“The Orient was almost a European invention, and had been since antiquity ‘a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences.”
“Taking the late eighteenth century as a very roughly defined starting point Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient- dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.”
These above quotes on Orientalism, taken from the seminal book of the same name by Edward Said, are perhaps difficult to place in the context of hip-hop as a genre. Hip-hop as a genre has historically provided a mouthpiece for (primarily) young black American males in a society defined by a white supremacist hierarchy that denied black people this basic right of free speech (amongst endless other human rights denied). In light of this, hip hop as a genre with the potentiality for black struggle against white oppression cannot actively engage in the “Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient”, for black Americans lack the political hegemony to engage in this state-structured abuse. Hip-hop does have a problem with Orientalism, however, not in a structural state wide influencing level, but in an internal failure to recognise and combat regular acts of appropriation and stereotyping that engage in Orientalist behaviours. If hip hop is to continue to be a vehicle for social change and to challenge the current political hegemony, it must also challenge its own acceptance of Orientalist attitudes.
Said highlights that for American’s the Orient is far more likely to represent “the Far East (China and Japan mainly)”, as well as the increasing interventionist foreign policy in the Middle East during hip-hop’s brief lifespan having an impact on the varying examples of Orientalist behaviour present. What follows below is a by no means exhaustive list of examples of Orientalist attitudes within the genre.
“Every time I wanna go get a fuckin' brew
I gotta go down to the store with the two
Oriental one penny countin' motherfuckers
That make a nigga mad enough to cause a little ruckus”
- Ice Cube, Black Korea
“Like my man Muhammad from Afghanistan, grew up in Iran
The nigga runs a neighborhood newsstand
A wild Middle Eastern, bomb specialist
Initiated, at eleven to be a terrorist
He set bombs in bottles of champagne
And when niggas popped the cork, niggas lost half they brains”
- GZA, Hell’s Wind Staff/Killah Hills 10304
“Chinky-eye and snot-nosed”
- Method Man, Shadowboxin’
“Hey, me no worry, hashish keep my eyes Chinese”
- Nas, Suspect
“Goin' to Chi-land with them chinks (chinks)”
- Quavo, Get Right Witcha
“When I was a Geisha he was a Samurai
Somehow I understood him when he spoke Thai”
- Nicki Minaj, Your Love, https://youtu.be/pSFyrrhKj1Q
“Girl that pussy like medication to patients
Got my eyes closed, like Asian persuasion”
- Lil Wayne, Take it to the Head
“Yellow bitches, all of 'em swallow”
- Rick Ross, Bricks
“My aim is winnin, got Asian women that'll change my linen
After I done blazed and hit 'em”
- Puffy, D.I.D.D.Y.
“Eyes so low they probably think I'm asian”
- The Game, I’m the King
“Lost in my thoughts so my eyes be Asian”
- J.Cole, Back to the Topic (Freestyle)
“Still can't tell the difference
Just like Asians with their eyes shut”
- Tyler, the Creator, Burger
“And we hit the trees 'til we look like Vietnamese people”
- Eminem, Bad Meets Evil
“Something crazy and Asian, Virginia Tech”
- Childish Gambino, Backpackers
“So much heat you woulda thought it was the Middle East”
- MF DOOM, Rapp Snitch Knishes
With the exception of Ice Cube’s Black Korea, which exists within a particularly complex socio-political historical moment, the examples listed above are fairly typical examples of orientalist behaviour in Western culture – a mixture of cultural appropriation, ‘yellow peril’ language, a focus on “eyes”, racial slurs and cultural stereotypes. The examples in this list range from the most credited lyricists the genre has to offer (Nas and GZA) all the way to examples from earlier this year (Quavo), reflecting that these issues are not simply an issue of the past, but still deeply entrenched within the culture today. Whilst some might argue the likes of Kendrick and Wu Tang, in fact, celebrate the culture of the Far East, hip-hop has far more often been involved in a culture of ‘othering’, alienating listeners with a lazy approach to portraying people from the ‘Orient’ or of ‘Oriental’ heritage. Although there is a dedicated contingent of rappers who actively fight out against contemporary Orientalist presentations (be they Mos Def, Heems, Riz MC, Lowkey, Akala, Rich Chigga), the popular dynamic of Western culture is still to engage in behaviours that actively reinforce Orientalist perspectives. As a genre hip-hop continues to be an exceptional force for social change, and we must recognise that to fight white supremacy and imperialist agendas, it is necessary to engage in a culture that actively rejects the promotion of Orientalist language and behaviours.
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