1. Peter McMillan
Dr. John Carvalho
PHI 4140
10 April 2016
Hip-hop culture emerged to establish a collective identity for black Americans in
primarily urban environments. Identity’s purpose is, by nature, to distinguish one thing from
another. Although Hip-hop’s original intent was to have a distinguished identity, hip hop
capitalized on the economy of music through primarily black listeners in its early stages. hip hop
culture continued to reach new audiences, mirroring the progress of interracial relations—both
music and society influencing each other. To establish my claim, I will contextualize hip hop’s
emergence in the culture it grew from. I will then explain its growth through the lens of Jacques
Attali’s analysis of the economy of music to provide not only listening pleasure (jouissance), but
a release for “ritual violence” while serving to form a black identity and lessen the inequality
gap. Finally, I will show how hip hop used the economy as a vehicle for mass appeal to form its
black identity and lessen the inequality gap.
To understand the antidote that is hip hop, the problems hip hop aims to solve must first
be addressed and understood. hip hop emerged out of the primarily black and minority
neighborhoods of New York City. New York City is the origin of hip hop, but it is not a unique
example of ghettoized poverty determined by institutional racism and cycles of polarizing
positive reinforcement. In this cycle, there were fewer opportunities for black Americans in the
aftermath of Jim Crow laws and the mindset that accompanied Jim Crow laws. As a result of this
disparity, Black Americans were then forced into lower income jobs and lower income housing,
which supported the white superiority complex, leading to more discrimination and a widening
gap between races. Through this polarization, blacks were far from separate but equal, now
having even fewer opportunities to earn a livelihood. The already lower-income minority
neighborhoods, were seen as expendable in projects such as the Bronx Expressway which was

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designed to benefit suburbanites with the collateral of a wider inequality gap. Property values in
the Bronx decreased, but residents could not afford to move elsewhere. The artificial urban
environment does not facilitate genuine connections to people and the world. The constraints of
an urban environment reduce human beings to cogs in a machine, thereby making it harder to
establish an identity. However, art forms are facilitated by the city and work to establish identity.
The act of creating is essential for the development of the human self and art is the power to
create.
Connections in urban environments were not always genuine because of the artificiality
of both the city and inequality gap. One needs a fundamental and genuine connection to the
world and others in order to establish a sense of self in relation to other things and people. In the
animal kingdom (or the uncivilized), identity is formed through physical relation and identity
through violence. Jacques Attali in Noise asserts that music is the civilized form of this
animalistic search for identity under the term for music as “ritual violence.” When we participate
in music, we are satisfying our basic desires to establish identity through the power of the animal
kingdom. The link between music as fulfillment for ritual violence can be seen in communities
with diminished senses of self. Areas of ghettoized poverty are correlated with higher crime rates
(including violent crime). In these same areas, hip hop emerges as a civilized form of ritual
violence to cultivate and maintain identity. So what is the hip hop style and why did this style
evolve in the fashion it has?
New York City, the birthplace of hip hop, was the locus of the hip hop movement
because of its concentration of people and the resulting magnification of these forces. Starting
with individuals like Grandmaster Flash, existing music was mixed, ripped, and distorted to have
a completely different sound. This represents a break from popular music and the production of a

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unique sound. The unique sound of hip hop, with a new emphasis on rhythm over melody and
distortion over clarity, embodies the contradictions faced by Bronx residents. The rhythm is a
desire to find a core identity that can be felt. Rhythm is something that is felt more than melody.
While the distortion of sound is symbolic of the distortion of identity, but this distortion leads to
the new formation of identity when linked to something continuous. Attali reminds us that
composition relies on something new, but it needs to be connected to that which is already
identified as music or it will lose its identity as music. Tricia Rose mentions a similar concept, in
Black Noise, argued by James A. Snead in which “repetition is an important and telling element
in culture, a means by which a sense of continuity, security, and identification are maintained”
(Rose 68). hip hop has jazz and blues connections, while also taking particular guitar riffs, bass
lines, or other components from popular music. Jazz and blues music are centered on a rhythmic
form, which is the core of the piece that allows for distortion of melody as well as improvisation
on top. hip hop/rap takes this to the next level, making rhythm the interesting core rather than,
“The rhythms [of pop music which are] of exceptional banality … often not that different from
military rhythms … neither musically nor semantically does pop music announce a world of
change (Attali 109). With the invocation of rapping over music, words are meant to coincide
with rhythm and flow rather than mirror the melody as found in pop songs. The consequences of
rhythm over melody are found in lyrical content. Rhythm, because it is more consistently present
through the song, necessitates that there be more lyrics to coincide with it. This allows for more
content to be voiced and explained. Rap has the ability to tell stories with more clarity than
melodic music.
hip hop was initially played at a local level and it brought people together in the Bronx.
The primarily black and urban experience of those in the Bronx is not unique. hip hop was

