.. it appears that the call-and- response as a linguistic operator signaling cultural information is vibrantly alive in a medium more often praised for its ... thoughtlesness than for its academic merit." C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E An Ancient Linguistic Device Surfaces in Usher's "Love in This Club" N A T H A N K E E G A N T H E C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E , O R I G I N A T I N G F R O M A F R I C A N T R I B A L R I T U A L S , H A S B E C O M E PART O F T H E F O U N D A T I O N O F M O D E R N A F R I C A N - A M E R I C A N C U L T U R E . T H I S A R T I C L E E X P L O R E S T H E S I G N I F I C A N C E O F C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E IN U S H E R ' S " L O V E IN T H I S C L U B " A N D R E L A T E S S A L I E N T F E A T U R E S O F T H E M U S I C T O T H E C L U B C U L T U R E T H A T U N D E R L I E S IT. " C L U B H I P - H O P " E M E R G E S AS F I R M L Y R O O T E D IN T H E U S E O F C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E . T H E R I T U A L S O F T H E C L U B A R E L I K E W I S E M I R R O R E D IN T H E S T Y L E O F T H E M U S I C , W H I C H AT T I M E S C A N B E A R T H E IM PO R T A N C E O F S A C R E D C E R E M O N Y . The call-and-response, a pattern of two distinct phrases played by different musicians i n which the "response" is a commentary on the "call," has likely existed since the dawn of Africa's language-proficient communities. It developed over millennia through sacred rituals, spiritually-tinged conversations with the sounds of Africa's wildlife, and com- munity-based interactions that fostered the growth of a common identity. It came to be ubiquitous i n pan-African music; its penetration of almost every sub-Saharan African tribe, nation, or ethnic group was due to nomadic move- ment patterns, wars, empires, and geographic proximity.1 The call-and-response followed the first African slaves to the Americas, where it ceased to be a universal musical technique and adopted the survivalist tone of slave work songs. Though the slaves were not allowed to express the music of their cultures, they punctuated the day's work with the rhythm of the call-and-response. This use of call- and-response—sanctioned by the slave masters because it brought consistency to fieldwork—helped inspire a sense of spirituality and community among slaves. Early slaves used it i n much the same way as their African decendents: Obviously, the melodic and rhythmic characteristics of [LongJohn, a slave song which makes prominent use of the call-and-response], the vocal style, and the performance mannerisms of the singers are African-derived. Only the language is Afro-American.u But what do the characteristics of slave songs tell us about the role of the call-and-response i n America? First, we know that repetition—a vital feature of the call-and-re- sponse—was an important part of the African worldview. A call-and-response sequence may go on for several hours, with apparently monotonous repetition of the same short phrase sung by a leader and answered by the chorus.... The repetitions of African music have a function in time which is the reverse of [Western classical] music—to dissolve the past and the future into one eternal present, in which the passing of time is no longer noticed.111 Besides dissolving past and future into eternal present, the call-and-response i n Africa was a democratizing process that rendered the responding vocalists "colleaguefs] i n the creation" instead of merely listeners. IV James Snead would later explain how this African approach to repetition af- fected the African-American worldview, a view constantly clouded by the burden of slavery. For Snead, repetition was now "a means by which a sense of continuity, security, and identification are maintained." The call-and-response was no longer a culturally-contingent event appearing i n rituals and music, but a viable linguistic device that helped slaves derive both sense and culture out of their surroundings. While it later became abundant i n African-American musi- cal styles like blues and jazz, the device more importantly littered the everyday speech of slaves, former slaves, and those haunted by the specter of slavery. Over two hundred years later, call-and-response still re- mains a salient feature of African-American culture and language. As such, it operates on two levels: a secular level and a sacred level. As Smitherman describes, the secular level might include call-and-response examples you could hear on the street, phrases like 'oh, you mean, nigger', get back, nigger'... [or] hey, the other day I was... uh-huh... yeah... I hear you, [where] the response can take the form of a back-and-forth banter between the speaker and various members of the au- dience}' The sacred level, on the other hand, was most carefully