Panel Discussion/Kyle Cross
My series of questions were based on Tricia Rose’s statement, “That a present day African American popular culture expression is yet another form of oppositional culture in the face of perceived institutional discrimination, racial formation and urban decay.” One discussion panel question I derived from this statement was how rap and hip hop artists are perceived by their own culture when they are no longer opposing the dominate mainstream, but instead, are participating in it? I believe that Melisa said it best when she referred to commercial hip hop and rap as “cookie cutter” hip hop and rap and what Professor Pate referred to as “garbage”. I don’t think either of them disagrees with the fact that hip hop still brings people together, but the opposition to the institution is no longer present once that artist is commercialized by the institution itself. My reason for believing this is due to a filter that I think all music goes through before it hits the mainstream and that primary filter would be the commercial potential of the song, not necessarily the political message. That is where the opposition is lost because the raps are no longer raw messages being sent out on the street corner or at a local venue, but instead mass produced and judged not on the content, but the marketability. So, to answer my own question, when rap and hip hop artists that represent the oppositional culture end up conforming to the mainstream then they longer pose a threat to the mainstream and lose their credibility.