1. HOW CAN HIP-HOP BE USED TO COUNTER AND RESTRUCTURE THE HEGEMONIC
TACTICS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IN THE BLACK COMMUNITIES?
By
SHANAE MICHELE SPELLER
University of Houston-Downtown
June 30, 2015
COMM: 4390 New Media, Society & Globalization
Professor Robert Wawee

2. ABSTRACT
Hip-Hop in America was birthed on segregation, oppression and implicit non-written rules that
formed the thoughts, experiences and dissonance that was becoming more and more popular in
the 80’s. During this time, the impoverished communities were experiencing racial profiling and
abuse by the police. Artists knew that the only way to catch media and political attention was to
put everything in music. This opened the eyes of those in charge of the music labels and they
had seen it as an opportunity to not only monopolize the industry, but to also take advantage of
the hardships of those in which it served. “This fight would not only shape the black
community, but also mold hip-hop, a music and culture whose undercurrent remains black male
anger at a nation that declared young black men monsters and abandoned them, killing any
chance they had at an American Dream (Toure’, How America and Hip-Hop Failed Each Other,
Washington Post).”

3. The media in the United States plays a major role in its influence on public views and
opinions, especially when it comes to race/ethnic issues. The media is defined as a term used for
the means of communication, radio and television, newspapers and magazines that reach or
influence people widely. With that being said, it is no wonder why some of the most powerful
people are media moguls. For Example; Viacom owns BET, MTV and CMT. For the purpose
of this paper, I am going to discuss what happens when society or a culture of people
subconsciously give in to the media and the information shared by hegemonic tactics through
music, not just to monopolize the system, but to control the public by perpetually aiming for and
infecting the black community with sameness. By showing how the media is used as a means of
control, it will help us to better understand how we can utilize counter hegemony, which is the
attempt to critique or dismantle hegemonic power. In other words, it is a confrontation and/or
opposition to the existing status quo and its legitimacy in politics, but can also be observed in
various other spheres of life, such as history, media and music.
Growing up in the Bronx, I was heavily influenced by the art and culture of Hip-Hop.
From the start of it, it was a creative way to tell your story and share it with others who may be
dealing with similar issues and can relate and possibly find solutions. It was poetry, storytelling
or simply art put into words. Because of its very descriptive nature, vivid pictures were being
painted, but it seems as though the only people who could really understand the content were
those who were a part of the lower class of society. During this time, America was still trying to
heal from unequal rights, segregation, slavery, and many other injustices that were brought upon
minorities who did not have a very influential voice in America.
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4. In the 1980’s, Ronald Reagan was president and the “War on Drugs” became one of the most
popular topics on television, radio and newspapers across the country. At this time, the
government and certain media outlets began to control how much information was given to the
public. However, the amount of media attention it was getting, made people feel as though
political figures and those in charge were working to crack down on this epidemic in the ghetto’s
and impoverished communities in America. I remember personally walking out of my project
buildings in the Bronx and having to step over crack vials, used needles and pipes. As a young
girl, I thought this was normal until music lyrics and rap songs began to use counter hegemony to
contradict what the televisions and newspapers were saying.
On one side, the media was attempting to set an agenda concerning drugs stating that this
was a national problem mainly destructive in the minority neighborhoods and that it was illegally
brought into the country, but history shows us something different. A lot of the schools in my
opinion were not teaching us the truth about our history and most of our parents at that time were
part of segregation, so their education was not as advanced as it is now. As the minority, we
began to embrace the hip hop culture because it was a direct reflection of our struggles and
accomplishments as a people. We felt like we owned something that could not be taken from us.
Two groups in particular played a key role in educating and informing the public about
the media, government and politics and how it was being used as a means to control the public.
These groups were Public Enemy and N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitudes) who carried the same
message but had two totally different approaches. On one hand, PE was from the east coast
while N.W.A. was from the west, but the struggle was the same.
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5. Both of these rap groups publicly challenged the government’s agenda on not just the war on
drugs but issues that still arise today like cops using unnecessary and excessive force and racial
profiling. Songs like “Fight the Power” held powerful lyrics which spoke directly to myself,
minorities, the youth and anyone else who was directly affected by the government’s unfair
social agendas.
From the heart, it’s a start, a work of art.
To revolutionize, make a change, nothing strange.
People, People, We are the same.
No, we’re not the same, cause we don’t know the game.
What we need is awareness, we can’t get careless
You say what is this?
My beloved, let’s get down to business
Mental Self-defense fitness.
Music is universal, so even if you did not watch the news or you weren’t political at all, the
lyrics in this song would fill your mind and have you repeating it subconsciously. The song
became huge because of its placement on Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and soon after
became one of the most political songs in history. Because of the oppression that many blacks
faced, we felt complacent with no voice and misdirected power, but this song became all the
voice and power we needed. Because of this new-found platform, minorities of the 20th century
began to realize how powerful and influential music was, but just like we realized what was
happening, the media and government did as well. As the influence of hip-hop grew, so did the
major “predominately white” labels because they began to buy up smaller boutique labels like
“Motown”.
