Hip Hop and Black Identity in the NBA.
September 26th 2006 06:31
Note: This is a re-post of an earlier piece on NBALOUD but since there seems to be more readers these days here it is again.
Hip-hop is synonymous with the NBA, it is what jam is to peanut butter sandwiches, or vegemite to mashed potatoes (don’t knock it till you try it). The culture of hip-hop permeates through the league and its players, resulting in a collaborative relationship that has benefited both communities. From the fashions, mannerisms, style, tattoos, and talk of NBA players we
Jay-Z and Nelly both own teams in the NBA. (Image from Black Voices)
A lot of media commentary on the topic of the NBA and hip hop is geared towards a more negative analysis in the relationship between the two entities. Sports writers and cultural critics tend to tie the negative imagery of the bling bling NBA to its embrace of the ‘thug life’ styling of the players, whilst alienating the middle-class white fans that are most prominent in the NBA.
How fair is this criticism really? We are asking young, black males to turn their back on their community and identities. That is a big ask, and being a young male myself we tend to emulate our heroes and influences.
Conservative fans of the league tend to wax lyrical nostalgia to the days of Michael Jordan and the NBA when he was the ambassador for the league. Rather than ghetto fabulous Ron Artest whose most notorious transgression was wading into the crowd with fists swinging.
The OG hip-hop symbol of the NBA. (Image from Wikipedia)
In the early 90’s the Michigan Wolverines team with Chris Webber and Jalen Rose, better known as the ‘Fab Five’ took the embrace of the hip-hop lifestyle to another level. They were ‘hip-hop’. With their even baggier shorts, shaved
Jalen Rose and the Fab Five represented hip-hop in college. (Image from ESPN.com)
The player that is most seen as the embodiment of the hip-hop culture that is all pervasive in the league is Allen Iverson. AI burst into the NBA in the mid-90’s with a bang – cornrows, tattoos, jewellery and the criminal rap sheet made him a nightmare for league executives, while an icon for young fans across the NBA. The Answer mainstreamed the hip-hop lifestyle in the NBA allowing young players to truly embrace their heritages and hip-hop in general; “It's an honour for me to be considered the guy who made hip-hop style okay in the NBA because at one time having a hip-hop image was a bad thing. Guys with cornrows, baggy jeans and tattoos were always known as suspects. Now you see police officers in baggy jeans when they're off-duty. But dressing hip-hop is just a fashion statement. It's just the way you look. It
AI on the cover of '40 Bars'. (Image from Wikipedia)
Furthermore, AI took the symbolic relationship between hip-hop and the NBA further by releasing a controversial rap album in 2000. Iverson’s single ’40 Bars’ courted much controversy with lyrics that demonised gays, women, while espousing the ‘gangsta’ lifestyle. Lyrics for ’40 Bars’ included:
“Man enough to pull a gun, be man enough to squeeze it.”
“Come at me with faggot tendencies, you’ll be sleeping where the maggots be.”
“Everybody stay fly, get money, kill fuck bitches. I’m hitting anything in plain view with my riches” (Iverson, “40 Bars”, 2000).
This song obviously caused a lot of waves with media pundits and the conservative fan base of the league. I, ask what is wrong with these lyrics besides the inane rhyming and being derogatory to a number of people within the community? ’40 Bars’ has generic hip-hop sentiments and the public need to realise that the culture flows through the veins of not only the players, but the league. These lyrics have as much to do with bravado, and stupidity, rather than a real belief in what they are rapping about. ‘Representing’ is just as crucial as the look. Anyone, who takes these aspects too seriously are in danger of developing a coronary.
The pinnacle for the criticism of the hip-hop NBA was during the infamous Indiana Pacers/Detroit Pistons brawl that involved both players and spectators. Rush Limbaugh that wanker talk radio host in the US stated that
Ron Artest and the infamous association of hip-hop in the NBA. (Image from Wikipedia)
Arguments such as those put forward by Limbaugh are not only easy, but lazy, while ignoring the social plight of young black males in America. This is a country where almost half of the US prison population is black, where young black males are more likely to die a violent death, be poorly educated, have less career opportunities, while being more prone to poverty and homelessness. How else does the rest of wider community expect these players to behave when they come into the league? They see their fellow males suffering the consequences of an unjust social system that is geared towards their failure.
Hip-hop as a genre and as a presence in the league is an expression for the majority of players, even white players from rural America incorporate the presence of hip-hop in basketball because it is so omnipresent. Hip-hop as an art form in its purest sense gives voice to the voiceless, just like NBA players who embrace the life are asserting their cultural roots proudly and suggesting to the world that they can’t be conquered.
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Comment by Justin
Likewise, just recently I read a cultural study of commercialising Jordan as a product in a sociology journal. It was really eye-opening and this article too has much the same insight on cultural formation, identity and politicising basketball. Well done.
Comment by Stanley
Comment by Dan
Comment by Stanley
would love to read your take on the whole hip hop and nba relationship.
Comment by Dunkadelic University
The "Dunkadelic Era" In America 1984-Present