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To give a complete history of rock music is beyond the scope of this web site. Two important sub-genres of rock music that have emerged in the new millennium are rap and alternative rock. The roots of rap go back to the soul music of the late 1950s and 60s, exemplified by the music of Otis Redding, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Solomon Burke. Soul music was a mixture of gospel, rock, jazz, country and folk. In the 1970's, soul evolved, mutated and twisted into funk. Then in the late 70's, as artists like Nile Rodgers and Donna Summer layed down the standard disco beat and rhythm, a group of young African-Americans from the Bronx calling themselves "The Sugar Hill Gang" cut a song called "Rapper's Delight" -- the rest, as they say, is history -- rap had risen from the ashes of disco and the Godzilla of urban American music was born. As rap evolved through the 80s, two distinct styles emerged -- hip hop, from the east coast, and gansta rap from the west. While hundreds of rock critics have dissected rap and its roots, few have probed its significance as a medium of expression for the artist. Alternative rock was born out of a grassroots reaction to the commercialization of rock music in the 70's. Bands in New York, London and garages in college towns around America created a new sub genre known as punk, which, over time, was watered down and became the sub genre known as alternative rock. The following is an insightful look at... GANGSTA RAP AND "SADROCK" -- TWO SIDES OF PRE-MILLENNIAL ANGSTby Nancy Trevarthen In 1988, rap artists NWA (Niggaz with Attitude) released "Straight Outta Compton." This record, which contained lyrical expressions of aggression, violence, and pumped-up egos, defined the sub genre of rap music known as "gangsta rap." NWA described a particular moment in popular culture, a moment when middle class audiences would finally hear the anger of African-American youth who were "representing" the ghetto. And hear they did. People were offended -- all the way from Los Angeles to Washington DC -- by the sub genre's graphic depiction of urban violence, misogyny, and overall disdain for authority. In fact, the FBI contacted NWA's record company with a concern that one song in particular ("Fuck tha Police") "...encourages violence against law enforcement..." (Los Angeles Times,1989).
Around this same time, another sub genre of youth music emerged. But instead of naming the system or some outside force as wrong-doer, this sub genre of "alternative rock" expressed disdain for the self. It did not raise eyebrows nor demand much discussion from the establishment. As such, it did not warrant a media tag as gangsta rap had. I call this sub genre "sadrock," as its lyrical content describes feelings of general malaise and powerlessness -- classic symptoms of what many mental health workers would call clinical depression. The titles of these songs illustrate the point: Nirvana's "Dumb" (1993), Beck's "Loser" (1994), and The Offspring's "Self Esteem" (1994). Manifest in gangsta rap and sadrock are expressions of angst and apathy. Angst is defined as a feeling of discomfort or anxiety, apathy a kind of blase attitude. Although both of these sub genres discuss similar states of being, they do so in very different ways. Gangsta rap, which is primarily a black, lower-class, urban phenomenon, describes angst turned outward -- a lashing out at others and "the system." Sadrock, primarily white and middle class, describes angst turned inward -- a view of the self as flawed. In 1993, I began to notice that the persistent images in the media were of rappers such as Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg and rockers such as Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and the late Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. I was struck by the fact that these artists seemed to be expressing very similar issues in their lyrics. This is not surprising in itself -- certainly country and blues address similar issues of romance and unemployment. But what was so interesting to me as a student of social life was the _extremes_ these artists were describing -- for example Beck identifying himself as a "loser" ("Loser" 1994) and Snoop Doggy Dogg proclaiming that he is "at the top of the stack" ("Gz and Hustlas" 1993).
