B.I.G. Misunderstanding

This week in class we talked about Adorno's theory of popular music. Two things I found most interesting about this theory are the idea of passive listening, and that of a rhythmically obedient listener. As a class we discussed how these two items apply to the popularity of rap music in our culture. For me, I was immediately reminded of a little phenomenon that occurred at my high school last year.

Last January, "Notorious" was released in theaters. The movie is a story of the life and death of rapper Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. Biggie). Biggie, whose rap reign peaked right bef

ore his death in the late 1990's, is hailed as one of the best rappers of all time. Although most have heard of him, many have not heard his music. However that all changed when "Notorious" came to theaters, and half of my high school flocked to see it. Suddenly after the movie, I couldn't go anywhere without hearing "Juicy," "Hypnotize," or any other Biggie song. Whereas before car rides and parties would be filled by the sounds of the pop charts top 40 songs, Biggie had taken over our social atmosphere. His racy songs were even played in the high school gym. My white, middle class schoolmates (myself included) who had never faced real hardships like those Biggie rapped about could suddenly recite every word, with the same inflection and tone used by the rapper.

Here is a prime example of passive listening and how it works to create rhythmically obedient listeners. No one really payed attention to the words, and what they meant. We instead liked the beat, and the fact that we could all bond by singing the words of the rap legend. Listening to Biggie was a social activity as opposed to listening to the message behind the rap. We all became so entranced by the aura surrounding the movie, we forgot what we were actually listening to. Raps about stealing, drugs, and sex were what we listened to for weeks on end... but none of us ever really stopped to think about the contrast it presented to our own suburban high school lives. We just wanted to dance to it. We had all become passive, rhythmically obedient listeners.