SOC 885 Chapter 7: Week 7 chapter
11 Dec 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/docview/196934068?accountid=13631
Hotep and Hip-Hop: Can Black Muslim Women Be Down with Hip-Hop?
- By: Anaya McMurray
McMurray, A. (2008). Hotep and hip-hop: Can black muslim women be down with hip-hop?1:
Feminism, race, transnationalism feminism, race, transnationalism.
Meridians, 8
(1), 74-92.
Retrieved from http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/docview/196934068?accountid=13631
Improvisation as a Useful Metaphor (pg 75)
- improvisation occurs within a space structured by the experiences and histories of the people
involved.
- use improvisation zones as a metaphor to describe spaces that represent ways in which Islam
moves in and through cultures as a "boundary object."
o Islam can be considered a boundary object since it is malleable enough to hold
multiple meanings in various contexts, while still having some coherence or
recognizable structures across communities
- black Muslim women exercise agency, creating new meanings and interesting spaces of
resistance through mixing faith and hip-hop culture
"The Proof is in the People" and the Music: Black Women, Islam, and Hip-Hop (pg 76)
- Bakari Kitwana defines the hip-hop generation as "those young African Americans born
between 1965 and 1984 who came of age in the eighties and nineties and . . . share a specific
set of values and attitudes"
o ignores the contribution of non-blacks to hip-hop, it is useful in locating cultural
aspects in relation to a particular group, black Muslim women
- six major sociopolitical forces that have shaped the hip-hop generation:
o the visibility of black youth in popular culture
o globalization
o the persistent nature of segregation
o public policy surrounding the criminal justice system
o media representations of black youth
o the general quality of life within the hip-hop community.
- unique values and attitudes that constitute a hip-hop identity:
o materialism
o a disjuncture between the sexes
o the acceptance of nontraditional family arrangements
o racial consciousness shaped by events such as the Million Man March
o media transmissions of representations (often misrepresentations) of black culture
o an ability to effectively cross class lines
- culture of hip-hop, which originated in New York as a result of the 1970s post-industrial
decline
o created out of a communal resistance to desperation due to lack of jobs to support
families and a shortage of activities for youth.
o Hiphop culture is thus constituted by an ability to create alternative spaces of growth
and expression as well as new ways of accessing capital for black people
- black women who are a part of the hip-hop generation and who construct improvisation
zones through the infusion of Islamic faith and hip-hop culture in the music
Resistance:
Erykah Badu (Black Muslim female hip-hop artist) (pg 77)
- rap music as well as other elements of hip-hop culture spread rapidly as forms of expression
and coping mechanisms for disenfranchised youth.
- best examples of an improvisation zone that fuses Islam and hip-hop culture
o eg: In the song “One,” Erykah Badu and Busta Rhymes team up to reflect on their
ideal family situation according to Five Percenter religious belief
▪ Ideas about the roles of women and men in the Nation of Gods and Earths are
key in the lyrics
▪ “natural fun” = Islam is the natural way of life aka one of 9 principles that Five
Percenters live by
▪ Title: ONE= family unit acts as one= vital principle
▪ Lord= when man learns proper lessons in life, his status becomes divine
• Doctrine: men= gods, women= earths
▪ Song also has lyrics that support traditional gender roles within patriarchal
belief system (pg 79).
• Mirrors popular representations of Muslim male/female dynamics—
women= roles of submission
o learn to keep children, home and be there for her man
Document Summary
Hotep and hip-hop: can black muslim women be down with hip-hop?1: Improvisation as a useful metaphor (pg 75) improvisation occurs within a space structured by the experiences and histories of the people involved. Use improvisation zones as a metaphor to describe spaces that represent ways in which islam moves in and through cultures as a "boundary object. " Islam can be considered a boundary object since it is malleable enough to hold multiple meanings in various contexts, while still having some coherence or recognizable structures across communities. Black muslim women exercise agency, creating new meanings and interesting spaces of resistance through mixing faith and hip-hop culture. "the proof is in the people" and the music: black women, islam, and hip-hop (pg 76) Black women who are a part of the hip-hop generation and who construct improvisation zones through the infusion of islamic faith and hip-hop culture in the music.
