Art, science and the staying power of the beat in Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk

This study finds that Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk: A Tap/Rap Discourse on the Staying Power of the Beat blurs the boundaries of art and science, embodying the physical equation Bring in P=W/Δt, in which power is attained via working to maintain ‘the Beat’ throughout the history of diaspora Africans in America. Using similar physical relationships, fluctuations in personal/collective empowerment can be attributed to such variables as work and force. As work is directly proportional to force, we explore applications of Newton’s second law, and identify several positive and negative forces. In Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk, the human body, through dance, struggles to thrust the positive force of the Beat against such negative forces as loss of freedom, prejudice and urbanization in order to generate and maintain power over time.