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relatable to more than just New Yorkers and soon spread across the country. Seeing the
increasing popularity of hip hop, artists capitalized on the economy of music and used the
jouissance the black community sought in hip hop. hip hop was not immediately popular music
across all American culture. It was not the goal of hip hop to spread into suburbia. Its goal was to
form a separate identity and unite a marginalized group. By using explicit language, hip hop was
kept out of the mainstream because it could not be played on the radio, instead it was distributed
amongst the black community through mixtapes and live shows. Furthermore, hip hop was more
than just the music. It included graffiti and breakdancing as part of its culture. These were other
art forms that influenced each other and strengthened the identity. There is at least as much
layering surrounding the music of hip-hip as layers in the music itself.
The depth and layering of hip hop keeps it from becoming poppy and ephemeral—losing
its creativity. Even as hip hop enters the mainstream, its depth prevents it from being empty and
victimized by the musical economy. “In 1994 rap music is one of the most heavily traded
popular commodities in the market, yet it still defies total corporate control over the music, its
local use and incorporation at the level of stable and exposed meanings” (Rose 41). It is precisely
hip hop’s independent worth that allows it to capitalize rather than capitulate to the musical
economy. The musical economy Attali describes is based on a cycle of representation, repetition,
and composition. In this cycle, music’s value becomes produced for its exchange value rather
than its use value. This cycle is accelerated by means of exchange (technological advances) to
the point where it is just about mass accumulation rather than the music itself. hip hop has been
able to maintain both, keeping its individuality because of its depth. In its depth hip hop
addresses real experience on strong emotional, social, and intellectual grounds. From the
beginning hip hop has had meaningful commentary. In Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s

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“The Message” we hear the lyrics, “All the kids [at school] smoke reefer, I think it’d be cheaper,
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper” (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five). In
just a few bars, the confinement of institutional forces are portrayed and the ease of resigning to
the system. However, this does not stop anger at the system. Yet, this anger needs to managed
which is why it is represented artistically, Guru from Gang Starr raps, “I’m ready to lose my
mind, but instead I use my mind, I put down my knife, and take the bullets out my nine, my only
crime, is that I’m too damn kind” (Gang Starr). Instead of physical violence, Guru advocates for
expression through hip hop. Later in “Moment of Truth” he raps, “Yo I got one lyric pointed at
your head for start, another one is pointed at your weak ass heart, now if I pull the trigger on
these fully loaded lines, you’re gunna wish I woulda pulled a black nine” (Gang Starr). Guru
emphasizes hip hop’s use of language and music as Attali’s ritual violence. hip hop is not simply
a lamentation about the struggles of a black urban Americans, but it is part of a way out in itself.
hip hop is a solution, it doesn’t just talk about a solution, although other solutions in a socio-
economic and political context may result. This is different from the popular music of black
musicians like Marvin Gaye, Fetty Wop or Justin Bieber in content and culture. These artists
have simpler components that do not reflect any serious issues or define anything more than a
superficial identity.
I assert that modern artists who are popular, like Kendrick Lamar, still stay true to a
longer lasting hip hop culture. hip hop culture and its capitalizing has to be judged by artists like
Kendrick Lamar who make music about the struggles of growing up in a black urban
environment. Artists like Young Thug are not in the true spirit of hip hop culture. Young Thug
may sound cool as a black Sylvester Stallone, but he is not continuing the formation of a black
urban identity to combat structural barriers in society. hip hop is more than just music, it mirrors

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the progression of erasing structural barriers. As more white Americans become understanding
of the institutional forces against black Americans, they have also become more open to hip hop
culture and vice versa. This creates a cycle of positive reinforcement in the other direction,
closing the inequality gap.
Because hip hop is more than just music, its original intended audience was able to relate
to the music and it meant more than just ritual pleasure. DJ Spooky argues that most popular
music is dependent on the idiot. The idiot is the medium for music which is circulated for the
acquisition of wealth more than anything else. “The idiot is a zombie … [who] dance[s] to
rhythms [he does] not feel or understand” (Miller 9). The original audience of hip hop (black
urban Americans) are not idiots because they are part of the music, rather than a medium for it.
They feel and understand what A Tribe Called Quest describe as, “The rhythmic instinction to
yield to travel beyond existing forces of life. Basically, that’s tribal and if you wanna get the
rhythm, then you have to join a tribe” (qtd. in Rose 68). hip hop culture is an offshoot of
afrodiasporic culture, a culture that is ingrained in the original hip hop community, so the rhythm
of hip hop is understood and listeners are not DJ Spooky’s idiots. Therefore, hip hop uses the
musical economy described by Attali as a vehicle for the circulation its message rather than for
the exchange of a commodity.
hip hop capitalizes on music as a commodity. hip hop is more than the production of
supply and demand simultaneously for profit and pleasure because it grew out of a bigger
movement and culture. All music reflects the culture and politics both of its day and foreshadows
that which is to come, but because hip hop has a more attentive audience by nature, it is able to
do more than use its audience for the circulation of abstract value. Instead, hip hop uses music’s
circulation as a means to vocalize the black struggle and unify all people.

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Works Cited
Attali, Jacques. Noise. Trans. Brian Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.
Print.
Gang Starr. “Moment of Truth.” Moment of Truth. 1998.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. “The Message.” The Message. 1982.
Miller, Paul D. Rhythm Science. Boston: The MIT Press, 2004. Print.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1994. Print.