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Kendall Roy’s playlist: why hip hop is the perfect counterpoint for Succession’s entitled plutocrats

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/j-griffith-rollefson-952418">J. Griffith Rollefson</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-college-cork-1321">University College Cork</a></em></p> <p>From the very first minutes of HBO’s hit drama series, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/succession-how-true-to-life-is-the-tv-series-170139">Succession</a></em>, hip hop is used to underpin, juxtapose and comment on the story of corporate intrigue, capitalist entitlement and white privilege.</p> <p>Just as a hip hop beat underscores the classical piano lines to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77PsqaWzwG0&amp;ab_channel=HBO">the show’s theme song</a> by composer Nicholas Britell, hip hop’s swaggering braggadocio acts as a counterpoint to the Roy family’s rarefied worlds of high finance and plutocratic untouchability.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3eTTkxM8QLE?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption><span class="caption">The first scene of Succession’s pilot episode.</span></figcaption></figure> <p>Recalling the opening scene to <em>Office Space</em> (1999) – which begins knee-deep in cringey, white boy, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XASNM1XEQPs&amp;ab_channel=JoseHernandez">gangsta karaoke</a> – Succession’s first episode introduces wannabe-protagonist Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) with a similarly embarrassing set piece. The businessman is riding in the back of a limo, listening to <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny6hwUOFvlw">An Open Letter to NYC</a></em> by the Beastie Boys, as the hustle and bustle of Manhattan rolls by.</p> <p>But when the backing track fades, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eTTkxM8QLE&amp;ab_channel=OpeningScenes">Kendall’s own voice is revealed</a>, thin and childish, rapping along to the lyrics about skyscrapers and Wall Street traders. This wannabe hip hop businessman persona is at the core of Kendall’s deeply conflicted character.</p> <p>This persona is in full bloom in a memorable season two episode, where Kendall performs L to the OG, a rap tribute to his father Logan Roy (Brian Cox), earning him the nickname “Ken.W.A.” from brother Roman (Kieran Culkin), a la the infamous Compton rap group NWA.</p> <p>As I explain in my book, <em><a href="https://criticalexcess.org/">Critical Excess: Watch the Throne and the New Gilded Age</a></em>, corporate board rooms and <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-real-hiphop">hip hop ciphers</a> are no longer as incompatible as they might seem. This is exemplified through American rap superstars Jay Z and Kanye West’s (now known as Ye) collaborative “<a href="https://genius.com/Jay-z-and-kanye-west-otis-lyrics">luxury rap</a>” album, <em>Watch the Throne</em> (2011).</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6dUDQTc-9kM?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption><span class="caption">Kendall rapping in season two of Succession.</span></figcaption></figure> <p>In season four, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNbfEC-AeHs&amp;ab_channel=ob9RJ2mJhoMPHH">Kendall listens</a> to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHiFMW8s6zk&amp;ab_channel=JAYZ-Topic">Jay Z’s <em>The Takeover</em></a> (2001) on his way to work in the ATN news studio. It’s not surprising that Jay Z is a favourite. The rapper-turned-entrepreneur once rapped the lines: “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man!” in his verse on Ye’s <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI0jNu-G5Hw&amp;ab_channel=KanyeWest-Topic">Diamonds from Sierra Leone</a></em> (2005), an attitude it’s easy to imagine Kendall aligning himself with.</p> <p>It’s also no coincidence that this dysfunctional family is named Roy, French for “king”, another link to Watch the Throne and the hustle to become “<a href="https://www.complex.com/music/2020/05/who-is-king-of-new-york">king of New York</a>”.</p> <p>Real-life media mogul family, the Murdochs, are widely believed to have <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/rupert-murdoch-cover-story">inspired <em>Succession</em></a>. But the hip hop connection is particularly uncanny. In 1995, Rupert Murdoch’s youngest son, James, bankrolled the hot new hip hop label Rawkus Records. Soon thereafter Murdoch’s News Corp bought a majority share in Rawkus and artists reportedly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jul/11/james-murdoch-hip-hop">started complaining about unpaid royalties</a>.</p> <h2>Hip hop as Kendall’s hype music</h2> <p>Rap music is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/musimoviimag.2.1.0026">repeatedly used</a> to show Kendall’s need for a boost of confidence – a need once satisfied by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9gIa3Xqycg">his substance abuse</a>.</p> <p>Hip hop pioneer <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/krs-one-mn0000359119/biography">KRS-One</a> reportedly once likened hip hop to a “<a href="https://floodmagazine.com/42937/quelle-chris-being-you-is-great-i-wish-i-could-be-you-more-often/">confidence sandwich</a>” for its ability to help America’s forgotten underclasses find the strength to get up and fight the good fight, from enduring the daily grind to organising for a better world. But what happens when this swag burger is blaring in the ears of an out-of-touch CEO?</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GNbfEC-AeHs?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption><span class="caption">Kendall listening to Jay Z’s The Takeover.</span></figcaption></figure> <p>As the late, great Black music critic <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/176649/everything-but-the-burden-by-edited-by-greg-tate/">Greg Tate</a> suggests, hip hop has been a site of “the Elvis effect” for decades, with white artists and businessmen profiting mightily from Black creative cultures. This history stretches back to rock and roll, jazz, blues and beyond.</p> <p>The boost that hip hop gives him allows Kendall to do horrible things. This echoes the way hip hop group De La Soul describes so-called “crossover” music as a “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0X2h56qlG4&amp;ab_channel=DeLaSoulVEVO">double cross</a>” on their concept album <em>Buhloone Mindstate</em> (1993).</p> <p>As Kendall exemplifies again and again, when hip hop’s witty but often crass wordplay is decontextualised by white men, it almost always comes off as disrespectful frat boy voyeurism. Indeed, London rapper, Roots Manuva recently retweeted a nice <a href="https://twitter.com/TheWrongtom/status/1654768980828082177?s=20">case in point</a> on the eve of another high profile “succession” – King Charles III’s accession to the British throne.</p> <p>So while established rapper <a href="https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/pusha-t">Pusha T</a> has recently collaborated with Britell on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF5IU-Pyn2A&amp;ab_channel=PushaTVEVO">a remix of <em>Succession</em>’s theme song</a> and while Jay and Ye continue to infiltrate the rarefied white spaces of corporate board rooms and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLmQ57mEGFs">seats of political power</a>, these relationships <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/176649/everything-but-the-burden-by-edited-by-greg-tate/">remain deeply asymmetrical</a>.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205773/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/j-griffith-rollefson-952418">J. Griffith Rollefson</a>, Professor of Music, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-college-cork-1321">University College Cork</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: HBO</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/kendall-roys-playlist-why-hip-hop-is-the-perfect-counterpoint-for-successions-entitled-plutocrats-205773">original article</a>.</em></p>

