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A Value Claim: What is the Value of Art? Background: A value claim is an argumentative research paper which makes a qualifiable assertion; in other words, it is an argument (claim) about a moral, aesthetic, or philosophical topic (value). Assignment: Although most people think they know what art is, they are often at a loss to define it. What is art? Write a value claim essay that defines art and offers an answer to the following question: What is the moral, aesthetic, or philosophical value of art? Advice: There are several ways to approach this assignment—there is no one correct answer—it all depends on how well you communicate your points. You can focus your value claim on one artist, a type of art, type of music, a film director, a fashion designer, an architect, or whatever aspect of art you would like to examine. You can also write about one of the artists we discussed in class or any artist you would like to examine. Make sure you have a clear thesis (claim) to defend and that you demonstrate your topic (value) with concrete, detailed examples. You may draw those examples from the course readings; however, you must also cite at least four outside sources—at least two from the LBCC databases (newspapers, journals, e-books, videos) and at least two from the internet (websites, newspapers, blogs, videos, podcasts). There is no limit on the number of sources you can use—use however many you need to support your claim. Recommended MLA Guide: Purdue Owl Website (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html) Criteria for Evaluation: How effectively you support your claim How effectively you analyze and evaluate your subject How effectively you examine multiple perspectives How effectively you demonstrate your points How effectively you employ critical thinking How effectively you describe your examples How effectively you edit your essay Format: MLA format, minimum of 5-7 pages of text, typed, double-spaced, Times or Times New Roman 12pt font, 1′ margins all around (top, bottom, left, right), and a Works Cited page Audience: This essay should be written in a formal tone for a college-educated audFrom Jay-Z to Dead Prez: Examining Representations of Black Masculinity in MainstreamVersus Underground Hip-Hop Music
Author(s): Crystal Belle
Source: Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 45, No. 4 (MAY 2014), pp. 287-300
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
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Journal of Black Studies
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Article Journal of Black Studies 2014, Vol. 45(4) 287-300 From Jay-Z to Dead Prez: Examining Representations of Black Masculinity in Mainstream Versus Underground Hip-Hop Music ί) The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0021934714528953 jbs.sagepub.com Crystal Belle1 Abstract The evolution of hip-hop music and culture has impacted the visibility of Black men and the Black male body. As hip-hop continues to become commercially viable, performances of Black masculinities can be easily found on magazine covers, television shows, and popular websites. How do these representations affect the collective consciousness of Black men, while helping to construct a particular brand of masculinity that plays into the White imagination? This theoretical article explores how representations of Black masculinity vary in underground versus mainstream hip-hop, stemming directly from White patriarchal ideals of manhood. Conceptual and theoretical analyses of songs from the likes of Jay-Z and Dead Prez and Imani Perry’s Prophets of the Hood help provide an understanding of the parallels between hip-hop performances/identities and Black masculinities. Keywords Black masculinity, hip-hop, patriarchy, manhood ‘Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Corresponding Author: Crystal Belle, PhD Candidate, English Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA. Email: cb2847@tc.columbia.eduThis content downloaded from 207.233.64.121 on Thu, 07 May 2020 07:22:59 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
288 Journal of Black Studies 45(4) Introduction to and Musings on Black in Hip-Hop What began as a lyrical movement in the South Bronx is now an international phenomenon. Hip-hop is a mélange of lyrical stimulation filled with meticu lous metaphors, tales from the ‘hood, and ruthless truth sayings about the social and economic injustices in the “land of the free.” Hip-hop is a popular music commodity for some, a creative canon for many, whose names we will never know, whose stories we will never hear. However, these dedicated lis teners find representations of themselves in the music, so they listen and lean on what is familiar: the rhythms, the beats, the rhymes, the style, the stories from urban culture that make them feel relevant. There is liberation in hip hop, in the sense that there is the freedom to tell one’s story in a non-conven tional way. In her book Prophets of the Hood (2004), Imani Perry posits that, “ideologically, hip hop allows for open discourse. Anything might be said, or, for that matter, contradicted” (p. 4). However, in what ways does this free dom of speech promote patriarchal, hegemonic views, which at the root is the antithesis of why the hip-hop movement began? I will explore this question throughout the article. Because Black males dominate hip-hop, I will examine representations of Black masculinity in mainstream versus underground hip-hop. Often, when I analyze hip-hop music and culture, the following questions come to mind: In what ways is masculinity performed? In what ways is race performed? How does the performance of race and masculinity impact Black male identity? These questions are pertinent to understanding the ways in which rappers play into stereotypical images of the Black male body in order to make profit. It is also important to take into account how much of these exploitative rep resentations of Black male bodies in hip-hop culture are internalized by youth and other Black men who may be in search of an understanding of who they are and where they come from. These internalizations are in fact destructive and further promote patriarchy, sexism, and