by Patrick Blake
Hip Hop is beginning to change theater.
It has already changed art, fashion, and music. Not just in the United States, but the world. Hip Hop culture is the world’s culture.
What is Soft Power?
The other day I saw a production of a new musical by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori called Soft Power. Don’t worry, I’m not going to review it, even if it has rap in it.
I want to talk about what the musical is about – the idea of soft power.
There are three ways a country can dominate the world.
- It can use economic power. Make something the world wants and sell it to them.
- A country can dominate through military power. This is not the end of World War II when America had the biggest army and was the only country with an atomic bomb, but the US still does ok.
- Finally it can dominate the culture. Soft Power. The fact that a particular country is a leader in the first two areas does not mean it dominates in the third.
Who Dominates?
Even though the Roman Empire had the weapons and the gold, they did not dominate in the important area of culture. Roman art was a copy of the Greeks. Roman religion was the Greek gods renamed. It’s philosophy was Greek. So, it’s legitimate to ask who dominated the ancient European world? Greece or Rome?
Once upon a time America dominated the culture. Everyone wanted American movies, rock and roll, and blue jeans. No so much any more.
Rap is Universal
Rap is universal. It is transnational. Everyone raps, but not everyone raps in English.
The other day I went by a freestyle table set up in the subway and someone was rapping in French. This is because rap grew out of and as a response to a culture of oppression. Even if the oppression was 200 years in the past, like Hamilton.
Hamilton has shown that history is a subject for a rap musical. And it does not have to be American history. The world’s history can be given the hip hop treatment.
For the first time in history the dominant cultural form is unconnected to any particular country.
We believe this is a good thing, and are committed to helping it along.
Stay tuned!