now the head of the NRA.

• Malcolm Byrne, Iran-Contra: Reagan's Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power,Univserity Press of Kansas, 2014

• John Ehrman, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan, Yale University Press, 2005

• Daniel Rodgers, Age of Fracture, Belknap Press, 2011

• Intercept article by Jon Schwartz on Oliver North

From Jon Schwartz:

There’s no evidence that North actively wanted cocaine to be smuggled into the U.S. It was simplythat he had other priorities. But was he aware of the Contras’ drug trafficking? Yes. Did he try toshield one of “his” cocaine traffickers from consequences from the other branches of the U.S.government? Yes. Did he work together with a known drug lord? Yes.

Why does this all matter in a course about hip hop?

In a word, Rick Ross

"Freeway" Rick Ross is not Rick Ross the rapper, nor is he the rapper Freeway, but rather "Freeway"Rick Ross, a drug kingpin with a hundred-million dollar empire in Los Angeles. Convicted in mid1980s and released in 2009.

But he did sue Def Jam for the usage of his name. Also the Rapper "Freeway" (not the same as RickRoss).

His drug supplier, Danilo Blandon, was supposedly involved in the CIA scheme to support theContras. This is reported in a famous series of articles by Gary Webb for the San Jose MercuryNews. Gary Webb killed himself in 2004.

In other words, the crack epidemic was tolerated? aided? known about? by an arm of the UnitedStates government abroad, even as it mounted ever more aggressive drug enforcement tactics athome. These affected non-whites disproportionately.

Impossible to know how much of the "Dark Alliance" is true. What we do know, though, is thedisorientation and extraordinary frustration it caused in LA's black community.

Crack in the System, 2015 Documentary on Freeway RR, Gary Webb, Etc.

Jay Z, Blue Magic (2007)

Blame Reagan for making me into a monsterBlame Oliver North and Iran-ContraI ran contraband that they sponsored

or, Pusha T, Alone in Vegas ...

whiter than that coke brush they paint me with

...

__Reagan era I ran contrabandMoney caused turf wars through the promised land__

or, Zach de la Rocha and KRS-one, CIA - Criminals in Action

1988-1989: Central Park 5,Do the Right Thing, It Takesa Nation of Millions to Holdus Back, and Public Enemy's

Antisemitism Problem

Central Park 5

• Trisha Meili was attacked violently, Apr 9 1989. In a coma for 12 days, awoke with no memoryof the incident. Has since recovered almost fully.

• "The Central Park Jogger"

• Police apprehend five young men: Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, YusefSalaam, and Korey Wise

• There are some confessions, but later recanted, claiming coercion and malicious prosecution.

• Extremely high profile, sensationalized story. Press calls defendants "wolf pack," Mayor Kochcalls them "monsters."

• NY Post: they come from " “a world of crack, welfare, guns, knives, indifference andignorance." (cited in this fascinating article in the New Yorker about the central park 5)

• in 2002, Mattias Reyes, serving a life sentence for other crimes, confesses to the crime, andDNA confirms that it was him.

• In 2014, NYC Mayor De Blasio finally settles lawsuit with the CP5, awarding approx 1 million perman per year unjustly served.

Donald Trump, NYC real estate heir, weighs in with ads condemning the teenage defendants.Estimated $85k to advertise in major papers, including NY Times. Trump maintains to this day thatthey are guilty in spite of DNA proof.

"They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes. Theymust serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or an actof violence."

Black Nationalism, the Nation of Islam, The Five Percenters

• Nation of Islam is an American religion based on Islam

• Prophet is WD Fard (Wallace Fard Mohammed), succeeded by Elijah Mohammed

• Malcom X, famously, joins and then splits from NOI

• Louis Farrakhan succeeds Elijah Mohammed, and has particular importance for many hip hopartists

Five percent nation, or the Nation of Gods and Earths

• A sort of splinter community from the Nation of Islam, founded in 1964

• A pseudo-religious theology and philosophy popular among some rappers of the 1980s. "GodHop"

• Afrocentric theology: black man ("Asiatic") is God. Women are "earths." (hence gods andearths). Children are moons.

• A set of distinctive catch phrases:

◦ calling eachother "god" rather than "man"

◦ "Word is Bond"

◦ "I am God"

◦ "Supreme Mathematics" and "Supreme Alphabet"

◦ Arabic names for various urban areas in USA. Brookyln = Medina. Harlem = Mecca. NewJersey = New Jerusalem.

◦ "civilized the uncivilized," i.e. 85% of the world's population.

Other Five Percenters:

• Big Daddy Kane, Ain't no Half Steppin, note the influence of Rakim

• Lakim Shabbazz, Black is Back, 1988

• Wu Tang (more on them later)

• Busta Rhymes on Five Percent Nation

...interested in the Five Percent Nation?

