Rap and Hip-Hop Panel- Liz Eisler
The discussion of rap and hip-hop with panelists Alexs Pane and Melisa Riviere was very intriguing yet at the same time left me quite perplexed. I feel as though the topic of rap and hip-hop is so broad, consisting of many elements, concepts, and ideas that intertwine with one another based on a person’s perception, history, background, etc, that it’s quite hard to grasp a full concept of this powerful form of resistance. However, this is most likely due to the notion that scholarship on rap and hip-hop is rather young, and according to Pane, “a lot of people don’t understand the true political, social, and economical characteristics of it.� With that said, one major aspect that I gained from the panel as well as Tricia Rose is the importance of territory and hip-hop and understanding how to two relate to one another.
Tricia Rose argues that, “Cultural expressions of discontent are no longer protected by the insulated social sites that have historically encouraged the refinement of resistive transcripts� (Rose, p.101). Due to the nature of many obscene lyrics, rap and hip-hop have received much scrutiny. However, as Pane and Riviere discussed, through means of territory and physical space, artists have been able to freely express themselves through the global scene and the challenging of physical space. Rap and hip-hop have become a literature, or a language that connects people with their “click or crew� by challenging the physical space (Pane).