Well "Tip Drill" pretty much sums up all of Hurt's arguments from this documentary. I have to admit I have seen this film before, but I was very excited to watch it again. This is a topic that is very much relevant to my own life. As Hurt points out 70% of hip-hop is consumed by white males and I fall into that category. Just like Hurt, I love hip-hop so it is slightly difficult to look at it critically. However, Hurt analyzes this genre in a loving way. Yes he points out some bad trends in hip-hop, but he does this with hopes of these trends changing. Hurt's film is very entertaining and thought provoking. One of the most outstanding issues with hip-hop is the violence. There is no denying rap has violent subject matter, but Hurt was interested in why that was. When Hurt interviewed the rapper Jadakiss, and asked him why rap is so violent, and his response was wonderfully simple, "have you seen movies?" We have already discussed violence in films at length in this class, but this just further shows that violence is ingrained in our culture, and different aspects influence each other. However, Chuck D. suggested that violence in hip-hop is derived from systematic violence, such as building a highway through a poor neighborhood. Either way is does not fully explain the multitude of violence in hip-hop.
Another focal point of the film was the conversations around women's objectification and the images of males. The video above is all you need to see to understand the roles men and women must take in hip-hop music videos. Women are always subservient and are there purely as eye candy. Men's role is not that complex either. They have to look tough and never show emotion. I was happy to see Jackson Katz in this film, because I am very familiar with his thoughts on masculinity. A huge aspect of the male image in hip-hop is that if you do not act this way, people are quick to belittle you. Terms such as, bitch and pussy, are meant to try to insult one's masculinity, and to humiliate you. This reminded me very much of Katz's work with wrestling where the same themes are present. Ultimately, the violence and male imagery that comes out of hip-hop does not paint a very good picture. This is turn leads to perpetuating stereotypes. For example, white suburbia listens to rap and actually thinks they are learning about another culture. That is kind of a scary thought considering what rap is made up of.
I loved the fact that Hurt interviewed actual famous rappers. It helped to sell his argument and it was comforting to see that some of the big time players can admit that there is something wrong in hip-hop. The only complaint I had was that Hurt did not interview Eminem. This film came out in 2006 and Hurt had been filming for years. Eminem had been very popular by then, so it would have fit time wise. I would have loved to hear Eminem's take on the questions Hurt had. However, maybe Hurt just wanted to avoid the whole race issue, or maybe he never even reached out to Eminem, the world may never know. We had begun discussion on Eminem in class and it would have been interesting to see a more direct approach of that conversation. Besides that kind of nitpicky complaint the film is excellent. Hurt does a very good job of both analyzing and entertaining. In closing, I do not know how hip-hop will ever change considering what sells well will always be the trend and the fact that the music is being manufactured by corporations. Maybe by consumers supporting artists that deviate from this trend things will start to change.
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