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Hip-Hop and Authenticity

In today’s society, one of the most immediately recognisable and popular genres is hip-hop or rap music. Developed during the 1970’s in the United States by inner-city African-Americans, the music typically consists of a rhythmic beat with a rhyming speech pattern accompaniment, called “rapping” (Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 2017). Hip-hop and it’s surrounding culture came specifically from the Bronx, in New York, pioneered by working-class African-American’s. The Bronx at this time is known to have been a particularly low socio-economic area, and it’s inhabitants commonly dealt with the crack epidemic, a lack of work and general poverty, as well as the definitive end of the Civil Rights Movement era (Calhoun, 2009). Hip-hop culture can therefore be seen as a direct response to the socio-economic issues associated with these origins (Romano, 2016). The genre exploded in popularity throughout the next few decades, becoming the top-selling genre in 1999 and infiltrating pop music culture all throughout the 2000’s (Romano, 2016). As the genre has developed, a number of topics of interest have developed alongside it, particularly thanks to it’s enthusiastic and dedicated fanbase. Over time, class has evolved to become the primary signifier of a performer’s authenticity (Hodgman, 2013). This essay aims to explore authenticity within hip-hop to discover how class became the primary signifier of an authentic performer. Class and authenticity will then be examined to see how these issues may affect the problems and potential the hip-hop subculture contains as a site of political struggle, particularly in terms of the music’s power to provoke discourse on topics that could be as easily ignored by a mainstream, middle and upper class public. A case study will also be examined, in the form of popular rapper Mac Miller to see how class based authenticity may affect the modern performer.

As hip-hop music has developed over time, it’s fans and the surrounding culture have determined that authenticity is the most important part of a hip-hop artists success. If an artist does not hold this authenticity to their fans, their success will be extremely limited, if not nonexistent. In hip-hop’s early days, race was often used as the primary authenticator for artists, mainly due to the music’s origins within the African-American culture. However, as the genre developed and bloomed in popularity, artists of other races and cultures took part in the music-making and gained respect from early artists, such as The Beastie Boy’s hugely successful line-up of white MC’s (Owen, 2014). Thus race no longer determined the authenticity and popularity of a rapper, and a new authenticator was required (Hess, 2005). Looking at early successful white hip-hop artists, it is clear that the majority, if not all, came from similar forms of poverty and lifestyle to the early Bronx African-American origins. These artists quickly seemed to be accepted as authentic and gained popularity, thus highlighting class as the new primary authenticator for hip-hop, which has continued throughout the majority of popular hip-hop music (Hodgman, 2013). Examining hip-hop from a modern perspective, it is obvious that rappers may come from different wealth and class status backgrounds but the most popular embody the same rags-to-riches story that has been perpetuated since hip-hop’s most early days.

It is also worth noting that class plays a major part in the music itself, further promoting it as the music’s authenticator. Many rappers focus on their rough upbringing in tough, ghetto environments and how their success musically has led them to enjoy status symbols like designer clothing, sports cars, expensive jewellery, and more recently, harder to obtain drugs. For example, established rapper Jay-Z says specifically in his popular song 99 Problems, “I’m from rags to riches” as well as pointing out his “hood” background while simultaneously highlighting his current financial success (Carter, 2003). Interestingly, Jay-Z and many other popular rappers no longer have ties to their poverty-stricken background, making it possible for artists to gain popularity through a falsification of identity and background and by starting at a successful or even middle-class level of wealth. This proved to be the case with artists like semi-popular and notorious 1990’s rapper Vanilla Ice, who fabricated a background for himself and used it to form a platform and fanbase before he was identified as fake, at which point he began to quickly fade into obscurity (Hess, 2009). This serves to demonstrate the importance of an authentic story in the success of a hip-hop performer.

So it is evident therefore, that class has been the primary authenticator to hip-hop music since race faded from use as other races and cultures joined the genre. White hip-hop artists began to emerge in the 1980’s with artists like The Beastie Boys, 3rd Bass and Shawn Brown (Wallace, 2016) and as they gained popularity, other white artists came to find their place in the genre. Two of the most significant while hip-hop artists as identified by numerous authors are Eminem and Vanilla Ice. Eminem’s music commonly focuses on his background in urban Detroit, living in a trailer park with his mother, working to support his daughter and struggling to finance his lowly lifestyle and aspiring rap career (Hess, 2005). Vanilla Ice also attempted to portray his background in this way earlier in his career, but was later exposed to be ‘fake’ or fabricating his story (Hess, 2009). He had originally claimed to have emerged from a Miami ghetto, where he grew up around plentiful crime and gang affiliations, when in reality he had enjoyed a reasonably comfortable, middle-class upbringing in suburban Dallas (Hess). Immediately after the discovery of his mistruths, Vanilla’s career began a downward slide, and he quickly disappeared from the mainstream hip-hop public eye. Many hip-hop artists, including Eminem claimed anger and hurt caused by his actions, Eminem going as far as to say “That crushed me. At first, I felt like I didn’t want to rap anymore. I was so mad because he was making it really [hard] for me . . . Vanilla Ice was just a fake” (Eminem, cited by Armstrong, 2004). The case of Vanilla Ice highlights hip-hop success’ need for authenticity, and the ways in which class provides it. Sociological researcher Matthew Hodgman confirms this in his own article, stating “Vanilla Ice shows us that class, not racial status, is the primary determinant of rapper authenticity” (Hodgman, 2013). A scale of authenticity amongst white hip-hop performers could therefore be created here, starting from Vanilla Ice and his reputation as ‘fake’, and topping at Eminem as ‘real’. This scale will be used to apply a case study to see which side they would fall on, and how this benefits or holds them back.

