By R.N. Bradley
Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Otis” off their acclaimed Watch The Throne album has been busy in the month since its release. This Otis has a lot going on: trying to be tender, opulent, and socially conscious at the same time. But the Maybachs, white girls, white tees, and the good ole American flag may speak to more than fleeting dreams of wealth. There are nods towards capitalism and privileges inaccessible to Black folks – Black folks excluding Hov and ‘Ye, that is.
But the “Otis” video is brilliant. Negotiations of whiteness as a color, race, and signifier of status are in a tug of war with rap music as a space and marketplace of racial ambiguity and colorblindness. There is a tension between two opposing definitions of “consciousness” – social responsibility and corporate expectations – and the consequences of neglecting both sides. The stripped Maybach in the video is best representative of this tension, centered in front of the blurred image of the American flag.
One question that largely frames the entire premise behind “Otis” and perhaps Watch The Throne is: how do Black folks live the good life, but still remain conscious of what’s going on in the world?
This battle is expected to play out in Hip-Hop culture, especially rap music. I often struggle with thinking and talking about Hip-Hop and rap music as victims of corporate corruption. In many ways, commercialized rap music is problematic, but this relationship benefits both sides. Commercial rap and the majority of popular Black culture are dependent upon an essentialist, all-consuming, “urban” Blackness that dominates America’s public imagination. Its artists and their music must cater to this expectation. This “relevant Blackness” is uncomplicated, making it accessible to a larger group of non-Blacks and stifling to African-Americans struggling to be visible. Consumption and negotiations of “public” American Blackness is often incontrollable. We hear and absorb what we want to hear and absorb.
I’m not quite sure if “Otis” and other songs off Watch The Throne intentionally set out to question rap as the most recent expression of Black protest. It was the sampling of soul singers like Otis Redding and Nina Simone (who, by the way, Kanye, should NEVER be autotuned!) that really set this question off for me. Sampling Simone and Redding bridges a younger, post-Civil Rights audience with the music and urgency of African American life that framed Simone and Redding’s experiences. Although Simone and Redding’s era protested openly racist displays of white supremacy, what does 21st century Black protest music sound like? What would we protest? Perhaps this soul sampling – “soulsploitation”? – hints towards the desire to protest but the unavailability of means to express it. The sampling of soul music could possibly present a blueprint for Hip-Hop era Black Americans to speak up about the injustices they continue to face.
Still, I’m intrigued by the nuanced maneuvering of ideas about African-American resistance presented via “Otis” and other tracks on Watch The Throne. There is a brewing battle of conscience and consciousness, blending expected performances of rap (i.e. “That’s my b***h”) with social commentary (“Murder to Excellence” or “New Day”). Watch The Throne seems, at times, to smuggle in social consciousness. It challenges the structure of an industry where complicating today’s Black experience is frowned upon. The album validates Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Blackness through their previous struggles, while situating them as privileged and profitable now. Their status affords them (literally) the opportunity to be socially aware, whereas lesser-known and lesser influential acts must peddle the “relevant Blackness” mentioned earlier because they can’t afford otherwise.
While there is endless buzz about Watch The Throne as a Hip-Hop classic, it also serves as one of the best examples of the complicated relationship between the rap industry and Blackness to date.
Ironically, it turns out to be a privilege to talk about African-American struggle and be heard. It doesn’t hurt that Jay and ‘Ye’s album rides, either.Chanzo ni allhiphop.com
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