pre- served i n the church: PREACHER. How many of y'all wanna live to a old age? CONGREGATION. Hallelujah! PREACHER. Or is y'all ready to die and go to heaven? CONGREGATION. [uncomfortable; some laughter] Well, no Lord, not yet, suh! PREACHER. Y'all wanna stay here awhile? CONGREGATION. Praise the Lord! PREACHER. Well, y'all better quit all this drankin, smokin, and runnin round. Cause, see, for me, I got a home in Heaven, but I ain't homesick^1 These examples of call-and-response transmit important cultural information, as the responses can signify both ac- tive listenership and accordance with the content of the calls: [Such words and vocalizations as 'yeah,' 'right,' 'uh-huh,' and 'hmm'], although referentially meaningless, have great interactional import by indicating one's attention to and ratification of the speaker's talk. . . . [These] responses may also indicate extremely powerful affirmation of what the speaker has said.wn In this we see the echoes of African and slave society: the call invites a responder to a conversational community, and the responder supports that community through his atten- tion and affirmation. Be it a small conversation held i n passing on a street or a preacher's emotional sermon, the call-and-response creates the bond of community between all its participants. Rap music, a powerful vehicle of the African-American rhetorical tradition, stands out because it uniquely show- cases the call-and-response. When attempting to define any call-and-response i n modern rap music, one must look to the example of the church or to the example of everyday conversations. While many understand the call-and-re- sponse primarily as a musical interchange between a blues singer and guitarist or between two jazz singers, modern rap's call-and-response owes more to the linguistic tradi- tion above than to any musical tradition. This article argues that the call-and-response i n modern hip-hop and rap is just as culturally and linguistically sig- nificant as the above examples i n continuing the develop- ment of community and identity. The call-and-response i n one specific song, Usher's "Love i n This Club," contains ev- idence for this interpretation. Examining this song devel- ops a more universal understanding of the call-and-re- THE CALL-AND-RESPONSE WAS INTEGRAL TO THE FABRIC OF SLAVE SOCIETY. sponse i n modern hip-hop and rap which is translatable to other songs, proving i n the process that popular hip-hop— a genre brimming with a potent combination of violence, drugs, and sex—is worthy of scholarly examination. I D E N T I T I E S OF C A L L E R A N D R E S P O N D E R I N C O N T E M P O R A R Y H I P - H O P Usher Raymond IV, a popular R&B and hip-hop artist whose laurelled career boasts record sales of almost forty mil l ion internationally, rose to the top of the charts i n March 2008 with a song titled "Love i n This Club." The lyrical theme is quite simple—Usher and his friends are at a club when Usher has the urge to have sexual relations with his dance partner, perhaps right on the dance floor: I know you scared baby/They don't know what we doin' Let's both get undressed right here/Keep it up girl then I swear I'mma give it to you non stop/And I don't care who's watchin' Watchin', watchin'/Watchin', watchin', ohh In this club, on the floor/Baby let's make love v i l i Though the song's themes echo much of what today per- C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E WHETHER KNOWINGLY OR NOT, POLOW DA DON, FEATURED HERE, PARTICIPATES IN A RICH LI N G U ISTIC TRADITIO N. meates pop and urban radio, of more scholarly interest is the prominent call-and-response utilized i n the refrain, where a chorus of males responds with a systematic, iden- tical "hey" on the last beat of three successive measures. This "hey" is shouted after Usher employs the call " i n this club": USHER. I wanna make love in this club CHORUS. Hey USHER. In this club CHORUS. Hey USHER. In this club CHORUS. H e y i x This call-and-response brings us to a pressing question: who is the male chorus? A number of clues might help us better discern the identity of Usher's male chorus. Taking into account both the song's lyrics and the song's music video, it appears as though a prominent member must be the principal producer of "Love i n This Club," Polow da Don: USHER. Where we at Polow"? CHORUS. [In response] Hey- The music video supports this assertion; when "Where we at Polow?" is uttered, the camera cuts to an unmanned DJ table. In exact sequence with the "hey" response, Polow da Don appears, throwing his arms up i n the air and offering a few introductory dance movements from behind the table, where he remains for the duration of the song. In addition to Polow da Don, other members must com- prise the chorus. I f this call-and-response is viewed as a de- mocratizing technique within communities, both the