Re: Jewish rap?

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Bravo, Ari.  If one were in my Jewish studies course this semester, one 
would see that wordplay is an element of Jewish poetry and song that 
crops up in a variety of contexts and that it is also certainly part of rap.

I just received a paper I've yet to read about rap -- Jewish and Arab -- 
in Israel.  It's used to make statements about the second intifada so, 
art or not, it's certainly at least potentially an important expressive 
tool.  Frankly, the notion of capital A Art has been problematic for me 
for a long time.  Go into the African or Native American or South 
Pacific or Australian Aboriginal wing of your local art museum and one 
sees all kinds of equisitely made ritual and practical objects whose 
intentions were certainly never to be gaped at on walls or pedestals.  
As the Balinese say (the quote at the end of C. Small's Music - Society 
- Education) "We have no art.  We only do things as well as possible."



Ari Davidow wrote:

>>  >but is *all* expression,
>>
>>> or self-expression, ipso facto a form of art?  All honking of a car 
>>> horn?
>>> All screaming?  All graffiti?
>>
>>
>> I think there has to be some intention involved- is bird-song music?
>
>
> Surely we are losing context rapidly.
>
> I can't think of any reason why there can't be Jewish rap, although I 
> do hesitate to use attempted satire such as "2 Live Jews" as an 
> example of what that might be. I'd rather point at the Hip Hop Hoodios 
> as an example of kids making music - (where do hip hop and rap 
> diverge?) that competes in the more general US Latino music sphere, 
> but also attempts to express Jewish identity.
>
> (I am deliberately ignoring groups such as the Beastie Boys whose 
> members, as far as I know, are Jewish. To the best of my very limited 
> knowledge, neither the band's statements, nor their music, reference 
> Jewish identity, much less any Jewish culture.)
>
> Art? Not sure, but surely time will render a more sure judgement than 
> me. Jewish-identified? Very much so. Jewish? Pretty sure I don't want 
> to argue something quite so subjective.
>
> Take a look at those Jewish music strands that we know historically. 
> Surely, the fact that there are deep and wonderful Jewish musical 
> traditions, deeply entwined with the respective Jewish religious 
> traditions local to both Moslem and Christian societies in which they 
> were placed, should tell us that any local music that inspires Jews 
> can become valid Jewish music, and can even, over time, become part of 
> the religious traditional canon.
>
> Makes one wonder what those Jews who didn't go into exile thought of 
> the new-fangled melodies brought back from Babylon.
>
> ari
>
>
>
> .
>

-- 
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music and Jewish Studies
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)


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