Indonesian Hip-Hop Battle for Autonomy

Journal of Music Science, Technology, and Industry Volume 7, Number 2, 2024 e-ISSN. 2622-8211 https://jurnal.isi-dps.ac.id/index.php/jomsti/ Indonesian Hip-Hop Battle for Autonomy Citra Aryandari Department of Ethnomusicology, Performing Art Faculty, Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta Email: Article Info ____________ Article History: Received: September 2024 Accepted: September 2024 Published: October 2024 ______________ Keywords: Youth Training, adolescent psychology, impact of music ABSTRACT __________________________________________________ Purpose: This study will discuss how hip-hop music in Indonesia struggles to find a place amid the onslaught of the world's massive pop music industry and the regional pop music industry. Research method: By using qualitative methods, as well as data collection techniques carried out through the process of observation, interviews, and literature study. This research provides an overview of how Indonesian Hip Hop with idealism can create its market and how the Hip Hop community in Indonesia makes a living on its autonomy. Results and discussion: Hip-hop was initially born as a subculture that tried to fight the practice of racism against black people with the spirit of resistance. Hip-hop then grew into a music genre to respond to political issues and portray the social realism of society. The development of Hip Hop has also spread to various countries globally, including Indonesia. Hip Hop then become part of the global music industry and is entering a golden age. Implication: The hip-hop music industry is slowly experiencing its twilight period after the birth of mainstream music hegemony. The independent music scene has become a counterculture to the supremacy of mainstream music. Independent musicians with a do-it-yourself spirit ethos have succeeded in creating their ecosystem. © 2024 Institut Seni Indonesia Denpasar INTRODUCTION Two decades ago, in the mid-2000s, astonishing news came up, saying that hip-hop was dead. The uproar "Hip-Hop is dead" spread by word of mouth. The escalation of information was disseminated to several underground music scenes in the country and 145 Journal of Music Science, Technology, and Industry [JoMSTI] Volume 7, Number 2, 2024. E-ISSN: 2622-8211 reached the ears of friends in the hip-hop scene. Like a thunderbolt in broad daylight, the hot ball of information that hip hop was dead was enough to make the hip-hop scene hot in that era. The hip-hop scene began to look for the origin of the news so that it would not become a wild ball. Ucok, the frontman of Homicide, one of the Indonesian hip-hop communities, admitted that he was behind the statement “Hip-hop was dead” (Yanko, 2021). After finding out who the person behind the hip-hop statement was dead, various responses came out of the country's underground scene. There were multiple answers who firmly reject the message, but some people also agree with it. Of course, those who disagreed with that statement were in the hip-hop scene. The hip-hop scene questioned why the Homicide group harmed the hip-hop scene itself. Homicide was born from the punk-hardcore music scene. Therefore, the news that hip-hop was dead had the potential to ignite a fire of friction across the music scene. One of the most potent responses emerged from the east of the island of Java, namely Surabaya. The response was the release of a song titled Dobrak, created by the hip-hop unit X Calibour. The song contains his disagreement with the phrase “Hip-Hop is dead”. The rejection reflects in the rhymes of Dobrak's song. Hip Hop will not die. A few months after the incident, the news disappeared on its own. It's no longer a hot topic in the underground music scene. Then in mid-2001, a new hip-hop group emerged in the Indonesian Hip-Hop scene. Many groups were born, including Calludra, X Calibour, Twin Sista, Nucleus, and Negative Brain. The names of these hip-hop units were taken from the compilation album War Rap, released by the indie label Troops Record. After the compilation album War Rap was born, the emergence of hip-hop groups in the scene was spread out from generation to generation. They were starting from the era of the Jahanam, Eyefeelsix, to the current age of Tuan 13 and friends. This phenomenon has become a topic of study that is quite interesting for us to discuss. How do the dynamics of the Indonesian hip-hop scene. Is hip-hop still alive or is hip-hop dead? After three decades have passed, how has the Indonesian hip-hop scene existed lately? From the generation of the hip hop proclaimer Iwa K to the Z generation rapper Rich Brian. The hip-hop phenomenon has recently received massive exposure (Lainsyamputty, 2021). It captures several local rappers who have invaded the foreign scene, including Ramen Gyrl, Swerte, to Rich Brian. The last name is the rapper figure 146 Journal of Music Science, Technology, and Industry [JoMSTI] Volume 7, Number 2, 2024. E-ISSN: 2622-8211 who invaded the 2022 Coachella Festival in the United States. The world of the hiphop music scene is getting louder and louder after these rappers have gone viral on mainstream media platforms. Iwa K, Yacko, Panji Pragiwaksono, J Flow, and swag rapper Young Lex. The sustainability of the scene ecosystem is even more alive after various kinds of music festivals are present. The life of the hip-hop industry in the country is widespread throughout the region. Long before the ecosystem was alive, how did hip-hop music begin to cross thousands of kilometres from America to the Archipelago? Based on the literature obtained, there is no apparent source of how hip-hop was born in this country. Some say that hip-hop started with the breakdancing trend. In the early 1990s, young people were in the midst of the disco trend and the breakdance movement. Breakdancing or seizure dance is an element of hip-hop culture itself (Spady, 2013). However, some believe that hip-hop was brought by the "bourgeois." The bourgeoisie is young people who go to Uncle Sam's land for pursuing their studies. After completing their studies, they returned to their homeland carrying practical experiences (Noseworthy, 2018). The cultural experience is in the form of knowledge of hip-hop culture. They brought souvenirs in the form of boomboxes, cassettes, zines, and books about American hiphop. From that second on, hip-hop spread to big cities. But what exactly is hip-hop itself? The roots of hip-hop's growth stem from The Bronx in New York City. Hip-hop is an African-American subculture embraced by young Americans (“Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia,” 2006). Hip-hop culture was born and grew in the late 1970s, precisely in the South Bronx, as a form of black protest media against the domination of American government power. American rulers marginalized Blacks (Rizky, 2017). At that time, the American government still adhered to the political ideology of apartheid. As a result, blacks were often margin (...truncated)