Mirza Jahic
Professor Deck
EWRT 1B:62z
12/04/03
The Harlem Renaissance
can in fact be compared to the Hip Hop phenomenon of the 1980’s-2000 due to the
fundamental fact that both of them were built upon oppression and due to the
fact that they both acted against the ominous restrictions which in return
increased the impact that they inevitably had on the American culture and
society that could not repress the originality, the truth, and eventually the
credit that was long due of and to both the Harlem Renaissance and the Hip Hop
phenomenon.
In order to correctly
differentiate or find similarities between the hip-hop phenomenon and the
Harlem Renaissance, we have to understand the intricate history that lies in the
heart of this cultural and societal oppression and because I am the omnipotent
figure in this case, which evidently puts me in power of doing anything from
providing false information to leading the reader on and because this is a
sensitive subject that I can relate to, I will try to relate and accurately
represent both cases of similarity and difference that the Hip-Hop phenomenon
and the Harlem Renaissance share.
The history of the
Harlem Renaissance is delicate because the beauty of its uprising lies within
the masses and/or the crowd that is being invisibly oppressed and controlled by
this unknown ominous power. Similar to a particular quote that Moody writes
mentions The Harlem Renaissance, or The New Negro
Movement in its wake, was initiated by an advantage-less, yet potent generation
of resilient souls” (Moody 1) The
Harlem Renaissance was in fact, a creativity and culture shock outburst that
exploded for the better from 1920-1930 that claimed a piece of its culture and
uplifted it beyond pride and beyond respect and evidently took it to a level of
extreme significance that eventually led to the Hip-Hop phenomenon and that
ultimately changed the American society and its culture.
During the period of 1920-1930’s America experienced an uprising of new talents in fields predominately owned and controlled by the omnipotent white America. This of course would not last, because sooner or later, an iconoclastic crowd would rise against this invisible force and take what is intrinsically theirs. During this era numerous black artists emerged in fields ranging from poetry to music. As Gloria Fiero mentions in her book “the quest for racial equality and search for self-identity among African-Americans inspired an upsurge of creative expression in the arts” (Fiero 97) A great example is Langston Hughes, who I will eventually touch upon as my essay progresses and “His opus speaks that does not for Hughes the man, but for the race as a whole.” (Poets of the Harlem Renaissance and After 1) This era also goes on to become classified as “The New Negro Movement” (James 1) which demonstrated a new goal for the black community that focused not on adapting to the American culture but on the resurrection of the African American culture and to move forward using the new unprecedented way.
Hip-Hop developed under
similar if not the same circumstances as the Harlem Renaissance. Once again,
the creativity of the oppressed individuals, that were coincidently located at
the same location that the Harlem Renaissance took place, were experimenting
with a new form of self-expression. The Hip-Hop phenomena started gaining recognition
in the late ‘70s and began to be used as a communication tool and produce
material portraying how the omnipotent American society impacts the daily life of
a maim black man and under what circumstances are struggles dealt with on a
daily basis.
The Hip-Hop phenomenon was similar
to the Harlem Renaissance in ways that it had the same fundamental beliefs
about the corrupt system and that it believed in self-expression using new
found tools, which relates to W.E.B Du Bois statement that Blacks could not
achieve social equality by emulating white ideals and that blacks should join
together and separate themselves from the whites and start their own businesses
and industries to advance themselves economically, socially and culturally. This rational thought of or during the Harlem
Renaissance was in fact, used in the Hip-Hop phenomena when Jam Master J and
Run DMC “broke down the barriers for hip-hop, being
the first rap group to get played on MTV and one of the first black artists that
the network gave airtime to” (Strong 1) this inevitably took Hip-Hop to the next level using exactly the
elaborated detail and thought of the Harlem Renaissance.
Considering the targeted
audience in the Hip-Hop phenomena and also during the Harlem Renaissance, we
eventually stumble upon slight differences. The Harlem Renaissance and the
cultural expansion could only be achieved by using literal terms and actions. By
this I mean purely scholastic and educational because anything less was
considered barbaric and uncivilized. What we get is scintillated poets and
teachers such as Langston Hughes and W.E.B Du Bois trying to evolve and get the
message of oppression across using the way similar to which Du Bois first
disagreed to. Regardless of his comments of a black individual not being able
to achieve social equality by emulating white ideas, he nonetheless followed
the path of, it contradicting his statements. We stumble upon a difference
between Hip-Hop and the Harlem Renaissance not because of coincidence but
because there were no other options at the time. Similar to what Hip-Hop did
for the culture and entertainment industry today, the Harlem Renaissance played
its part in aiding blacks in the quest for meaning which in return led to the
glory of finding their own ideal.