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6. This was a means to control not only hip-hop, soul or r&b music, but a way to have control over
the input that would be allowed in songs and disbursed to the public.
Michael Jackson was very well known on Motown, but the minute he was signed to
Columbia, his music became universal and crossed genres. This was not by perhaps sake, it was
all calculated and was a way that the labels figured out how to control the thoughts and actions of
black America through infecting the culture with sameness. After the huge success of PE,
framing; which comprises a set of concepts and theoretical perspectives on how individuals,
groups, and societies organize, perceive, and communicate about reality, became a huge part of
the hip-hop culture used as a means to educate the public about what agendas were being set by
those with the most influence.
These new ideals began to spread across hip-hop and started taking shape on the west
coast after the L.A. riots and police brutality and profiling became major news. N.W.A.
educated their selves on the history of the nation and its communities on the west coast and
began to use counter hegemony to feed and educate the people about the politics and racism that
blacks were facing in America and in their own neighborhoods. If Public Enemy were a
reflection of the peaceful protest of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the N.W.A was a direct reflection
on the views and opinions of Malcolm X. With songs like “Fuck the Police”, they caught the
attention of politicians, moguls, business owners, the police and youth around the country.
Songs like this educated them on the power of aggressively fighting back against the
government's agendas to keep us high on drugs, uneducated and living in poor housing
developments.
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7. Here are a few lyrics from N.W.A that shows a clear difference in the approach to dealing with
those in power:
Lights start flashin’ behind me
But they're scared of a nigga so they mace me to blind me
But that shit don't work, I just laugh
because it gives em a hint, not to step in my path
For police, I'm sayin’, "F#@$ you punk!"
Readin’ my rights and shit, it's all junk
Pullin’ out a silly club, so you stand
with a fake-assed badge and a gun in your hand
But take off the gun so you can see what's up
And we'll go at it punk, and ima f#$@ you up!
Media moguls and politicians realized early on that minorities were using music as a way
to directly speak to those who felt like they had no power and to teach them that freedom of
speech is the only way to speak up and make a difference in our own communities. This began
the hip-hop political culture, but it did not last long because the media corporations tightened up
on what they would allow the public to hear and engage in. They bought up more media outlets
to monopolize the industry and push the positive out and build on the music that makes us look
and sound just as ignorant as we did prior to the PE’s and N.W.A.’s. Those in power decided
that if they could not control the content, they would control the outlets in which it was
disbursed, which still phased out the positivity in hip-hop. According to Adorno, “Those in
charge no longer take much trouble to conceal the structure, film and radio no longer need to
present themselves as art” (Adorno Pg. 95).
Looking at the examples given above, one may come to the conclusion that hip-hop began as
social commentary and has grown to promote violence, misogyny, sex and drugs.
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8. Instead of the industry turning away from these negative and pessimistic views, they continue to
promote ideals that they know will, protect their investments.
This brings me to the Lasn reading on Culture “A loose global network of media activists who
see’s ourselves as the advance shock troops of the most significant social movement of the next
twenty years. Our aim is to topple existing power structures and forge major adjustments to the
way we will live in the next twenty-first century (Lasn intro).” I see groups like Public Enemy
and NWA as the culture jammers of the 90’s. They attempted to bring light to a system in
society that they believed, left too much power in the hands of the authorities. Because they
used music to do this, they created a culture that became dependent on creating lyrics which
showcased the hardships in each of their lives. Instead of the industry taking heed to what the
artists were trying to say, they seen it as an opportunity to re brand the genre and put their selves
in a position to monopolize hip-hop.
In conclusion, history has taught us that the framing of news is dependent upon the
demographics in which it serves. The war on drugs became more about political agendas as
opposed to really cracking down on poverty and attempting to rebuild the communities that were
being destroyed by the very drugs they once considered harmless. However, the same residents
of these communities began to fight back and understand the power in freedom of speech and
freedom to assemble peacefully. Knowledge was the key needed to motivate and empower the
people who were already faced with the effects of many years of oppression. Music serves as a
junction between the two worlds, but even today, ignorance puts us right back where we were 30
years prior.
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9. It is important for minorities to understand who has the power and what sources they use to
educate and frame the public’s views and opinions. With this information, it makes it possible
for us to counter their tactics and feed our own communities using the same methods.
Without the PE’s and the N.W.A.’s there would be no Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry or
Bob Johnson’s, who have been able to make major lead way in the media. What is clear, is that
it is possible to take control of our communities and youth through music and entertainment,
however, what we choose to feed the people is what is going to make a difference in how we
grow in positivity or negativity.
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10. WORKS CITED
Adorno, Theodor W. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. London:
Routledge, 2001. Print.
"How America and Hip-hop Failed Each Other." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13
July 2012. Web. 11 May 2015.
Lasn, Kalle. Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America. New York: Eagle Brook, 1999. Print.