Summary: As the novel reaches its ending, there's a huge turning point that showed that peace was coming slowly but surely. The gang peacemakers worked with a special urgency and with their truce movement which meant the difference between life and death, they were able to accomplish a lot and saw the effects from all over the country. From Orange County to San Fernando Valley, Latino gangs began peace meetings and about 50 Latino gangs signed a truce in 1992. Even a leader from the Mexican Mafia had signed a truce to end the drive-by's. This movement had expanded and leaders like Carl Upchurch and the NAACP were able to organize summits because of the wide support system that they had. With all of this happening, the positive energy coming from the gang peace movement helped to catalyze Minister Louis Farrakhan call for the Million Man March. This March was going to be a great success, but there were a few things said that made a few people angry and caused some viral effects.The March had left out women and Gay African American men for some reason. Rude and ignorant comments were made about gay men which is when they retaliated, especially after the March did not allow a black gay speaker and an HIV positive speaker on their platform. Women were also angered because they wanted women to stay home and watch the men make the rest of history happen. Women were not happy with their position in the March, they felt that they had contributed and wanted to take part in history as well. They opposed of the March, and in result were called "race traitors" and more. In the end, on the day of October 16, 1995, blakcmen had gathered around the mall with their "Don't Smoke the Brothers" T-shirts. Husbands bought their wives and children, there were women volunteers behind booths, gang members were there also and about 150 gay men had marched as a group towards the mall with their signs saying " I am a Black, Gay Man. I am a Black Man. I am a Man." Horns were honked and fists were put in the air and the feeling according to Maurice Franklin was overwhelming. In the end after all the arguing and protesting, all blacks from around were able to come together as a group and stand up for what they believe in. Notable speakers such as Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, Kwesi Mfume, Jesse Jackson, Mother Moore Carol Moseley Braun and more were at the March and the event became more life changing. The feeling of hope and peace brought a feeling of change and people felt that "a generation had been moved" (Chang 404) because of all the people that came to change for the good of their kids and their community, overall for their people.
There was also talks about a magazine called "The Source." Now this was a magazine made specifically for Hip Hop to reach out to people that did not know much about Hip Hop, to Globalize it. They thought that since there was a Hip Hop nation, then a Hip Hop journalism might provide a Hip Hop nationalism to bring the two together. Two white Jewish Harvard juniors, David Mays and Jon Shecter, had come up with 200 dollars and a one page hip hop music tip sheet in which they named The Source. This magazine started small, but as more success drew, more problems grew. The Source was generally speaking in its own voice against what the media portrayed the youth as and showed that the Hip Hop "family" cared often writing about their concerns and actions to help. However, things started to change when The Source got deeper into the industry. The magazine was getting positive outcomes, Hip Hop had become an urban lifestyle. Michael Jackson broke the color line at MTV and they started playing rap videos as well as more pop coming from African American artist; as you can see MTV today has its own show called Sucker Free Countdown, which is a whole hour of rap videos. With hip hop becoming more urban, more rappers were being treated like kings whenever they said something nice about a brand. Run DMC had turned Adidas into a hip hop brand with one song. Michael Jordan and Spike Lee took hip hop branding to the next level with Nike. Rappers were being paired up and used to create sales for certain companies or brands. With the industry becoming more and more successful with its brands, there was still trouble in the West. The mainstream/media were still misinterpreting West Coast rappers music, like Dr.Dre's songs. They were clearly talking about the outbreak of gang peace and the truce parties as well as the enjoyment of being able to drive down the street without having to worry about police or being shot. Dre as well as other rappers were trying to convince. win over the other side because they wanted to cross over into the pop/mainstream music. Dre and Snoop Dogg were able to put aside their "gangsta" rap and move onto a more smooth, but still gangsta party material type of music that sold even more records. They were able to make the same music with a different sound, they still talked about what they used to, but with a change in tone. There was also talk about the New World Order and the relation that it had with the hip hop industry. How "Neo-Soul" was created by the infamous Motown exec Kedar Massenburg. In which he unpackaged R&B artists that he discovered which included, Indie Arie and Erika Badu and many more. This sound would create a space for voices to dissect the "masculinist attitudes and ideals projected in the hip hop mainstream." (Chang 446) How women were becoming more involved in the music industry, like Alicia Keys and Indie Arie, summarizing important issues of men and their irresponsibility's in the community through their music. And also symbolized how woman were torn between loyalty