Introduction
People are social creatures that tend to form communities and develop identities based on them. However, a particular social and geographic environment may either facilitate or deter such community building and have a positive or negative impact on how people perceive themselves in their respective social contexts. Different settings may promote or hinder communitarian tendencies among their inhabitants, thus contributing to whether the people would feel as belonging or isolated and alienated. Since urban areas have a much higher population density than the non-urban ones, it only makes sense that these effects are the most pronounced in large cities among the urban dwellers.
Considering this, it is only expectable that the coverage of urban life in film often addresses the issues of community and isolation. Such films as Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Hip-Hop Evolution, Episode 1: The Foundation all cover hip-hop culture in the urban context, but touch upon the topic of alienation and belonging as well. They all coincide in the notion that segregated urban enclaves produce strong and vibrant communities that promote common identity and struggle to overcome their stigmatization in a larger urban context.
Racial and Economic Marginalization as a Basis for Community and Identity-Building
Since all three films covered in this paper cover the subject of hip-hop culture during the early stages of its history, it is only natural that they all refer to its place of origin. It is common knowledge that hip-hop as a cultural phenomenon emerged in the predominantly African American communities of New York, mainly the Bronx, in the late 1970s – early 1980s. As an area populated mainly by working-class African Americans, the birthplace of hip-hop immediately refers to both racial and economic segregation in an urban context. In this respect, the Bronx of the late 1970s and the early 1980s is not unlike many similar urban areas in other countries.
Favelas of Brazilian cities feature the same stigma related to “social marginalization and ethnicity” (Costas 2011, 117). Banlieues of Paris are also working-class neighborhoods populated predominantly by Arabic and Hispanic migrants to the city (Garbin and Millington 2011, 2). Due to this socio-economic similarity, some of the insights gained from studying favelas and banlieues can also apply to the black neighborhoods of New York depicted in Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Hip-Hop Evolution.
As mentioned above, the urban landscapes covered in all three films discussed in this paper are products of segregation in two senses simultaneously. As the areas are populated predominantly by African Americans, they differ sharply from the parts of the city designated as white. As the working-class neighborhoods, they also become synonymous with stagnation and lack of economic development “in the deindustrialized, mass-mediated New York City of the 1970s and ’80s” (Hayman 2013, 119).
This spatial segregation based on racial and economic factors alike coincides with the association between African American neighborhoods and unemployment, lack of opportunity, and, ultimately, street crime. Not unlike their Brazilian counterparts, the black neighborhoods of New York become the “spaces of evil,” which leads to corresponding stigmatization of their inhabitants in the popular imagination (Costas 2011, 116).
Aware of their marginalized status and stigmatized representation, the inhabitants of such areas attempt to “resist… their collective defamation” (Garbin and Millington 2011, 13). This resistance to the vilification and stigmatization of their neighborhoods as spaces of crime, chaos, and evil is one of the factors that strengthen community bonds and communal identity in the neighborhoods in question.
This tendency to form and maintain communal ties despite socioeconomic obstacles and unfavorable representation manifests in the film depiction of the Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s. It is especially evident in the first episode of Hip-Hop Evolution that emphasizes the resilience of the Bronx to all manner of adverse circumstances. As the narrator describes the woeful condition of the borough back in the time, the camera pans over the burning or desolated buildings of the piles of broken bricks and mortar.
However, in the midst of these pictures of evident urban decay, there suddenly appears an apartment building with the inscription “We are still here” written in big white letters on its façade. The film consciously juxtaposes the images of decay and disorder to this stubborn statement. The use of “we” suggests that, even in such turbulent times, the people of the Bronx maintain their sense of community and will rise again as “the phoenix out of the ashes” (Hayman 2013, 123). The film highlights that the common experience of segregation and marginalization made the Bronx community all the more resistant and resilient.
