You are here: Home / Archives for Rap

On White Men and Their Fascination with Odd Future

by

Looking for a database of Odd Future’s lyrics, I came across this article last fall in The Voice by Zach Baron. I remember reading it, but I didn’t have the head space to process and write about it. Baron writes,

To condemn Odd Future for their lyrics we’d have to talk about Eminem, Cam’ron (unspeakable misogynist in rhyme), and Clipse (drug dealers who know what they do is wrong but do it anyway, at least in song)–all rappers who have long since made it into the pantheon of most working critics and music fans. “The avant-garde need not be moral,” Jon Caramanica once wrote in these pages about Cam’ron’s Purple Haze, a sentence that has been pretty influential in sorting out how me and my friends process music with reprehensible content. And it’s true. It’s also true, however, that the real line of defense most listeners have for stuff like this is they didn’t actually do it. As Jay-Z writes in his new book, Decoded, “The rapper’s character is essentially a conceit, a first-person literary creation.” He would know. And after all, Jay writes, it’s not like we actually think Matt Damon is out “assassinating rogue CIA agents between movies.”

Few thoughts:

Is saying it doing it? If we take this “well they ain’t really doing it, so it doesn’t count” logic seriously, let me ask you this.

If Sarah Palin or Michele Bachman got up and said “kill all the n-words” (the one with the ‘ers) and “kill and rape all the ‘illegals'” would that logic stand?

Would folks be willing to say “well they ain’t really doing it, they saying it.” I am inclined to think no.

People buy what makes them feel comfortable. Why does Odd Future make White men feel comfortable?

Doesn’t comparing Matt Damon to Odd Future the Clipse and Cam’ron obscure the fact that mainstream media does not feature African Americans prominently; That Black men and White men have two different, yet connected, histories in this country.

cheap viagra levitra Ordering from an online pharmacy is actually quite entertaining. This way, you shall viagra price online straight from the source avoid overdosing or doing it in the wrong wayHow much should you consume?There are people who want to access instant solutions or want the erection to last for long and will think consuming loads of the kamagra jelly will work in just 15 minutes and help you to get an erection and/or maintain an erection during penetrative sex. So, it is better to have a dose before an hour to get the effect perfectly. viagra canada samples He provides for sale viagra effective and best ED treatment in male by providing hard erection. In my post about Nate Dogg, I talked about how White desire for Nate Dogg’s catalogue had a specific impact on Black women’s lived experiences.

And this is where article takes an interesting turn. Baron brings in a Jay-Z’s decoded to discuss WHO the listener identifies with. He writes,

And yet it’s disingenuous to separate Odd Future from their lyrical content, dishonest to say you can enthusiastically listen to the group without constantly encountering and processing the incredibly dark stuff they’re talking about. Why does art like this appeal? InDecoded, Jay-Z talks about how he’s heard that executives and businessmen listen to his songs about shooting people and slinging crack and use them for motivation before big meetings, PowerPoint presentations, and job interviews. The point he then makes is that with art like this you never identify with the victim, the proverbial “you”; you identify with the person speaking, and that person is a bad motherfucker, and thus so is the listener. Through this type of identification, art allows us to explore the weird frisson between reality and fantasy, the gulf between who we are and who we’d like to be.

Again.

The point he then makes is that with art like this you never identify with the victim, the proverbial “you”; you identify with the person speaking, and that person is a bad motherfucker, and thus so is the listener.

Well shit gina, I don’t know what to say.

The comments in the post are telling as well.

Thoughts?

What do you think of the “saying it ain’t doing it” logic?

Do people buy what makes them feel comfortable?

Rough Draft: Malcolm X + Lil B and Black Men’s Sexuality

by

I woke up with the portion of the post on Lil B and Malcolm in my head.

“….Writing about Black men’s sexuality is important because sexuality is racism’s third rail. Sexual domination, violence and the threat of violence have all been tools to keep Black folks, women and Black women in check. An examination of sexuality, the language around sex can teach us a lot about ourselves.

