Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip-Hop

Susan Hadley, George Yancy, Susan Hadley, George Yancy

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781136652325
• Topic: Psicología
• Subtopic: Salud mental en psicología

In perceiving all rap and hip-hop music as violent, misogynistic, and sexually charged, are we denying the way in which it is attentive to the lived experiences, both positive and negative, of many therapy clients? This question is explored in great depth in this anthology, the first to examine the use of this musical genre in the therapeutic context. The contributors are all experienced therapists who examine the multiple ways that rap and hip-hop can be used in therapy by listening and discussing, performing, creating, or improvising.
The text is divided into three sections that explore the historical and theoretical perspectives of rap and hip-hop in therapy, describe the first-hand experiences of using the music with at-risk youth, and discuss the ways in which contributors have used rap and hip-hop with clients with specific diagnoses, respectively.
Within these sections, the contributors provide rationale for the use of rap and hip-hop in therapy and encourage therapists to validate the experiences for those for whom rap music is a significant mode of expression. Editors Susan Hadley and George Yancy go beyond promoting culturally competent therapy to creating a paradigm shift in the field, one that speaks to the problematic ways in which rap and hip-hop have been dismissed as expressive of meaningless violence and of little social value. More than providing tools to incorporate rap into therapy, this text enhances the therapist's cultural and professional repertoire.

Part 1 HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

DOI: 10.4324/9780203806012-1

Chapter 1 RAP (Requisite, Ally, Protector) and the Desperate Contemporary Adolescent

Andrea Frisch Hara^*

* Acknowledgment: Profound gratitude to my husband, and fellow therapist, Gary M. Hara. Without his love, devotion, and professional expertise, this chapter would never have been written! Feedback and questions are welcome: [email protected].

DOI: 10.4324/9780203806012-2

Introduction

During a substantial time period of my professional life, I worked as a music therapist with adolescents in a variety of settings. Beginning in the late 1980s, a common request was for RAP music,^† a genre that was definitely not my personal cup of tea! But was I really listening? Teen after teen would request a “song” that had a driving beat and a machine gun-like oral narrative. I often felt assaulted by the violent words, the dissonant, syncopated rhythms, and, always, the over-the-top volume that was requested. And sometimes, I felt afraid. The techno timbre and varying intoned beats could be chilling. The music seemed to unleash a basic, “primitive” force within my clients, and within me. It was raw and unformed, and it was determined to find expression.

† The term RAP has been capitalized throughout to specify its status as a genre, making it unnecessary to use the term rap music and so as not to confuse it with the slang, meaning “to speak.”

My passive and depressed clients came alive when this music played. They moved their withdrawn, hidden, clothing-covered bodies to the groove. Their faces, frozen with fear, frustration, despair, sadness, and anger, became animated. They rapped along and displayed their own (out) rage, showed determination to right the wrongs done to them, and vowed to survive and to prevail. My “acting out” clients settled down and became regulated by the beat. Their constant, hyper-motion found its expression through the complex collage of sounds. To chant along, they had to focus and concentrate and I was awed by their ability to memorize and repeat the lyrics of long narrative passages. Even the adolescents who had difficulty reading were able to become a part of this form. I listened. They noticed. And our therapeutic work began.

At music therapy conferences, and in my field’s professional publications, I was stunned by the lack of presentations and articles about RAP music. The few that I found focused on the lyrics. And of course, society, mainstream society, was consistently disparaging RAP as violent, fringe, not “real” music, dangerous, and so on. I felt that my colleagues were missing the point. What about the music, I wondered, the music of RAP? And from where did this music come? What were its origins? Why was it so popular? And most importantly to me, why was it captivating my clients and how could I facilitate their growth by harnessing its power and meaning?!

This chapter will provide a brief history of RAP music and introduce its different types. The genre will be examined in depth, from its historical roots and evolution into its modern strains. Its form will be broken down into essential musical elements, enabling music therapists to comprehend and reproduce it. An attempt will be made to go beyond the “obvious” regarding RAP, that is, that it often reflects the listener’s environment and expresses experiences of rage, frustration, discontent, and disenfranchisement and sometimes advocates a life of antisocial behavior and violence. The chapter will emphasize that it is RAP’s form that makes it a perfectly ideal tool for creative and successful therapy work.^*

* In this chapter, it is the audio experience of RAP music that is explored. It is important to note that RAP videos are also important and another artistic form that can affect the listener.

Theoretical constructs regarding RAP’s popularity, purpose, and function will be presented. Attention will be paid to how and why adolescents use RAP music in their lives. A major focus will look at the reasons it speaks to so many adolescents, and particularly, adolescents with the most severe emotional and learning issues. The chapter will analyze the phenomenon of adolescents struggling with major issues of emotional and physical survival, and why they demonstrate an urgent, sometimes consuming, need for RAP music. This will be viewed within the context of “typical” adolescent development. Details and descriptions of how and why music therapists can constructively utilize this music within treatment will be suggested.