lyrics "leave them with my niggas let 'em know that I got you" x l and the song's club setting can be viewed as significant. Since according to the lyrics Usher is at the club with his E L E M E N T S FALL 09 posse and other festive partygoers, the multi-layered "hey" easily transforms itself to a voice of the community. While contextually this "hey" must come from Polow da Don, the multiple voices lend credence to the idea that this response comes also from friends and club patrons. I f this "hey" is coming from Usher's friends and club pa- trons, two things must be true: i) the response must have some measure of conversational import, and 2) Polow da Don must have a viable reason to give the song this effect. T H E C O N V E R S A T I O N A L I M P O R T OF T H E " H E Y " RESPONSE To affirm number 1 above, it is necessary to explore the human interaction inherent i n the call-and-response. As stated previously, the call-and-response i n African- American culture can affirm and signify accordance with what the speaker has said. Thus, Polow's male chorus could be seen as a linguistically important operator i n the affirmation of Usher's words. This "hey" response could serve to strengthen Usher's claim that he wants to "make love i n this club." In a sense, one does experience this feel- ing when listening to Usher's song. The ludicrous idea of conjugal relations i n a public place is rendered slightly more credible by his posse's affirmation. It might sound less legitimate or believable without this affirmation. Nevertheless, why would Polow, one of the most visible pro- ducers i n a profession known for its egocentrism and self- important swagger, decide to create the male chorus effect? A n examination of the different levels of conversation i n the call-and-response is helpful here: a) On one conversational level (the conversation that in- cludes only Usher and his male chorus), the "hey" re- sponse is an affirmation that denotes total agreement and active listenership. This is the "local response." b) On a more global conversational level (the conversa- tion that includes Usher, Polow da Don, his friends, club- goers, and song-listeners), the same accordance can be ascribed, only instead of agreeing with Usher's words, they are agreeing with the content of Usher's song: its musical merit, its rhythm, and the enjoyable club setting it portrays, fraught with alcohol and women. This is the "global response." The "global response" points to the reason behind Polow's creation of the male chorus. By creating a call-and-re- sponse effect, he is inviting all listeners into the conversa- tion. He invites each club patron, regardless of location or affiliation with Usher, to throw up their hands and shout "hey" at rhythmically appropriate times. To give another ex- ample, this interaction appears prominently i n the video for Asher Roth's "College," where a multiracial chorus of college coeds shouts "hey," hands waving, on every eighth beat of the song's 4/4 t ime. x l ! This invitation to conversa- tion is also an invitation to music; this invitation to music could lead to participation and enjoyment, which leads to consumption and makes Polow an in-demand producer. "Hot" producers sell their beats for considerably more money, so this invitation might help Polow da Don attain power, wealth, and status. "The 'global response' points us to the reason behind Polow's creation of the male chorus. By creating a call-and-response effect, he is inviting all listeners into the conversation." C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E "... we see many of the features of the call-and- response—its rote formula is perfect for easy memorization and audience sing-alongs, and its ability to incite enthusiasm in the listener is manifest in the enthusiasm of the male-chorus." It would be difficult, however, to establish a correlation be- tween monetary success and the call-and-response. Surely, producers have signature styles that help them achieve strings of hits (notable examples include Timbaland and Pharrell) and many, like Polow, use the call-and-response to help establish this style. Though the assertion that call-and- response begets both community and participation can be academically verified by referring to African studies (i.e. Kubik) and African-American studies (i.e. Smitherman), this call to community does not necessarily determine a hit. In establishing a more academic rationale for Polow's em- ployment of the call-and-response, two sources wi l l prove valuable: a rap genre typology put forth by Adam Krims i n his 2000 work Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity, and the Greek chorus i n Sophocles' Antigone as described by Kevin Hawthorne. A G E N R E E X A M I N A T I O N OF PARTY RAP I n Krims' work, he describes party rap as "[rap] designed for moving a crowd, [and] making them dance."X