Who Got the Camera? : : A History of Rap and Reality / / Eric Harvey.
Reality first appeared in the late 1980s—in the sense not of real life but rather of the TV entertainment genre inaugurated by shows such as Cops and America’s Most Wanted; the daytime gabfests of Geraldo, Oprah, and Donahue; and the tabloid news of A Current Affair. In a bracing work of cultural cr...
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Superior document: | Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2021 English |
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Place / Publishing House: | Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021] ©2021 |
Year of Publication: | 2021 |
Language: | English |
Series: | American Music Series
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Online Access: | |
Physical Description: | 1 online resource (343 p.) |
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Other title: | Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Preface: Eavesdropping -- Introduction: The Strength of Street Knowledge -- 1. Peace Is a Dream, Reality Is a Knife -- 2. Don’t Quote Me, Boy, ’Cause I Ain’t Said Shit -- 3. Get Me the Hell Away from This TV -- 4. I’m Gonna Treat You Like King! -- 5. Who Got the Camera? -- 6. Stop Being Polite and Start Getting Real -- 7. 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted -- Conclusion: Deeper Than Rap -- Notes -- Index |
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Summary: | Reality first appeared in the late 1980s—in the sense not of real life but rather of the TV entertainment genre inaugurated by shows such as Cops and America’s Most Wanted; the daytime gabfests of Geraldo, Oprah, and Donahue; and the tabloid news of A Current Affair. In a bracing work of cultural criticism, Eric Harvey argues that reality TV emerged in dialog with another kind of entertainment that served as its foil while borrowing its techniques: gangsta rap. Or, as legendary performers Ice Cube and Ice-T called it, “reality rap.” Reality rap and reality TV were components of a cultural revolution that redefined popular entertainment as a truth-telling medium. Reality entertainment borrowed journalistic tropes but was undiluted by the caveats and context that journalism demanded. While N.W.A.’s “Fuck tha Police” countered Cops’ vision of Black lives in America, the reality rappers who emerged in that group’s wake, such as Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tupac Shakur, embraced reality’s visceral tabloid sensationalism, using the media's obsession with Black criminality to collapse the distinction between image and truth. Reality TV and reality rap nurtured the world we live in now, where politics and basic facts don’t feel real until they have been translated into mass-mediated entertainment. |
Format: | Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web. |
ISBN: | 9781477323946 9783110754001 9783110753776 9783110754124 9783110753899 9783110745276 |
DOI: | 10.7560/321348 |
Access: | restricted access |
Hierarchical level: | Monograph |
Statement of Responsibility: | Eric Harvey. |