REEDO DA EMCEE

Rap X Culture

[reedodaemcee-blog]

Algorithm and Transparency

The Internet has long been considered an oasis of information once it became readily available to the public. A metaphysical construct where thoughts could be planted in the open with the potential for the impossible to spring forth. Or so, thought in optimism that everyone thought would usher in a era of peace. The unbridled freedom that came with a virtual space essentially has become an invisible cage where its participants willingly lock themselves in, according to Taina Bucher. She notes that every member of a community, especially in social media ends up being policed by one another in the name of “keeping up with the joneses.” Particularly today where validation is found not just in physical relationships, but even more so virtual likes and a daily ranking system of awareness between users, is a rationale to exchange personal information with a great potential for deep-seated repercussions in the future (beyond hacking). This debate on internet ethics is a continual dilemma posed by Ellen Mole as the fight between custody of our private thoughts and predictive assistance due to oversharing. Given today’s political climate, it is interesting that transparency is the champion of equity as it forces the authority towards a submissive stance; In the opposite, we see a lot of anonymous figures behind the scenes of history making sure to use whatever means to facilitate results that could not be normally done. Even though the main facets of analysis for today’s blog post are Anonymity and Transparency, it seems that the true problem is validation (or the lack thereof) of certain people or events. This desire to be made visible (on any label) plays into the power dynamics posed by Foucault’s Panopticism, which delves into surveillance to give and take power. While the social exchange required no physical transaction; being able to do certain things as one under authority versus above/equal authority manifests the upkeep in several different ways. Perhaps therefore the concept of image is important; if one person has only one “identity,” then there is much scrutiny to be had, because every decision and mistake is entirely visible. For artists, having an alter-ego or stage persona might alleviate some of that burden of having to be accountable during their career; to be doing the same job for more than 2-4 years, regardless of vocation, is taxing. On the other hand, having too many identities ironically causes a decrease in visibility because of burnout. These algorithmic patterns become too spread out and statistically insignificant to study.

[reedodaemcee-blog]

Intimacy

In the past, humans utilized tools to increase efficiency and meet new needs. Over the years, these technologies have progressed to the point where the line between man and machine has blurred, the efficacy of efficiency leading to an exploration in [intimacy]. Spike Jonze realizes this through Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson in the 2013 release "Her"), an AI that learns what it means to be human through constant adaptation over years of cycles of information provided by both programmer and consumer, particularly with focus to the film's protagonist, Theodore Twombly. As humans, it is in our own code of nature to adapt to survive; however, Samantha's lines following her birth into existence of "being programmed to adapt" illicit a personhood that is similar, yet distinct to humanity. Dominic Pettman's sentiments towards meta-globalization globalization (technological integration to the point where machine becomes indispensable to survival instead of just a tool) is echoed through Samantha’s interactions early in the film. it would seem unlikely that a pool of information amassed by countless people over any period would be left unused in any capacity, which poses the ethics of adaptation; at what point do we, human society, let happen a situation involving technology that evokes a "conquered overtaking the conqueror?" The mechanics when it involves human-to-human interaction has a different stimulation due to the influence of morals, value, and culture~ something entirely absent in technology if not for human injection, ironically in our own quest to transcend limits. He notes further in his essay analysis of tech and intimacy that this “personalization” regarding the latter (in context towards humans) is becoming prevalent due to this basic code. This role shift of technology from that of survival towards art is Amanda Hess’ own examination toward the use of social media to completely change the human romantic narrative to that of one that is inclusionary of machine, both as recipient and as intermediary. The 2nd verbal sex scene was concerning particularly because this marks the first time that Samantha is concerned with her lack of a physical body; Hess notes that while every step of progress regarding technology has the full potential to explore sex, it is this particular interpretation of sex as the end-all-be-all indicator for intimacy as rendered by younger generations (under a social media lens) that also raises a concern. Sunil Manghani’s own correlation between cell-texting and the lens of tanka poetry as information exchange is something that he surmises goes beyond the connections of the artificial and of the natural. Notably, as the audience progresses through the film we see the effects of a minimalist but highly commended decision by Jonze to obscure Sam from focus through Theodore’s own anxieties overtaking him; in a world where constant communication is constantly being tried and tested, we ourselves see that silence is not only peaceful and quiet, but that the silence that rarely appears becomes more prominent.

