On Beauty

On Beauty

by

Zadie Smith

Hip-hop Symbol Icon

In On Beauty, hip-hop symbolizes Black identity. On the one hand, it represents how Black culture can be vibrant and poetic. But it also shows how popular ideas about urban Black culture can fail to portray the full complexity of Black identity. Out of all the characters in the novel, Levi identifies most closely with hip-hop, taking inspiration from rappers for his clothes and even his way of speaking. Over the course of the novel, Levi learns how his idealized opinions about hip-hop both are and aren’t true. On the one hand, Levi learns that Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet is just as moving to him as it is to Chouchou, an impoverished Haitian immigrant who comes from a very different circumstances than Levi. But Chouchou’s background teaching French literature also surprises Levi, and when Chouchou speaks, his formal language is very different from Levi’s own hip-hop-inspired way of speaking. Levi learns that while there’s truth in hip-hop, it also fails to capture the full range of Black identity.

Some Black characters, like Carl, deliberately avoid identifying with hip-hop and the culture it represents. Carl is a boy Levi’s age who calls his performances “spoken word” even though they strongly resemble hip-hop. Carl wants to subvert stereotypes about Blackness. But despite his reluctance to call his own work hip-hop, others still dismiss him as not being “a poet poet” (like the white poet Claire, who is the epitome of a “poet poet”). And so, despite his attempts to brand himself as “spoken word,” Carl ends up as the archivist of hip-hop at Wellington anyway, showing how other people project their own expectations onto him. In On Beauty, hip-hop represents how Black art can capture universal truths, but it also represents how even such a vibrant artform can fail to capture the diversity of the Black experience and create unwanted expectations about a person’s identity.

Hip-hop Quotes in On Beauty

The On Beauty quotes below all refer to the symbol of Hip-hop. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Nature of Beauty Theme Icon
).
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 7 Quotes

The young man stepped forward cautiously, with one hand up as if to show he meant no harm. He turned the Discman over in her hand and showed her the sticky patch. He lifted his hoodie and the T-shirt beneath it to reveal a well-defined pelvic bone and drew a second Discman from his waistband. ‘This one’s yours.’

‘They’re exactly the same.’

Related Characters: Zora (speaker), Carl (speaker), Howard
Related Symbols: Hip-hop
Page Number: 74
Explanation and Analysis:
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 12 Quotes

‘Tell them to calm themselves. It’s only hip-hop. It won’t kill them.’

Related Characters: Victoria (speaker), Howard, Kiki, Monty, Claire, Michael
Related Symbols: Hip-hop
Page Number: 125
Explanation and Analysis:
The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 5 Quotes

‘I don’t think that’s how things go down now,’ Levi said at last, gently, not wanting to disappoint his father, but needing to catch the bus. It was a nice enough story, but it was making him late for work.

Related Characters: Levi (speaker), Howard, Bailey
Related Symbols: Hip-hop
Page Number: 181
Explanation and Analysis:
The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 8 Quotes

‘Are you interested in refining what you have?’

Related Characters: Claire (speaker), Zora, Carl
Related Symbols: Hip-hop
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:
The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 9 Quotes

‘What’s your deal, man? Don’t take this strange, but . . . you don’t seem like the type of guy who would be doing this kind of thing. You know?’

‘How about this?’ said Choo quietly, again alarming Levi with his easy use of American idioms, albeit dipped in that exotic accent. ‘You leave me alone and I do my very best to leave you alone. You sell your movies. I sell these handbags. How would that be?’

Related Characters: Levi (speaker), Chouchou (speaker), Felix
Related Symbols: Hip-hop
Page Number: 247
Explanation and Analysis:
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 8 Quotes

Choo had been on his conscience. Because . . . because Choo wasn’t like the other guys in the team. He didn’t travel with the pack, didn’t screw around or go dancing, and he seemed, by contrast, lonely, isolated. Basically, Levi figured that Choo was just plain smarter than all the people around him, and Levi, who lived with people similarly cursed, felt that his own experience in this area (as a carer of smart folk) made him especially qualified to help Choo out.

Related Characters: Levi, Chouchou
Related Symbols: Hip-hop
Page Number: 357
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire On Beauty LitChart as a printable PDF.
On Beauty PDF

Hip-hop Symbol Timeline in On Beauty

The timeline below shows where the symbol Hip-hop appears in On Beauty. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 7
The Nature of Beauty Theme Icon
Race and Identity Theme Icon
Zora finally plays the CD, and hip-hop music comes blasting out of it. She realizes it’s not hers and trades with Carl.... (full context)
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 12
Politics in Academia Theme Icon
Race and Identity Theme Icon
The Value of Family Theme Icon
Kiki mentions to Howard that the music art the party, which is now hip-hop for some reason, seems to be upsetting some of the guests, so she asks him... (full context)
Race and Identity Theme Icon
...goes to change the music and finds that Victoria is the one who put on hip-hop, although she just randomly put on a CD that Levi made. She didn’t like the... (full context)
The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 5
Politics in Academia Theme Icon
Race and Identity Theme Icon
...things don’t work that way anymore. One day at his job, Levi walks through the Hip-hop, R&B, and Urban section, where he was recently promoted to work (although he didn’t receive... (full context)
Race and Identity Theme Icon
...Eventually, Levi sees some bootleggers selling CDs and DVDs, and when one of them mentions hip-hop, he goes over to talk with them. (full context)
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 9
Politics in Academia Theme Icon
Carl gets a job as the hip-hop archivist at a Wellington library. He enjoys the pay and how he doesn’t even have... (full context)
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 10
Politics in Academia Theme Icon
Race and Identity Theme Icon
...he runs into Carl. Levi is surprised to hear about Carl’s new position as the hip-hop archivist. Levi is so surprised about this that Carl gets offended. Just then, Victoria walks... (full context)