l i l Krims and others, such as Toop, actually believe this appeal to a moving crowd may have been the origin of rap, since the "African-American tradition of DJ toasting and rhyming often served similar purposes i n similar contexts."X1V Krims goes on to lament the disappearance of party rap, in- cluding the Sugar H i l l Gang, early Wil l Smith, and LL Cool J. Party rap, Krims says, was almost entirely supplanted by gangsta rap, and this transition signified an "early fall from innocence," for the ethos of "fun" was lost i n rap. x v Krims develops the genre identity of party rap by exploring what he sees as an inherent contradiction of party rap, the commercialization of subcultural capital: Its generally optimistic tones and faster, often more dance- oriented beats have an appeal that crosses over from hip-hop audiences into the more general record-buying public.*-" This quote points us toward the future, toward the example of Polow da Don and other call-and-response-toting pro- ducers to be discussed i n depth below. Like early party rap i n the 1980s and 1990s, contemporary urban hip-hop is supremely commercial. But also like party rap, Polow's tracks follow the "musical ethos" of party rap, which for Krims is "consistent with the goal of 'moving the crowd,' getting heads nodding and bodies dancing." In terms of party rap's flow, the MC uses "frequent two- and four-bar groupings": The rapped rhythms in this genre are thus also more con- ducive than many to audience memorization and sing- alongs [especially in the choruses]; and DJs in dance clubs not surprisingly often value party rap for its ability to incite enthusiasm through listener [and dancer] participation.™1 Here we see many of the features of the call-and-re- sponse—its rote formula is perfect for easy memorization and audience sing-alongs—and its ability to incite enthusi- asm i n the listener is manifest i n the enthusiasm of the ELEM ENTS FALL 09 male-chorus i n "Love i n This Club." But it would be incorrect to categorize any urban hip-hop, much less Usher's "Love i n This Club," as party rap. It sim- ply does not fit the same bil l as Biz Markie's "Just a Friend," Naughty by Nature's "Hip-Hop Hooray," or even Wil l Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit I t . " Perhaps it is that, as Krims laments, these songs had an "ethos of fun" that has since been lost. Or perhaps it is simply because of a decade of temporal removal that these songs have very little i n com- mon, outside of the few mentioned similarities. Since none of Krims' other genre billings, e.g. reality rap, mack rap, and gangsta rap, fit this brand of call-and-re- sponse heavy urban hip-hop, I wi l l suggest a new term. "Club rap" or "club hip-hop" appears a suitable name for this subgenre. Though it may seem hastily named after "Love i n This Club," which I regard as a flagship "club hip- hop" song for a number of reasons, we wi l l see below that this is only incidental. "Club rap" is a commercial hybrid of gangsta rap and party rap. On one hand, the singer touts violence, drugs, and ma- terialism, as Young Jeezy, featured on "Love i n This Club," raps: Pulled up like a trap star ... You ever made love to a thug/In the club with his sights on '87 jeans/'And afresh pair of Nike's on . . . x v m On the other hand, it champions the mainstream commer- cialism of party rap since "Love i n This Club" spent five weeks on top of Billboard's Hot 100—a feat not achievable by a true gangsta rap song. The naissance of "club rap" is not entirely surprising since the 1990s and early 2000s saw increasing preference for gangsta rap on the radio, resulting i n its subsequent com- mercialization. Nonetheless, the systematic call-and-re- sponse heard i n "Love i n This Club" was never present i n either gangsta rap or party rap and constitutes a sizable part of the identity of this new subgenre. Its invitation to com- munity and participation is noticeably foreign to gangsta rap. This invitation is also at home i n clubs, where sing- alongs and hand-waving are often the norm. S O P H O C L E S ' C H O R U S : A S I M I L A R E F F E C T ? Though the rap genre study cited above is sufficient to de- scribe the reasons for the use of the call-and-response i n modern rap, Sophocles' Antigone offers an interesting, compellingly similar chorus. Kevin Hawthorne under- stands the all-male chorus i n Antigone as a rhetorical audi- ence. Consider a present-day debate when Barack Obama addresses a debate moderator such as Jim Lehrer; Obama is actually speaking to the millions of Americans watching at home. In this way, Jim Lehrer is a rhetorical audience— a stage stand-in for all those watching from outside the ac- tual play: As characters in tragedy maneuver and pursue their discur- sive goals, they may not only argue about issues among themselves but also perform to the members of