[reedodaemcee-blog]

Social Movements

Since Donald Trump became president of the United States (in terms of correlation but not entirely causational) that active awareness and action has been prevalent in giving a renewed spotlight to activism, especially when viewed through the lens of social movements such as #metoo. It is notable not only to echo the sentiments of Gerard Goggin in that social media and technology has played a huge part in accelerating the marketplace discussion in recent years, into a condensed space where its aftereffects are more immediate, particularly when the audience is a generation filled with people who are more often immersed on their phones than not. As this blog seeks to study the effects of cultural minority emcees, today’s focus is the country’s perspective towards the current administration’s immigration rhetoric (everyone on this list are immigrants except Raja Kumari, but everyone on the list has their cultural identity as an integral part of their music). Back in January, Nicki Minaj and CardiB blasted Trump on twitter (along with numerous others on social media) for his plan to offer citizenship to undocumented immigrants in exchange for support on building the south wall border; the energized response on both sides of the political spectrum poses concerns by Sarah Kendzior and Katy Pearce towards free speech regulation (via the internet). It seems that while tensions in the real world run high because a portion of US citizens at least has some relationship with immigrants (whether legal, illegal, affected by DACA), these hostilities are also somewhat curbed on the internet partially due to the attention towards sexual violence and the gun debates, but may also be due to what Kendzior and Pearce describes as a “open prison,” where the internet is still unregulated but the government in essence has “intimidated its dissidents” into policing themselves. Ironically enough, the people policing themselves has led to an increased interest in politics, particularly in being more informed (for example, citing college campuses giving their students access to lawyers and information when DACA was still being considered for renewal), and keeping those in power accountable (as opposed to being complacent). Evgeny Morozov laments the duality of the internet, simultaneously producing a generation of children that utilizes social media as both a weapon of war and as a weapon to justify complete inaction, calling today’s currency of affairs “teledemocracy” as all this empowerment causes this inherent loudness to everyone convicted to prove their point or proclaim their cause through their “uniqueness,” however this virtual sea of voices drown themselves out to the point where people are plugging out because of the inherent negativity it produces (even if a lot of these opine to be seeking the greater good), which might be the goal of some in the first place if it means keeping the power and influence that they have. For a tool that was touted to connect those who were not connected before, the dissidence caused by this collective “speaking over the other” has caused people to look and connect to the person in front of them, in lieu of being caught up in the distance of a social movement once thought afar, was actually more at home than we think.

[reedodaemcee-blog]

Labor

One point of interest is Kuchlich’s commentary on sustainability; referring to positive feedback from earlier means that in an ideal world, resources accrued initially will cause itself to increase over time. In the real world, we need to labor for resources because of its finite quality

      In Cardi B’s latest post, March 22, 2018, as of this writing, she clamored for the government’s transparency on the payout distribution from taxes. In a broad sense, her line of expertise requires a lot of mental flexing, whether in her lyrical prowess, in her business decisions, even in keeping her reputation as a certain type of artist. Eryn Brown, Mark Cote, and Jennifer Pybus remarked on the amount of non-traditional labor exhibited for a gamble, for something only possible in an “all-or-nothing” mentality.

Our society does not think about this because a majority of the celebrities we see prominently featured in the media are rich beyond comparison; this could be associated with what Nakamura calls “Digital labor” as the efforts of industry creatives (not just female emcees/rappers) are reliant on 2 factors: the loyalty of their current fanbase, and secondly, their ability to sway new fans in their networking.

Note that Cardi B’s “brand of music” is self-sustaining in terms of value because of this careful curation of the other aspects of her public persona. While she says that she is completely “real” in her interactions with both fans and the media, her personality as a musician could be construed as a form of protest behind the politicking and the overt duty to be “correct to everyone,” hence the honesty that is surveyed. Her music may currently be this positive feedback loop that subsists to serve the people, but it would seem to be such that the labor she exerts to trifle her debt to everyone but herself is small compared to how she lives through her convictions; that in itself is a negative feedback loop that commends itself in the face of adversity.

[reedodaemcee-blog]

Fans, Amateurs, Professionals

In the growing maturity of the internet, which is both astounding and ironic in some ways. Given the youth-centric nature of a whole generation that grew with it as lovers of cultural, as well as intellectual freedom, on another hand responding to critics and naysayers with a flood of memes and emojis (not just looking at the white nationalists; you too tumblr), it would be an understatement to say that even this non-sentient entity is never in its FINAL FORM. Knobel and Lankshear expounds on this culture of information exchange as a torch continually passed to many others at any given time; when artists put out their music, a minimalist lens shows that this dissemination of messaging ultimately has blurred lines of distinction.

