Posts by zach
Wonder Years
By zach | December 1, 2006
“It[class division through capital] has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusasim, of philistine sentimentalism. It has resolved personal worth into a exchange value”
Marx/Engels
One can make mature decisions with their hat turned back just as easy as one can make immature decisions wearing a three piece suit. There is a fine line between assimilating out of necessity and making it necessary to reject hip-hop to assimilate. On “30 Something” Jay-Z speaks to the process of his maturation. Jay rattles off a laundry list of comparisons between him and younger heads: “I used to let my pants just sag not given a fuck…I used to wear my hood like that….Now I got black card… I’m all grown up” Jay-Z speaks nearly exclusively to surface changes to explain his transfer into a more high end social and capital class and in doing so he equates his status with maturity. Although I see the reasoning for such parallels it seems a narrow idea of what grown up means and offers a limited set of standards to determine one’s maturity.
I use this song as a example that suggests that abandoning certain elements of Hip-Hop leads to a transformation into a successful and responsible adult. Equating the process of growing up with specific alterations in appearance and finance undermines the intangible metamorphosis of maturation and reduces Hip-Hop to a surface image.
Becoming a responsible father or business person relies more upon remaining true to one’s identity than to conforming to an outsider’s idealized one. It would be naive to ignore the real repercussions of deeply engrained standards of social behavior and appearance and to believe that they will be altered for the sake of the increasingly adult Hip-Hop generation. However, it would be unfortunate to allow standardization to become a measuring stick of self-identity. Dealing with societal response to Hip-Hop is one thing, internalizing a legitimacy of such a response is quite another. A concern exists toward the position Hip-Hop is placed in when standardization means the necessary rejecting of Hip-Hop. As Hip-Hop and its patrons, and its culture and identity moves from youth into true adulthood, it seems unjust that the opposite of Hip-Hop is growing up.
I realize that one may hear “30 Something” as simply suggesting that as one grows up, one emphasizes certain things less than others. However, that does not seem to be the entire message of the song, or the status quo. There is an undertone that emphasizes rejecting a nontraditional image to assume an acceptable one (look at the intentions and arguments against the NBA dress code). The implication is that the process of moving from trouble making youth to law abiding adult hinges on a rejection of something seemingly irrelevant. It means that one will not be allowed to evolve socially without making certain superficial changes.
I do not mean to say one should wear a hoody to the board meeting or use slang with your banker; I simply mean, do not allow standards of success, empowerment, and most importantly, maturity, to be placed in a position polar to Hip-Hop.
* I Hate Herc stopping messing with Bubs! But I love Rory drawing at rory.roryandcraig.com
Topics: Miscellaneous | 13 Comments »
Money In The Bank Shorty What’s Your Drank
By zach | November 24, 2006
Let us Reflect upon some of the things Hip-Hop has Given us to be thankful for…
1. Thank you to MTV Jams- In the rapidly evolving genre of hip-hop my elderly knees require this channel to keep me up to date with the new single from every rapper whose name starts with Young.
2. Thank you American justice system for Freekey Zeekey’s release from prison- finally justice is served! Hopefully his solo album will be as good as Hell Rell’s ….(pardon me I had to laugh at that).
3. Thank you Robin Thicke for convincing me I could release my own solo album.
4. Pete Rock-…seriously, thank you.
5. Thank you Chuck D for having the restraint not to kill Flava Flav.
6. Thank you Sway aka “The Brian Fellows of Hip-Hop”- For sharing with us all of the hip hop trends you are confused about.
7. Thank you Kid n’ Play for House Party 1 and 2 and the one about switching personalities at school, and that dance where you kick each others feet…for everything.
8. Thank you to tribe called quest re-uniting, we need you.
9. Thank you Nike for the Madlib edition dunks.
10. Thank you Aviator Sunglasses- For making Rick Ross an icon rather than just a fat guy.
11. Thank you Codeine- For making Mike Jones and Paul Wall icons rather than just fat guys.
12. Thank you Jay-Z for that scene in fade to black where Slick Rick gives all his chains to Ghostface.
13.Thank you Bel Biv Devoe-I don’t even know where to begin…thank you Ralph, Bobby, Ronnie, Ricky and Mike.
14.Thank you Young Jeezy- For not rapping about cocaine apparently.
15.Thank you Dr Dre and Ed Lover for giving Denis Leary such a big part in “Who’s The Man?”.
16.Thank you to Common for being smart enough to advertise for both Coca-Cola and Gap, hang out with John Legend and still have us thinking you’re revolutionary.
17. Thank you to Bentley, Range Rover, and Rolls Royce- For keeping my garage comfortably full.
18. Thank you Trina and David Banner- For Making the 1st annual Ozone Awards a success?
19. Thank you Pharrell for liking the Clipse as much as me because you know how to make crazy beats to give to them and I don’t.
20. Thank you Nick Cannon for bagging Christina Milan, cheating on Christina Milan and hosting a Nickelodeon awards in the same year – truly impressive and funny for many reasons.
21. Thank you hip-hop videos whose content has nothing to do the topic of the song. *See Juvenile’s “Slow Motion” and the end of Ja Rule’s “Mesmerized”.
22. Thank you Dipset for releasing a Christmas album. May I suggest adding a song called “Stop Snitching to Santa”.
23. Thank you Snoop for actually freestyling on radio shows.
24. Thank you Will Smith for turning your school uniform jacket inside out on the first season of Fresh Prince and inspiring my style for life.
