Hip-hop Takes a Victory Lap

文/G. M. 奧斯丁 譯/王一宇

South by Southwest11每年在美國得克薩斯州首府奧斯汀市舉辦的電影、交互式多媒體和音樂藝術節，始于1987年。(SXSW) may lure more than 250,000 people to Austin each year to learn about and experience technology, film and video gaming, but music has always been the festival’s raison d’être2raison d’être〈法語〉存在的原因。.

[2] Though indie rock has long prevailed, this year it was hip-hop that dominated both the conference rooms and the music venues. There was training and tutelage3tutelage指導；輔導。: young aspiring rappers participated in freestyle rap meetups and lined up to get career advice from celebrated managers. Newer artists looked at how the genre is evolving; experienced practitioners performed and contemplated how far it had come.

[3] This was partly prompted by the release of Nielsen’s year-end report on American listening habits in 2017. For the first time, hip-hop surpassed rock as the most popular variety, accounting for seven of the ten most-consumed albums. As listenership has grown—in large thanks to streaming services—so has the pool of talent.

西南偏南文化節或許可以每年吸引超過25萬人去奧斯汀了解和體驗科技、電影、電子游戲，但是音樂才始終是西南偏南文化節存在的原因。

[2]盡管獨立搖滾盛行已久，但今年，占據會議室和音樂舞臺重要位置的卻是嘻哈。嘻哈產業有訓練和指導機制：胸懷抱負的年輕說唱歌手們參與即興說唱聚會，并一一得到知名經理人的職業建議。嘻哈新秀們揣摩這一藝術類型演化的未來走向，經驗豐富的習藝者們則展示并思索嘻哈過往的發展歷程。

[3]尼爾森發布的2017年美國音頻用戶研究年終報告起了一定的推動作用。報告顯示，嘻哈首次超越搖滾，成為最受歡迎的音樂形式，在十張最熱銷專輯中占據七席。隨著嘻哈聽眾數量增加（一定程度上得益于流媒體服務的發展），嘻哈人才數量也在增加。

[4] Hip-hop sub-genres have popped up on platforms like SoundCloud and YouTube, providing a huge volume of music.

[5] But SXSW was also amplifying conversations about legacy that have been going on in the hip-hop community for some time. “All Eyez on Me”,a recent biopic of Tupac Shakur, was criticised for failing to capture the mythology of the man, and dismissed as“rarely more than a faithful adaptation of [his] Wikipedia entry”. Documentaries abound about his murder in 1996.

[6] When young rappers such as Lil Xan4原名邁爾斯·帕克斯·麥科勒姆（Miles Parks McCollum），美國說唱歌手。and Lil Yachty5美國說唱歌手，出生于加利福尼亞州。have criticised artists such as Shakur and Notorious B.I,G. as “boring” and “overrated”, the comments have been met with outrage.Long-time followers such as P. Frank Williams, an Emmy Award-winning producer and writer, stated that hip-hop cannot move forward without appreciating its past.

[7] Young rappers don’t always agree.In 2016, Lil Yachty asked: “If I’m doing this my way and making all this money,why should I do it how everybody says it’s supposed to be done?”

[4]嘻哈的子類型接連不斷地出現在SoundCloud和YouTube等平臺上，涌現出大量的音樂作品。

[5]但“西南偏南”也在加強關于音樂遺產的討論力度，而這些討論已在嘻哈社群中持續了一段時間。最近上映的圖派克·夏庫爾自傳電影《萬眾矚目》被批評未能展現他的“未知生活”，還被貶損為“只是他維基百科個人條目的忠實改編”。關于1996年夏庫爾謀殺案的文件數不勝數。

[6]當Lil Xan、Lil Yachty等年輕說唱歌手批評夏庫爾、聲名狼藉先生等從藝者“無聊”且“過譽”時，許多人對這樣的評論感到憤怒。嘻哈樂鐵粉，包括艾美獎得主、制作人和編劇的P.弗蘭克·威廉姆斯，曾表示，如果年輕歌手不尊重歷史，嘻哈無法繼續前進。

[7]年輕說唱歌手們則不盡同意。2016年，Lil Yachty問道：“如果我用自己的方式唱歌并掙了這么多錢，為什么還要按照別人所說的方式去做？”

[8] Skyy Hook, a radio presenter, was inspired by these public critiques to host a panel about Shakur’s legacy at SXSW.Rappers Money B6龍·布魯克斯（Ron Brooks）的藝名。, E.D.I. Mean7馬爾科姆·格里尼奇（Malcolm Greenidge）的藝名。and other panellists unanimously agreed that Shakur is one of the most talented rappers in the hip-hop canon, and that young performers need to appreciate the history of the music if they are to innovate.

[9] Other hip-hop creators told humorous and heartfelt stories about a life spent in pursuit of freedom, fame or wealth. Forbes interviewed U-God,a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, about the hip-hop collective’s rise to fame in the 1990s. Theodore Livingston—aka“Grand Wizzard Theodore”, a DJ—explained to the crowd that his mother is largely responsible for the invention of “scratching” and the needle drop,two techniques central to hip-hop music. Mr Livingston, 55, stated that his mother barged into his bedroom in 1975 to tell him to turn down his music, so he stopped the record from spinning on a turntable with his hand and moved it gently back and forth. (Some still find the story implausible.)

