LITKRS1: 1900 to the Culture Cypher, GOD
In the spirit of recent Hollywood news that Jay-Z is scoring Baz Luhrmann’s 3-D version of The Great Gatsby, Emma and I began thinking of other hip-hop/classic American literature combinations. Below is a mock “American Literature Since 1900” syllabus paired to the hills with hip-hop counterparts:
LITKRS1: 1900 to the Culture Cypher, GOD
American identity is pluralistic, descriptive, shaded with a constantly changing brush of indelible creativity and intellectualism. An American tale may prescribe a constant and persistent state of being within a given culture, but without the addressing of that tale from a myriad of perspectives, it is doomed to be grounded. We must always use the diversity around us to maintain the perspective that while trends in popular culture may be in flux, popular culture has a basis of similar feelings, problems, and triumphs. Traditions may exist in one culture and another, but they are not solely bound to one group of people. This course will adopt an approach of comparative structures to discern the paradoxes and comparisons of works of different cultures and identities but of similar perspectives and ideas.
______________________________________________________________________________
Week 1&2 Moral Obligation in Feminist and African American Works
Beloved and Tupac Shakur
There ain’t no surprise here. 124 was indeed at most times “spiteful,” but one can’t ignore the parallels of immense unconditional love for the hated, the abused, morally accused, and the prideful through mourning, elation, fear, regret, and optimism in Mother-Child relationships like Beloved-Sethe/Afeni-Tupac. “Even though you was a crack fiend, mama. You always was a black queen, mama.” Like Beloved and Sethe, Tupac, too, had no qualms with expressing the struggles his mother faced in raising him. And like the arc of Sethe’s guilt and regret and fear of Beloved’s vengeance, Afeni Shakur, too, faced the uncertainty of making things right with her son through and after the tumult, much like the crux of Beloved.
Key Tracks: “Dear Mama,” “Keep Ya Head Up,” “Brenda’s Got A Baby”
"Yellow Wallpaper" and Missy Elliott
“Yo, this girl is crazy!” Is sometimes known to be heard after reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman. “YOWW, this girl is crazy!” Is more than sometimes heard about Miss Misdemeanor.
“Yellow Wallpaper” is all about imagery. It’s the redundancy of the pattern and color of the wallpaper that paints it all a dizzying spell of hysteria. The same is felt after viewing the video for “The Rain.” While most of Gilman’s madness develops subtly and in metaphorical images in “Wallpaper,” Missy just blows your shit up from start to finish with rando safari sounds and wild hall-of-mirrors photography and clown costumes. Missy’s like a choose-your-adventure-type guide for all of Gilman’s gaps. They both, however different their styles, embrace “madness” with feminist fervor.
Key Tracks: “The Rain(Supa Dupa Fly),” “Get Ur Freak On,” “Lose Control”
Their Eyes Were Watching God and Lauryn Hill
Zora Neale Hurston’s rich, vibrant, and poignant work deserves such a praise singer. Ms. Hill could do Janie proud, illuminating and troubling the tangled lines between womanhood, love, sex, sorrow, family, history, pleasure, dignity and struggle. Even at a meta level, Lauryn Hill fits, meandering and disappearing as Crawford did, only to come back into your life and once again break your heart.
Key Tracks: "Ex Factor," "To Zion"
______________________________________________________________________________
Week 3&4 Anxieties in Artistry and the Workplace
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Eminem
From the decadent: “We had two bags of grass...and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers...once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.” To the hypnagogic: “Hallucinations are bad enough. But after awhile you learn to cope with things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth.” Hunter’s bizarre, often alcohol and drug addled poem to the apprehension of professionalism and societal responsibilities redefined journalism, non-fiction, memoir, and American storytelling.
Slim’s (earlier) style, too, takes dead aim on shocking the shit out of you with tales of social deviation, and much like Thompson, Marshall Mathers never holds back describing his transgressions: “It all started when my mother took my bike away/‘Cause I murdered my guinea pig and stuck him in the microwave/After that, It was straight to the 40 ouncers/Slappin teachers, and jacking off in front of my counselors.” We often wonder what it would be like to feel the impact of an event or experience in real time. What was that like to read Fear and Loathing during the Nixon era? Probably similar to having the Slim Shady LP at age twelve. Wild, wild, wild.
Key Tracks: “As The World Turns,” “Drug Ballad,” “Role Model”
Catcher in the Rye and The Beastie Boys
Yes, Holden lived in a New York before hip hop, but he is a kindred spirit of The Beastie Boys, smart and sensitive beings intent on stirring shit and defacing the phony. Twitchy, cranky, funny, sincere, poignant and ready to be moved by the world and its inhabitants, The Beasties have scored many New York City comings-of-ages (including my own). I can see Holden sitting in a Canal Street apartment, laughing as the band slogs through “Cookie Puss,” grooving on “To All The Girls,” nodding his head appreciatively in that red hat, peak turned around to the back.
Key Tracks: “B-Boy Bouillabaisse,” “I Don’t Know”
Suggested Reading:
A Moveable Feast and Biggie Smalls
The Jungle and MF Doom
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 5&6 The Marginalized as Agents and Objects
Black Boy and Mos Def
Someone who knows how to balance the poetry and the pain. Someone who can level his sights on problems and take them down in verse. Anger and beauty. Making sorrow sound sweet and still.
Key Tracks: “Mathematics,” “Umi Says,” “Casa Bey”
"Bartleby the Scrivner" and Busta Rhymes
Alright. I know you think this has gone too far, (which it might have) but hear me out. Cyclical insanity is Busta’s forté. Absurd deserves absurd. And who better to run around old Wall Street, rapping about crunching numbers and non-fireable employees than ridiculousness personified? Plus Ginger Nut, Nippers, and Turkey all sound like aliases/characters in a Busta Bust music video…Gimme Some More?I would prefer not to.
Key Tracks: “Gimme Some More”
Suggested Reading:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Nas
_________________________________________________________________________________
Week 7&8 Coming of Age in America
A Separate Peace and Kanye West
On some days, I would argue that Kanye’s work is more subtle and nuanced than this over-the-top middle school page turner, but I can think of no one better suited. Who else could articulate anger, ego, the consuming jealousy and destructive love of teenagers all with an appreciation of dramatics and PREP SCHOOL FASHION? No one.
Who taught you about Phineas' pink shirt?
Yeezy taught me.
Key Tracks: “All of The Lights,” “School Spirit,” “Everything I Am"
Huck Finn and RZA
Just imagine this.
Key Tracks: All of them.
Suggested Reading:
The Age of Innocence and Rick Ross
_________________________________________________________________________________
Week 7&8 Noncompliance, Shits and Giggles
Lolita and Ol’ Dirty Bastard aka ODB aka Dirt McGirt aka Ol’ Dirty Chinese Restaurant aka Big Baby Jesus aka Dirty aka Dirt Dog aka Osirus aka Prince Delight aka Barney Kool Breeze aka Freeloading Rusty aka Joe Bananas aka Ol’ Dirty Schultz aka BZA
Key Tracks: “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” “Brooklyn Zoo,” “Dog Shit”
Suggested Reading:
Hop on Pop and Flava Flav
_________________________________________________________________________________
There is no end to the things Pat Marino and Emma Impink appreciate.