Listening for the Interior in Hip-Hop and R&B Music

Abstract

<jats:p> This article analyzes how four Black musical artists make “quiet,” or the inner life of African Americans, legible. Specifically, we consider ways that the quiet found within the lyrics of recent acclaimed albums from two hip-hop artists and two neo-soul artists—Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN (2017) and Rapsody’s Laila’s Wisdom (2017), Solange’s A Seat at the Table (2016) and Maxwell’s blackSUMMERS’night (2016), respectively—offer subtle, quotidian challenges to oppression, dehumanization, and objectification. We find that quiet occurs as artists describe the use of metaphysical space, or how place is used to make and take space for the self and to find peace, the protection of the interior self, and the gifts of quiet to the struggle for resistance. </jats:p><jats:p> These lyrics speak to the interior safe space that Blacks seek as refuge from oppression by the dominant culture and demands from within their community. We contend that Blacks exercise power through their dominion over their interior selves, which in turn expresses their humanity. It is their control of the content of inner life, whatever those contents may be, that is an expression of sovereignty. </jats:p>

“They Killin’ Us for No Reason”: Black Lives Matter, Police Brutality, and Hip-Hop Music—A Quantitative Content Analysis

“…However, the findings also show a “strong undercurrent of critical social and political commentary, offering messages of resistance and empowerment” (Christenson et al, 2018). This finding supports previous qualitative research and scholarly work on how rap music has been used as a source of commentary and an assertive from of political consciousness that responds to, and resists oppression (Allen & Randolph, 2020; Asante, 2008; Ogbar, 2007; Rose, 1989).…”

Musical Relationships: Intersections of Race, Gender, Genre, and Listening Situation

“…Black musical styles are central to racial crossover in this musical field, with different implications for black and white listeners. In a context of white dominance, ‘The ability of Blacks to cultivate inner lives under hostile conditions is a form of quiet resistance’ (Allen and Randolph, 2020: 49), and black-identified genres like r&b are central to this practice. On the other hand, black music provides a different kind of safe space for white listeners, a virtual reality for engaging with socially distant others (Lott, 2013).…”

“…This makes music listening a key site for studying the emotional dimensions of racial inequalities (Bonilla-Silva, 2019). Music has similarly been used to create safe spaces for women (Staggenborg, 2001), including people marginalized by intersecting systems of racism and sexism (Allen and Randolph, 2020). To bring the study of musical situations into survey-based research, researchers need to attend to the complex social, cognitive, embodied, and emotional factors shaping musicking situations.…”

“…Ethnographic and interview-based studies show that music is a complex technology of the self that is embedded in everyday life situations, providing cultural tools for shaping ‘the being, feeling, moving and doing of social life’ (DeNora, 2000: 45). Such studies emphasize how musicking can be used for various purposes, such as accommodating or resisting workplace routines (Korczynski, 2011), negotiating challenges to hegemonic masculinity (McDowell, 2017), supporting community organizing (Clay, 2012; Roy, 2013), or creating quiet spaces for inner life (Allen and Randolph, 2020).…”

Unapologetic Blackness in Action: Embodied Resistance and Social Movement Scenes in Black Celebrity Activism

“…Lamar’s music closely interrogates the struggles that he’s familiar with, including gun violence and misogyny. Additionally, Lamar does not stray away from critically exploring individual accountability for peace, particularly at the intersection of calling for structural change (Allen and Randolph 2019; Love 2016). He has openly discussed how Christianity offered him new ways of seeing and approaching the world compared to what was previously provided by his socialization in the inner city of Compton.…”