Marx and the Rap Machine

Ennis O. Newman

University of Memphis

Marx and the Rap Machine

During the Civil Rights era, Soul music became the rhythmically-charged conduit exposing the conditions of inequality and social injustice endured by marginalized people of color, to the world. What Soul music was for the Civil Rights Movement and the subsequent Black Power and post-Feminist movements, Hip Hop became for a post-industrial, postmodern, post-soul America. In the contemporary context, Hip Hop culture is embraced, celebrated, and assimilated into myriad cultures worldwide, and through commodification and corporate annexation, it yields a substantial corporate economic profit. Some contemporary consumers and producers of the culture contend that this profit has been gained through relinquishing much of its founding essence.

Drawing from Marx’s Estranged Labor (1844), I attempt to situate Hip Hop as commodified culture through an engagement of how rap artists, as agents within the culture, are alienated from their art/labor, thereby, creating a manifestation of false consciousness that may problematize its authenticity. My conclusion, while not offering a concrete resolution, speculates on the growing momentum fueling the so-called “Underground Hip Hop Movement”, and explores the possibility of dialectic between the commodified aspect of the culture, and this burgeoning underground movement. Is this an attempt by the agents of this culture to reverse its corporate appropriation, collapsing it to regain the authenticity of its past/origin and thereby negate its commodification? Or, will this resurgence propel this culture toward transcendence, bringing a synthesis between the two—and perhaps evolve into a more self-conscious culture?

Social movements like the Civil Rights protests gave the world not only a vivid account of the barbarous injustices and violence inflicted upon people of color, but conveyed the potential of a collective consciousness within America’s marginalized masses. While these socially alienated groups struggled to negotiate and assert their identity, this collective conscious was imbedded within the artistic expression of that time, most dominantly portrayed through music. Songs like “Keep On Pushing” by the Impressions, or James Brown’s “I’m Black and I’m Proud” became social chants adding momentum to the Civil Rights movement, energizing people to continue struggling for an end to the social injustice and inequality. This cultural expression was not only a means of disseminating the sentiments of a dissatisfied people, but resonated the ideology of Black Pride and identity, and provided a pulse or “soundtrack” to the experiences of the era.

The sixties and Civil Rights would peak (historically) in 1968 with the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., but much of the work and pursuits for equal access in America was unfinished—and the nonviolent approach to achieving equality had become less popular, especially by the very backbone of the movement: the youth. By the early seventies we would see a more aggressive campaign of social struggle, with the rise of the Black Power and Feminist movements respectively. The promises made by government officials during the long walk of the Civil Right movement had gone unanswered. There were disproportionate amounts of unemployed people of color due to the massive relocation of factories to the suburban areas, “white flight”, and gentrification. Although Brown vs. Board of Education In Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation, Jeff Chang provides a very disturbing illustration of the economic plight of one particular borough in New York City: the South Bronx. This neighborhood suffered a devastating blow with the loss of over 600,000 manufacturing jobs, (Chang 13). Toward the mid-seventies with over 40 percent of the industrial sector gone, average household income was reduced to $2,430, just half of the New York City average and 40 percent of the nationwide average, (Chang 13). The South Bronx, once an area populated by middle class whites and immigrants, was being abandoned for “cookie cutter suburbs” being developed in New Jersey, Long Island, and Queens, (Chang 12-13). With substandard schools, housing, few jobs, high drug use, and criminal activity, the South Bronx, NY was ripe for the birth of a culture enabling the empowerment of the alienated and disenfranchised. had rendered that segregation in schools was unconstitutional, school boards nationwide were addressing the situation with “all deliberate speed,” thus students who were schooled in poor neighborhoods didn’t have the resources of the more affluent schools, usually white.

