U.S. Supreme Colonial Justice: "Island Ironies" or "Reggaeton (un)Ruliness"

Dear Mr. Obama,

I swear I saw you dancing perreo to "Gasolina" during your inauguration ball, despite Daddy Yankee supporting McCain for president. Does that mean you support energy independence through off-shore drilling?

On another note, thank you for nominating Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice. We all hope she gets confirmed by the Senate, even while we all know Republicans will try to do everything to block her confirmation--from criticizing her judicial opinions regarding the sanctity of life to scrutinizing her American citizenship.

Wait, what is that? Judge Sotomayor is of Puerto Rican descent? Does that mean she is assumed U.S. citizenship, even though she is subsumed under the homogeneous legion of Latin hoards crossing the boarders to invade America?

Nice one, B-HO, a Brown woman who is quintessentially Americana. What is that? Critics are still going to scrutinize her because she is Latina, and not "one of us"? But hasn't Puerto Rico (along with the Philippines) been a part of the United States longer than Hawai'i, your own home state, and Alaska, the home state of America's beauty queen Sarah Palin? So what is it! Is Judge Sotomayor going to be accepted as a loyal American, or not?! Is she "Sonia from the block" or "Sonia extranjera"?

The Hispanic causing panic is a default U.S. citizen due to Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. colony. This can't get any more interesting. Cruz Bustamante must be squirming with angst and Lou Dobbs must be scratching his nasty little head.

You must have been spending your free time watching re-runs of America's Best Dance Crew, especially watching these guys:


I know the G.O.P. moniker makes you flinch, but these San Juan, Puerto Rico bad boys really made an impression for ABDC fans, especially since they battled foos from Alabama, Brooklyn, and other unmistakably "American" locales. When you finished watching this episode, did you immediately whisper, "Sotomayor..." and the rest is Supreme Court history? Will the public vote her as America's Best Justice?

Your nomination reminds me of a book I am reading called Reggaeton. El hip hop has made a lasting impression globally, as you know, and this book gives a glimpse into its form, pleasures, racial/gender politics, and multiple/contested origins. Hate it or love it, reggaeton, I am reading, is going global and experiencing the same backlash as hip hop because of racial, sexual, and class issues. But one thing is distinct with reggaeton: it uses Spanish.

Now we haven't heard Judge Sotomayor bust out in Boricua vernacular, but I know que l@s herman@s de la isla are just waiting for her to curse uno gringo out in Spanish. Are you waiting for that too, B-HO?

So maybe we are getting closer not to the reality of "energy independence," but independence from a hegemonic, homogenizing discourse that constantly defines who is "American" (read: White) and the language an American speaks (read: English-only). Puerto Rican people are usually quite Brown and often Black, and, like Reggaeton, usually signify in Spanish. Your Sotomayor nomination (along with Ricky Martin...SIKE!) could be part of a series of changes to the U.S. public imaginary on debates surrounding citizenship and membership. Maybe the U.S. can one day be a nation that recognizes its coerced colonial acquisitions, whether from the Caribbean, Pacific, or continent?

Or maybe not. And isn't that the Great American Irony?


Love,

Brown, Colonized, and Signifying

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Update:

"Sotomayor: Champion of the Oppressed, Outcasts, and Nerds" from Huffingtonpost.com

"...The observations were not strictly autobiographical and they sometimes reflect her worldview. In a 2002 speech titled "A Latina Judge's Voice," she argued that "America has a deeply confused image of itself that is in perpetual tension."

"We are a nation that takes pride in our ethnic diversity," she said, "recognizing its importance in shaping our society and in adding richness to its existence. Yet, we simultaneously insist that we can and must function and live in a race and color-blind way that ignore these very differences that in other contexts we laud..."" CONTINUE READING

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Even more interesting:

"National Review perplexingly depicts Sotomayor as Asian"

(blend the foreign threat narratives!)

The Rhythm and the Rebels: Rap's changing political engagement over generations

"Stay calm, there's no need for alarm
You say goodbye to your mom
And you're off to Vietnam.
You shoot to kill
Come back and you're a veteran.
But how many veterans
Are out there peddling?"
("Stop the Violence" by Boogie Down Productions)

In the song "Stop the Violence" (circ. 1988?) by Boogie Down Productions, rapper KRS-One opens the song by singing:

"One, two, three, the crew is called BDP. And if you want to go to the tip-top. Stop the violence in hip hop, why oooh!"

