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Bailey - 2011 - Disability As Metaphor in Hip Hop
Bailey - 2011 - Disability As Metaphor in Hip Hop
Bailey - 2011 - Disability As Metaphor in Hip Hop
M55B45 2011
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Journal Title: Blackness and Rockefeller Library Brown University
disability : critical examinations and 10 Prospect Street
cultural interventions / Box A Interlibrary Loan office
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111
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Moya Bailey
In 2003, the hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas released their third album Ele-
phunk which featured the controversial track "Let's Get Retarded" (I. Am). The
radio edit became "Let's Get It Started" with only a few minor changes made to
the verses ("cuckoo" becomes "wohoo"). The repackaged song went on to be
featured in several movie soundtracks along with being played at the 2004
Democratic National Convention and was one of the top 100 Pop songs of the
year on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart (Newman). The ARC Organization, formerly
the Association of Retarded Citizens, successfully lobbied the Pea's record
company arguing that the ubiquitous use of the word "retarded" is offensive and
damaging to those who are medically labeled with the term (Beckham). Others
felt this was an example of the politically correct language police gone too far.
I'd like to offer an alternative reading through a disidentification with the lyrics
as either bad or of little consequence. Words have extreme power and it seems
that the persuasive but yet uninvestigated proliferation of ableist language in hip
hop begs further exploration. What work are lyrics like "let's get retarded"
doing and for whose interests? Drawing largely on the intersectional analysis of
Jose Munoz, I will demonstrate the synergistic properties of looking at this lan
guage through multiple lenses at once as a way to forestall the limitations of a
binary of good and bad, political correctness and the protected right to free
speech.
142 Mova Bailey
Hip hop was bom in 1970's New York City. The East Coast was the orig
inal home and as such became the dominant voice of hip hop (Kitwana). The
emergence of the laid back yet violent rap sound of California made for the crea
tion of a legendary and ultimately deadly east/west rivalry. This unfortunate his
tory made way for the contemporary moment in which the "Diirty" South mles
the landscape with its feel good club bangers. This constant reorientation allows
for the emergence of different sounds. The Midwestem, i.e., Chicago sound and
the newer, less violent sounds of the Bay Area and LA offer music that has been
allowed to develop out of the mainstream's controlling gaze. The Califomia de
rived sound of The Hyphy Movement's reappropriation of the derisive terms
"retarded," "dumb," and LA Krump's dance styling both achieved their trans-
gressive potential through their initial marginalization by mainstream hip hop.
The Bay, or Yay Area as it is sometimes known, along with Los Angeles,
has been off the radar of the mainstream hip hop scene for a little over a decade.
With the yet unsolved murder of the rapper 2Pac and the escalating violence as
sociated with the genre, so called Califomia "gangsta rap" retreated from the
popular scene. New art forms have developed most notably the hyphy sound and
krumping dance style, with both making explicit claims to the importance of
their regional location and histories of violence as major propellants of the
styles.
Getting hyphy, characterized by exaggeration, ovemess, and overall
extraness, offers opportunities for folks to let loose and get loose on the dance
floor. Hyphy is also associated with "crazy" behavior like driving with no one
behind the wheel with the car doors open or sitting on top of the car while it's
moving ("ghost riding the whip"). The addition of whistle tips, a modified metal
pate welded to the car's exhaust that makes a high pitched screeching sound,
further demonstrates the need to be seen and heard within the hyphy movement.
The social embrace of these ostensibly stigmatizing activities and perfor
mances are celebrated for their intentional transgressive power. By actively
flouting societal conventions of quiet and sane behavior, black people connected
to Hyphy music are challenging their marginalization in a culture that otherwise
renders them invisible. They demand attention; even incurring the derision asso
ciated with ableism rather than be ignored.
labels "dumb," "retarded," and "crazy," the libratory nature of embracing these
terms does not match their reality.
Dumb connotes a lack of intelligence that stigmatizes people and keeps
people from being fully engaged in society. Similarly, those labeled retarded are
tracked into special education classrooms and segregated from their peers. These
acts of separation reinforce stereotypes about the value of people so labeled in a
world that excludes them from formative participation. Crazy also serves to ma
lign those ascribed with images of violent and uncontrollable behavior, in direct
contrast to the state sanctioned controlled violence many people within mental
health conditions describe experiencing.
The freedom that is expressed through the use of going retarded and dumb
has the simultaneous effect of further foreclosing the freedom for those who are
ascribed these terms by the medicojuridical system. While this language is a
temporary escape for hyphy and hip hop practitioners, it presents many prob
lems for those ascribed and held to these labels in the world. Beyond just being
offensive, this ableism perpetuates stigmatization, marginalization, and oppres
sive structural hierarchies of human difference.
Like many other pejorative terms - lame, gyped, gay, bitch - "retard" and
"dumb" have lost their referents, or rather the referent is purportedly discarded.
When kids say "that's so gay" or "that's retarded" to mean something is bad or
uncool, it is not supposed to reflect on the people who are ascribed those labels.
Disability theorists argue that this is not true. These statements do in fact rein
force negative connotations on already marginalized groups effectively rein-
scribing their liminality and Otherness. Disability Studies, like Women's Stu
dies, illuminates the controlling normate in whose fictitious image we discipline
our bodies. Part of the need for ableist language in hip hop is the erstwhile stig
ma that black bodies incur. In a futile attempt to manage their own societal
stigma, black men in hip hop often target other marginalized groups including
women, queer people, and people with disabilities. But the critical question is
how do we congeal these often falsely differentiated populations into tandem
resistance? What coalitions might be formed out of a reformulation of stigma
management with an understanding of intersectionality?
Erving Goffman wrote extensively about stigma. Goffman researched the
original Greek definition of stigma which meant a physical mark on the body
that signaled some kind of moral failing in an individual (Goffman). This set the
person apart and discredited him/her within the society. While this marking was
146 Mova Bailey
Works Cited
Beckham, Beverly. "Let's Not Use Words that Have Power to Wound." The
Boston Globe 21 Mar. 2007.
E-40. Tell Me When to Go. BME, 2006.
Elliot, Missy. Loose Control. Atlantic, 2005.
Fineman, Martha Albertson. The Autonomy Myth: A Theory of Dependency.
New York; New P, 2004.
Goffman, Erving. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. 1963.
New York: Touchstone, 1986.
Hull, Gloria T., Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith. All the Women Are
White, All the Blacks Are Men, but Some of Us Are Brave: Black
Women's Studies. Old Westbury: Feminist P, 1982.
1. Am, Will. Let's Get It Started. A&M, 2003.
Kitwana, Bakari. The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in
African American Culture. New York: Basic Civitas, 2002.
Rize. Dir. David LaChapelle. Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2005.
148 Mova Bailey