racism. In his book, From Jim Crow to Jay-Z: Race, Rap and the Performance of Masculinity, Miles White (2011 ) claims “the ways in which rap has been perceived and consumed have arguably had a deleterious effect on how Black people are viewed not only in the United States but in other parts of the world” (p. 88). However, I argue that although in some ways, hip-hop is a microcosm of patriarchal and hege monic ideals promoting male domination physically, financially, and lyri cally, I also encourage listeners and critics to acknowledge the undeniable sense of freedom hip-hop manages to provide to Black men, particularly those from working class communities. It is a kind of freedom that is tied to intellectual growth and camaraderie. Jenkins (2006) discusses hip-hop’sThis content downloaded from 207.233.64.121 on Thu, 07 May 2020 07:22:59 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Belle 289 merit as an article, “Mr. in American hip-hop includes American society. cized from institutions and local communities would not have an academic space to express themselves. Hip-hop critics argue that the music only promotes misogyny, sexism, homophobia, and blatant hypermasculine performances. There is certainly validity to these claims; nevertheless, these destructive elements are weaved into the fabric of this capitalist, patriarchal society. In her book, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity (2003), bell hooks asserts “At the center of the way Black male selfhood is constructed in white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy is the image of the brute, untamed, uncivilized, unthinking and unfeeling,” (p. xii). Although I think hook’s description is embellished, while simplifying the complexity of Black masculinity construction in this country, I do agree that an unemotional persona lies at the heart of Black masculine performances. This is often an act, a performance of sorts that asserts a manhood that is dominant and deviant, attempting to define itself in a world that has often tried to deny the very existence of Black men. Sometimes in an attempt to rewrite one’s story, while invoking a painful history, African Americans struggle to posi tively see themselves under the gaze of white supremacy, similar to W. Ε. B. Du Bois’s (1997) notion of double-consciousness in his groundbreaking text, The Souls of Black Folk (2007). According to Du Bois, “the Negro is a sort of sev enth son, bom with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no hue self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world” (p. 5). Thus, with regard to Black masculinity, it is difficult to decipher what is real and what is merely a performance instigated by a white gaze. When I conceptualize Black masculinity in hip-hop, there is a merging of intellectualism and the clichéd “thug.” I use the term thug as a play on the stereotypical representations of Black men and masculinity in the media that present the image that Black men are too aggressive, violent, and angry. Rappers often exploit this stereotype, playing into the gaze of the White mainstream imagination in order to make profit. Intellectualism refers to the sophistication found in the lyrics of many mainstream hip-hop songs such as Jay-Z and Kanye West’s hit “Otis” (Jay-Z & West, 2011, track 4) when Jay-Z declares, “Build your fences, We diggin’ tunnels/Can’t you see? We gettin’ money up under you.” Through the use of wordplay, these lines connote the Underground Railroad and the luxuries of capitalism that dominate this soci ety. In many ways, Black masculinity in hip-hop music is a performance, aThis content downloaded from 207.233.64.121 on Thu, 07 May 2020 07:22:59 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
290 Journal of Black Studies 45(4) playing up or down of preconceived notions of what man in America, and how that in turn, is tied to notions nomic status. Perry (2004) supports this notion when subject to manipulation and mediation by powerful (p. 29). However, the question Jenkins (2011) poses in Mind: Black Male Intellectual Identity and Hip-Hop sidered: “With all of the various ways that we can describe, tify Black men, why are there only a few, limited, and present in popular culture?” (p. 1239). Mainstream Versus Underground In hip-hop music and culture, there is a differentiation and underground music: White (2011) argues that “in are considerably made stark between music that is commercial and seen as having dubious social merit, to some higher moral or socially redemptive purpose” hip-hop refers to songs that cross over to White and receiving considerable radio play. Artists, who are considered are signed to major recording labels and often rap about lar: drugs, sex, crime, and violence. In the midst of music, every now and then, there are songs that veer resentations of Black masculinity and offer narratives and police brutality, as represented in a popular song the murder of unarmed African immigrant Amadou police officers. In one of the verses of the song, the You said he reached sir but he didn’t have no piece sir But now he rest in peace sir in the belly of the beast sir. (Jean, 2000, track 16) There is clearly a critique of the state throughout the song, exposing how the police racially profile Black men, often leading to acts of brutality that end in death. The repetition of the word “sir” is mocking of the police, while portraying the hierarchical system in place that sees Black men as inferior. Wyclef Jean, mostly known as a member of the popular rap group The Fugees, experienced commercial success as a solo artist, and his music had a clear balance between partying, personal stories, and the political. Unfortunately, artists who have such a balance in the mainstream world are becoming a rarity due to the demands ofThis content downloaded from 207.233.64.121 on Thu, 07 May 2020 07:22:59 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Belle 291 record labels Black men become Because of profit from music emphasizes masculine behavior Nelson George hop culture note that sometimes artists are deprived communities masculinity One cannot thinking of through institutions be deviant of to control or Masculinity major social four cultural entertainment spectacle. In brand of masculinity, Due to many overwhelmingly tainment industries