Mos Def of Black Star chanting the late 90s anthem

Ten years later, in the song(s) "Re: Definition" (and also "Definition") by Black Star, Mos Def sings:

"One, two, three, Mos Def and Talib Kweli. We came to rock in on to the tip-top. Best alliance in hip hop, why ooh oh!"

The lyrical sampling occurring between Mos and KRS-One is an homage technique that has been used in hip hop since its mythical beginning. Along with the aesthetic resonance that sampling allows, often the reverberations in content points to intentional recitation of form and content that shapes newer work. That being said, many of us who are fans of BDP and Black Star immediately notice the shared political engagement these artists weave into their songs--issues of drugs, self-love, political empowerment, conspiracy-laden critiques of the government and the elite, etc.

In 1988, a decade in which many young people in college today were not yet born, KRS-One references the war in Vietnam, an event which was still in people's consciousness during the 80s, especially in some instances when young men of color served and came back to be immersed in the bubbling hip hop culture. Yes, some people of the so-called "hip hop generation" are now in their 40s and even their 50s, and yes, some may have served in Vietnam. As an interesting side story, Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) was on David Letterman's show on Monday night. Maddow mentioned she used to host a radio show with Chuck D of Public Enemy, and suggested that Obama and Chuck D are roughly the same age. But I will talk about Obama in a bit. (For fun, here is Public Enemy performing on Jimmy Fallon's show. Still relevant baby!)

Chuck D on "DL Hughley Breaks the News"

Sometimes I ask some young people what they know about Rodney King and the 1992 LA Riots. I usually get blank stares. For hip hop during the 90s, the racial/class tensions related to the LA Riots (and notable boycotts in other urban areas) were near staple for the hip hop soundscape. In fact, gangsta rap preceded the 92 urban unrest. Therefore, hip hop's political environment reverberated along very different (and I'm not valuing it as "better" or "worse") themes than they do today.

Rodney King beating by LAPD, that ignited a generation's fire

With Black Star's late 90s hip hop anthems ("From the first to the last of it, delivery is passionate, the hole and not the half of it" whaaaat!!), I think that Black Star's generational cohort demonstrates a "bridge" that connects the 80s political canvas with the emerging millennium music. The chant "One, two, three..." exemplifies this bridge. To be certain, material from the 80s and 90s still echos today. Generations are never so distinct, but I think certain songs, groups, and anthems point to "road markers" that give character to various eras.

So, what can be said about the ending of the first decade of the millennium? What are the "hip hop political themes" of an Obama generation?

Some emcees, such as Bambu, take a cautious stance on our current era. He reminds us that we must always be critical of power, even if we identify with elite leadership. He rhymes, "Exact Change":

"Now a generation thinks we all act like Flava Flav.
Maybe they associate us all with that
Overlook it cuz a presidential candidate is Black.
Never mind the fact that prison numbers is ridiculous..."

...and also in "Like Us":

"I know what they really think about me.
A Black president will never change what Americans see."

Is Bambu correct in suggesting an Obama generation will not erase the "on the ground" race-consciousness/conspicuousness that people of color live through daily? After listening to so much hip hop before and after President Obama's election victory (from Dres of Black Sheep, to Nas, to Zion I), I am wondering if the resistant and defiant politics of hip hop of the 80s, 90s, up to the late 2000s are forming into something new. But what is it?

After we celebrate, breakdance on the floor, and pop bottles for Obama, will hip hop deploy those staple themes of defiance against the power elite? For hip hop, can there be a "Vietnam" or "Rodney King" in an Obama generation?

Let em have it.

Beats, Rhymes, and Resistance: A decade later

Before I get to "Beats, Rhymes, and Resistance," I'd first like to address the relationships between culture and politics. In the shadow of a historical transition to power with Barack Obama's presidency (what could be going through Jesse Jackson's mind right now?), there lingers many violent and disturbing acts of injustices. From the killing of Oscar Grant and shooting of Robert Tolan to Israel's grossly disproportionate military aggresion toward Palestinian people (and here), these examples are just a few of the innumerable power struggles that poor, disenfranchised, hungry, and marginalized women, men, and children live through everyday.

Obama, Grant, and Tolan

We will not go through a laundry list of oppression here. But as hip hop "heads" we know well the role culture plays in spaces of oppression and inequality. Where there is injustice there seems to always be a cultural response/expression that challenges injustice: music, dance, storytelling, language, paintings, etc. Hip hop is one mode of expression here in the States and is arguably employed with more political intensity among heads in Cuba, Germany, the Philippines, Kenya, etc.

