Popular Culture Review Vol. 11, No. 1, February 2000 | Page 84

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Popular Culture Review

of recent hip-hop and jungle tracks to identify the ways in which masculinity is
constructed and the kind of representations which emerge. Three musical examples
are discussed. The first two tracks both include combat sounds sampled either
from film soundtracks or video games. Comparison of these tracks reveals how
the inclusion of electro-mechanical sounds and the sounds of video-violence
participate in the construction of masculine musical meanings. Discussion of a
third track is used to highlight the potentially destabilising consequences of sampling
techniques for the articulation of social identities.

Hip-hop, Jungle and the sounds of video violence
Hip-hop emerged in the 1970’s amid the economic deprivation and social and
political marginalisation experienced by black youth in East Coast American inner
cities (L anglois, 1992). Prim arily a youth culture, hip-hop established
neighbourhood crews or posses’, similar to, but not always based on gang affiliation,
consisting not only of MCs (rappers), DJs and fans, but also breakdancers and
graffiti artists. From its beginnings, hip-hop DJs manipulated records on two
turntables, alternating between them to cut up, scratch or extend sounds. It became
the norm to “loop” records together to produce a seamless flow and thereby maintain
musical momentum and sustain the mood, a technique which required a pair of
turntables so that the disc could be cued by hand over headphones. The resulting
sound, originally heard only by the DJ, was eventually incorporated into
performance. Both turntables can be operated simultaneously, or one scratched
whilst another maintains a rhythmic ostinato; a mixer between the consoles controls
the relative volume and superimposition. In this way a range of skills developed,
such as slow, rapid or backward “scratch” sounds. Today, hip-hop artists use digital
recording technology to sample and create “mixes” over which MC’s then rap.
Wu-Tang Clan are a group of eight East Coast American MC’s who have
made it into the mainstream of popular music. The track “Hellz Wind Staff’ is
from Wu-Tang Clan’s second album, Wu-Tang Forever (1997). As in much hiphop, the group culture of the hip-hop crew is evident in the format of the track:
“Hellz Wind S taff’ consists of a series of rapped verses, each taken by a different
MC, over a constant groove. Verses of “Hellz Wind Staff’ are interspersed with
samples o f combat sounds from martial arts films. For example, the track opens
with the cry o f “Die!” and is followed by sword clashes and grunts over a drum
loop and chromatic oboe riff. Similar combat sounds are heard after the second
and third verses, and again at the end of the track when the sound of gunfire is
heard and the words “May you rot in Hell!”, followed by maniacal laughter.
The use o f samples of fight scenes from film soundtracks is an instance of the
way in which Wu-Tang Clan draw upon the martial arts to articulate a paranoiac,
doom-laden vision in which militaristic tactics and techniques, signified through