Sounding Race in Rap Songs

Deveaux attributed this primarily to textbooks, which reinforced the narrative of neat stylistic decades (1920s New Orleans jazz, 1930s Swing, 1940s Bebop, etc.) and the institutionalization of jazz studies within colleges and universities. Because jazz was a relatively recent art form, Deveaux could watch the official history develop and cohere before his eyes. The rise of hip-hop has been concurrent with the rise of ethnic studies departments and, more recently, the inclusion of popular music as a serious field of study in the academy. [...]while jazz studies took decades to be accepted as a legitimate field within music departments, hip-hop studies is better positioned to find its way into a multitude of academic disciplines. The video begins with him leaving a house where a woman is questioning him and, we understand, trying to pin him down. [...]black freedom" is, in fact, black male freedom, in this case, from the domesticating black woman.2 While Kajikawa offers this video analysis, Sounding Races central aim is to demonstrate how rap has sounded race in various rap songs. [...]rap's move out of its context as activity toward an increasingly commodified form is a key period when the dialogic between men and women drops out, something Kajikawa doesn't mention.