Graduation Year

2025

Date of Submission

12-2024

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Philosophy

Reader 1

Briana Toole

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2024 Giovanni Pierre

Abstract

In this paper, I investigate the paradox revealed by the Young Thug trial where certain portrayals of Blackness in rap music are simultaneously praised and punished by white institutions. I propose that the theatrics of the Young Thug trial and other instances of rap lyrics used in criminal trials are emblematic of what I call the Black Spectacle. The Black Spectacle is the role Blackness plays in American entertainment. It has three elements: (1) It entertains white audiences because of Black people’s perceived otherness, (2) it provides white people, particularly white men, with a vehicle through which they can vicariously embody traits that they desire but that would be socially unacceptable to possess themselves and therefore have ascribed to Blackness, and (3) it is used to reinforce anti-Black stereotypes, thereby justifying the systemic subjugation of Black Americans. In my analysis, I trace the genealogy of Black music and demonstrate that all genres of Black American music, from slave work songs to contemporary rap were created to reflect and communicate the evolving social, political, and material conditions of Black people in America. I contend that Black Spectacle works in tandem with other oppressive structures to place Black rappers in an oppressive double bind. This double bind ultimately forces them to act against their own ends, stripping them of their agency. This project underscores the importance of raising national awareness of how Blackness is constructed, exploited, and weaponized in American society.

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