It all began on Sedgwick Avenue, with the house parties orchestrated by DJ Kool Herc-known through Hip Hop legend as simply “The Father,” a counter-narrative to the deplorable social conditions plaguing the South Bronx, and many communities like it all over the nation, although those who were instrumental in bringing this culture into existence most likely were unaware of the power it would yield. In the beginning, Hip Hop music was mostly confined to the house party circuit, where DJs would spin old soul records to get the crowds into the vibe, and while mixing records with similar tempos together, the DJ would allow the emcee to drop a “Yes-yes Ya’ll” to the crowd, and/or provide poetic entertainment through freestyle rhymes. There were a few artists who would go on receive notoriety in a larger context. Some include Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Run DMC, though it would be the latter who would show the world and the music industry just how economically viable this art form could be. While most of the music produced by this culture was allegedly “nonsensical” as described by M. Elizabeth Blair in her essay Commercialization of the Rap Youth Subculture, there were songs that contained social commentary/awareness, like Kurtis Blow’s The Breaks, and the Furious Five’s The Message (“It’s like a Jungle sometimes/it makes me wonder/how I keep from going under”), but the commercial success to bolster hip hop to a broader audience came with Run DMC’s cross over hit—a reinterpretation of Aerosmith’s hit “Walk this Way” selling 3.3 million records, (Blair 499). This commercial success was perhaps the beginning of this culture’s appropriation into mass mainstream culture. Almost three and a half decades old, hip hop music/culture is far removed/alienated from its roots in social protest, it has become subsumed by the rap industry machine that acts as a capitalist force, creating and exploiting artists for capital gain of power, prestige, and property.

Analyzing Hip Hop culture in a Marxist context, it becomes evident that the rap artist is many times removed from the product of his or her labor, as well as from the labor itself. In Estranged Labor, Marx contends that the more value can be applied to a product produced by a worker, the less valuable that worker becomes; the more objects (products) a worker produces, the less he/[she] can posses—thus the worker falls under the dominion of the object…, (Marx 71). Using a Marxist theoretical framework, the music industry machine, i.e. respective record labels and music conglomerates, can be characterized as the Marxist’s bourgeoisie class, in that record labels commodify every aspect of an artist’s presentation and existence, exploiting him or her for capitalist gain. The rap artist in most cases aspires to the status of the bourgeoisie, to own, control, and exploit the labor of others, but capitalist forces serve to alienate the rap artist and relegate him to the position of the rap proletariat. Once an artist signs a recording contract with a label, so begins their relegation to the underclass. The record company is viewed by the artist as the means of their successful climb to the bourgeoisie class, when in actuality, the artist leases himself or herself and their labor—in this case the production of music—to the record company. The artists does not, in most cases, own or control the means of producing his or her product, which thereby leads to, in Marxist philosophical terms, the alienation of the artist. The record company employs the services of musical producers and/or musicians, who represent Marx’s conception of the petit bourgeoisie, to construct the various compositions to accompany an artist’s lyrics. Yet, in numerous cases, the artist does not even own, construct, or produce his or her own lyrics. That is to say that the artist does not own or have right to the very lyrics that he or she records. Furthermore, artists rarely own the master recordings, or “masters”. In some instances, even when the artist produces his or her own lyrics or music, many record companies retain publishing rights to an artist’s material, including written lyrics or songs and/or other music instrumentation. Quite frequently, a record company will exhaust exorbitant amounts of money in the recording and packaging of an artist to create a marketing niche for the prospective artist—exploitation in the purest sense—to be accepted into the American consumer mainstream. The individual creativity the artist may have possessed initially is compromised at least, if not completely destroyed, by the condition of alienation that results from the capitalist exploitation of the record company of the artist, as well as the assimilation and molding process the rap artist is forced to undergo in order to fit into a socially constructed and easily digestible consumer market.

The consumer, in turn, believes the presentation of the artist and is largely unaware of the exploitation and alienation of the artist. That is to say that the complete package that is presented in various media outlets, from radio to music video, is in actuality fragmented, as the artist does not own the complete presentation of himself from production process to product. The consumer, however, takes in the artist’s presentation as complete and self-evident, in that the consumer is shielded from that exploitation and alienation, and the capitalist nature of the record company is rendered invisible. The saturation of the media with imagery associated with the artist—in the form of lyrical content, musical production, (assumed) material possessions, and even wardrobe and personality—is most evident in the music video, the premiere medium of exploitation of the artist.

Not only is the artist alienated from the means of production and the product, but he or she is also alienated from the self. The presentation of self, the persona of the artist, is as alienating as his or her distance from the means of production and product. The original creativity and personality of the artist, then—his or her species being—is lost through processes of exploitation by the bourgeoisie record company, from the signing of the record contract to the construction of the music video. It is also worth noting that Marxian hegemony theory can be used to further illustrate the peculiar relation of how patriarchal capitalist views/values are reinforced through the dissemination of pop culture, easily seen in lyrics and/or videos—music that advocates the suppression and/or abuse of women, conveys hypersexuality and hyper-consumerism through objectifying objects.