the chorus as present representatives of a community.xlx I f Usher's male-chorus is taken as a similar rhetorical audi- ence, a stand-in for the club-goers enjoying his song i n real clubs outside the fictional world of his music video or song, some interesting comparisons come to light. After a fight i n which Haemon chides his father, King Creon, for being stubborn, the chorus responds, "Oh, king, give heed i f sense be i n his words." x x This response is very close to an assertion of accordance with Haemon, similar to the asser- tion that Smitherman contends is explicit i n the "hey" of the call-and-response. Thus, we have an all-male chorus agreeing i n response to another male's call. The all-male chorus, as a fictional audience, is ostensibly a stand-in, guiding the emotional responses of the real audience. Certainly this is an apt comparison to Usher's "Love i n This Club," enlightening and strengthening assertions about the global conversational level. I f the Greeks made use of this sort of rhetorical audience, then Usher certainly can. C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E C L U B RAP AS R I T U A L T H R O U G H T H E C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E I contend that "club rap," a hybrid of party rap and gangsta rap, is a subgenre that showcases participation and com- munity and uses them to promote the content—and per- haps the profits—of the song. A glamorized club environ- ment is present in many of these songs through titles and lyrics. I argue that producers, i n conjunction with artists, are purposefully labeling "club hits"—the club rap tracks designed to make people dance and sing-along—as appro- priate vehicles for the call-and-response. Tellingly, of the nearly thirty songs explored i n the thesis from which this excerpt was taken, all are singles. These singles receive heavy airplay on radio and i n clubs. Like party rap singles, these club-ready singles are made for a singing-and-danc- ing environment. For certain danceable, singable, club-ready songs, audience participation is even more important; listeners who might be under the influence of alcohol and drugs are likely to be participants i n a club musical community. Therefore, pro- ducers such as Polow da Don may add them after the fact. Of little importance is the moment at which the call-and-re- sponse is finalized on any certain track. The club environ- ment constitues a social ritual i n contemporary hip-hop and calls for the appearance of a meaningful, cummunica- tive musical technique. This social ritual is by no means as sacred or as important as those of Africa, but there are similarities. It is entirely possible that a connection of call-and-response to ritual through its prevalence i n African-American churches helped establish the call-and-response as its own invitation to a ritual of revelry i n "club rap." This ritual can also be seen as a cultural process similar to African examples valuing rhythmic response and repeti- tion as unique creation. The "hey" chorus is a local and a global ritual that exists i n two conversational realms. It both affirms Usher's statements and invites the commu- nity. I n this ritual we see a call-and-response which, i f not sacred, is at least a communicative, culturally-tinged affir- mation. SECULAR OR SACRED: U S H E R AS R I T U A L LEADER? A more i n depth way to understand the call-and-response as a ritual indicator is by viewing Usher as a ritual leader, like the bandleaders i n African communities who repre- sent patriarchal structures. In Yoruba vocal music, we see this example; In most genres, the bandleader (often called a captain) is a praise singer who initiates solo vocal phrases ... segments of which a chorus doubles. He also sings responsorial sequences, in which his improvised phrases alternate with a fixed phrase, sung by the chorus. . .. The social structure of [this] is closely linked to traditional ideals of social organization, which simultaneously stress the "natural- ness" of hierarchy and the mutual dependency of leaders and supporters.™ Taking into account Carey's ritual view of communication: [It is] directed not toward the extension of messages in space but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs™' We can see how in Yoruba music, the "naturalness" of male hierarchy is being ritually transmitted through music. Their call-and-response, based on social organization, is not simply meant to transmit information or music; it is a means of both subjugating supposedly inferior groups, such as women, and solidifying social structures. Correspondences exist between this ritualistic mainte- nance of social structure and Usher's "Love i n This Club." Both Usher's treatment of women and his bold exclama- tions of heterosexuality work to maintain the prevailing so- cial structure of the club. Firstly though he avoids dis- paraging women openly, he does dismiss the wil l of the ELEM ENTS FALL 09 woman. He "[doesn't] care," and he can't "take it no more," implying that he cannot resist the urge to make love i n the club, though the woman is at times neither dancing with h i m ("you on the other side"), nor complicit with his urges. Moreover, he tells his partner that all of her female friends can be left with his posse, reinforcing a paternal hold on this group of young women, who likely came to the club without any men.