Hip-Hop is Indeed Intellectual
In a recent interview with The CUT, GRAMMY winner artist Doechii shared her thoughts regarding public perceptions on the genre of hip-hop.
After giving credit to other female rappers who have influenced the Tampa native’s sound, Doechii called out those who refuse to view hip-hop as anything other than intellectual. “I’m gravitating towards the pure skill that was incorporated. Anyone who doesn’t think that hip-hop is an intellectual genre, I think that assumption is rooted in racism” Doechii said.
Doechii has not been the only artist to speak on the public’s perception of hip-hop. In his “Record of the Year” GRAMMY acceptance speech for “Not Like Us”, Kendrick Lamar voiced his own opinions on the genre. “When people talk about rap, man, the conversations I hear, they think it’s just rap and it’s not an actual artform” he said.
The sentiments shared by both rappers are part of a larger conversation on the validity of hip-hop, which has come to be known as just another form of entertainment by music journalists, consumers and White America. Since its inception in the early 1970s, Hip-Hop has undergone a unique type of scrutiny that other genres such as pop, rock and country (typically dominated and consumed by white artists and audiences) have not yet experienced.
The genre has been criticized through emerging subsets of the genre – gangsta and mumble rap – which typically discuss topics of gang violence, crime, drug use, and misogyny. Some critics argue that these subgenres leave a negative impact and impression on audiences, primarily young listeners. The promotion of this singular narrative has contributed to the widespread view that hip-hop as a whole is merely entertainment and has no intellectual value whatsoever. However, the average person’s understanding of hip-hop doesn’t fully encapsulate the genre’s original purpose and the role it played not only as a music genre – but as a cultural movement – in providing an avenue for Black Americans to comment on the political and economic conditions of their communities.
Hip-Hop in its early stages emerged out of the streets of The Bronx, New York City in the early 1970s. At the time, New York was experiencing an economic decline, and the Bronx felt the brunt of this economic crisis. Neighborhoods in the borough suffered from housing disinvestment, redlining, and an eventual urban decay characterized by burning apartment buildings, violence, and poverty.
Amidst the chaos and the U.S. government's neglect of The Bronx’s most vulnerable communities, Black, brown, and immigrant youth turned towards creative expression as an outlet to express their grievances with the state of their communities. The abandoned buildings, parking lots and rubble that arose from the Bronx fires were used as spaces to host block parties,bringing the community together at such a divisive time in New York City history.
The very first block party, which is said by scholars and academics to have been the catalyst for the birth of hip-hop, took place in the recreation room of an apartment complex for a “Back to School” block party.Jamaican-American disc jockey DJ Kool Herc, credited as one of the pioneers and founding fathers of hip-hop, DJ’d the block party hosted by his older sister Cindy Campbell. He created a unique experimentation on the turntables called the “break,” which he isolated and repeated in funk and soul records to form loops that dancers could groove to. This revolutionary DJ technique became one of the 4 elements of hip hop: 1) DJing, 2) MC-ing 3) break-dancing and 4) graffiti.
While each element plays an important role in hip-hop, MCs are critical to understanding why dubbing rap as “unintellectual” is nothing but mere nonsense. Short for “Master of Ceremonies”, MCs started out as hosts or “hypemen” to keep the crowds at hip-hop parties and events engaged. As hip-hop developed, the role of the MC shifted from a party host to a “philosopher” as many aspiring and up-and-coming MCs experimented with lyrical skill through creative wordplay, metaphors and complex rhyme schemes.
Along with this shift in the role of the hip-hop MC came the need to bring attention to the political, social and economic issues facing Black communities, such as police brutality and the crack epidemic. “Knowledge of self” soon became the 5th element of hip-hop culture as a way to educate the public on these pressing issues. A body of work that highlights the art of hip hop as a means of political activism is rap collective Public Enemy’s “Fear of a Black Planet” album. Released in 1990, this album explores themes of empowerment and organization in the Black community against the institutions and government powers responsible for the oppression of Black Americans. Other rap groups and artists such as A Tribe Called Quest and KRS-One similarly took advantage of their lyrical prowess to advocate for social change in their artistry.
What started as a cultural movement to platform those who felt like they didn’t have a voice, soon became a multi-million dollar business that corporate label giants could profit from. Record labels—a majority of them being owned by white men according to a USC Annenberg Institute report—saw the opportunity to capitalize off of gangsta rap’s widespread success, as its mass appeal expanded from Black and Latino communities to white suburban populations. In turn, these labels put pressure on their Black artists to record and release music that glorified the gangsta rap lifestyle and aligned with commercial interests, which often prioritized catchy hooks over in-depth lyricism and skill. Hip-hop, which once became known as a tool for political and social advocacy, was diluted in the name of capitalism.
The current state of hip-hop is reflective of this shift towards commercialized rap music and a decline in the elements that make rap an intellectual genre. The same demographic (straight, white men) who capitalized on the success of gangsta rap also control the narratives on how the genre of hip-hop is perceived in the eyes of the public. Those in power have contributed to the dilution of hip-hop’s true meaning through marketing songs that reduce hip-hop to merely an aggressive and violent genre, overshadowing the political messaging, storytelling, and nuanced lyricism central to the genre’s foundations.
Failure to see hip-hop as intellectual also highlights the deep-rooted racist views and ideology of America when it comes to Black artistry and the Black American experience. Even when rap contains political and activist messaging, intellectualism is often analyzed through a Western, eurocentric perspective (think Aristotle, Plato, and other traditional thinkers), encouraging audiences who subscribe to this narrow perspective to view any form of hip-hop as “unintellectual.” This warped view of intellectualism also upholds negative stereotypes that seek to limit and undermine the voices and experiences of Black Americans, dubbing the hardships imposed on them by harmful institutions as trivial and unimportant.
Transforming the way people view hip-hop doesn’t only require us to rethink how we view intellectualism. Intellectualism must be expanded to include conservations about racism, systemic equality and violence. These topics not only require a lot of nuance and critical thinking, but are crucial in gaining a better understanding of the different power structures at play which contribute to the poor societal conditions discussed in hip-hop music. Strides have been made to bring back the “intellectual” aspect of hip-hop, including the implementation of the genre on academic stages. Howard University for example offers hip hop studies, which focuses on educating students on the 4 elements of hip-hop, while also analyzing the political, social and economic forces that influenced hip-hop as a genre and as a cultural movement. Rappers such as Lupe Fiasco and Eve have also been given the opportunity to teach hip-hop courses at higher-ed institutions —giving curious students the opportunity to truly understand just how intellectual hip-hop really is.
But we should not only rely on academia to give hip-hop the intellectual credit it is due: change also starts within the music industry. Record labels and executives should not be driven by a love for profit, but instead by an unwavering commitment to preserving the very essence of hip-hop culture. The cultural and intellectual value of hip-hop supersedes whether it can achieve mainstream success; artists should be encouraged to implement lyricism, personal expression and deep topics into their artistry without feeling pressured to make music in the name of virality.
Hip-hop’s foundation on providing a voice for marginalized groups is all the evidence needed to consider it an “intellectual” genre. Despite capitalism’s efforts to eliminate this solid foundation, modern day hip-hop artists such as Doechii, Noname, and Kendrick Lamar continue to challenge the public’s narrow perception of hip-hop through their artistry. When we begin to uplift and support artists, talent and initiatives that remain true to the essence of hip-hop, society will be able to see it as the intellectual artform it has always been.