On Loop: Black Sonic Politics in Oakland

How struggles over Black sound have shaped Oakland’s culture, politics, and geography.

Chicago has house. Detroit has techno. But Oakland slaps.

On Loop explores the role of Black dance music and sonic politics in recurring struggles over race and space in Oakland, California. Insisting on the centrality of sound in everyday social movements--from the mobilization of funk music and boogaloo dance during Black Power to the policing of the Hyphy movement in the 2000s--Alex Werth argues that Black dance music is not merely a soundtrack to or record of urban resistance. Rather, its very sound waves have animated looping clashes over development, dispossession, and Black freedom. Through studies of downtown nightclubs, Lake Merritt, and the Eastmont Mall--geographies rarely considered, yet critical to Oakland’s culture and politics--Werth reveals how the liberatory sonic politics of funk, hip-hop, and hyphy rap have been met with a repetitive ＂war on nuisance.＂

As both a means of empowerment and a magnet for policing, Black dance music has transformed not only Oakland’s nightlife, but also its streets, parks, and neighborhoods. On Loop is a rousing encounter with the sound that moves urban life.

Alex Werth is a geographer, DJ, and housing justice advocate.