{"id":689,"date":"2018-12-21T04:51:14","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T09:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/?p=689"},"modified":"2018-12-21T04:51:14","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T09:51:14","slug":"models-and-approaches-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/2018\/12\/21\/models-and-approaches-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Models and Approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

I enjoyed this reading (Plesch and Ashley) as it exposed me to new ideas in post-colonial thought. Specifically, this reading explained that appropriation is the adoption of some subcultural object by the dominant culture to assert power over the object or the subculture. Further, it explained that, while binary views of post-colonial theory typified by Said e.g. suggest that all usage of subcultural objects by the dominant culture are necessarily appropriative, modern post-colonial theory emphasizes models which confer agency onto the \u201cother,\u201d noting that otherized populations may subvert dominant cultures by using the tools of the dominant culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

This made me think of rap. There are some who think that the popularity of rap music represents cultural appropriation. However, I think that, conferring agency upon the once-otherized this popularity rather represents an at-first unwilling dominant culture being forced to create space in its airwaves for culturally powerful music. Like graffiti writers claiming space in the spatial culture, these rappers are claiming space in the audio culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Examples of rappers noting that their success subverts the dominant culture\u2019s framing stories and expectations:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWasn\u2019t supposed to make it past 25, joke\u2019s on you we still alive\u201d Kanye West, \u201cWe Don\u2019t Care\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

”An arrogant drug dealer, the legend I become \/ CNN said I’d be dead by 21” Pusha T, \u201cSo Appalled\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

”And they say by 21 I was supposed to die \/ So I\u2019m out here celebrating my post-demise” Jay-Z, \u201cMurder to Excellence\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what you take me as \/ Or understand the intelligence that Jay-Z has \/ I\u2019m from rags to riches, ***** I ain\u2019t dumb \/ I got 99 problems but a ***** ain\u2019t one\u201d Jay-Z, \u201c99 Problems\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, fuck the judge \/ I made it past 25, and there I was\u201d Kendrick Lamar<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I enjoyed this reading (Plesch and Ashley) as it exposed me to new ideas in post-colonial thought. Specifically, this reading explained that appropriation is the adoption of some subcultural object by the dominant culture to assert power over the object or the subculture. Further, it explained that, while binary views of post-colonial theory typified by … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Models and Approaches”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7404,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":690,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions\/690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/graffiti-fall2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}