Running head:

WEEKLY WRITE UP VII

Weekly Write Up VII

Maverick A. Garces
University of Washington - Seattle

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Weekly Write Up VII
I find it intriguing how significant the city of L.A. is on almost all realms of modern
American cultureespecially that of Hip Hop. From my understanding, it seemed as if L.A.
really took over the Hip Hop spotlight, if you will, while NYC kind of waiting on the sidelines
especially during the last decade or so of the past century. There were just so many things going
on in the city at the time from the rise of gangster rap, the Rodney King incident, and the later
1992 L.A. riots that really propelled Hip Hop and racial tensions back to the forefront of the
medias attentionfor better and for worse. Thus for this weeks element, I decided to center
my graffiti art around L.A. and its influence on Hip Hop culture.
The Importance of L.A. for Hip Hop
Gangs have long since been a part of L.A.s communal landscape. These gangs, often
split up and divided by ones ethnic background, would often engage in inter-gang violence
fueled by the out-of-hand drug problem. This would have the effect of escalating racial tensions
among minority groups as well as between the white majority (police) and people of color
(mainly those of the Black community.) However, as described in Cant Stop, Wont Stop, Chang
(2006) documents the fact that gang peace conferences and gang peace work in general have
been in motion for the past four decades since the 1970s (p. 357). Even radio stations, such as
the well-known KDAY took it upon their hands to help bring an end to the unnecessary violence
by inviting well known artists and other Hip Hop community members to voice their opinions on
these issues. I find it pretty heartening seeing that this peace work is actually quite similar to that
of Seattles very own Fever One. Just as youth groups were formed to keep kids out of gangs,
Fever One, as he stated in his guest lecture, used b-boying as a means to lessen tensions. His
each one, teach one philosophy probably kept many out of living a miserable lifehowever, it

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wasnt full proof. In-line with what Chang mentions, most Brothers werent ready for this
yetreferring to peace between gangs (357). Drugs continued to exacerbate the problem until
finally, Minister Farrakhans Stop the Killing Campaign influenced several young, Black
activists paved their own road to find solutions to end the violence their waythrough
demonstrations and protests. They were updating the spirit of 66 with the unique outsider
knowledge of the gang-ridden 80s (p. 361).
It was at this same time that this gangs and their messages were becoming a commodity
in the music industry. Especially after seeing the widespread attention surrounding gangster rap
in L.A., many began to see that Hip-Hop could become a commercial successthat it wasnt just
a fad. However, in order to become truly successful, many MCs including Too $hort, Ice-T, and
Hammer took the prerogative to produce radio-friendly songs in order to appeal to larger
audiences. (Abe, 2013, p. 183). These artists had the walk the fine line of sticking true to their
Hip Hop roots while keeping their songs profanity-free. And, as later stated in 6 N the Morning,
all three of these aforementioned MCs were especially successful in promoting [themselves] as
true b-boys thus propelling themselves into mainstream appeal (p. 192). You had Ice-T
rapping about his life in urban street life in his song, High Rollers in a much more insightful
way when compared to say, NWA. However, while this didnt contain any profanity thats
typically characteristic of the rap genre, this cautionary tale still kept to its Hip Hop roots as a
song of elevationIce-T raps, Speed of life fast / Its like walkin barefoot over broken glass /
Its like jumpin rope on a razor blade / All lighting quick decisions are made. (1988).
Not too long after, you had white kids in the suburbs who were drawn to rap by virtue of
its fierce energy and its downbeat lifestyle (p. 207). And these werent just your average
white young peoplemany were the White sons of affluent Agoura Hills and Westlake Village

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residents, who spend good money on keeping Crips and Bloods out of their neighborhoods (p.
207). Definitely a strange, yet rather unsurprising dichotomy to say the least.
During the general years that these MCs were gaining widespread recognition however,
that things in L.A. just seemed to be getting worse and worse. Gang violence ensued with
Minister Farrakhan leading efforts to lessen the friction; the influx of drugs continued to pose an
issue; and above them all, police misdemeanors were finally coming under the limelight
especially after the heavily covered Rodney King case. Protests began to rise up and the city was
in a state of great unrest. And as leading anti-police brutality activist, Michael Zinznun states in
Cant Stop Wont Stop (2006), This community has got to realize that an unstable Black
community means an unstable L.A. (p. 369). Adding to this disorder, the infamous 1992 L.A.
riots and the ensuing protests just goes to show how infuriated these Black communities were
with how they were being treated by the predominately white authorities. At the end of the day,
everything was in shambles, and the same cry was heard all across the city: No justice no
peace (p. 370).

Figure 1. Dramatic photograph of the L.A. riots in 1992.

I think its very important to realize and acknowledge these historical, and arguably
ongoing, facts as we consider our own Hip Hop archives. Knowing the source material and
giving credit to the people and events that led them on these specific paths should be central to
our Hip Hop archiving philosophy. Because without everything that happened in L.A. over the
past several decades, Hip Hop definitely would not be what it is to day.

Figure 2. My element for this weekI found that in our cipher presentation this week
that the L.A. locale really served as the center of our discussions. Also, L.A. definitely did seem
to breathe some new air into Hip Hop.

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References
Chang, J. (2006). Loop 4 in Can't stop, won't stop: A history of the hip-hop generation (1st
Picador ed.). New York: Picador.
Abe, D. (2013). (p. 94-163). In 6 'n the morning: West Coast hip-hop music, 1987-1992 & the
transformation of mainstream culture. United States: Over the Edge Publishing.
McGlasson, Carter. (2016, May 11). B Boy Fever One Guest Speaker 4.0. Lecture presented at
Archiving Hip Hop in the Pacific Northwest in University of Washington, Seattle.
Glenn, C., (1989). High Rollers [Recorded by Ice-T]. On Power [Record]. Burbank, CA: Warner
Bros. Records.