Though gangsta rap and alternative rock are popularly viewed as divergent (based primarily on the population of artists), there is much cross-over in their audiences (which would be a rarity with rap and country). A fan of Dr. Dre may also be a fan of Nine Inch Nails. It is also interesting to note that the musical products of Dr. Dre and Nine Inch Nails are distributed by the same company, Interscope Records. Gangstas By definition, gangsta rap is "street music" in which the artists talk about violence, drug slinging, and misogynistic descriptions of women as "hoes" and bitches. While rap as a whole is not singular, gangsta rap follows a rather formulaic pattern of the these themes. How, then, did gangsta rap come to be? As stated above, NWA's seminal work "Straight Outta Compton" defined the sub genre. "NWA figured that injecting gang-related topics, slang and fashions into their act would guarantee a built-in audience with the thousands of gang members infiltrating L.A., and they were right" noted Ronin Ro in 1996. The importance of NWA cannot be overstated. Three of the later super-stars of rap gained their start here: Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and the late Eazy-E. These men are incredibly influential in the arena of hip-hop -- both Cube and Dre went on to start their own record companies, and Eazy-E was the CEO of Ruthless Records until his death in 1995. Moreover, rap artists Snoop Doggy Dogg and Warren G, who were discovered and produced by Dre, have gone on to super-stardom of their own. Adario Strange states, "Snoop [Doggy Dogg]...is the son of Niggaz With Attitude [NWA]..." (1996: 104). Gangsta rap is by now an established genre -- complete with a second generation of stars. NWA's music was specifically geographical, as is the case with much of rap music. A rap artist "represents" a specific geographic region by describing and giving props to that area in his lyrics. NWA represented Los Angeles, specifically Compton in South Central. Ice-T (another Los Angeles rap artist) states that gangsta rap is truly the music of a gang scene as street life in Los Angeles during the 1980s and into the 1990s was ruled by gangs (Rhyme and Reason 1997).
In contrast, New York hip-hop originated from more of a "party scene" which centered around having fun and dancing in night clubs (Rhyme and Reason 1997). New York gangsta rap would come later with acts like the Wu-Tang Clan and Sean "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment, which eventually produced artists such as Li'l Kim and the late Notorious B.I.G. Gangsta rap is a less commercialized musical form than is alternative rock -- because it exists outside of the dominant culture. Gangsta rap is urban music which reflects its environment. While I would expect most young adults to know the alternative rock bands Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins by name, I would expect less to know the rap groups Above the Law and the Geto Boys. Gangsta rap is simply less accessible to the general population as it has historically received less radio play and all but the most famous gangsta rappers (Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg) aren't typically featured on MTV. Sadrock Sadrock is a subset of alternative rock. What is today called "alternative rock" was at one time called "underground music" and contained sub genres such as punk rock and industrial dance music. The genre was also synonymous throughout most of the 1980s with "college radio music." Non-mainstream music was aired on college radio stations, which are generally more progressive than commercial radio stations (WNUR at Northwestern University, for example, was quite influential). Many bands which came out of the underground music scene regularly played the college town circuit -- Lawrence, KS and Tucson, AZ for example -- and an infrastructure was created. Radio stations, performance venues, fanzines, as well as small independent record labels all supported the scene. Henry Rollins, an important figure in early punk rock and underground music writes: "At one point it seemed that it [alternative rock] was the music that no one wanted. Record companies were too busy struggling to coax their aging, seventies-era acts into the limo to the enormo-dome to prop up the falling arches of what so gloriously was." Alternative rock began as the antithesis of the mainstream pop and heavy metal music that ruled the radio, MTV, and popular press throughout the 1980s. Underlining this, independent record labels were appropriately named "SubPop" and "Kill Rock Stars." This scene would be exploited in the 1990s by big business, as major record companies (Sony and Geffen for example) -- as well as the mass media -- began to realize that there was a huge untapped market of alternative and underground music aficionados. Untapped markets mean untapped sources of revenue. In the early 1990s, MTV conceived its "Alternative Nation" which was a stepping-stone for bringing alternative rock to a more mainstream audience. The music that was initially aired on Alternative Nation gradually filtered over into MTV's "regular" programming, so, alternative bands such as Nine Inch Nails and the Smashing Pumpkins became rock stars in their own right in a relatively short time period. Note that the rap equivalent to "Alternative Nation" was the program "Yo! MTV Raps," and many of its videos also filtered into the regular MTV programming.) Much as country music went mainstream, alternative rock underwent a similar process -- and MTV played a major role in this process. Nirvana's "Nevermind" (1991) is similar to NWA's "Straight Outta Compton" in that it was a ground-breaking product. While NWA's work had defined a deviant sub genre of commercial music, Nirvana's served to mainstream an "underground" musical form. (Prior to these works, the terms "alternative" and "gangsta rap" were not part of the popular vocabulary.) "Nevermind" is commonly viewed as what brought alternative music to the masses.