• Try Five Percenter Rap: God Hop's Music, Message, and Black Muslim Mission by Felicia M.Miyakawa, 2005

Public Enemy

• Chuck D, Flava Flav, and, eventually, Professor Griff as Minister of Information and Security

• Carleton Ridenhour, William Drayton, and Richard Griffin

• From Long Island (met at Adelphi U)

• 1987: Yo! Bum Rush the Show is first really commercially successful and work of blacknationalist rap.

• Controversial for that reason.

Public Enemy, You're Gonna Get Yours

• Extended riff on defying the police in a chase ('98' is the Oldsmobile 98')

2nd Album: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

Public Enemy, Bring the Noise

Too black, too strong Too black, too strong

[Intro: Flava Flav] Yo Chuck, these honey drippers are still fronting on usShow 'em that we can do this, cause we always knew thisHaha, yeah boy!

[Verse 1: Chuck D]Bass! How low can you go?Death row? What a brother knowOnce again, back is the incredible rhyme animalThe uncannable D, Public Enemy Number OneFive-O said, "Freeze!"—and I got numb

Can I tell 'em that I really never had a gun?But it's the wax that the Terminator X spunNow they got me in a cell 'cause my records, they sellCause a brother like me said "WellFarrakhan's a prophet and I think you ought to listen to

What he can say to you, what you ought to do is follow for now"Power of the people say"Make a miracle, D, pump the lyrical"Black is back, all in, we're gonna winCheck it out, yeah y'all, come on, here we go again

[Hook]Turn it up! Bring the noise!

[Bridge: Flava Flav]Ayo Chuck, they're saying we're too black, manYo, I don't understand what they're sayingBut little do they know they can get a smack for that, man

[Verse 2]Never badder than bad cause the brother is madder than madAt the fact that's corrupt like a senatorSoul on a roll, but you treat it like soap on a rope'Cause the beats and the lines are so dope

Listen for lessons I'm saying inside music that the critics are blasting me forThey'll never care for the brothers and sisters now, 'cause the country has us up for the warWe got to demonstrate, come on nowThey're gonna have to wait 'till we get it rightRadio stations I question their blacknessThey call themselves black, but we'll see if they'll play this

[Hook]Turn it up! Bring the noise!

[Bridge: Flava Flav]Ayo Chuck, they illin', we chillin'Yo P.E. in the house, top billin'Yo Chuck, show em what you can do, boy

[Verse 3]Get from in front of me, the crowd runs to meMy DJ is warm, he's X, I call him Norm, ya knowHe can cut a record from side to sideSo what, the ride, the glide should be much safer than a suicideSoul control, beat is the father of your rock'n'rollMusic for whatcha, for whichin', you call a band, manMaking a music, abuse it, but you can't do it, ya knowYou call 'em demos, (but we ride limos, too)

Whatcha gonna do? Rap is not afraid of youBeat is for Sonny Bono, (beat is for Yoko Ono)Run-DMC first said a DJ could be a bandStand on its own feet, get you out your seatBeat is for Eric B. and LL as well, hellWax is for Anthrax, still it can rock bellsEver forever, universal, it will sellTime for me to exit, Terminator X-it

[Hook]Turn it up! Bring the noise!

[Bridge: Flava Flav]Yo, they should know by now that they can't stop this bum rushWord up, better keep tellin' me to turn it downBut yo, Flavor Flav ain't going out like that

[Verse 4]From coast to coast, so you stop being like a comatose"Stand, my man? The beat's the same with a boast toast"Rock with some pizzazz, it will last. Why you ask?Roll with the rock stars, still never get accepted asWe got to plead the Fifth, you can investigateDon't need to wait, get the record straightHey, posse in effect, got the Flavor, TerminatorX to sign checks, play to get paidWe got to check it out down on the avenueA magazine or two is dissing me and dissing youYeah, I'm telling you

[Outro: Flava Flav]Hey yo, Griff, get thirty S1W, we got to handle thisWe ain't goin' out like thatYo man, straight up on the Columbo tipWe can do this, like Brutus'Cause we always knew thisYou know what I'm sayin'There's just one thing that puzzles me, my brotherWhat's wrong with all these people around here, manIs they clocking? Is they rocking? Is they shocking?

Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing, 1989

1989, Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing

• Radio Raheem's Love and Hate Scene

• Radio Raheem at Sal's Pizzeria

...what's the music?

Public Enemy was actually commissioned to make "Fight the Power" as the soundtrack for themovie. Spike Lee directed the music video., for which he staged a sort of real march/concert.

"1963, that was a bit of nonsense, we ain't rollin like that no more. matter of fact..."

Public Enemy and the 1989 Anti-semitism scandal

Minister of Information Professor Griff makes a number of anti-semitic comments.

For example, ''The Jews are wicked. And we can prove this.'' Also said that Jews are responsible for''the majority of wickedness that goes on across the globe.''

Puts more pressure on an already strained Black-Jewish relationship, exacerbated by Farrakhan'sreputation for antisemitism and homophobia.