However, the homey M.dot argues in the "Model Minority" blog: "Hip Hop isn't political. A Hip Hop show isn't political. An album isn't political." Please read her entry.

How important does cultural production (art, language, music, poetry, theater, etc.) play in radical/progressive political mobilization?

It's been more than a decade since the making of the documentary film "Beats, Rhymes, and Resistance: Pilipinos and Hip Hop in Los Angeles," which features some influential Fil Am hip hop artists (in their "younger" years!) such as Kiwi, Babu, Faith Santilla, DJ Symphany, and Icy Ice, and many others. It highlights the "cultural liberation" (as Faith Santilla says in the film) that hip hop brings to Fil Ams...the radical expressions that hip hop cultivates. "Hip hop," as DJ Dwenz says in the film, "is the voice of inner city youth." In this sense, hip hop is seen as a motivating "force" in political struggle...hip hop is political.

"Beats, Rhymes, and Resistance" is probably the first work that seriously tackles the topic of Filipinos in hip hop. Lakandiwa de Leon's "Filipinotown and the DJ Scene" (here) resonates with the film (as Lakan is a co-director) and goes into more depth with gang culture and colonization. For those who have watched "Hip Hop Mestizaje," you can see how much the film influences my own work. It has paved the way for many young folks who are seriously interrogating this subject.

But, how relevant is this film today?
Given the state of hip hop in 2009, is the film's focus on hip hop's political role still applicable?

Or is M.dot right, hip hop is really less political than people may think?

Peep the film here (thanks to Lakandiwa de Leon):

For Palestine, for the family of Oscar Grant, for all people looking for justice, in whatever mode we strive for a better society (whether it be hip hop culture or not), may we always move forward to love and justice.

A Halloween Letter: Dear Dude in Blackface

Dear Dude in Blackface,

It was Halloween night, and I was looking for a dance floor to throw down and maybe even throw up. I was glad I found a party, because this city is lame. So of course I graciously accepted the invitation to this grad student shin dig from a colleague.

After walking into the party, I immediately felt out of place because I didn't have a stupid costume. But also I probably felt uncomfortable because I was one of three non-White revelers. No dancing, no costume. I wanted to leave.

But alas, you caught my gaze. "Another person of color!" I thought. But wait, as you passed by, you began to look like a buried coal miner. You flashed your gold chain with a dollar sign medallion as a testament to your downess. Yes, a down coal miner, I thought.

But wait, as you came closer, I had a sick, sick feeling. You're a white dude, in blackface.

With a warm beer in my hand, I asked my colleague (who is Asian), "So we're gonna have blackface at this party?"

His answer caught me off guard: "At least we're being ironic about it."

"Oh," I thought. "This is a hipster party." If only that was the case.

Aside from the fact that I see no irony in a white guy in blackface at a Halloween party (how cliche is that?), I am surprised my colleague said "we" to include himself in the crowd. By "we," I think he meant nerdy, unsexy grad students (but I guess that encompasses me too).

So I ask you: really? Grad school? Did you lose your way to the frat party?

Barack Obama had not yet been elected, and you still had the gall to celebrate a seemingly neutralized, unpoliticized, deracialized performativity of Blackness? Couldn't you at least wait till next year and say, "Hey, a Black guy's my president. How can this be racist?"

Just remember this: After centuries of being called ugly, savage, evil, unpure by Europeans...Black people don't need you to flaunt your ability to wash that shit off. Plus, you need to do research on the long, disgraceful history of blackface performance. It didn't start with Kramer.

As Bambu says in "Exact Change": "Maybe they associate us all with that--Overlook it just because a presidential candidate is Black--Nevermind the fact prison numbers is ridiculous--Instead we see rappers on TV flashin they necklaces..."

Next year, I recommend dressing up as a White guy. That'd be ironic. Eat hummus and pita, kiss your dog, recycle, shop at organic stores, buy expensive sandwiches...a presidential seal (instead of a dollar-sign) around your neck. Run with it homey.

On second thought, maybe you were really a Black guy, who put on white-colored make-up (even down to your neck and in your ear), then black-colored make-up haphazardly on top of that. If that were the case, you're freakin awesome.

Posted in the cut,
MV

PS: My president is Black. Oh yeeahh...