Gangsta Rappers and Sadrockers: Lyrical Themes Because to rap means to talk, gangsta rap songs are generally more lyrically dense than sadrock songs. The gangstas may be talking to themselves, their people, or society as a whole. Rap is a unique public space in which young black males get to talk -- particularly about their notions of who they are in society. But we should not assume that sadrock lyrics are any less important due to their brevity. White males typically possess a broader public space in which to articulate themselves. But considering the content of the sadrockers' lyrics, their articulations would not be well-received by their social network. Their lyrics are a place in which they get to talk about their feelings of worthlessness, powerlessness, and depression. This is not to say that the gangsta rappers' discourse would be any better received by their network. The point here is that lyrical text is discourse -- a way for artists to speak and to be heard. A Look at the Lyrics What the sadrocker lacks:
Negative social types:
Adverse states of being:
The gangsta rappers, on the other hand, express more favorable notions of self. Employing the gangsta vocabulary, they call upon their arsenal of tools. These tools may be injurious to others, but for the gangstas they provide a mechanism through which identity is established and maintained. Positive self image:
Identity through violence:
Cultural/geographic identity:
The sadrockers engage in negative self-labeling, calling themselves "loser," "creep," and "sucker." They paint themselves as unwelcome Others -- pulling from the language of anomie and depression. Their articulatory practices echo what occurs in their sociocultural landscape: high incidence of chemical dependency and depression. Drug-related deaths in alternative rock feel commonplace -- Cobain's heroin-associated suicide; Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon; Brad Nowell of Sublime; Jonathan Melvoin of the Smashing Pumpkins. In contrast, the gangsta rappers report the ability to commit violent acts stoically and their self-concept -- dependent upon their notions of power -- is generally positive. They are less likely than sadrockers to reveal their emotions -- unless directly related to wielding power ("A young nigga on a warpath" (NWA,"Straight Outta Compton") and with a strong self concept ("I'm at the top of the stack" (Snoop Doggy Dogg, "Gz and Hustlas"). As shown in a retaliation sub theme, the gangstas are aware of societal constraints -- and they appear to have a plan for interaction with the system. Sadrockers blame themselves for their unhappiness; they see no systemic cause for their malady. Gangsta rappers may have grown up seeing their fathers and cousins killed or jailed. Middle class white men are more inclined to see problems as individualistic while ghetto-raised black men are more inclined, based on their unique experiences, to identify problems as systemic. Hence the gangsta rappers' propensity to act out ("I'll shoot ya ass 17 times" (Da Lench Mob, "Freedom Got an AK"), while the sadrockers internalize ("I hurt myself today" (Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt").
For sadrockers, the overriding "code" is the language of depression: their notions of powerlessness, their low affective state, and their inability to care for self follow their articulation of self as flawed and problematic. For gangsta rappers, notions of power override their identity, their stoicism, and the ability to meet their needs. If these codes did not exist in the social world, they would not come out of the mouths of recording artists in the public sphere. While sadrockers and gangsta rappers both express the sentiments of their tribes, the expressions of each reflect the subtle and not-so-subtle undercurrents of their group beliefs and myths. For now, we bear witness to an interesting moment at the end of the millennium: with the flip of a switch, we can see and hear sociocultural anomie and angst embodied in some of our favorite recording artists. Nancy Trevarthen, a sociologist, lives in Chicago and continues to think
and write about media and popular culture. You may contact her at: ntrevarthen@hotmail.com.
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