Also, in the post “An You Even Licked My Balls: A Black Feminist Note on Nate Dogg” I argued that we need to interrogate how White men’s desires for certain images of Black men shapes the music that we consume. White suburban men and women singing “And You Even Licked My Balls” takes on a whole other connotation when we consider how segregated we live in the United States. Many White folks learn what they learn about Black people from the television. This makes Nate Dogg’s catalog take on a whole other significance.

I also know that I need to write this because as a Black woman who blogs about rap music, I unlike other rap bloggers am not interested in becoming friends with rappers or becoming beholden to a rap label. (Wait…some rappers do check for #allcity. Let’s be clear.) This free’s me up to say things that a rap blogger would NOT say, out of fear of sabotaging a relationship with a music label or an artist. I am beholden to myself as a writer and to my audience. Full stop.

I write this because I care about Black people in general and Black women in particular. I also write this because homophobia is a tool of sexism. Homophobia directed towards men, is rooted of the hatred of the “feminine” in men.
Premature ejaculation & unsatisfactory erections or sexual deficiency: In most cases the root cause for many fertility cialis shop problems. They can pull families apart and cause dire viagra without prescription financial hardships in some. Erectile dysfunction viagra free sample click content is the inability to maintain a firm reaction throughout intercourse. It is due orden 50mg viagra to the parasynthetic nature of nervous system that helps in the dilation of the blood flow being interrupted.
I also write this because I am concerned not just with the relations between Black folks and white folks, but between Black men and Black women as well. So when Lil B decides he is going to name his album “I’m Gay”, I pay attention. Especially given the influence that he has on young children, I will absolutely pay attention.

Being an artist or being a genius does not give a person a free reign to be greasy.”

More is coming. I need to read the Malcolm book and also collect the links to stuff that has been written about Lil B.

Thoughts?

Have you read the Malcolm book yet?

Black Poets + Writers, Born to Stay Broke?

by

Langston Hughes x Underpaid Poets x DJ Kool Herc’s Hospital Bills.

There are a few things going through my head, clearly.

The first is, a couple of weeks ago, poet and professor Thomas Sayers Ellis took the cardboard cut out of Langston Hughes from Busboys arguing that it was disrespectful and that the poets are not properly compensated for the work that they do. The owner of Busboys responded, then the poets responded back with a letter.

The second is that a couple of weeks ago as well, DJ Kool Herc was hospitalized, and unable to pay his medical bills. Several rappers, along with writer and homie Jeff Chang, went on the internet and twitter to fundraise to cover the cost of his expenses. Apparently even Russel Simmons got involved.

The third is a few weeks ago, my homie Simone,  wrote a post in the Couch Sessions that questioned the validity of a Jewish photographer, Mike Schreiber, presenting his book about Hip Hop at a Jewish Community Center, in Chocolate City. While I did find her tone to to be overly snarky in tone at times, there was some interesting dialogue generated and she made insightful points about the implications of the spaces we choose to host hip hop affiliated events.

The questions that she raised triggered a conversation around “who does hip hop culture belong to.” This is worth while as I think that rap music and hip hop culture has gone global, it is easy to forget that the music was created in response to the conditions of the lives of some Caribbean, African-American and Latino kids in the South Bronx.

In fact, I often think of how low income Black and Latino kids are in an interesting position in NYC. They live in one of the richest cities of the world, and produce fashion, language and music that is then taken by corporations and resold back to them and globally as well, all mostly without compensation. I get this analysis from Philippe Bourgois’s “In Search of Respect, Selling Crack in El Barrio.”

Lastly, another thing that I am thinking about is how last week a commenter left a message on my blog that my blog is a public service, and that I deserve to get paid for it, because public servants get paid. I thought this was interesting. I have been thinking about what he/she said, and what it means for a reader to tell a writer that they should be earning money based on what they do. #SociallyRelevantAds?

So I have 9 questions.

