Head Rush: Hip Hop and a Hawaiian Nation ‘On the Rise’
As I read this article, I was able to deeply relate to many of the frustrations and struggles of Native Hawaiians. As a Native American AND an African American, I can relate to the subjugation and belittlement that Native Hawaiians have experienced. As the article mentioned, the Hawaiians are people who are “disempowered in their own land, where they comprise 20 percent of its population.” At The Hawaii Nation website, you can find a wealth of information about the illegal overthrow of Hawaii and efforts that are being made for Hawaiian sovereignty.
Hip hop is a medium that allows the user to express their emotions in a direct and straightforward manner. Hip hop takes away the complexity and hidden meaning that music can often have and strips it down to its essence. Don Ke’ala Kawa’auhau mentioned that hip hop allows the user to “say exactly what you feel.” Hawaiian language rap is referred to as “nā mele pāleoleo,” mele meaning song and pāleoleo meaning talking loudly. Speakers of Hawaiian language drew upon outside influences, such as Jamaican music rhythms and African American hip hop to express the political sentiments of the Hawaiian people. The structure of Hawaiian language was a perfect fit for these new musical stylings. Jawaiian music and Hawaiian hip hop also spoke to the Hawaiian youth and made them want to become activists for their cause. Imada mentions:
“Sudden Rush... incorporated Hawaiian politics and youth culture into music associated with urban Black experiences. While capitalism often values people of color as consumers… than as respected workers and community members, Sudden Rush deliberately consumes commercial culture and spits it back out in the form of hip hop… Sudden Rush deeply identifies with African Americans and other people of color who have suffered under racial capitalism.”
Music itself is a language. Even though it may evolve and change over the years, the fundamentals of it remain the same. It is used to express emotions and sentiments that can be difficult to express through normal spoken language. The performers of Sudden Rush, whose website can be found here, used rap instead of traditional Hawaiian music to help others feel what they were feeling. For Sudden Rush, it wasn’t about “trying to be Black,” but more about helping non-Hawaiians to understand the struggles of the Hawaiian community. The lyrics do not recommend that the Hawaiian community stage a violent uprising, but rather that Hawaiians as a people should stand up for what they believe in and what is right.
It's a sign of the times - kids taking new forms of music, blending it with the old, and creating something unexpected, something too loud, and something too catchy. Sudden Rush was able to do this and created lyrics that eventually reached out and started interest in the groups that needed to be reached - the common person on the street. It's all fine and dandy when there are college educated adults pushing for changes in the system in order to right the wrongs, but without the rest of the people understanding what happened, what went wrong, and why things must change there most likely be enough pressure to keep the movement going. It's not enough for the educated elite to push for change, there has to be common support behind it as well, which we see in America with Obama.
ReplyDeleteI believe hip hop and music plays a major role in a culture's language and traditions. I think music is a language in itself because music conveys people's feelings and emotion. It’s a way for some people to communicate to others about their true self. Under music comes lot of subcategories or sublanguages like hip hop, jazz, blues, etc. These are all types of music and different ways of expressing one’s self. All of these are effective ways of communication through language. Hawaiians and African Americans demonstrate music and hip hop very well from the past and even currently in our society.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I found out more why some Hawaiians now still want their own kingdom. Because they do not feel like they are at their home. Author Imada compared Native Hawaiians to Afro-American, it is easier to wake up the young people and tell them they are conquered by other people. They do not have a place belonging to themselves. Sudden Rush used hip hop as a bridge connecting young Hawaiians to the history intentionally. Music is always a good language to express one's idea and also an entertainment. Sudden Rush said preaching is not only the reason they created the music and also for entertainment. Young people love hip hop. Even before they know nothing about their ancestor's suffering, they will realize from the music, which may encourage them to take action to preserve their own culture and do something for sovereign.
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