Mac Miller is a successful hip-hop artist in today’s society with four highly-received studio albums under his belt as well as a variety of smaller mixtapes and other projects. Miller was raised in a relatively middle-class suburb in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a Jewish white male. Throughout his high schooling he focussed on perfecting his music, as well as becoming a low-level drug dealer (Unknown, 2017). Miller’s music mentions experiences such as this, but tends not to dwell on upbringing for too long, although Miller’s understanding of authenticity is clear as his recounting of experiences past is never sold as over-the-top or celebrated as a way of life, making the depictions seem all the more honest. In terms of rap authenticity, Mac Miller would clearly fall more towards the Eminem side of the scale, despite his occasionally poppy output. Similarly to Eminem, Miller is able to recount his past with honesty without focussing too much on his own history. He uses the past as way of constructing authenticity, again like Eminem (Armstrong, 2004) and then is able to continue with whatever subject matter he feels appropriate. Miller’s authenticity has clearly benefited him, as it has allowed him to transcend the “white rapper” label and be received more in terms of his music than himself. His four albums have performed overwhelmingly both critically and commercially, which in turn adds to his construction of self as an authentic performer. Miller is also able to then use this authenticity, as many other rappers have done, to identify problems within hip-hop’s social hierarchy and potentially affect positive change.

Examining hip-hop from the point of view of identifying it’s problem’s and potentials as a site of political struggle, it is clear that the genre has a number of issues to discuss, even when using class as a filter. Class clearly is a major issue in hip-hop and has been ever since the genre’s beginning, as we see it’s early origins emerge from ‘ghetto’ or lower socio-economic areas like the Bronx (Calhoun, 2009). The poverty and the crime that these areas bring about out of necessity form the basis for the vast majority of hip-hop songs, which acts to highlight the class injustice that these groups suffer (Kaufmann, 2017). This overt discussion of class is beneficial as it opens a dialogue about the socio-economic status of these areas and provokes positive change and reinforcement amongst these groups. For example, artists like Kendrick Lamar and YG not only touch on the grim realities of their rough upbringings in suburbs like Compton, Los Angeles, in their music, but also donate significant amounts of money and appear at youth-oriented events in their home suburbs with the goal of affecting positive change within these areas, even at a local level (Jennings, 2016). This an active demonstration of the power of hip-hop music and culture to affect significant change within the areas it is bred from, as well as lessoning class tensions.

While it is seen that the problems associated with these lower socio-economic areas are being examined and raised via a number of mediums, hip-hop is important for this visibility due it’s significant presence in the mainstream media (Jennings, 2016). This allows it to extend and reach audiences that may not realise or recognise the grim realities of the subculture’s origins. Hip-hop’s popularity, and thus it’s visibility, has exploded over the past couple of decades and allowed the genre to be one of the most recognisable and influential forces in modern popular culture. For example, popular music-streaming service Spotify conducted an analysis of it’s listeners and the types of music associated with them and discovered the hip-hop music is the most commonly listened to genre on the platform, regardless of geographical location or even language (Hooton, 2015). This highlights hip-hop and it’s class discussion’s potential for affecting positive social change, and tackling social injustice in a wide variety of areas and amongst different people.

As hip-hop has spread through wider mainstream popular culture, it is able to be more easily viewed and interpreted by a number of different audiences amongst various demographics. This enables a wider discussion and view of class and class-based crime, as well as hopefully interpreting possible solutions. Another hopeful outcome is that people will be look at the class divide in modern society with a higher understanding of the conditions that lead to lower socio-economic areas and working-class struggle. While the gritty realism of hip-hop music is often protested by certain demographics (UCLA, 2017), it is extremely clear that the darker subject matter is born from an uncomfortable reality and a divide between varying socio-economic classes. It can also be noted, interestingly, that although rappers may often graduate from the lower class where their roots are and start living a far more luxurious lifestyle, their authenticity is usually not compromised amongst their supporters, moreover their success is actually celebrated. When this occurs, it is clear the artist has cemented the authenticity of their background and is now able to move on and explore new class areas.

In conclusion, it is extremely evident that class over time has evolved to become the primary symbol of authenticity in hip-hop music over the previous signifier of race. Hip-hop’s origins amongst inner-city African-American’s explain this early reliance of race as a signifier (Calhoun, 2009), but the genre’s explosion in popularity attracted newcomers to the music scene, including artists from new races and cultures. This forced class to become the new authenticator in the music, as artists like Eminem begin to succeed through an honest depiction of their background (Hodgman, 2013). Class and the authenticity attached to it therefore become an important part of the music, as well as beginning to affect the surrounding culture. The music then has the potential to provoke a significant amount of discourse and hopefully affect positive change within the communities the music comes from. An example of this is Kendrick Lamar’s willingness to donate and support youth areas in Compton (Jennings, 2016), which highlights hip-hops positive motivating nature. Hip-hop’s wide success and visibility then allow these ideas of positivity and change to spread through multiple audiences, including those who may not have experienced or understood the hardships faced by these lower socio-economic areas. Overall, it can be seen that hip-hop has exploded in popularity and visibility since it’s inception in the 1970’s, class has developed to become the primary authenticator in the music, and the genre now carries the enormous potential to affect the environments and possibilities of it’s creators, as well as spreading the messages of these hardships to new audiences.

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