and leaving. There was also mentioning of media monopolies and how they favored artists who did not even produce hits, but they were good enough to sell goods. In the corporate order, a song would/could become a movie which could become a book which could become a soundtrack, then a music video and possibly a video game. Big artists were brands as well, they "generated lifestyles based on their own ineffable beings." (Chang 447) P.Diddy had leveraged himself through music, film, television, and high fashion; while Jay Z peddled movies, clothing, shoes and vodka. And once they completed the journey of "cool" they had to reinvent themselves, which brings us to Jay Z's first retirement. He showed that and recognize that all of his handwork from excessive branding and positioning had brought exhaustion which disabled the possibilities of art. Many artists did this and are still doing this today, and when they say that they're retired, they end up coming back with a bigger, better, sound that creates a lot of more money, publicity, and a higher ranking of being the best rapper or most successful etc. Which brings back the topic of why rappers like Talib Kweli are materially separated from rappers like Jay Z. That is when the marketing comes in, Jay Z is said to have the universal appeal, while Kweli is a "conscious rapper." A matter of taste comes when these 2 are compared, Kweli would reach a market of "college educated, Ipod rocking, North face backpacking, vegan, hip hop fans." Kweli, a very talented artist, was labeled as being political or not too conscious enough many times, and wasn't able to keep up with the fire that Jay-Z and his company was bringing. Which i think is a constant struggle with many artists out there that are speaking the truth and are setting a good example for youths out there. The only problem is that they are being covered by the music that people like JayZ or Beyonce or Rihanna are putting out, the mainstream music that is being globalized instead of the music that should really be played. This novel shows that the music industry is no walk in the park and that even hard work is covered by the appeal of another rapper or singer and that there are many media monopolies, and brands that artists have for themselves and their lifestyle. The industry to me is like a business and if you are not the company that interests them than you wont be put into the big market.
Quote: "Feeds of the alienation at the heart of America's race relation: selling white youth on their fetishization of black style, and black youth on their fetishization of white wealth." (Chang 425)
Reaction Quote 1: This quote is very true and i honestly have seen this in music and in reality. Rappers often give into the fetish of Caucasians wanting to be black and wanting to be "Gangsters" having a gun and so on and encouraging them to do whatever they want while they turn around and tell the black kids that the only way they're going to make it is to follow the way of the whites. They sell it to us and makes us believe that being rich is everything and that having money is what's going to get you somewhere, how life now was so much better than before and how they can buy all these houses and cars without having to worry about being in debt. The alienation and separation of the 2 races makes them want to become opposites more and not look into one anothers shoes and/or relate to each other's common struggle. The media also contributes to this, like the movie Malibu's most wanted, they make Jaime Kennedy's seem like he wants to be black and puts him into a "Ghetto" neighborhood where there are gangs, violence and more. He is paired up with 2 "gang" members when they are actually educated African American students, that have both gone to college and have aspiring dreams of becoming actors. This movie is a perfect example of the miscommunication between races. How one is trying to get into the "hood" while the other is trying to get out. Instead there should be people trying to break this barrier and have both races reach their comfort zones and go into a state where they are happy and successful at the same time, but the constant stereotypes and inequality will not make things better and things will not progress.
Quote 2: "what did it mean to 'Keep it real' anymore? what did it mean to be true to something when that something had changed? Could one preserve any kind of individual agency or did one have to ride with the new flow of exploitation?" (Chang 447)
Reaction Quote 2: This quote is very powerful and becomes more clear as you read the book, because with all these artists making money, becoming powerful entrepreneurs, Moguls and so on, its hard to "keep it real" because when you keep it real you get left behind. Artists now that are very successful have probably made many changes to their lives and have done things that they aren't proud of, but that's the life that you have to live when you become involved in such a major industry. Which is why i find it hard to believe that many of the artists today or in the past have been able to "keep it real or 100%" because artists go through major changes everyday. In their image, their music, their fans and everything. People go through different labels and get dropped and so on, but the main point that i see here is that people aren't able to stay humble and not able to see beyond what the industry is doing or what/how money is changing their lives. Some people even forget where they came from and/or who made them what they are today. That is only a little of what i see when it comes to this quote, which is to stay true to yourself and others.
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