Rebels Without a Pause: Hip‐hop and Resistance in the City

At the outset of the 1970s, with the city of N ew Y ork deep in financial crisis, the B ronx was the scene of violent conflict between rival gangs. In 1971, however, the S outh B ronx gangs came together to sign a truce. A frika B ambaataa, a young warlord from the B lack S pade gang, emerged as a peacemaker. In 1975 he created his own organization, the U niversal Z ulu N ation, which brought together the four components of hip‐hop culture ( DJing , MCing , Bboying and graffiti). B ambaataa organized the first block parties, informal gatherings where DJs illegally ran sound systems off the municipal power supply. The block parties catalysed the S outh B ronx youth, for a time contributing to a more peaceful gang culture. Using the resistance paradigm, and C ornel W est's substantial conception of cultural democracy, this essay questions whether hip‐hop engages and potentially challenges A merican democracy in creating an autonomous space for putting citizenship into practice. The essay concludes by arguing firstly that hip‐hop can be seen as a hidden transcript emerging from places of exclusion, and secondly that its diffusion is inscribed in struggles for space in the city.