Hip-Hop, unlike the
Harlem Renaissance was not invented or used to unite with white ideals or even
used to comfort it, rather it was used as a cultural expansion or an
iconoclastic measure to further the cause and the affect black individuals have
upon the omnipotent American society. The Harlem Renaissance unlike the Hip-Hop
phenomena can be classified as being pacifist because of the continuous use of white
ideals whereas Hip-Hop had no hope and was built upon the ideals of the Harlem
Renaissance and enforced with the views, propaganda, and contempt of a society
not fit for them and because opposition is more often bad then good, with
Hip-Hop it did the opposite of bad and it “has
transcended beyond just music. It has become a lifestyle and/or a culture for
people worldwide.” (Reese 1)
As I read trough the
article “The Cultural Renaissance that could be Hip-Hop” I noticed a quote that
caught my eye. The story slowly progresses from the relationship of the Harlem
Renaissance towards the Hip-Hop phenomena and suddenly mentions “Our issues needed a custom-resolve-one that had to be owned by us.” (Moody
3) This got me to think about the nostalgic behavior of the black people during
the Harlem Renaissance and also the Hip-Hop phenomena. Who am I and what gives
me the right as a white man to argue the nuisance of the struggles of that
particular fundamental dictum? The reason I wrote that opinionated sentence is
related to the interview or radio discussion that was conducted on Jan. 31,
2002, which was a day before Hughes’ 100th birthday. One statement
that caught my immediate attention was the comment that was uttered by Al
Young, poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter and professor of Creative Writing
at SJSU in which he states “Rappers are the only ones speaking and spreading
the truth because they don’t have anything to lose” (Young). I like to consider
myself a pantheist yet it still does not give me the right when suddenly that
particular quote made me realize another strong similarity between the two and
that is the despair and the desire to be affiliated with a particular invention
of a kind to simply be respected as their recognized ownership.
The artists during this time were in
fact iconoclastic which was of course at this time unprecedented, with the
exception of some women during the Harlem Renaissance era, who carelessly decided
that their African-American culture is nugatory and simply “Passed” as white
but that is not the point that I am trying to elaborate on. The artists during
the Harlem Renaissance shared a common ground in a way that they wanted to be
intrinsic and similar to what the quote mentioned, “Owe something that is
rightfully theirs” (Moody 3). I came to a conclusion that the beliefs were
always fundamentally the same; the only major difference is the era that these
messages were delivered. People living during these times were not omnipotent;
in fact they had no bond holding them together and no achievement to call their
own. The reason why the Hip-Hop phenomenon took the culture to the next level
is because of its nuance, its variation and its iconoclast characters that had
nothing to lose and thus “hip hop became a pervasive element of popular
culture” (Ranck 1)
Both the Hip-Hop phenomenon and the
Harlem Renaissance had a great impact on our society ranging from
entertainment, to educational related changes, even to proper (not always)
portrayal and respect. With Bakari Kitwana identifying blacks with this particular quote, “blacks born
between 1965 and 1984 as belonging to the "hip-hop generation” (Kitwana), the conclusion that I inevitably came to is
from a pantheistical point of view and focused primarily on the similarity rather
than the difference due to the fact that it is nugatory to regard for the
difference between the Harlem Renaissance and the Hip-Hop phenomena because
major differences do not exist and it ranges from minor details such as time
and the way of the presentation (i.e. more formal and scholastic during the
Harlem Renaissance)
I previously came to a conclusion
stating that the Hip-Hop phenomenon and the Harlem Renaissance have numerous
similarities due to the fact that they are built upon the same fundamental
principles and share common values. To argue the case of similarity and try to
differentiate is unprecedented and unnecessary because just as the Harlem
Renaissance acted as a helper and/or mentor towards the Hip-Hop phenomenon, the
Hip-Hop phenomenon set out on its own mission to finish where the Harlem Renaissance
evidently left off, by inventing a style filled with anger and despair to lead
the black culture to a new level that they can call their own, inevitably
changing society, the world, and the future to come.
Works Cited
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