Stuart Hall's What Is This Black In Black Popular Culture?

In Stuart Hall’s “What is This “Black” in Black Popular Culture?” the historical implication of popular culture in the U.S is examined and the influence that blackness has in it is deconstructed. According to the text, the departure of European concepts of culture after WWII sparked a hegemonic shift as the United States emerged as a world power. Due to this, the U.S. became the epicenter of global culture production. However, since America has always had a large ethnic population due to slavery, the true face of American popular culture was black American vernacular traditions. Even today, slang that emerge from black ghettos and communities become highly popular with people of other races. In fact, much of black culture is not just our culture,

As Kendrick entered the stage shackled to his black comrades with a soulful saxophone playing in the background, it is obvious that the imagery of imprisonment was a commentary on incarceration in America and its similarities with slavery. By amplifying this modern twist on slavery, Kendrick provokes American viewers to reflect on the struggles that black Americans still go through today. At the start of his performance he goes on to rap “I’m African-American — I’m African” as if he was correcting himself. This isn’t surprising as black identity is hard to establish in a country that implicitly detests you, but explicitly fetishizes your culture. Stuart Hall discusses this in his text when he states, “’the primitive is a modern problem, a crisis in cultural identity’…the modernist construction of primitivism, the fetishistic recognition and disavowal of the primitive difference” (Hall 125). There is no wonder why Kendrick, like many African-Americans, finds comfort in placing his identity with the mother land rather than his true country of origin. How can the black multitude stand in solidarity with a country who will continuously praise black culture but refuse to recognize the black struggle? Kendrick Lamar then conjures imagery of Africa, where he danced and rapped in front of a raging bonfire, one of the most powerful imagery included in his entire performance. One can interpret

As it opens with imagery reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, an event that devastated the black communities in the areas affected. The delayed assistance in New Orleans by the U.S. government stirred some controversy that led many to question how much America really cares about its black communities. Nonetheless, Beyoncé’s video is full of imagery that is associated with black culture, including historical references to black communities in the south. But what is really important about “Formation” are the lyrics. With lyrics like “My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana, You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas Bama” and “I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros, I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils,” Beyoncé is undoubtedly declaring her pride for her blackness as well as defending her child Blue Ivy who has always been scrutinized for the way her hair looked. Thus, this song is obviously geared toward the Black community which is obvious due to the lyrics and the imagery in the music video. To put it plainly, this song is a proclamation of Black pride and shouldn’t be thought of in any other way. However, after performing it at the Super Bowl people of other ethnicities became aware of the song and became offended by her performance as well as the lyrics. Controversy arose as people pointed out her backup dancers were dressed similarly to the Black Panther