BROCKHAMPTON’s “FIGHT” in Conversation with Shakespeare’s Othello

By Shade Ayeni

The twelfth track on BROCKHAMPTON’s SATURATION II, “FIGHT,” discusses how black existence makes its way into white spaces and how perceived notions of blackness construct racial identities.

The artists—Ameer Vann, Dom McLennon, Kevin Abstract, and Merlyn Wood—rap/sing about personal occurrences that either appear in the fictional world of Othello or can be used to better understand Shakespeare’s contribution to race theory in modern society.

Verse one begins with the confession, “My male role models [are] drug dealers and thugs.” As examined in this course, black writers, such as Maya Angelou and James Baldwin, do not have many black literary idols to admire, like the literary community, collectively, is made to revere Shakespeare. The only dilemma here is not that a white man must be a source of inspiration for black writers, but that this same white man dehumanized, hypersexualized, and mentally/physically enslaved the few black characters he did write into his plays. Black writers, actors, and audience members are forced to relate to an embarrassing rendition of blackness in order to appreciate Shakespeare. One of these, renditions, or “role models”, is Othello.

I learned what racism was

And what teaching it does, and like my teachers would say:

“Little Black boys have a place in the world

Like hanging from trees, or dead in the street”

Like I seen on TV

All them boys they killed, they looked just like me

Not like Brandon or Chandler, but Malik and Kareem

According to these expectations for black existence, Othello was never supposed to be a general with a white servant tending to his blackness or fall in love with a white woman. Instead, he should have been the slave catering to Iago, while Iago married Desdemona. Iago harbored this idea and allowed his white existence to feel inferior to what he thought was Othello’s black superiority.  “And nothing can or shall contend my soul / Till I am evened with him” (2.1.287-288). Iago was determined to remind Othello of his “place in the world”, even though Othello was only allowed to reside in white spaces because of his relationship with Desdemona and because his white counterparts permitted him to do so. Like Ameer says of himself, Othello was “born with a target, and it stuck to [his] skin.” When Othello responded to his “wife’s infidelity”, the white men who only tolerated his presence, revoked his residence in their space. Despite his status as a Christian, and because of his status as a black man, they always knew he was capable of acting like a slave. “O thou Othello, that were once so good, / Fallen in the practice of a cursed slave” (5.2.290-291). These white men waited for Othello to fall victim to the myths surrounding his black skin so that they could aim their dart. 

Often, a person’s first encounter with Shakespeare is in a classroom. The quote above, as well as lines 11 and 12 of “FIGHT”, “And I learned in social studies, I was them men / Who were locked in them chains,” show how influential the education system is in reinforcing or denying constructions of race throughout history. For this reason, one of the intended audiences of this piece is teachers. Educators have the power to teach students that Shakespeare’s constructions of race are not exempt from criticism simply because he was Shakespeare. Perhaps, the fear of Shakespeare being “cancelled”, does not allow them to do so, or they simply do not agree that Shakespeare can be negatively critiqued. If teachers refuse to address Shakespeare’s race constructions, they could incorporate literature written by marginalized writers in their curriculum, so that students can recognize “great” writing outside of white spheres. 

Y’all fetishizing my spirit, I see your culture’s dependent 

On what you didn’t inherit.

During the original performances of Othello, Othello was played by a white man in blackface. Shakespeare took advantage of the black race—even with fictional constructions— to further admire white culture. He depended on the inferiority of black people in his real world to create what he believed was an authentic representation of black people. Iago did the same; he targeted Othello so that he would adopt the identity of the ideal black man: angry, violent, irrational— a slave to their emotions. In doing so, Iago proved his whiteness still held more power than any Moor. Iago also hypersexualized Othello to structure his blackness with his sexuality. “But partly led to diet my revenge, / For I that do suspect the lusty Moor / Hath leaped into my seat” (2.1.283-285).

[I] refuse to act like a parrot

 Or dance like a monkey.

Iago made Othello into a puppet, pulling his strings until he suffocated his wife. Suffocating, rather than stabbing, was an intimate way of murdering Desdemona. Although he never related this to Othello, Iago thought suffocation was the appropriate method of murder for a Moor. He believed they did not need weapons, that they were born with hands to kill, just like any wild predator. Shakespeare and Iago’s beliefs about black existence is similar to the opinions of this piece’s other intended audience: directors. “Black roles” inside of Shakespeare’s plays are already limited, but when directors only permit Black actors to play Shakespeare’s “authentic representation of black people,” they are perpetuating the mythologies surrounding black bodies. Throughout his play, and with different sets of words, Keith Hamilton Cobb in American Moor, said the above quote from “FIGHT”. Indeed, Iago made Othello fit into his version of blackness, but directors should not expect this same compliance from black actors. Not all, but some, renditions of Shakespeare’s plays use real black actors for black parts, but if directors continue to act like Director from American Moor, expecting black people to portray white fantasies of themselves, the modern adaptations of Othello is no better than the blackface performances. 

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  This pieces works to conceptualize Shakespeare’s influence on race constructions in and outside of the theatre. Lovers of Shakespeare, educators, whomever, cannot continue to overlook Shakespeare’s race constructions because it may be controversial. Terms like “theatrical makeup” and symbolism, should not be brought up as a guise for Shakespeare’s intentions when discussing the blackface and racism, respectively, that appear(ed) in his plays. It is highly unlikely for Shakespeare’s impression on black people not to have come from how black slaves were regarded in seventeenth century England. However, as Cobbs alludes to in American Moor, nobody has the right to say what Shakespeare really meant.