Griff is dismissed from PE in 1989, group continues on without him.

Here's Griff explaining these comments

Account is in Chang, chap 13.

X Clan, "Heed the Word of the Brother"

• Black nationalist but, crucially, not militant:

They call me militantNow what does this mean?Do I carry a gun [?]Like the army scene?

Brand Nubian, "Wake Up"

• Really explicit 5 percent nation lyrics

• Like X Clan but more religious

Peace to the Gods, Peace AllahA-yo there go that brother Grand PubaI heard that brother got knowledge of selfYo, true indeed brotherYo, let's have that brother come over and add on to the cipherA-yo knowledge this

[Grand Puba] The attribute Hagi helper to another GodIn need He Allah God IslamAs I proceed to civilize the uncivilizedWord of wisdom to the groove from the wise (speak on it God)I guess I'm like the Verbalizer for the fact I'm moving blackwardsThis Asiatic black man is a dog spelled backwardsThe maker, the owner, the cream of the planet EarthFather of civilization, God of the universeManifesting thoughts with my infinite stylesMaking sure this travels twenty-three million milesThe other six I set the crucifix

Because the heart of the problem is this.. (speak on it God)Preacher got my Old Earth putting money in the panFor the rest of the week, now I'm eating out a soup canHe has a home, drives a Caddy through townHas my Old Earth believing that he's coming from the ground (Jesus)Slain are those who fought for what was rightSlayed are those who fell victim to the pipeA drug controlled substance, contained in a vialSet up by the devil as he looks and he smilesGood at the game of tricknologyBut I have knowledge of myself, you're not fooling meYou see the answer to me is black unity

Unification, to help our bad situationI wrote this on a day of wisdom powerAll being born to myself (God!)I won't diss the next brother to be paid, that's not my tradeIt's just the plan that is designed by the colored manNow our babies are born to think this is the way of us (The way of us)That's the way the devil wants it so it is no fuss (It is no fuss)It's just that sad old song, "Self Destruction"To stop our reproduction

They put our Wisdom before us (murderer!)That makes it Wisdom, Knowledge (murderer!)But we need Knowledge, Wisdom to bring forth the Understanding (murderer!)Culture, Freedom (murderer!)Power, Refinement (murderer!)Equality, God, Build, Destroy, Borns our Cipher (murderer!)

(Can a devil fool a Muslim?) No, not nowadays bro(Do you mean to say the devil fooled us four hundred years ago?)Why Equal Self, a trader made an interpretationSaying that we'd receive more gold for our labor in his nation(Did we receive more gold?) God, Now CipherIt's time to drop the bomb and make the devil pay the piper(True indeed, God, true indeed, God) Why Equal Self(True indeed, God, true indeed, God) Why Equal Self(True indeed, God, true indeed, God) Why Equal Self(True indeed God, true indeed) Why Equal Self

[Grand Puba]The solution, knowledge of self to better ourselfCause I know myself, that we can live much better than thisNothing's changed, it's just another sequelThe devil's still causing trouble amongst the righteous peopleDrugs in our community (That ain't right)Can't even get a job (That ain't right)Poisoning our babies (That ain't right)Lying who is God (That ain't right)Well here's some food for thought, many fought for the sportAnd the black man still comes up short?It's time to motivate, build and elevateBlind, deaf, and dumb, we've gotta change their mind stateSo I dip dip diver, civilize a 85'erGotta let him know the devil's a conniverThis is the plan from the brother manFrom the motherland, now it's time to take a standI keep striving to do my duty to awake 'emTo the universal family, I say asalaam alaikum

Yeah, now I'mma do like thisNuff respects to the brother Jazzy Jay, nuff respectNuff respects, to my Brand Nubian brothersBust it, Lord Jamar, God AllahDerek X is on the flexAlamo is good to goSincere, the God is in hereSo move on black man, move onWe gotta move on black man, move onMove on black man, move onWe gotta move on black man, move onNow before I motivate I'mma just say like thisPlease, educate Allah's children, with equalityMove on black man, move onYou gotta move on black man, move on

Schooly D, PSK, 1985

First Gangsta Record?

PSK = Park Side Killers, Philadelphia Gangsta

Mood of hostility. Lyrics about crime without explicit politics.

Widely influential and sampled: e.g. BIG

The Gansta thing takes off:

Ice T, 6 in the mornin', 1986

Easy E, Boyz in the Hood, 1988

• First really big LA hit.

• Famously (thanks to the movie), Ice Cube actually wrote these lyrics, while Easy E was justtrying to launder money.

NWA, Straight Outta Compton, 1988

• From debut album Straight Outta Compton. After success of Boyz in the Hood, this group formsand really catapults the Gangsta style into public visibility. Also makes Compton famous as asymbol of urban apocalypse (think of Demo Man)

NWA, Fuck the Police, 1988

• Important to consider what else is happening in this track besides its notorious violence andprovocation.