The Role of Movies in Morale
Author(s): Walter Wanger
Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Nov., 1941), pp. 378-383
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2769287
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THE ROLE OF MOVIES IN MORALE WALTER WANGER ABSTRACT The movies as a medium of communication can be used to clarify, to inspire, and to entertain. While the primary work of the movies in building national morale has been to provide recreation and entertainment for the public, the men who make the movies are ready to produce both clarifying and inspiring films. In order for such films to be produced, it is necessary for our leaders to clarify the concepts associated with the democratic way of life. The makers of the movies will then place these concepts in dramatic form before the public. National morale in a democracy must be built through three chan- nels: (i) by clarifying to the individual his place, responsibilities, and rewards in a great democratic endeavor; (2) by inspiring the individual citizen with enthusiasm and confidence in the principles and purposes of the democracy of which he is a part; and (3) by affording the individual relaxation from the urgent problems which crises impose. Those who wish to build a strong and lasting morale in a democ- racy must recognize that their function is threefold: to clarify, to inspire, and to entertain. The Nazis and the Communists ballyhoo a philosophy which pays tribute to the individual by making him feel identified with a heroic and compelling cause. Both the Com- munists and the Nazis appeal to the little man as an individual with “historic” rights and a “historic” mission. The dispossessed and the disillusioned in Germany or in Russia find deep satisfaction in feeling part of a mighty world-campaign. The Communists talk about the “heroic” world-proletariat; the Nazis inflame their followers with appeals to blood superiority, the “destiny” of the German people, and the fight against “international” oppressors, Jews, etc. These are obvious points and scarcely deserve extended comment; the significant fact is that both the Nazi and the Communist propa- gandists work with a credo which gives a sense of importance to the individual in a complicated and bewildering world. The most pro- found aspect of Nazi or Communist morale lies in the fanatical con- viction which individual Communists or Nazis possess, the unshak- 378This content downloaded from 207.233.64.121 on Thu, 07 May 2020 20:19:33 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
THE ROLE OF MOVIES IN MORALE 379 able certainty of the justice of their cause, the basic assumption that each is a part of that cause. The Nazi or the Communist has a sense of clarity about the role which he is playing in a mighty social enter- prise. It is a false and oversimplified clarity, but it serves its func- tion: It makes the individual think he understands the society of which he is a member. The tragic error in democratic education is the failure of democ- racy to explain itself to those who live and work in a democratic system. It is not surprising that indifferentism and defeatism over- whelm the citizens of a democracy. Why, indeed, should the individual American not be bewildered by economic reverses, social problems, international crises? He has no understanding of why his world is in uproar. He has no concep- tion of the causes, the reasons, or the solutions to national problems. He does not have the easy rationalizations of Nazis and Commu- nists. He has no made-to-order devils upon whom to place blame. Where the Nazis simply blame the “international bankers” or the British, where the Communists reassure themselves by blaming the “capitalists” or the “profiteers,” the democrats can only seek to understand the operations of an immense, complex, and impersonal social system. Unlike the Nazi or the Communist, the democratic citizen has no pat utopia, no fixed and glowing goals. He has not been fed lofty promises of the “classless society” or the “German world.” He does not identify himself with a proud, fighting cause. He, unlike the Nazi and the Communist, never has considered it in his natural line of duty to understand this government and do some- thing about it. He has left that always to the other fellow. The first morale task of a democracy is to explain democracy to its citizens. This is no easy task. We need a primer of democracy: clear, confident, inspiring. We must communicate to the citizens a simple but rock-bound conception of the ideals of the democratic world, the rewards which men get from that world, of the noble aims and certain triumphs of the democratic order. National morale requires deep and moving emotions. The Com- munist has faith; the Nazi has passion; the democrat has reason. But reason is cold and inadequate in a world which is driven by political faiths and political passions. And this means that the build-This content downloaded from 207.233.64.121 on Thu, 07 May 2020 20:19:33 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
380 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY ers of morale must weave a fabric of faith and a fabric of emotion around the rational aspects of democratic life. Men must be in- spired with confidence in the justice, the sensibleness, and the im- perishable verity of a democratic creed. Democratic citizens must be inspired with fighting loyalty to democratic aims. Men must be emo- tionalized, to use a clumsy word, about their country and their coun- try’s goals. This does not mean they must be regimented. The psychological paralysis which engulfed France, the emotional poverty of the Europe which the Nazis overran, were, in the last analysis, testimonials to a lack of conviction. There can be no cour- age without conviction; and there can be no sound morale without courage. It is almost a cliche to say that the Nazis won their battles before they sent their armies into action. They won those battles because they capitalized upon the confusion and the disenchantment of the people in the countries which had failed to give their people clarity and emotion about political principles. In the United States the creation