Benjamin Rush Miller-Rios BKA BenFlowz Research

Goal

 * The goal of this 'class' is to get 3 credits, while actually doing something you care about. A novel concept in academia. I am required to compose 20 pages (though these pages may be split into multiple articles) and turn them into the venerable Robin Ballinger for review. This is not where I shall stop as I am more interested in ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING with these writings, in terms of publishing them somewhere or submitting them as conference papers.


 * The results of the 12 studio credits are diverse but can best be viewed at benflowz.com or artivism.net. Also, check out my homeboy DraMatiQue. Peace and Love, much respect.

Proposal, Beneath the Surface: Culture, Music, and the Modern World

 * Many people view history as an unnecessary, often irrelevant subject; a pre-requisite and often a dull requirement. While I agree that popular text-book representations of ages past are indeed unexciting (not to mention misleading), the truth is that a thorough understanding of the past can only strengthen the execution of present and future projects. Whether in art, sociology, or any other area of study the fore-mothers’ and fathers’ progress is not to be ignored, but rather used as a stepping stone to a higher plateau.
 * Through rigorous research within the fields of sociology, politics, media, and race relations I hope to gain a fuller understanding of the modern corporate machine in connection with the music industry. This, paired with biographical and business texts coming from various disciplines, and personal experience gained during the work outlined in my studio proposal, will result in a deeper understanding of music’s role in modern western societies. This particular genre is of utmost interest because of its now global impact. I view its resonant effects as a truly symbolic sign of our ever-expanding, globalized planet. While on one hand this new-found glory presents a threat to the purity and intent of the culture, it also presents never-before imagined opportunities for advancement not only for its direct participants but those involved in an array of seemingly unconnected subject matters. These subjects include racism, culture, nationalism, sexuality, politics, and in my personal views, on one level or another, the entirety of world concerns.
 * my Reading list

Objectives Review & Brainstorm

 * History can be perceived as dull, irrelevant, a pre-requisite
 * A thorough understanding of the history of a subject can help to build a higher plateau for present and future activities.
 * What will I be researching? Key scholars and theories related to the fields of sociology, politics, media, and race relations.
 * Why would I research these things? So that I can better understand the corporate, cultural, political, and racial atmosphere that exists (through construction) in the modern music/entertainment industry. My interests are specific to the hip-hop genre although my research is varied.
 * Field research: personal experience, interviews, and other documentation/events that occur in concurrence with my studio practices (especially Section 3: Performance Documentation).
 * I will consider the roles of music in western societies….
 * How does hip-hop support and/or subvert this western role for music?
 * Why has Hip-Hop become so popular globally?
 * What is hip-hop doing that other musical genres/art forms are not doing?
 * How does this particular genre effect racism, culture, nationalism, sexuality, politics, world concerns, etc? How could it? Should it?


 * Objectives:
 * As spelled out in the proposal form from SFAI I am required to compose a 20-page essay (or collection of essays). I plan to meet the 20 page minimum guideline through a collection of related essays on my intended research topic. These essays will be useful as individual entities but will be far more effective as one body of work.

Idea’s for essays:

 * Merchants of Cool:
 * How does the mainstream media capitalize on sub-cultures? How can this process subdue a potentially powerful movement? What’s the difference between media and politics? (Questions of representation) An exploration into Hip-Hop’s image and it’s pop-iffication. (more powerful of weaker because of this?) Is Hip-Hop just another Jazz or Blues?
 * Global spread of capitalism concurrent w/ the ‘deritualizing’ of music’s ‘old codes.’
 * How does music and performance subvert traditional hegemonic forms of discourse?
 * Race= music is not inherently a ‘color’ but strangely it is often assigned a racial color.
 * Challenges capitalism because it creates pleasure in being rather than having.
 * Similarly legally music is Intellectual Property…. It is only materialized through its manufacturing methods. Though a CD is grounded in its physicality the music itself is not so easily contained, grounded, controlled.
 * Music sold materially through CDs and records but how have MP3’s challenged the capitalization of musical products? Performance? How have music video’s become so powerful? Are they related at all to this physical/intangible battle between music’s inherently free qualities and capitalism’s intrinsic profit gaining conventions?


 * THE WU-TANG CLAN IS FOR THE BABIES!!! – O.D.B.
 * What has/does/can the culture of Hip-Hop do for kids?
 * A truly anthropological study into this subject through field research, mostly by way of interviews with local youth and young adults involved with or a fan of Hip-Hop
 * Developing a set of questions and then performing an analysis of responses. What is Hip-Hop? Why know history/your roots?


 * Hip-Hop is Multi-Cultural, Biotchhh.
 * WeBLOG from Brian Kambayashi BKA MasAmor of the multi-cultural California/Hawaii based Hip-Hop crew the Evolutionaries.
 * DJ Dmadness- Asian DJ who also teaches 7th grade English and History in Oakland, CA.
 * The rise of Latin Hip-Hop- the late Big Pun, Pitbull, Fat Joe, (Serg, local Fillmoe resident)
 * Shamako Noble, 2nd president of the Hip-Hop Congress
 * DJ Mpenzi – Nigerian DJ now residing in Oakland, runs an after-school program at San Francisco’s Washington High School including a summer program that teaches kids to run Pro Tools and other music recording software.
 * All whitey then: Eminen, Bubba Sparxxx, Necro, Vanilla Ice, Doujah Raze, etc.
 * The old-school diversity: Wildstyle, Style Wars (both graffiti based) Ray AKA Zoro, Zephyr, Lady Pink, etc.


 * Hip-Hop …. Culture vs. Music. Entertainment vs. Lifestyle....