* ** . ■4, ,/.-,¾ hip hop culture and the production of black cinem a /\ A r ־־-־.•:£ 4% ¾ : LJ jft)¾§¾§5| /J' .J*ft • j 1- wllO^ p I , [ » W uM m rr. i » F 1 hip hop culture and the production of black cinem a In this engaging and provocative book, S. Craig Watkins examines tw o of the most im portant developments in the recent history of black cinema—the ascendancy of Spike Lee and the proliferation of “ghettocentric film s” like Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society. Representing explores a distinct contradiction in American society: at the same time that black youth have become the targets of a fierce racial backlash against crime, drugs, affirmative action, and rap music, their popular expressive cultures have become highly visible and commercially viable. Further, Watkins considers the imprint of black youth on the land- scape of black filmmaking. He asks: after decades of neglect, why did the film industry suddenly develop a heightened interest in black cinema? Watkins shows how the black film wave was driven by several factors— the transformation of the popular film industry; a reinvigorated independent filmmaking niche; the cross-m arketing of music, video, and film; a burgeoning hip hop consumer culture; and historically specific struggles over the meanings and representations of “blackness” in American culture. (continued on back flap) hip hop culture and the production of black cinema THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS / CHICAGO AND LONDON S. Craig Watkins is assistant professor of Sociology, African American Studies, and Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 1998 by S. Craig Watkins All rights reserved. Published 1998 Printed in the United States of America 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 12 3 4 5 ISBN: 0-226-87488-5 (cloth) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Watkins, S. Craig (Samuel Craig) Representing: Hip hop culture and the production of Black cinema / S. Craig Watkins, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-226-87488-5 (cloth : alk. paper). 1. Afro-Americans in motion pictures. 2. Afro-American motion picture producers and directors. 3. Hip-hop. I. Title. PN1995.9.N4W38 1998 791.43652396073׳—dc21 97-43151 CIP © The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. To my mother and the memory of my father. Words cannot express how your love, strength, and sacrifices continue to sustain me. With the warmest of gratitude to young African Americans, whose creativity and resilience inspired this book. Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Black Youth at Century's End PART ONE Social Conservatism and the Culture Wars Black Youth and the Ironies of Capitalism Black Cinema and the Changing Landscape of Industrial Image Making PART TWO Producing the Spike Lee Joint Spike's Joint PART THREE Producing Ghetto Pictures The Ghettocentric Imagination Epilogue: The Culture Industry and the Hip Hop Generation contents 245 Notes 283 Bibliography 305 Index viii Preface Black youth are not the passive victims of history but are instead ac- tively involved in its making. In the chapters that unfold, I consider some of the creative ways in which black youth intervene in the social world around them. And while my aim is to develop a better apprecia- tion for the cultural politics of black youth, I also understand that their innovations do not take shape outside the compelling currents of his- tory. So in addition to discussing the vitality of black youth popular cul- tures, it is important to map the social and historical terrain upon which their practices take shape. To the extent that it is even possible to discern elements of ideologi- cal struggle in the popular expressive cultures created by black youth, we must understand the social and historical specificity of these forma- tions. If the cultural practices of black youth represent distinct forms of resistance, an immediate question emerges: What are black youth opposing? To be sure, the expressive cultures of black youth are not produced in a vacuum but rather in relation to social, economic, and po- litical conditions from which new forms of social antagonism and polit- ical struggle become possible. One way of understanding the counteri- deological possibilities of black youth popular cultures is to discuss them in relation to other socially circulating discourses. Moreover, by examining how racially inflected themes, ideas, and representations are socially produced and strategically fashioned to strengthen the making of competing political voices, we can begin to understand the intona- tions that give black youth popular cultures their distinctive resonance. The cultural practices of black youth are very much related to the discourses about race, youth, gender, and societal change that circulate throughout the orbit of public discourses. And while this book focuses on the continually evolving symbolic practices played out on the terrain of popular media culture, it also acknowledges that cultural and repre- sentational politics are played out in other locations. The insurgent presidential campaign of Patrick Buchanan in 1992 is a convincing example.