Todays’ topic: defining the difference between fan, amateur, and professional.

 Katie Day Good (KDG for the rest of today) from Northwestern University correlates to social media as “deep texts;” it is fun to parallel the advent of the internet with the musical journey of the likes of Nicki Minaj & Salome MC. Relatively, all three of these junctions are mere spots in history; we can see that the journey of these 3 began as an intellectual pursuit and eventually burst (in the cultural sense) to become set indicators of change. Each of them is not only data receivers, but also encode and decode every second of living breath into a kaleidoscope of complex beauty according to their unique perspectives.

Jenkins defines this continual relationship of ever-changing interpretation as [participatory culture], which he furthers in an academic sense, is designated as the world of content. Because everyone, not just artists, is continually sharing aspects of their lives to curate their best self to a wide audience (especially in social media culture). Because both private and public details (to a degree) are released for all to see, the disparity between female Emcees as fan and professional (even removing their accreditation value of economic influence) is to a certain extent indistinguishable which perhaps adds allure to the audience due to their air of empathy and familiarity.

Salome MC, for example, was relatively unknown until when she made headlines in 2016; while she does not have viral status on the same definition set of being a “professional” as Nicki Minaj (whose musical journey to stardom is notable in her own right), her musical prowess and political activism by no means distinguish her as an amateur in Iranian hip-hop and the academic sphere. While a majority of artists post about music, collaborations, concert tour dates, “behind-the-scenes in the studio” teases (she has a couple),” most of her IG posts are aesthetically pleasing arrangements of her daily life with the occasional hint of political thoughts; a careful arrangement for her followers that indeed, while she does champion for the rights of the lesser, she too is a young soul with everyday views just like you and me. The only real difference in my opinion, for both this artist, the internet, as well as the distinction in comparison with fandom, is that while the internet is continually changed by those who interact with it; Salome seeks to be the corresponding change that ripples in a sea of silence, rather than be a drop of water ebbing along with the waves of a culture that perhaps, participates in groupthink a little too much. 

[reedodaemcee-blog]

Online Minorities

does not only feel like the backbone of the internet in that it provides meaning to what would otherwise be an extensive system of 1s and 0s, serves as both refuge and empowerment for the oppressed. While this may have had inintended side effects, such as with the rise of white nationalism; another sort of minority is using the freedom of the internet to its advantage: Female Emcees.

While Shoshana Magnet warned in a 2007 sage publication article that the internet is not a utopia, carving out a niche within communities that do not have a surface attraction to rap has been a calling card to media in general; when used in a healthy way the benefits outweigh detriments. Hee Sun Lee in a 01/16/18 post acknowledges that she wouldn’t have found ties to her community if she did not make the decision to become an emcee and putting herself out there:

“Growing up I had very little knowledge on what it meant to be Korean. But today I am standing amongst hundreds of Korean-American professionals all because I decided to pick up a microphone. Our circumstances in life can change if we allow them to.”

Similar to the rise of Emo Culture (editorial), silence was decried in lieu of spreading the news by word-of mouth/social media as a means to alleviate feelings of helplessness by female emcees in addition to music as a way to “think out loud,” it was easier to reach out to social outsiders at first rather than attempting to reach the mainstream audience with their ever changing tastes and opinions.

Ruby Ibarra heralds herself as a modern-era champion for filipinos in the world of rap, particularly in a scene where Asian representation has not gained as huge a following as other movements in mainstream rap because Asians are “not quite black, not quite white either” (Florini on black twitter).

In her song 2017 song “Here,” she says

               “I put my face in a book because my people are profiled, we erased from the book and my people are told lies”

Which echoes Cisneros & Nakayama’s sentiments on the American Pageant system; how does one play by the rules and still be marginalized? The advent of social internet with sites such as Friendster and later Myspace, and Facebook (Boyd) allowed for a plethora of thoughts to be shared with wild abandon. One only needed a website and some talent at stringing words together to entice an audience to hear any thoughts; at least in some way, their thoughts, their mark in the world (however small) was made to stand and be seen.