Marginalization to Opportunity: Hip-Hop as a Uniting Force
The fact of being segregated within an urban landscape is the foundation of the distinct communal identity of the Bronx inhabitants, as depicted in the films discussed in this paper, but far from its only manifestation. Rather, the population of the borough is portrayed as tapping into its unfavorable situation as a source of energy and will to go on and discover new ways to improve its lot. The depiction of break-dancing in Beat Street emphasizes this vitality and resilience as a source of opportunity.
Lee, a young dancer from a decaying neighborhood, has no other means of expressing himself except for dancing. However, his passion and skill attract the attention of Tracy Carlson, a music student with TV connections. Essentially, Lee uses the forms of artistic self-expression devised in a marginalized neighborhood as the means for self-realization beyond his neighborhood. This “transformation of marginality into opportunity” is the characteristic feature of how Beat Street depicts hip-hop culture (Hayman 2013, 122). According to it, working-class African American neighborhoods not only create and maintain communities despite the disadvantages they face but also transform the experience of said disadvantages into distinct cultural practices.
These practices are not only a product of artistic self-expression in the urban landscapes of marginalized communities but also a way to enhance the communal unity within them. Even though the Bronx as depicted in Beat Street, is a predominantly African American neighborhood, the cast and characters are more diverse. Quite on the contrary, the film begins with a performance of a “multiracial group of break-dancers” that brings together African American and Latino characters (Hayman 2013, 123). Among the main characters, disk jockey Kenny and his brother Lee are black, but their friend, an aspiring graffiti artist Ramo is a Puerto Rican.
Of course, this community still has noticeable racial undertones, as it is explicitly non-white. Still, it is important to note that it transcends purely racial boundaries and is instead built around a common residence area. The characters of Beat Street share the same identity and belong to the same community, not by virtue of being black or Hispanic, but because they live in the same neighborhood. Their sense of belonging is rooted in the urban landscape they live in and unites them despite the difficulties they face.
The films depict hip-hop culture as a unifying force that brings and holds the inhabitants of marginalized cityscapes together. Krush Groove demonstrates it with great clarity in one of the initial scenes of the movie. While introducing the main characters of the film, the opening sequence alternates between their performances and the production of vinyl records with their popular hits. This cycle makes a full loop closer to the end of the sequence, as the vinyl recordings play in a boombox machine, inspiring the Fat Boys, who represent a new generation of hip-hop artists. In this scene, hip-hop serves as a unifying force for the community: “mass production makes possible the audience’s connection with and enjoyment of the music” (Hayman 2013, 125).
Self-expression by means of different aspects of hip-hop culture unites the performers and their immediate audiences, and the following commodification of their work unites even greater numbers of people with a feeling of community. Thus, the production and reproduction of hip-hop, as depicted in both Beat Street and Krush Groove, creates a virtuous cycle that promotes a sense of belonging within the communities inhabiting marginalized urban landscapes.
Bringing Communities Together: Overcoming Marginalization with Hip-Hop
It is important to note that hip-hop, as interpreted in Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Hip-Hop Evolution, not only unites the community that practices it but also serves as a vehicle to create inter-community bonds. The films show the association between the black neighborhoods of New York and chaos, disorder, and decay. As mentioned above, Hip-Hop Evolution demonstrates the grim landscapes of the late 1970s’ Bronx with burned-down buildings and piles of broken bricks and mortar. Beat Street offers similar images, such as the subway car with a graffiti mural showing mushroom clouds and signed as “Word War III.”
This depiction juxtaposes decaying working-class neighborhoods to the predominantly white areas associated with the “peaceful middle-class life” (Costas 2011, 116). However, the decaying parts of the city do not isolate themselves – on the contrary, their inhabitants seek to forge connections outside as well as within their communities. In Beat Street, the relationship between Kenny, an aspiring MC and disk jockey, and Kenny, a composer with connections on TV, symbolizes these inter-community bonds. Hip-hop not merely creates a sense of belonging within its community but also seeks to expand it further.