™ 1 1 Secondly, strong proclama- tions of heterosexuality rein- force a hetero-normative worldview, championing an imposing heterosexuality that promotes itself as a more cul- turally appropriate orientation for public conversation. I f Usher's partner were a man, or i f Usher were openly gay, this sort of assertion would likely not receive airplay on radio stations. There is a dou- ble standard of the hetero-nor- mative society that champions boisterous heterosexuals, but derides equally boisterous ho- mosexuals. Thus, the "hey" response can also be seen as an affirmation of ritualistic communication. I n supporting Usher's proclamations, the male chorus is simultaneously affirming the social structure that permits the objectification of women. Moreover, it condones the so- cial structure that permits public exclamations of sexuality, so long as they are heterosexual. The male chorus is, there- fore, seeking through ritual to maintain the patriarchal so- ciety that Usher presents to them, viewing h i m as the band- leader who, through his leadership, represents the "naturalness" of a hierarchy that subjugates women. USHER RAYMOND IV, A CONTEMPORARY HIP-HOP Returning briefly to Sophocles' Antigone, an interesting comparison can further our understanding of Usher's ritu- alistic communication. When Creon ends his famous speech, " I won't be called weaker than womankind," the chorus immediately responds, "We think . . . that what you say is sensible and right." X X 1 V Here there is an assertion of male-dominance affirmed immediately by a male chorus, just as i n Usher's "Love i n This Club." Another salient ex- ample appears in popular music when the following lyrics i n Kanye West's "Heartless" are interspersed with system- atic "heys": You run and tell your friends that you're leavin' me They say that they don't see what you see in me Just wait a couple months and you gon' see You'll never find nobody better than me.™ Kanye is almost echoing Creon's claim, " I won't be bested by womankind." Time and time again, the affirma- tions of the call-and-response can be interpreted, sometimes almost word-for-word, as some embrace of a patriarchal society. The patriarchal figures of Usher, Kanye, and the Yoruba bandleader are more commonly represented i n African- American communities by ministers i n the church. Just as Usher can be seen as the Yoruba bandleader, he can also be seen as the African-American preacher. This ascription is upheld by examining the linguistic content of the call-and- response i n the church. Cobb's The Roots makes the con- nection more explicitly. C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E "By understanding Cobb's historical examination of a rapper and preacher's cultural similarities, we can see that Usher-as-minister is perhaps not the sacrilege we imagined../' For Pawelczyk and other scholars, since "Black verbal style exists on a sacred-secular continuum," the call-and-re- sponse necessarily exists on its own plane. x x v i A traditional interpretation of Usher's conversation would plant it se- curely i n the secular realm, where examples might include Smitherman's previously mentioned response techniques, such as "oh, you mean, nigger" or "uh-huh" or "yeah." The sacred realm, on the other hand, traditionally cites the black church as the most prevalent example: " I n the sacred style, the minister is urged on by the congregation's amens, that's right, etc." But a more in-depth look at Smitherman's example cited earlier yields comparisons to Usher's "Love i n This Club." Looking at the content of the preacher's questions, they are often purely rhetorical, designed to energize, motivate, and stir emotion i n a unique manner. Smitherman describes them as "high-keyed, emotional and animated." Surely everyone would like to "live to an old age." Shouldn't every- one want to "stay here awhile"? We can ascribe this sort of value to Usher's words. I argue that Usher—and by proxy all call-and-response—draws on this tradition of easily an- swered questions as emotional reinforcement. Usher de- sires to have sex i n a club, going as far as to implicitly sug- gest the "velvet rope" as support for his lady i n a remix of the song. Painting Usher's words as sacred renders them equivalent to rhetorical questions for his festive posse. Since his words are sacred, his rhetorical devices are simply