While being careful not to Rachel Dolezal their way into rap culture by giving proper credit (as Ruby Ibarra does in a Febuary 1 IG shoutout to #Blacklives Matter), Florini notes that while the internet strips the concept of race, this allows correspondents to simply be themselves. On the other hand, Boyd comments on the secondary value placed by human society by adding back this “color” that in proper hands, this could mean positive redefinition that in and by itself affect society’s perceptions slowly and surely (as IG is prominently known for these days),

[reedodaemcee-blog]

Gender

In the outskirts of heteronormative rhetoric; gender is a hot topic today, from the LGBTQ sphere to the feminist movement, anything else other than cis-male has its own banner of celebration. Particularly, while the concept of “MADE BY [A] FOR [A]” is not entirely new, female rappers (with their own carved niche) has taken a new life in mainstream culture, as piepmeier furthers, “moving seamlessly between tongue-in-cheek irony and hope.” A prominent example of this is nicki minaj’s spearheading of the cultural vanguard in the 2000s; while other artists such as Missy Elliot and Queen Latifa have paved the way as her predecessors, it would not be wrong to consider that female emcees started to regain traction in music after minaj’s breakthrough in the industry Pink Friday’s 2010 release.

The more they talk shit about me the more I wanna go HARDER to prove them wrong. STAY STRONG – CARDI B, 02/27/18

This quotation by Cardi B best exemplifies Jessalyn Marie Keller’s sentiments on virtual feminisms; there is a prevalence for a while that women were mostly considered to be “passive consumers,” but as we see now in mainstream media, that could not be further from the truth. While there is not yet equal representation in media production between genders, there is an increasing amount of material posted to the internet, whether written, audio-visual, or even music that is not only posted by women for women but is also enjoyed by many others throughout the gender spectrum. One way this process has escalated in the past couple decades is this strategic use of intimacy.

Patricia G. Lange for the Scholar and Feminist Online noted, intimate exposure (on any front) requires vulnerability and strategy; something all women tend to learn one way or another. It is not that men do not know how to achieve this, rather it is the current construction of western gender norms that has women at least used to with this type of power dynamics. In an industry where guns and drugs where the norm, female emcees use their unique voice to herald a differently disenfranchised perspective.

From decrying their own role “in the kitchen” by spotlighting the plight of their peers at the hands of abuse, light-hearted topics that chronicle desires beyond the romantic, to empowerment anthems, this thin line between vulnerable self-disclosure, brazen pride, and standing up as an example to the younger generation is a precarious path (regardless of gender) but even more so for female emcees who currently seek to change the narrative to more equal terms in a more inclusive space, as Sarah Bauer-Weiser commented on her correlations between girlhood and media culture. This freedom to do such could also be considered feminist as previously established forms of mass-produced communication was dominated by men, female emcees in an ironic sense (Especially that of Salome MC, who literally advocates for iranian rights through rap) have more material to work with because of this cultural suppression over centuries; it wouldn’t be that there isn’t anything yet uncovered, it would be that the potential is yet untapped where the scope to proselytize the vastness female perspective has yet to begin.

[reedodaemcee-blog]

Friendship

is a social contract that in a simultaneous sense evokes intimacy and broad alliances. Especially when viewed under the lens of social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, or even Facebook, the concept of “friendship” takes on layers of meaning.

William Deresiewicz in a Chronicle Review article from December 6 2009 wrote how this universal form of connection has become too vague to discern the difference between true brotherhood or a business transaction; when friendship is particularly disseminated or analyzed via utilization by rapper emcees (or other celebrities), it is interesting to note that this line of ambiguity is purposefully driven due to a sense of intimacy that is nurtured to culture a sphere of influence. For example, Ruby Ibarra in IG released an open call/invite for a music video inviting members of the local Filipino community. The filming of this music video seeks to increase not only her influence as an artist but also that of her “friends” (the filipino community at large) by showcasing things and aspects of their collective culture.

This results in an inflated sense of value, which makes sense in a business; Chris Bloor on his article, “What are friends for,” posits that while the worth friendship might have fluctuated over time, the core of a dream fulfilled is an affirmation of support of a minority by a certain number of the majority. The self can only assign a certain value to a concept; this is highly difficult to pursue when the inflated sense of value caused by an influx of people who mutually support a goal is not there.

While it is tempting to forgo friendship as a mere business transaction as Deresiewicz warns, Bloor & Boyd discuss how this paradoxical incorporation results in a unique representation that highlights the concept of striving for validation (or existence) contrasted against the overwhelming influence of other groups.