This emphasis on overcoming the borders of just one community and translating its culture across the entire city is especially notable in Krush Groove. While setting the introductory scene on a localized street level would seem appropriate for the early hip-hop as the explicit manifestation of street culture, the director does not do that. Instead, the movie opens with a panorama of New York City as a whole, thus representing it as a diverse yet still interconnected urban space rather than a constellation of isolated boroughs.
This shot creates an impression that hip-hop as a form of artistic expression or source of aesthetic pleasure “permeates the entire city, not only specific enclaves” (Hayman 2013, 125). This scene strengthens the approach to the theme of belonging already evident in the relationship between Kenny and Tracy from Beat Street. For all their differences, racial or socioeconomic, the people of the city, as depicted in Krush Groove, are still New Yorkers, and hip-hop aims to strengthen their sense of belonging and unity.
The attempts to appear on mainstream TV or to make a performance in a prestigious nightclub are not the only ways in which the hip-hop communities attempt to reinforce their position in a larger context. The opening scene of Beat Street portrays a group of break-dancers performing in a public park to the movie’s title music track. By participating in a cultural activity explicitly associated with their less-than-prosperous community, the dancers affirm their creativity and vitality by “claiming this public space for themselves” (Hayman 2013, 123).
Although the marginalization of a given community serves as a source of opportunity for artistic self-expression, the performers are not content with their status. The public park is an urban space that belongs to all inhabitants of the city without exclusion and, by performing there, the dancers translate their signature cultural practices beyond their own community. In this scene, hip-hop functions as a force that can promote a sense of belonging not merely within a given neighborhood but on the scale of the entire New York City.
Yet while the films suggest that the common identity shared by all New Yorkers may eventually overcome socioeconomic and racial segregation within the urban landscape, they do not deny its reality. Marginalized neighborhoods that are the birthplace of hip-hop still have to overcome actual social and economic challenges, and their inhabitants are still stigmatized in the popular imagination. Overcoming this stigmatization and standing on a par with more respectable parts of the city, at least in terms of culture, is one of the primary goals pursued by the main characters in Beat Street. In the grand finale of the movie, Kenny gets his long-sought performance in a prestigious club and decides to turn it into a tribute to the memory of his friend Ramo.
The latter was a graffiti artist – someone whose style of art is as stigmatized as the urban ghettoes it comes from – but Kenny passionately compares him to Michelangelo. By doing so, he stresses that graffiti, regardless of what anyone thinks about it, is “real art” (Hayman 2013, 126). Thus, hip-hop becomes a vehicle for overcoming social stigma and promoting the city-wide sense of unity and belonging.
Conclusion
As one can see, the depiction of urban landscapes in Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Hip-Hop Evolution, Episode 1: The Foundation maintains that marginalized communities promote a sense of belonging and community. The inhabitants of the decaying working-class neighborhoods populated mainly by racial minorities find their common identity in the struggle against their adverse circumstances. This identity manifests in many forms, including hip-hop culture that provides a creative outlet for youth and brings the community together. Moreover, the emissary of hip-hop forge alliances beyond their neighborhoods and seek to promote their art on a citywide scale.
Thus, while neither of the films denies the reality of urban segregation, they still portray the city as a place that promotes belonging and strengthens community bonds, even only through overcoming adversity and hardship. The acceptance of hip-hop by the members of different communities also suggests that the common identity shared by all New Yorkers may eventually overcome the stigmatization of the marginalized communities.
References
Costas, Gundo Rial y. 2011. “Spaces of Insecurity? The “Favelas” of Rio de Janeiro between Stigmatization and Glorification.” Iberoamericana (2001-), Nueva época 11, no. 41 (Marzo): 115-128.
Hayman, Casey. “Melle Mel in the Megaplex: Postmodern Performance and the Hip-Hop “Real” in Krush Groove & Beat Street.” African American Review 46, no.1 (2013): 117-132.
Garbin, David, and Gareth Millington. “Territorial Stigma and the Politics of Resistance in a Parisian Banlieue: La Courneuve and Beyond.” Urban Studies 49, no. 10 (2012): 1-17.