Slouching Toward Bork

Abstract

The appeal of hip-hop and rap music in the United States grew considerably in the early 1990s. A dynamic culture that had its beginnings among working class African Americans and Puerto Ricans in New York, hip-hop evolved into a multimillion-dollar industry with far-reaching influences in marketing, popular culture, and politics. Coterminous with this rise in popularity was the emergence of a highly visible campaign against rap artists for promoting offensive and socially irresponsible music. These attacks were the most visible battles in America's "culture wars" that pitted cultural critics against each other in the realms of music, cinema, and visual arts. Peaking in the years 1992 through 1996, this public discourse regarding cultural standards and hip-hop involved presidential candidates, congressmen, and academics who joined the chorus to condemn what they considered violent, sexist, and bigoted rap. Few, however, in the mainstream media or academia gave attention to the many in the hip-hop community who were also involved in the debates. In fact, many rap artists offered fresh analyses and observations of the culture wars from a unique perspective that necessarily presented nuances in the discussion that had been absent. This article examines these marginalized voices in the debates of the earlyand mid-1990s. It studies the efficacy of these voices and reveals how they deviated from the typical parameters of the public debate. In June 1995, William J. Bennett, former drug czar of the Bush administration and head of Empower America, and C. Delores