Incidentally, each of female emcees that this blog aims to study has a distinct cultural identity; in a world where male rappers can rely on the mere ruggedness of their gangster lifestyle, female emcees (while not completely entrenched in the same cultural means as their musical predecessors) rely on family in the literal close sense to bolster support in building up their dreams of success. Danah Boyd in an article on friendship furthers this by juxtaposing the friendship concept from a geographical location (i.e: the mall) to the vastness of the internet; in a broad sense, aspirations do not survive unless there are people who believe in these goals. Having a “family” support a dream does not merely equate towards a business but also heightens a shared vision, whether it be awareness, of accomplishment, or even to fulfill a need. Boyd furthers that friendship boils down to shared status of influence; these female emcees mentioned realizes that various details in their life might seem inhibitory (at first glance) to advancing their goals, but the uniqueness shared in this mutual status states otherwise. One instance of this is Salome MC; while she is possibly one of the only female rappers from her country of iran (much less rappers period), she does not let it discourage her, instead finding emcee and academic “friends” in other countries through her own journey in using rap as a form of activism. 

[reedodaemcee-blog]

About Me.

It is 2018, and rap is no longer that secret guilty pleasure that kids listen in on the radio when their parent’s are not around; According to Complex in September 2017, it could be said that with rappers such as Tyler the Creator, A$AP Rocky, and Chance the Rapper are all part of the new cultural vanguard.

However, there’s another side to this hip-hop exchange; female emcees. The 90s were indeed ~All That~ for millennials before the hipster movement became a thing, but especially for female rappers such as Lauryn Hill, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, & Queen Latifah, which Billboard explains in March 2014, have not only shown that ladies can forge their mettle as wordsmiths but also changed public perception of black culture for the better.

Back to 2018; it is the era of comebacks and new beginnings, a hotbed of musical intellectuality. These upcoming female rappers grew up feeling the boom-bap of hip-hop, bopping most likely to Tupac and Biggie; most likely, many of these rappers also grew up under homes that were proud of their ethnic identities. The result of this is the lovechild of Eastern History and Western Storytelling; this new wave of emcees bring alive the culture they grew up in by passing on these stories to a generation of youth that may not know what life was like on the other side of the history books.

[Reedo DA emcee] is a blog that seeks to chronicle the musical journey of these ethnic-minority female emcees such as Raja Kumari, HeeSun Lee, Salome MC, and Ruby Ibarra by juxtaposing usage of syntax, discography, and social media (such as twitter, IG, and Facebook) compared to more mainstream female rappers such as Cardi B, and Nicki Minaj. At least once per week, this post will compare at least 2 of the former mentioned to at least one of the latter-mentioned artists.

Several criteria considered to feature these rappers included:

               - ethnicity (at least partially non-white; although could be born in America)

               - At least one social media website (main analsis from FB/IG)

               - personal website

               - featured in at least one news article within the past 5 years

- if they had at least one album/ music video (and if they have more than one, if they have a release within the past 5 years)

- having at least one song that references cultural heritage

 Raja Kumari (therajakumari) – Indian American Songwriter/Rapper based in California. Incorporates Indian classical music with boom-bap/trap beats.

HeeSun Lee (msheesunlee) – Based in the East Coast; combines themes of Korean heritage, adoptee status, motherhood, and her Christian faith, into a style that’s half spoken word, half east coast rap

Salome MC (salomemcee)- Iranian, non-english speaking rapper with leanings to deep, aggressive, and political-leaning lyrics. 

Ruby Ibarra (rubyibarra) – California based rapper with a spoken workd background who can rap in both English and Tagalog (official language of the Philippines). Focuses on cultural heritage and immigration with a 90’s west coast style

Cardi B (iamcardib)– Bronx rapper with an aggressive style who shot to fame thanks to “Bodak Yellow” (2017) and “Finesse (Remix)” (2017); Comparable to Missy Elliot and Jennifer Lawrence in terms of personality and media presence. Recently featured in an alexa super bowl commercial.

Nicki Minaj (nickiminaj) –  Trinidadian-American rapper who rose to prominence from the early 2000s onward. Considered by many to be one of the most influential female rappers within the past decade, she is known for fast raps and outlandish alter ego personalities. Recently released a lipstick collection; as of this writing, people think she is lost as she has not posted on socials as of late.