Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A lively off-line discussion ensued following a previous post titled “Rejecting Blackness to Embrace Hip Hop?” It raised questions concerning how blogger and cultural commentator Paul Scott defines “Blackness,” which he believes many blacks, particularly performers, who embrace hip hop culture today are rejecting.
If one defines “blackness” as a cultural expression that is explicitly and self-consciously “pro-Black,” or Afrocentric, then the implications for “Black cultural expression” will be extremely limiting. The position of post-blackness is that there are many ways to be black and there are many authentically African American experiences. Afro-centrism is only one of these approaches.
In fact, many people might question Afrocentrism‘s “authenticity” as a cultural expression of African American experiences precisely because it is self-consciously focused on social and political consciousness. One might argue that social and political consciousness is not a preoccupation for most people of any race or ethnicity.
Moreover, post-black creative talent seek to express experiences that are universal; the reader, listener, or viewer should not have to be African American in order to identify with the experience that creative talent are conveying. Yet, style of presentation, the genre used, and the musical or linguistic “grammar” of the expression may be firmly rooted in aspects of African American culture.
An example of this approach is US3’s 1993 performance, Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia), based on Herbie Hancock‘s Cantaloop Island. Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) is a blend of Jazz and Hip Hop, making it solidly grounded in African American cultural expression, yet the music and lyrics are not socially or culturally exclusive. For some people the song was a tribute to Jazz, with Hip Hop tipping its hat in acknowledgment of the earlier genre of music. Other people listened to the song for the sheer pleasure of the sound.
As with much that is “post-black,” the artist, who happens to be black, is focused primarily on creating interesting and innovative work, not self-consciously “black art.” The fact that the creative artist’s cultural frame-of-reference, or cultural upbringing, was African American will no doubt appear in whatever that artist produces. The artist is no more ashamed of his or her cultural background than are artists of other race or ethnic group — nor is the artist confined to his or her background for artistic expression. The emphasis is on the creativity of the work itself.
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) is as enjoyable today as it was 20 years ago. There can be no doubt that culturally it is “black,” but its message and appeal are universal.
An excellent discography on the fusion of Jazz and Hip Hop can be found here.
Related Book of Interest: Black Racial Identity and Schooling
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How would you define the difference between a “black artist” and an artist who happens to be black? What relationship do you see between the message behind a work of art and method used to create artistic expression? How might specific cultural modes of expression prevent the universal appreciation of a work of art by a broader audience?
A post from Jazz.com discusses the origins of Hip Hop (locating it in the late 1960s), the evolution of Jazz, and argues that Jazz is a varied musical form that should not be artificially constrained by the labels we impose on it.
Also of interest: Rejecting Blackness to Embrace Hip Hop? and What Color is Your Music?
See also: Hip Hop is Not as Simple as You Think and How to Listen to Hip Hop
Related articles
- Rejecting “Blackness” to Embrace Hip Hop? (postblackhistory.net)
- Destruction of Black Civilization: Did Hip-Hop Swagga Jack Black Culture? (allhiphop.com)
- My hip-hop love affair: ‘it’s art, you fool’ | John Sutherland (guardian.co.uk)
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