Popular Culture Review Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994 | Page 76

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Popular Culture Review

11 Although Baker is emphasizing ecx)nomic oppression when he uses the
term "economics of slavery," it should be noted first, that racist
oppression is certainly connected to economic oppression; second, it is
evident from Baker's discussion of the "black (w)hole" trope (144-57)
that he is concerned with forms of oppression other than economic.
The intention here is not to claim that police harassment is the same as
the racist abuse that blacks faced imder slavery but to claim that police
brutality is part of the common historical conditions which blacks
have faced and which Baker encompasses under the term "economics of
slavery". However, it is interesting to note that NWA links police
brutality to slavery by splicing together images of the two in their
"Express Yourself video.
13 Mike Davis (1992) superbly documents the historical segregation and
economic exploitation Southcentral L.A. has faced.
14 For documentation of the continued racial discrimination blacks face
in the U.S. today including being frequently pulled over by officers
without explanation see F^gin.
15 It is important to recognize that all elements of a discourse are not
equal in their pervasiveness and some elements are more implicit than
others. These elements one might call hegemonic. For the idea of
hegemony 1 found especially useful Jean and John Comaroffs'
"Introduction" to Of Revelation and Revolution: C h ristian ity ,
Colonialism and Consciousness in South Africa, Because they are more
implicit hegemonic elements are more difficult to question.
16 This is documented in letters from the late 19th century south (Berlin,
Huhn, Miller, Reidy and Rowland 1986).
17 Mike Davis addresses this directly in his chapter 'The Political
Economy of Crack" (309-316).
18 One finds this especially in rap fan magazines such as Vo/, Right on!
and Rap Masters where interviews often focus on the expensive items
the rap artist owns.
19 "We have learned to accept abstract language as sales propaganda.
Language based on truth simply arouses impatience to get on with the
business that is probably advancing" (Adorno and Horkheimer). In a
society centered around the commodity, the meaning of language
becomes filled with the logic of the market. Words such as "happiness"
or "pleasure" become feelings associated with owning certain pr^ucts,
in part because they are so often used in advertising but more generally
because under capitalism all values are reduced to the exchange values
embodied in commodities.
20 This lyric is sampled from another song, thus signifyin(g) on the
meaning of the song which it came from and more profoundly
signifyin(g) on the meaning of love songs in general.
McDonald's, Taco Bell and Tide, just to name a few.