Dyson’s Take on the Culture of Hip Hop

I really enjoyed this piece by Michael Eric Dyson, interviewer Meta DuEwa Jones and Jay Z. I think that Dyson take’s Tricia Rose’s conclusions a bit further in his description of the culture and politics of Hip Hop.

While Dyson’s critics are less than kind, I highly disagree with their assessment of his purpose and point of view. Kilson states “there’s nothing whatever that’s seriously radical or progressive about hip hop ideas and values” now, with all due respect Mr. Kilson, how do you explain groups like NWA or Rage Against the Machine? Furthermore Mr. Kilson, how can you account for a hit like “The Message” by Grand Master Flash? This ground breaking piece opened up the desperate world of the South Bronx to the main stream with video to prove it.

Hip Hop reflects the culture of the ghetto in Dyson’s opinion and I agree with him. Every culture has their form of expression, in the 60’s it was the counter culture or the psychedelic drug culture, in the 70’s it was, gulp, disco and so on. Rap and Hip Hop reflects real concerns that address a specific audience. In this way, Hip Hop music brings issue to light that many middle class white people would have never thought existed.

Discussion:

How can we define what is legitimate and what is authentic when we speak of music, or of Hip Hop in particular?

As Dyson describes “The metaphysical root of hip hop is connected to the ghetto whether or not many of its artists grew up there” is this and exclusive attribute to Hip Hop or Rap or can we find this in other forms of artistic expression?

–Caryn Levine

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