of morale must be concerned with an insistent, long-range campaign to inspire the American peo- ple with fervor about American life. Our symbols must be vitalized and revived. It is not enough to talk about the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, or the Declaration of Independence. In a world convulsed by new ideologies and false issues, the democracies must present their strong case, which has not been done properly to date. Democracy must be interpreted to the common man as more than a negative concept (no interference with individual worship or speech). Democracy must be clothed with ringing affirmations; it must be imbued with a virile and aggressive mass spirit. How can the movies aid in national morale? Most obviously, by providing recreation for the millions. This has been the traditional role of motion pictures. Entertainment is not a luxury; it is a neces- sity. Hollywood’s contribution to our national morale so far has been to provide entertainment to the public in a constant and steady stream. This has not been part of any plan. Movies are made for profit, and profit is made by making movies which satisfy popular tastes. We are serving the public 4nd are dependent upon their nick- els and dimes to keep us going. It is impossible to sell them anything they do not want.This content downloaded from 207.233.64.121 on Thu, 07 May 2020 20:19:33 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
THE ROLE OF MOVIES IN MORALE 38I Entertainment does not necessarily have to be limited exclusively to escapist entertainment. It can be inspiring entertainment or en- lightening entertainment. There is no difference between the fiLm and the printing press. We have popular light literature written with no idea other than escapism. We have detective stories and humor- ous tales. There are also the best sellers, which contain a good deal of inspiration, and there are the classics full of enlightenment. There is no more reason to limit the film than the printing press. There is definite progress in public tastes, and it is our job to keep abreast of that progress. Experimentation and testing should be done in the motion-picture industry as in every other industry. The movies can play a far greater role in building morale. The movies can be immensely valuable in “emotionalizing” our society and its goals. It is a familiar saying that one picture is worth ten thousand words; one moving picture which talks and sings and laughs, which re-creates reality with a verisimilitude accomplished by no other medium, is worth ten million words. The movies can dramatize anything: our past, our current prob- lems, our aspirations. The movies can dramatize ideas and goals no less than romances. The movies offer an unparalleled opportunity for inspiring the citizens of a democracy with loyalty, conviction, and courage. Our political thinkers must formulate basic purposes, ideals, and concepts around which Americans can orient themselves. Movies can and will dramatize these concepts. But it is folly to expect that showmen can become political scientists simply by taking thought. It is foolish to imagine that the most complicated and contemporary problem-mass education-is understood by men who are expert in telling stories about the boy who meets the girl. The determination of what ought to be said is a problem for our national leaders and our social scientists. The movies will make significant contributions to national morale only when the people have reached some degree of agreement about the central and irrefutable ideas of a nation caught in the riptide of ideological warfare. Hollywood has, of course, produced occasional movies which have achieved laudable results-movies on American history, American heroes, anti-Nazi films, movies reaffirming simple principles of demo-This content downloaded from 207.233.64.121 on Thu, 07 May 2020 20:19:33 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
382 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY cratic life. But the socially relevant movies have been few and far between; the total number of movies which clarify or inspire are negligible compared to the number which simply continue to enter- tain. Lastly, the movies can be used to clarify. The Signal Corps of the United States Army is at present making films in Hollywood, using Hollywood’s talents and technical facilities. These films, however, have a very limited purpose. They are meant solely for the purpose of instructing our soldiers: how to operate a machine gun, how to open a parachute, etc. But what of the larger problem of clarification? What of the task which demands that every man and woman and child understand his country and his place in that country? The absence of a healthy, aggressive morale in the United States testifies to a failure in our entire educational system. We have been too little concerned with making democracy intelligible to its citizens. We have been too san- guine about a mass loyalty which must constantly be nourished and inspired. We have evaded the challenge which demands that our people understand what they stand for and what they will fight for or live for. The movies, in the final analysis, are nothing more than a method of communication. The movies are a technical instrument for saying something to millions of people. The problem of the movies and na- tional morale, therefore, rests upon a deeper problem: what basic concepts should the movies disseminate in order to strengthen mo- rale? The movies can disseminate those concepts vividly, dramati- cally, and appealingly. The movies can reach more people and can impress them more sharply than any other medium. The movies can be used on every front of the fight for morale. But just as a machine gun needs a man to fire it, and just as an armored division needs a general staff to direct and co-ordinate its movements, so the movies are simply an instrument which is available to democratic men who know what they want to say via films. Our country is neither at war nor at peace. Our national policy is, accordingly, beclouded, tentative, and unsure. As long as this uncer- tainty exists, hesitance and confusion will mark all our efforts, whether in making movies or establishing priorities. When the pol-