The clinical topics of therapeutic value, acting out versus expression and sublimation, clinical effectiveness, aesthetic meaning, transitional object, identity crisis, ego formation, countertransference, interfacing with clinicians, and reactions from society will be addressed. Guidelines for synthesizing RAP music will be offered and will include the use of acoustic and electric instruments, vocal techniques, and electronic and recording devices. The international appeal and lasting power of RAP music, and therefore some critical implications for contemporary society, will be touched upon.

History

From Africa

RAP music traces its origins to the rich body of music that comes from Africa. The great oral and vocal tradition that gave the United States gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, soul, and rock’n’roll is also responsible for RAP. The earliest examples of the form are in the chanting of the griot, the African keeper of ancestral history. (The word griot is French in origin and the term jelli, of Manding origin, means “musicianhood.”) RAP contains African and African diasporic antecedents and influences.

RAP’s forebears stretch back through disco, street funk, radio DJs, Bo Diddley, the bibop singers, Cab Calloway, Pigmeat Markham, the dancers and comics, the Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, Mohammed Ali, acappella and doo-wop groups, ring games, skip-rope rhymes, prison and army songs, toasts, signifying and the dozens, all the way to the griots of Nigeria and Gambia. (Toop, 1991, p. 16)

The griot’s function is to keep an oral history of a tribe or village. The griot also sings praises and can be a wandering musician, like the troubadour. He can entertain with stories, poems, songs, and dances. In this expanded role, he must also have the expertise to improvise about current issues and events. He can use wit, humor, and satire to comment about local and world politics. I think it is quite striking that modern RAP artists are often serving a similar function within our society. In many ways, the functions of RAP music, and its musical predecessors, and the music of music therapy are similar; they are process-oriented, improvisational, and social in nature (see Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 Audio Examples

Griot, Griot and String/Kora
Togo Griot 00	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVSsHc9RenQ
Togo Griot 01	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsW4sdOVDLM
Kora Music from West African Griot Lankandia Cissoko	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNl8kIwj1_k
Djele Lankandia-Kora Music	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMp_El9ltAs
Vocal, Polyrhythmic, Polyphonic
Griot Dagara (go to 3.15 time for hand-clapping rhythms and vocals)	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8uOBLqKQ5s
Kora Playing by Toumani Diabate and the Symmetric Orchestra (go to 1.17 time regarding Kora’s bass, melodic, and improvisational elements)	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfRUH2fKUgA
Note: All audio examples are from http://www.youtube.com, except as noted, “Hambone,” from http://www.rhapsody.com.

Another common African root is the ancient singing tradition of the gawlla, a poem of gossip or abuse, sung by Yoruba women. (Yoruba people are a large ethnic group of West Africa.) It was used when two women argued and they needed to vent to each other in public. The galla would be sung in a public place where other women would hear it. Sometimes it could be used for social pressure, and to get a woman to conform to public opinion.

Continuity through the Diaspora

As the African American community survived through enslavement and beyond in the United States, there are several other noteworthy musical forms that contain the roots of modern RAP. These may be unfamiliar to many and yet they lend credence to RAP as an evolved form of the music of the griot. Two audio examples follow: Mississippi blues, with percussive elements in addition to the guitar and voice, and blues from imprisoned women in the United States during the 1930s, a time when Jim Crow laws were prevalent and, therefore, African American women could easily be unjustly imprisoned (see Table 1.2).

Table 1.2 Audio Examples

Booker White—Aberdeen Mississippi Blues HIFI	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsMpHHSLSlc
Negro Prison Songs/“Black Woman-Murder’s Home-Jumpin’ Judy”	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZs45oL_n8k&feature=PlayList&p=5EF49DD405701E0C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3

Next is an example of a type of children’s clapping and rhyming song. Some may be familiar with this African American musical tradition of which Miss Mary Mack is an example. (Miss Mary Mack is of Scots-English derivation and was sung by American enslaved children.) The first sample is of Bessie Jones, who was a Georgia Sea Island Native, singing with children. The granddaughter of an enslaved man, she learned many songs like these from her grandfather. The others demonstrate the use of the body as a percussion instrument. The use of hand and body percussion combined with chanting and singing shares much in common with modern RAP (see Table 1.3).

Table 1.3 Audio Examples

Hambone with Bessie Jones and children	http://www.rhapsody.com/bessie-jones/put-your-hand-on-your-hip-let-your-backbone-slip
Hand Bone Basics	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQRALdJC0h4&NR=1
Hambone Knee slap	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMJeaZtgwng&feature=related

Continued Historic...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table Of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Biography
• Introduction: Give 'em Just One Mic: The Therapeutic Agency of Rap and Hip-Hop
• PART 1 HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
• PART 2 RAP AND HIP-HOP WITH AT-RISK YOUTH
• PART 3 RAP WITH CLIENTS IN SPECIFIC CLINICAL SETTINGS
• Index