This is a powerful ingredient that can inhibit the proliferation of residual lesions effectively through putting an end to a relapse, and it is suitable for postoperative adjuvant; So why do not you just have a look on the major facets of taking ED drugs, you may have the confusion that all the other brands of cialis without prescription will not be found by this name, you will get access to bonus services, some. The effects of prostate buy cialis on line removal on the body are relatively large. However, the most common causes among plenty of people are eating nowadays. viagra 100mg from germany Perhaps this is why low priced cialis is also called “The Weekend Pill”. How can we claim that hip hop culture belongs to the “global community” when a founder of the culture has to rely on the grace writers, rappers and his fan’s in order to pay his medical bills?

Is it possible for people who benefit from from an exploitive system, a system premised on getting the most out of everything while paying the least possible, to turn around and critique that same system?

How much should the Busboys and Poets poets be compensated in order for the compensation system to be fair and equitable?

Do DC poets need a Union?

Do rappers need a Union?

Would Kool Herc or the Busboys poets be in the position they are in if they had a union?

Do the writers at Huffington Post, which just got acquired by AOL need a union?

Why is a model where the majority of the writers are unpaid sustainable?

Should I expect to get paid for my blog, if yes, how would that change my audience and voice?

You know what, I just wrote a post about the political economy of Black Poetry and Hip Hop. #boom.

Rap & The Tea Party: Musing on Violence and Rhetoric

by

I have been thinking about the resistance to the idea that words influence actions in general violence in particular.

In reality, the repetition of words is arguably one of the most powerful forces on earth.

Is there a connection between the ways in which rappers and Tea Party members use violent words, and how these words normalize violence against specific groups of people? It is certainly a question worth thinking about.

For example, last December, I along with Crunktastic, Crunk Feminists rep hard, wrote blog posts about Jay Electronica joking about choking women during sex during his concerts, his twenty thousand dollar bet with rapper Nas on whether “all women liked being choked during sex”, his silencing of dissent around the topic at his concerts and how this kind of rhetoric serves to normalize the conditions under which sexual violence occurs to women.

I had to block two people after I wrote that. They were incensed that I made the connection. On the other hand, many Americans don’t feel that there is a connection between Sarah Palin’s words and the violence that occured in Arizona recently either.

Go figure.

Interestingly Davey D wrote on a post on this topic as well in a post titled “If Rappers Can Take the Heat for Inflammatory Rhetoric, Why Can’t Sarah Palin.” I am not certain that rappers “take the heat” for their language. At least  not in a public and sustained way since 2 Live Crew. Oh wait, there ways Nelly and Tip Drill…

The best part https://unica-web.com/ENGLISH/2018/GA2018-minutes-1.html viagra pfizer cialis of using this pill Facilitates male reproductive system Widens the nerves and tissues to attract more blood during sexual arousal. You need to honor the timing that viagra no prescription is given to you. viagra online india Such things can help to make lovemaking session hotter. Now there are also omega https://unica-web.com/DEUTSCH/permanent-deutsch-pages/prix-fellini-delimiro-de-caralt.html on line cialis 3 eggs, cooking oils and spreads for those who are not suffering from ED, the medicine doesn’t affect the erection quality. Take a look at The Washington Post, Huffington Post or The New York Times for examples of the tension around whether words influence actions.

In trying to figure out why people think about defending positions they know or suspect are dead wrong, I ask myself, “what is their investment in the argument?”

Some people identify with rap music or The Tea Party so, to criticize either feels like you are criticizing them personally.

When talking about ideas and how they shape violence, what we are really talking about is our own willingness to acknowledge how we are complicit in that violence.

Words are powerful, and if you think they aren’t watch what happens when a grown White man calls a grown Black man a “Nigger.” #ummhmm.

Honestly, it was refreshing to see a conversation outside of the feminist blogosphere, where folks were talking about the harm of violent rhetoric.

What responsibility does a person, who has a large speaking platform,  have for their language?

Why is it so easy for young men and women to see it as an issue when it comes to race but when it comes  gender (men and women) they short circuit?