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Shock twist in seven-year search for William Tyrrell

<p>There’s been a shock twist in the seven-year search for missing toddler William Tyrrell as NSW Police confirm “further information” has come to light and they’ve returned to William’s home to investigate.</p> <p>September 12 was the anniversary of the day when William Tyrrell went missing. He would have celebrated his 10th birthday in June.</p> <p>Strike Force Rosann which was set up for this case has returned to William’s hometown of Kendall on the mid-north coast with local detectives and specialist forensic officers, taking another look at the home where William was last seen and other areas nearby.</p> <p><strong>“Further information has since come to light”</strong></p> <p>Strike Force Officer-in-charge Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw said: “Further information has since come to light, as part of our ongoing review of the materials gathered by investigators since the moment William went missing seven years ago.”</p> <p>While Laidlaw refused to elaborate on the “further information”, photos and footage have been released of detectives at the foster grandmother's home where William was last seen, showing them pouring over photos of other nearby places of interest.</p> <p>“As our team continue to conduct inquiries and explore all avenues of investigation, our focus has been identifying if anything has been missed, or if there are any details – no matter how small – that need to be clarified,” Laidlaw added.</p> <p>“Police remain committed to finding out what happened to William, but our most important job here is to bring him home for both families,” he said.</p> <p>Detectives continue to conduct interviews, searches and other investigative activity, including those under Coronial Orders, as well as reviewing all available materials with the assistance of experts.</p> <p><strong><img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/b600e918d5b547ef988a745d158b5b86" /><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.5985130111524px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844007/william-tyrrell-3-um.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/b600e918d5b547ef988a745d158b5b86" /></strong></p> <p><strong>Last week, a new ‘person of interest’ was found</strong></p> <p>These photos of Strike Force Rosann at William’s home comes less than a week after sources claimed a new person of interest was being sought by police.</p> <p>Officers were understood to be making plans to interview the new suspect, who cannot be named for legal reasons.</p> <p>A $1million reward announced five years ago for information leading to the recovery of William and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance still remains in place.</p> <p>A coronial inquiry into William's disappearance is also ongoing.</p> <p>After 19 months, deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame has postponed her findings from the inquest into William's disappearance and presumed death.</p> <p>Grahame was to release her report in June, but she is instead currently in talks with police.</p> <p><strong><img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/1e44bd4b4eda43839b20eb76e8c32d35" /><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.0810810810811px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844008/william-tyrrell-um-6.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/1e44bd4b4eda43839b20eb76e8c32d35" /></strong></p> <p><strong>William’s foster family issue heartbreaking plea</strong></p> <p>William’s foster family has issued a heartbreaking plea for those involved in his disappearance to finally come forward.</p> <p>'On the seventh anniversary of William's disappearance, we ask of the person or persons involved; how much more heartbreak must be endured before you come forward,' the statement read.</p> <p>‘When you took William, you plunged our world into perpetual darkness. How long will you continue to make us suffer?</p> <p>'When will you choose to come forward and end the nightmare we've endured every day for the past 2558 days since you took William from his happy life?'</p> <p><strong>William’s disappearance sparked a huge operation</strong></p> <p>William’s disappearance initially sparked a huge operation involving hundreds of residents and emergency service workers and volunteers who searched homes, forests, creeks and paddocks in the rural township.</p> <p>NSW Police then established Strike Force Rosann to investigate and they’ve been working under the premise the little boy's disappearance was a result of 'human intervention' since then.</p> <p><em>Images: NSW Police</em></p>

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