[8]受到這些公眾批評的觸動，電臺主持人斯凱·胡克在“西南偏南”主持了關于夏庫爾音樂遺產的圓桌會議，Money B和E. D. I. Mean等嘻哈歌手和其他與會成員一致認為夏庫爾是經典嘻哈樂中最有才華的歌手之一，年輕歌手們若想創新，需要尊重嘻哈樂歷史。

[9]其他嘻哈創作者則講述了他們畢生追求自由、名聲或財富之旅中詼諧而動人的故事：《福布斯》曾采訪美國嘻哈樂隊“武當派”成員U-God，討論20世紀90年代嘻哈歌手的集體崛起。昵稱“大巫師西奧多”的嘻哈音樂人、55歲的西奧多·利文斯頓曾向公眾說明，嘻哈樂兩項重要的技術，即“刮擦”唱片和“唱針落下”，很大程度是受他母親啟發而發明的——在1975年，他母親曾沖入他的臥室，并要求他調低音樂聲，于是他用手緩緩地在旋轉唱盤上來回刮擦，使唱片最終停下。（不過至今仍有人不相信這個故事。）

[10] In tandem with8in tandem with并駕齊驅；同時實行。this introspection, there is a growing sense that hiphop is a subject worthy of serious study and reflection. Harvard University established the Hiphop Archive and Research Institute 16 years ago. In November, Stanford hosted a symposium dedicated to discussing the “liberatory possibilities” of hip-hop pedagogy in classrooms. Last month, the Oakland Museum of California opened “Respect:Hip Hop Style and Wisdom”, an exhibit that uses photography, video, art, music,dance and fashion to explore the genre’s cultural and social significance. The crowning jewel will be the Universal Hip-Hop Museum, scheduled to open its doors in 2022 in a 60,000 squarefoot facility in the Bronx, where hiphop originated. It will feature archives,exhibits, interactive displays, performances, film screenings and classes aimed at showing, explaining and discussing hip-hop culture.

[11] The conversation, at SXSW and elsewhere, is about more than nostalgia. History has always been a huge component of hip-hop: “knowledge” is considered the fifth of five “pillars” of the culture (the others are graf fiti, MC-ing, Bboying, and DJing). It has, from its inception, been a platform for black Americans and minority ethnic communities to give voice to their experiences of injustice. Shakur’s politicised, urgent lyrics often made reference to the Black Panthers, of which his parents were members, and the need to break free of oppressive governments and hypocritical notions of the American Dream.

[10]伴隨著嘻哈音樂人的自我反省，越來越多的人認識到嘻哈樂是值得研究和反思的對象：16年前，哈佛大學建立了嘻哈檔案和研究所；2017年11月，斯坦福大學召開研討會討論嘻哈教學法進入課堂的“開放可能性”；2018年3月，加州奧克蘭博物館舉辦了“尊重：嘻哈風格和智慧”展覽會，運用攝影、錄像、美術、音樂、舞蹈和時尚來探索這種曲風在文化和社會方面的重要性；計劃于2022年開館的國際嘻哈博物館最值得一提，該館在嘻哈發源地布朗克斯區占地6萬平方英尺，它將主要通過檔案、展覽、交互式顯示屏、演出、電影、課堂教學這些博覽形式，展示、闡釋并討論嘻哈文化。

[11]無論是“西南偏南”還是其他各地關于嘻哈的討論都不僅僅是為了懷舊。歷史一直是嘻哈極其重要的組成部分，“知識”被看作是嘻哈文化第五大“支柱”（其他四個支柱是涂鴉、說唱、街舞、打碟）。從一開始，它就一直是非裔美國人和其他少數族群表達他們所經歷不公的平臺。夏庫爾帶有急切政治主張的歌詞中常常提及黑豹黨的觀點（其父母便是黑豹黨成員），呼吁要掙脫暴虐政府的枷鎖和打破虛偽的“美國夢”概念。

[12] As race relations have worsened in recent years, consumption of hiphop has increased. “Alright”, Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-nominated song,became a sort of de facto9de facto〈拉丁語〉事實上的。anthem for the Black Lives Matter10“黑人生命值得尊重”運動，由非裔美國人最先發起，反對針對黑人的暴力和歧視，與“所有生命值得尊重”（All Lives Matter）運動相對。movement,and Jay-Z’s Grammy-nominated album“4:44” explored racism and the black experience.

[13] Modern hip-hop musicians,whatever they think of their predecessors’ musical contributions, are similarly engaged in protest and speaking truth to power: the lyrics of early tracks still resonate. Regardless of how it innovates and changes, that will be hip-hop’s legacy. ■

[12]近年來，隨著美國種族問題的惡化，嘻哈樂越來越多地進入公眾視野。肯德里克·拉馬爾的格萊美最佳說唱歌曲提名作品《一切安好》某種程度上成為了“黑人生命值得尊重”運動實際意義上的主題曲；Jay-Z的格萊美最佳專輯提名作品《4：44》探究了美國的種族主義和非裔美國人的遭遇。

[13]無論當代嘻哈音樂人如何看待前輩的音樂貢獻，他們在向強權抗議、為真理發聲的立場是相似的：他們的歌詞都呼應了早期嘻哈樂的精神。無論嘻哈樂如何創新和變化，這都終將成為嘻哈樂的寶貴財富。 □