The Underground Railroad:Hip-Hop’s express to escape the Minstrel Show PART 1

“Hip-hop, as a culture, was a masterpiece painted by folks with no art supplies, no art training, and whose arts funding had been cutoff.”


African Americans have always been faced with negative stereotypes in the United States. During the U.S. colonial period, African American slaves used the Underground Railroad as a means to es- cape slavery. The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad, but a system of routes and checkpoints designed to help slaves reach free states. Along with the Underground Railroad, white people showed what they really thought of Afri- can Americans through min- strel shows. Minstrel shows made fun of African Ameri- cans and displayed them as lazy, buffoonish, cheerful, ignorant, gullible and musi- cal. The Underground Rail- road and minstrel shows were major issues through- out the 19th century. Al- though no longer utilized, there are traces of both that exist in today’s music industry.

Today, hip-hop is one of the most popular forms of music throughout the world. What originally started as a cul- tural movement in the 1970s has become a million dollar industry. Hip-hop was used as a musical way for African-Amer- icans to speak about things that were hap- pening in their lives. Over time hip-hop has divided into two distinct sub genres, commercial rap and underground hip- hop.

A hip-hop artist named Derek Jennings wrote an article about hip-hop in the booklet of Little Brother’s 2005 The Min-strel Show album. In the article he gave a timeless definition of hip-hop. Jennings wrote, “I know what it started out as was ‘party music.’ But it was also more than that. It was some- thing created by marginalized people living in marginalized conditions. Hip-hop, as a culture, was a master- piece painted by folks with no art supplies, no art training, and whose arts funding had been cutoff.”

Commercial rap is hip- hop music made strictly for the radio by very wealthy record compa- nies. The music is typi- cally hollow in regards of meaningful messages for African-Americans. Underground hip-hop is hip- hop music that is not backed by wealthy record companies and not made for the radio. The music usually consists of hip-hop artists who speak about more adult issues such as politics, church, reduc- ing gun violence and raising a family. I believe it is morally wrong for record companies to promote commercial rap over underground hip-hop because 1) commercial rap is the modern version of a minstrel show, 2) the issues spo- ken about in underground hip-hop need to be heard, and 3) the growth of underground hip-hop will show that African Americans are more than thugs, gangsters, pimps and hoes. Commercial rap is the modern day version of a minstrel show. The common themes of pimping, gangsterism, bling and slang are typically found in every song. Every artist claims to be a pimp or thug. Whether they are in color- ful suits with long hair, wife-beaters and sagging pants, or oversized shirts with doo-rags, they are displayed as a typical black male. They come off as male pri- ma-donnas and are shown in videos as being extremely narcissistic and very chauvinistic. These “pimps” are loaded with jewelry from head to toe. Their necks are covered with large pieces of jewelry that hang to their waist. If the man is not in a suit, his pants start at his knees and end at his ankles capped off by the newest pair of tennis shoes or Timberlands. On top of his appearance, the rapper stresses how easily he will kill or stomp somebody into the ground. They are the standard characters in com- mercial rap.

The second, and maybe the more important, character is the “Ho.” She is in every single rap video there is wear- ing almost nothing. The Ho always makes sexual gestures with her lips. She dances seductively and is always seen with her pimp or thug. The Ho is always considered to be a conniving “bitch” who is very promiscuous and the subject of verbal and physical abuse. She is degraded to the point where she is noth- ing but eye candy on her man’s arm that can easily be replaced.

These characters are the most preva- lent in commercial rap and looked at as the typical African-American. It is this collection of images that the music in- dustry pushes over underground artist who don’t fit that mold. The artists that the industry pushes justify it by saying they are making music for the people.

50 Cent, a rap artist best known for being shot nine times, justified the con- tent of his music over an underground artist in Spin magazine. He stated, “In the music business, you do what makes sense for music and business. So if the artist makes a record they know ain't gonna sell, then why do they allow the company to spend money marketing it?” When the music industry has an artist justifying the violent degrading nature of his music because of record sales, it only makes the industry right. It allows the industry to continue making deci- sions they believe are accurate about black people. The artist is selling mil- lions of records and he fits into the mold that works. The industry executives know that the artist is not a direct repre- sentation of all black people, but it is their representation. They are in control of the music that comes out and those images are the ones they push. It is a modern form of minstrelsy where whites are once again mocking African Ameri- cans. The minstrelsy of commercial rap is the main reason why the issues spoken about in underground hip-hop need to be heard.

“To be blunt, there are many avenues available for black folks wishing to live fulfilling lives in this country, but still precious few (*cough* rap and sports) that get the Good House Negro Keeping seal of approval from the mass media,” Jennings continued. “And boy it seems like the road to riches in the music biz is much easier for those whose subject matter mostly includes pimping, selling crack, strip clubs, and materialism. Sure, all those things exist, but is that ALL there is to talk about? ALL there is to us?”