taken at their word. I f Usher wants to "make love i n this club," then amen, according to his friends and other club- bers. Evidence supporting this comes midway in the song's video, where Usher's "love i n this club" call meets its ex- pected "hey" response, as all of the club patrons throw up their hands i n perfect t iming, signaling both active listen- ership and powerful affirmation. Is it really sacrilege to call Usher's words sacred? In some ways, certainly. The African-American church is vibrantly alive today and the sacred call-and-response between preacher and congregation remains of high importance, both academically and culturally. But two scholarly sources point to the relevance of the Usher-as-minister metaphor. W.J. Cobb explains that the preacher was the most unique personality, and the first black artist i n America—an artist that lived and died by the call-and-response. He then goes on to cite Mase, Rev Run, and other rappers-turned-preach- ers i n an effort to show the similarity of the two careers. By understanding Cobb's historical examination of a rapper and preacher's cultural similarities, we can see that Usher- as-minister is perhaps not the sacrilege we imagined—es- pecially since they both utilize the call-and-response so ef- fectively. x x v i i Secondly, Robin Sylvan i n an article on popular culture and religion, might support this assertion, arguing i n favor of popular music as religion: For the millions of people who have experienced something similar to the accounts above, religion and God are not dead, but very much alive and well and dancing to the beat of popular music; the religious impulse has simply migrated to another sector of the culture, a sector in which religious sensibilities have flourished and made an enormous impact on a large part of the population.™™1 Sylvan argues that i f today's youth cannot identify with tra- ELEM ENTS FALL 09 ditional religions, they search elsewhere, sometimes end- ing that search at popular music. Consequently, we can posit that while the notion of Usher as sacred might be ap- palling to some, it may be considered a valid claim by schol- ars such as Sylvan. S U M M I N G U P : T H E ROLE OF T H E C A L L - A N D - R E S P O N S E Polow da Don's "invitation" discussed above can also be seen as an invitation to community similar to the call-and- response of slave songs or preacher-sermon interactions. When viewed i n conjunction with its highly rhythmic, sys- tematic appearance i n the measure's last beat, it is easy to see that this example of call-and-response owes more to the linguistic tradition of the call-and-response than it does to improvisation-heavy African-American music like jazz, blues, or swing. Gone are the highly creative lyrical calls from Ella Fitzgerald and the freewheeling beauty of Louis Armstrong's gravelly responses. They are replaced with a linguistic call-and-response, a repetition that i n many ways is closer to the methodical responses of slave songs like "Long John," or "Follow the Drinking Gourd." This rela- tion explains much about the identity of and communica- tion between participants. The call-and-response has value to the communication and identity of African communities and those of African de- scent. Taking into account the example of Usher's "Love i n This Club," it appears that the call-and-response as a l in- guistic operator signaling cultural information is vibrantly alive i n a medium more often praised for its bland nature or thoughtlessness than for its academic merit. Usher's calls present his words as sacred i n some respects, and the chorus' response creates a sense of community, both be- tween Usher and his friends, and between Usher and his audience. I n Usher's "Love i n This Club," the call-and-response stands as a ritual that showcases both community and iden- tity. By using historical call-and-response to better under- stand this 2008 song, we can conclude that the linguistic call-and-response is flourishing i n an arena thus far not ex- amined i n popular music studies. E N D N O T E S i . Stone (361) i i . Kebede (129) i i i . Small (54-55) iv. Rose (46) v. Smitherman 1977 i n Pawelczyck (104) vi . Smitherman 2000 i n Pawelczyck (105) v i i . Pawelczyck (416) v i i i . Raymond ix. Ibid. x. Ibid. xi . Ibid. x i i . Roth x i i i . Krims (55) xiv. Ibid. xv. Ibid. xvi. Krims (56) xvii. Ibid. xviii . Raymond xix. Hawthorne (26) xx. Sophocles (11) xxi. Stone (161) xxii. Carey (20) xxii i . Sophocles ( I I . 677-80) xxiv. Raymond xxv. West xxvi. Pawelczyck (416) xxvii. Cobb xxviii. Sylvan (3) REFERENCES Carey, James W. 1989. Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. Boston: Unwin Hyman. Cobb, W.C. 2007. To The Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip- Hop Aesthetic. New York: NYU Press. Hawthorne, Kevin. 2009. 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