Post Reading Week 12

After watching the video myself, I came to the conclusion that Lupe Fiasco’s song is an actual example of an artist trying to be more critically conscious of what is going on around us.  Fiasco, advocating critical thinking and freedom to acquire fundamental truth and knowledge about the world, created the song ‘Bitch Bad’ in order to critique the stereotyping and social manipulation that goes on in today’s hip hop industry.  In order to formulate his argument, Fiasco first creates context for the viewer.  He poses two notions of what it is to be a “bad bitch” based on their use in the video.  In his own words, Fiasco describes the various uses of the term as creating the idea of illusion vs reality.  To Fiasco, reality is treating yourself with respect and remaining genuine with regard to the actions that you commit; advocating awareness of your environment and encouraging individuals to think critically about the world around us.  As the video progresses, Fiasco then critiques the “illusion” of reality that hip-hop artists tend to promote in their music.  Too often, hip-hop artists create false ideas of what reality is, and those who are too young to understand how to interpret such media end up believing in what they see.  It is Fiasco’s critique that, in this process, the industry is producing a generation of youth that adhere to debased forms of life. Also very interesting about the song, Fiasco challenges the use of “Blackface” and the continuation of creating this image of Black people as entertainers while their White “superiors” reap all the benefits of their efforts.  
One might say that Lupe Fiasco is portraying Women in a negative light in the video, however we must remember that he is simply creating a context that he then begins to critique.  In no way is he advocating such negative perceptions of Women, he is only showcasing such perceptions so that he, speaking from a position beyond the video itself, can express how he feels that it is corrupt.  Of course one can say that Fiasco’s story places a girl in the side of an illusion while a boy follows reality, but we have to remember that this is only one video.  Due to the restriction of time, one can only put so much into a single song that ultimately is meant to appeal to a large audience.  In my opinion, I think that Fiasco would counter this argument by stating that yes, Men are a problem in that they get manipulated by the media in the same way that Women do, but within the context of one video and one song, you can only do so much and can’t efficiently incorporate all that has to be said about a particular topic.  To me, where one can find the biggest concern is in Fiasco’s hierarchy of the role of Women in society.  These lyrics are in no way defined properly, so we can never know the true intention of them unless Fiasco speaks more on the matter.  Yes there flaws to this video, but when compared to other forms of this genre, Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Bitch Bad’ is a genuine attempt at creating critically conscious work.  

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Pre-reading week 12

Is hip-hop conventionally seen as a tool for social justice or critique? Why or why not?

This question deals much with the idea of what the ideal of hip hop is, versus what it has become today.  At first, hip-hop was seen as a means of expression for African Americans and other minority groups to speak out about what was going on in their communities.  Acts of oppression and police brutality that were seen in the neighborhoods of such minority groups were often the topics brought out in hip-hop music.  It was from this oppression that hip-hop got its basis.  Upon its introduction as a new genre of music, hip-hop was this edgy and unprecedented form of sound that espoused ideals such as black power and overcoming the negative conditions that exist in the world.  
Today hip-hop and rap has transformed into a whole different form of music that doesn't really hold on to its original roots.  Today we too often hear of violence, sex, money, and drugs in rap and hip-hop.  So, when at first hip hop was seen as this form of critique of the social sphere, is now a debased form of what it was originally designed to uphold.  

What are some of the barriers to hip-hop artists creating and marketing critical hip-hop?

As seen from the video, large corporations bought out the music genre and then controlled the type of media that would be produced from the genre itself.  This “buying out” of the genre can be seen as its shift from a form of critique to that of a form of media that creates stereotypes of those that are in it.  Before the introduction of these corporations and large corporate labels and deals, the music represented retaliation and expression against oppression.  Higher authorities, seeing the genre as going against their own agendas, then saw it as their duty to take control of it and then suppress it so that the message that they wanted to be displayed was seen by the public.  This is when hip-hop moved to more of a “thug” concept.  And that is what it is today.
Furthermore, in the video we saw that people base their opinions on African Americans from what they see in the music itself.  The students interviewed in the video obviously came from a town where they had never met a Black person before.  In the interview they talked about how the hip-hop videos helped them learn a little bit about the culture of other people.  How can we have people that are so ignorant and oblivious? What is seen in those videos is not an accurate representation of the lives of those participating in the video, but too often people base their opinions on other races based on the videos alone- and that is exactly what the corporations and higher authorities want to be imposed on us.  

This all stems from the idea of social control and manipulation that goes on around us.  

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