Professor David Canton. Photo from conncoll.edu.
Meet David Canton. He’s an Associate Professor of History, Director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity and the man behind popular courses such as the student-favorite, “History of Hip-Hop Music and Culture.” I sat down with him this week to chat about hip-hop and television.
Obviously hip-hop is a personal interest of yours, but when did you decide to start researching it and pursuing it as an academic subject?
The first idea I had was in grad school in ’92. I was about 23 years old – I didn’t pursue it, I wish I would have – but then I started thinking about hip-hop as a viable academic subject due to the amount of music that was out, the popularity from MTV Raps and all the coverage it faced. It’s obviously something that needs to be studied, like jazz, like blues. It’s something that has a big impact on our society; it’s a billion-dollar industry. But it was something I appreciated, something I saw develop from its infancy up to where it is now. But with the birth of technology I find myself having a hard time keeping up due to a lot of underground rappers and a whole other side of hip-hop that I’m not familiar with. Nonetheless, though, it’s something I like doing, and I try to give students a way to historicize it within a context of American popular culture.
Did you ever try to get involved in hip-hop yourself?
To be honest, I tried the graffiti thing for a minute, the breakdance – not really. My parents were West Indian, and my mother was just not into it. For her, hip-hop was ghetto music, and we’re working-class, so it’s a waste of time. Pursuing that for a career, she wouldn’t really feel that. Go to school. So if they’re not into it I’m not going to waste my time.
Who do you enjoy listening to?
I’m a Kanye fan, big. His production is good, and I think he has different styles. He doesn’t have to rely on being real or pretending to be broke, this is who he is – I like that – it’s honest. “I wanna do the right thing but damn it’s easy to do the wrong thing if you’re worth millions of dollars.” I think Drake sounds like Kanye in terms of delivery and style. There’s an XXL article about how that whole “gangsta” trope is dead, and it’s going back to just lyrical skills. Whether you got shot fifty times, that doesn’t have to be part of the deal anymore. So like Rick Ross, even though he was a correctional officer, his stuff is popular. Now he’s not the guy he pretends to be, but did you ever believe he knew Noriega! Come on now! 50’s been on him for like the past two years but it didn’t impact his record sales. Doesn’t matter anymore if you grew up in the city or in the suburbs. If you’ve got skills, you’re going to sell. Soulja Boy – even if you don’t have skills, you can have skills with the technology. Anybody can make it now. My son could be a star!
What do you think about all the college kids who are rappers now?
Well, we have that too. One of the students said she didn’t like them because the stories got repetitive. College drinking party, well she sees it every day, so she got tired of it. Basically, they’re reporting what they know. But after awhile it’s like, what else can we expand upon? That’s when we get into Eminem, because he can’t talk gangsta or talk black tropes, so he just talks about crazy stuff. Killing his mother, killing his wife, choking people, there’s some crazy stuff, but that’s what he sells. It’s a spectacle, because he can’t say the other stuff – he’s white and he knows that. So I’m gonna be crazy and say, “I’m gonna choke my mother, I hate her, kick her in the stomach,” and all that.
Do you value sound or lyricism more?
I used to always sit down and listen. That’s how it was when I heard Main Source when they came out. You had to sit down and listen. But now, because my life is so hectic and I’m driving, I need something entertaining. I can’t listen to Lupé in the car. One “What did he say?” and csshhh, you get in an accident. I can’t take the time out to sit down and just say, “Okay, wow, that’s creative.” I need something that keeps me going. So I’ve become the person that I critiqued ten years ago.
What are some of your favorite TV shows?
TV now, to be honest, I do Weeds, Dexter, believe it or not I’m watching Desperate Housewives. [Laughs.] I’m back in it for some reason.
How did you get into that?
Housewives? I was into it originally, but then with The Sopranos last year I bumped out and this year I just got in. I saw Vanessa Williams was back, the storylines are pretty interesting, one lost their house, so they’re broke, the Latino family’s gonna find their biological daughter, and their daughter now is overweight and she’s an ex-model, so I’m assuming the biological one is gonna be, you know, pretty and tall. So I just need to take the time out and sit down, and make a list and get into the shows, because I think for a while cable was killing it. But now Modern Family’s doing well, The Office, you know. The Wire, that’s incredible. You watch The Wire?
I’ve seen parts, I need to just –
Get the whole thing. Gotta get it, The Wire, I used to watch that religiously. But right now, I just need to sit down and get the shows I’ve heard a lot about. I definitely want to check out Modern Family. Right now, Weeds, Boardwalk Empire – I can’t get into that too much. It’s like a fake Sopranos; same faces, same idea, not enough gangsta killings.
What about movies?
I’ve gotta see The Town.
The Town is great.
Ok, so Ben Affleck is back, then. ‘Cause Matt Damon crushed him. Gigli, Daredevil, he had some bombs. Just saw this TV special on Steve Jobs and Bill Gates; it was interesting. I’m into that stuff, how he got started. You know, the story. When you watch films like Revolutionary Road and American Beauty, you see yourself. Married, career – I can relate to those two films. When you get to 40 you start thinking these things.
So what you watch and like listening to has changed a lot over time?
Without a doubt. When I was younger, socially-conscious, 19, had no kids, I wanted to change the world, I had all this time. Now I have no time, I’ve got to get kids to school. That’s my priority. I just want to be entertained because I work all the time. So you make an excellent point.
I want stuff I can identify with, that I can get into. And it’s beyond race – like with Revolutionary Road and American Beauty, yes the families are both white, but that’s the idea. The white picket fence, suburban home – you made it, and yet life is still a struggle. Once you’re making money everyone thinks it’s easy, but there are still struggles. So the movies I can identify with just show different kinds of struggles. It’s interesting how it changes from when I was 19 and had no kids. But now I’m over here, and they’re in private school. It changes. So how do you find that middle ground? It’s complicated. For hip-hop it’s the same thing; now I’m the one who’s just looking to be entertained. But I’m going to try, I’m open. Matter of fact, I’m going to take this Zion I and put it in my CD player and see what happens.
Photo from Web
