Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


NORMANNTHESISFINAL1.pdf (464.85 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Art is Not a Crime: Hip-Hop, Urban Geography, and Political Imaginaries in Detroit

Normann, Andrew J
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1503059494063247

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, Music Ethnomusicology.
This thesis examines the relationship between hip-hop culture, urban geography, and politics in Detroit, Michigan. I begin by discussing the work of the hip-hop music and arts collective the Raiz Up collective from Southwest Detroit. After discussing the political situation out of which this group of artists emerged, I describe how the Raiz Up works in their community to mediate the spatial antagonisms spawned by the city’s urban development policies. Specifically, I argue that the work of this collective articulates the structural interconnections of issues separated by space and time. Next, I write about visual artist Tyree Guyton’s neighborhood installation the Heidelberg Project and the hip hop and theater group Complex Movements’ piece “Beware of the Dandelions.” My analysis of these two pieces frames them as critical aesthetic and political interventions into urban design itself. Additionally, I argue that these pieces gesture towards alternative political possibilities regarding urban spatial organization. Finally, I analyze the track “Detroit vs. Everybody” by a variety of Detroit hip-hop artists and the work of rapper Danny Brown. My discussion of these songs emphasizes the extent to which they critique media narratives of Detroit’s “revitalization.” Additionally, I suggest that these tracks articulate the precarity that characterizes marginalized subjects’ movements through space.
Sidra Lawrence, PhD (Advisor)
Katherine Meizel, PhD (Committee Member)
Clayton Rosati, PhD (Committee Member)
94 p.
Music
Hip-Hop, Aesthetics; African-American Studies; Political Economy; Neoliberalism; Geography; Critical Geography

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Normann, A. J. (2018). Art is Not a Crime: Hip-Hop, Urban Geography, and Political Imaginaries in Detroit [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1503059494063247

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Normann, Andrew. Art is Not a Crime: Hip-Hop, Urban Geography, and Political Imaginaries in Detroit. 2018. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1503059494063247.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Normann, Andrew. "Art is Not a Crime: Hip-Hop, Urban Geography, and Political Imaginaries in Detroit." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1503059494063247

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1503059494063247
667
© 2018, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Art is Not a Crime: Hip-Hop, Urban Geography, and Political Imaginaries in Detroit by Andrew J Normann is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.