Through the advancement of technology, there has in the last few years arisen the potential for a shift in music industry power dynamics. This notion was first conceptualized with the creation of independent record labels as an alternative means of retaining more of the artists’ creative control over their art/work. An example of such an alternative can be seen with Stones Throw Records, which is home for an artist who has vast underground notoriety going by the alias: Madlib. Though based on the West Coast, Madlib has obtained worldwide appeal because of his eclectic musical tastes and styles, sampling rare, yet—obscure jazz records and producing hip hop/fusion jazz creations thought to be masterpieces. Madlib, while not owning Stones Throw Records, (Peanutbutter Wolf is the owner and CEO) is allowed to retain control of his creations, and is a highly sought after producer on the underground scene. Madlib is also the creator of a fictional band called Yesterday’s New Quintet, where he explores other dimensions of his own musical expression and is self-taught on drums, keys, and bass to name a few instruments.

Like Stones Throw Records, the independent record company, no matter how autonomous it hopes to become, must still seek distribution of its product from a larger, more economically powerful company—thus recreating the cycle of alienation and exploitation again. Another threat is the internet and burnable compact disk, which have become a thorn in the side of record companies. Songs can be “illegally downloaded” by way of file sharing, if the consumer wishes to not purchase an album, or if someone has purchased the album, computers are able to duplicate copies of that album onto a blank compact disk. Record companies have worked extensively to stiffen penalties for participants of what they call “file sharing/illegal downloading,” involving the courts and other institutions such as colleges and universities where students have access to internet-capable computers with compact disk burning capabilities. While multi-million dollar 48-track studios have many years of use yet ahead of them, aspiring artists now possess access to a means to control their art/work. Home computers can host virtual studio software programs which allow artists to create original music, sample existing tunes, and record and duplicate their recordings, thereby reinforcing the potential for the self-sufficient artist/worker. Through home studio technology, the aspiring artist can become the complete package: artist/producer/engineer/duplicator/distributor/manager/public relations etc. While this approach sounds plausible in theory, most artists would avoid this avenue for many reasons: mostly because the potential for capitalist gain with a record company already more than well established is greater than the potential for gain through a solo self sufficient approach.

Thus, can it be assumed that artists are in fact not aware they are being exploited? Also, to what degree and/or depth are they alienated from their art/work/product? If the artist chose to employ a self sufficient approach to producing their own art for the purpose of mass consumption, knowing they may never achieve the same economic status as a major record conglomerate, could it be possible for the artist to exploit themselves, on a lower tier or grassroots level? Could the artist become self alienating—removing from themselves not only their own labor, but also their own species-being, in pursuit of capitalist success? The implications of the application of Marxist philosophy are far-reaching and multi-faceted, in that the capitalist record companies can be further analyzed in relation to their exploitation of the artist. The role of the petit bourgeoisie class, including managers, producers, and agents, can be analyzed for their role in the exploitation of the rap proletariat as well as its collective aspiration to the bourgeoisie/capitalist class; and the role of the consumer as receiver of the “work” of the artist.

Marxist philosophy is instructive in understanding the conditions of the contemporary rap machine and the affect that it has on the production and definition of art, culture, and the furtherance of a radical political agenda. The burgeoning underground/independent movement within Hip Hop culture/music seeks to honor and further promote an aesthetic reflecting the roots of this culture, and in turn negate its appropriation. However, could this also undermines the possibility of transcendence of Hip Hop culture—the possibility for it to become self conscious and to re-interpret itself? While capitalism has been an economic force and medium used to further appropriate and exploit the culture of Hip Hop and those agents within it, capitalism has also created a means of exposing the world to a culture born from the fires of protest and dissent, allowing the world to witness and participate in this movement, either through direct or indirect intensions.

Works Cited

Blair, Elizabeth M. “Commercialization of the Rap Music Culture” That’s The Joint

(2004): Routledge: New York. 497-504

Chang, Jeff “Necropolis.” Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation

St. Martin’s Press: New York, 2005. 7-19

Marx, Karl “Estranged Labor.” Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

Prometheus Books: Amherst, New York, 1988. 69-84