In Chapter 6, Rice makes very interesting points regarding the appropriation of the term “cool”. The author implies that the idea of cool is not a new concept, the word has origins with the slave trade. This gives a little extra dimension to the concept. Rice discusses the work of Robert Thompson in the 1960’s regarding Yoruban culture. The word basically implies the same idea in this culture as it does in ours. Suprisingly, cool was appropriated differently in America in the 1960’s among the African-American culture. According to poet and playwright of the time, Amiri Baraka, cool meant to be detached, uninvolved, and non-participatory. Baraka claims that African-Americans had no choice but to be cool at this time due to the heavy oppression and social control enforced upon them by society. African-Americans were not given credit for the music or fashion they produced, and instead credit would be bestowed upon white public figures.
Amiri Baraka considered the term cool to have a very different meaning in the 1960’s than it has today term cool had connections with being mistreated. Cool had a connection with not letting your voice be heard. The term could describe manipulation. Cool was an effect of white oppression. Cool could describe an individual struggling with society. African-Americans have experienced all of these elements, which would make this group cool by Baraka’s standards. Slowly, the word cool became associated with images of anti-establishment and rebellion.
In Chapter 7, Rice discusses appropriation in regard to popular music. Rap is the best example of this, due to the large amount of sampling that is present in the industry. Rap artists reappropriate old music into new music. Early groups like Sugar Hill Land and Grandmaster Flash pioneered this art. Sampling continued, and is still prominent in the rap industry today.
Plagiarism is the theft of one artist’s work by another who plans to present the work as his own. There is a very thin line between plagiarism and sampling. Perhaps plagiarism is not as wrong if the purpose of the piece is not for financial gain, but where do we draw the line?
