The Tanning of America

“Rap is the new rock ’n’ roll. We the new rock stars,” Kanye West declared proudly in his infamous interview with Zane Lowe of BBC. Though it’s difficult to take something so brazen without a grain of salt, Kanye is ultimately right. Indeed, hip-hop has swept the nation and become one of the most prominent contemporary influences on American culture. But hip-hop has not always been so popularly accepted, particularly in mainstream music.

In his four-part documentary “The Tanning of America,” marketing mogul Steve Stoute brilliantly illustrates the challenging and exciting process by which hip-hop music and its surrounding culture has taken over mainstream society in the past 40 years. The “tanning of America” concept explains how, through hip-hop, mainstream American culture—music and beyond—has become more diversified. Stoute’s documentary, produced by VH1 and based off of his book of the same name, is a masterfully comprehensive examination of the rich but tortured history of hip-hop.

Stoute’s documentary features a fascinating and particularly eye-opening examination into the roots and gradual development of hip-hop. Beginning with a careful examination of television programs, movies, and historical events, Stoute details how African-Americans wanted to narrate and illustrate their unique culture on their own terms. Though hip-hop excited the black community, many mainstream music outlets largely rejected hip-hop music. Even when black artists finally saw major airtime on MTV in 1983 with Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” many of these artists often had to adjust their image in order to achieve widespread recognition. Hip-hop was different in that its artists largely refused to change themselves in order to gain popularity.

Ultimately, early hip-hop artists like Run-D.M.C. and Jam Master Jay gained so much outside publicity that mainstream music outlets were forced to pay attention to rap music. This is when the “tanning of America” truly began, according to Stoute. America’s fascination with hip-hop quickly manifested itself everywhere, including Harvard; interestingly, Stoute pays careful attention to “The Source” magazine founder Jon M. Shecter ’90, who helped introduce hip-hop to the students of Harvard through WHRB, Harvard’s radio station.

Aside from detailing hip-hop music’s meteoric rise, Stoute explains how hip-hop culture changed American culture. Producing many, if not most, of today’s foremost music stars. It also manifests itself in clothing, television, and even politics. Furthermore, it’s not often that we consider the incredible achievements of figures like Oprah Winfrey and President Barack Obama as related to hip-hop’s struggle and ultimate success, but as Stoute and his guests point out, these achievements are necessarily interconnected. Essentially, by popularizing prominent elements of black culture in America through music, hip-hop helped to make mainstream America more comfortable with black people in powerful roles.

While Stoute’s documentary deserves praise for its depth and particularly effective storytelling, these aspects are far from its only strengths. The documentary relies on honest and particularly remarkable testimonies from a variety of hip-hop industry legends, including Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and Dr. Dre. Stoute also interviews some of the most iconic figures in hip-hop music, including Nas, Mariah Carey, and Diddy, among many others. Stoute’s narrative of the history of hip-hop not only gains credibility but also becomes much more intimate, relatable, and exciting with such recognizable faces telling the story.

For those who only interact with hip-hop in a party setting, it can be difficult to understand just how deep hip-hop’s profound influence—or any music’s influence, for that matter—lies. Constantly hearing artists like 2 Chainz and Future at parties can often make it seem like hip-hop music primarily strives to be fun and crazy. And while hip-hop certainly is exciting, Stoute’s apt analysis and fascinating story reminds us that hip-hop was founded—and remains rooted today—on a very profound and personal culture.

Ultimately, Stoute’s “The Tanning of America” is essential to understanding the rich history and vast struggles and accomplishments of hip-hop music. More importantly, it suggests that if hip-hop was able to evolve into one of the most popular genres of music and most powerful cultural forces in a span of just 40 years, it has boundless capacities for the future.