*Pics by Rory “Pajama Jam” Panagtoplous at… rory.roryandcraig.com
Topics: Words is Like Ziti | 8 Comments »
In The Back of My Mind I hear My Conscience Call (Collect)
By zach | November 17, 2006
The last two platinum selling hip-hop artists sold over million copies of approximately 11 seconds of their jam. “Hustlin” and “Chain Hang Low”: plat with ring tones. I thought this was a writer clownin’ on record sales at first. I was very wrong. Album sales are suffering from lack of stamina and substance as well as free access to music via the Internet. The ring tone is the perfect solution to this problem and that is probably the most horrible sentence I have ever had to write. The move from 60 minutes of dope to 11 seconds of catchy is a red flare warning us about the disconcerting deterioration of albums.
Long gone is the standard ideal of cohesion, of a record full of streaming themes, contexts or story lines. With the internet offering music free, early albums are approached with a more skeptical ear. The audience caught on quick to this issue and even die hard album collectors were like “fuck the artist I’ll take the 5 songs I like for free.” Enter the era of the 2 single label puppet equipped with just enough charisma to earn celebrity status for half a year and a systematically constructed reputation to be forgotten in half that time. The emphasis moves from record to enhanced image production filtered into mega singles surrounded by low budget filler. Increasingly slim records sales are complimented by other tools of marketing such as clothing lines and liquor companies (advertised in videos) and the golden child of all instant gratification ADHD marketing – the ring tone.
The positive side of the ring tone records sales is that it may symbolize the initial moment of ironic collapse of the very industry that initiated much of the problem. Mainstreaming of Hip-Hop and the emphasis on material wealth has begun to envelop the heart of music’s dignity. It is clear that the gluttony of the labels and their willing artists has entered a self destructive phase: a slow process of lessened profit, significance and ability. However, while the bombs are self-imploding in the enemy castle the ensuing chaos is a moment of warning (look at Ghostface and Lupe Fiasco- this is happening to everyone, not just wack artists). We as consumers must re-establish the need for quality products by continuing to let the garbage become more obsolete while putting money into quality music. Make decisions about what you consume for free and what you deem worthy of purchasing. Hip-Hop is about community and paying for albums (good albums) is like contributing to the cause you are a part of; a cause that will benefit everyone who shares the ideals of the community.
*Disclaimer: I have bought many ring tones myself including “Grindin”, “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” and “Around the Way Girl”- $6.99 well spent.
Topics: Words is Like Ziti | 7 Comments »
Broken Glass Everywhere
By zach | November 10, 2006
Is hate more dangerous when it’s posted above our drinking fountains and restrooms? Or is hate more lethal when we believe ourselves to be free of it? When we believe that our society is free of bigotry, structural advantage, and prejudice is the time when hate can reveal itself most shockingly. Can we as a hip-hop nation recognize the way that we both contribute to hate as well as suffer at its hands?
I read 45 posts on another hip-hop website responding to the Lil Wayne and Baby kiss. Of those 45 comments 31 used the word ‘faggot ’. What I was reading had nothing to do with two rappers; the comments spoke exclusively to the unbridled hate of the words they were written with. It is no secret that hip-hop is a genre and culture in which homophobia is expected so these words were no surprise. It is natural to react with discomfort to anything which is unfamiliar. The concern comes rather when discomfort becomes equated with hate toward the unfamiliar. These comments were charged with language that was dehumanizing and reminiscent of the reckless rhetoric of anti-civil rights protestors in Birmingham or Selma. These words were written behind the anonymous keyboard that allowed for the genuine testimonies free of the restraints of political and social acceptability. Almost no one yells faggot in a crowded street. But we will type it with rage or say it in jest in the security of whatever privacy we feel whether that it is the basement with our boys or the boardroom among trustees.
Johns Hopkins Sigma Chi fraternity binge drank below mock-lynched skeletons decked out in their most ghetto fabulous grillz and bling during their “Halloween in the Hood” Party. The ghetto became a romanticized fantasy while a history of racial violence became a clever prop. Hip-Hop imagery symbolized a connection between historical acts or racial hate to contemporary racial stereotypes. I don’t believe that these kids deliberately did something to make others feel bad but I do believe that they didn’t make a connection to their own history or their own feelings. It is our faith in ourselves that I fear most – the belief that “I’m not racist but…” but what? Say the next sentence and then re-think the first.
What made these moments terrible was that they were representative of attitudes that exist right below the surface of our accepted ideals. In these moments of vulnerability beliefs spoken from the heart trumped the constraints of the structure created by the mind. We have convinced ourselves that we have passed through the phase of prejudice and subjugation and that these are issues of history. We no longer want the responsibility of our feelings nor the burden of facing who we truly are if we believe the things we believe. Yet there are moments that appear stronger than our will, and may be more tempting than our best judgment. Moments when hate protects us from our fears and the unknown; and when dehumanization makes the characteristics of humanity easier to understand.
Artwork @ rory.roryandcraig.com
Vote Palms Out.
Topics: Words is Like Ziti | 16 Comments »
I’m Out For Presidents To Represent Me
By zach | November 1, 2006
Extra: Palms Out Sounds is competing for Best New York Hip Hop Blog on Hov’s own Rocafella.com. Vote for us – if we win, we’ll be given access to the scoop on Kingdom Come and other Hovtastic material.
In honor of this coming Tuesday’s election I have compiled the five hip-hoppers I believe should make the transition into the political sphere. Each utilizing their unique characteristics to influence the cherished democratic system and the future of this great nation. Maybe this is not quite what Nasty meant in 94’ but the candidates are…
1. Jim Jones - Capo essentially embodies the current administration as well as the general social climate. Focused on big business and reckless conflict he is simply too loud and incessant to challenge. Jimmy could effectively slap the Kuffi’s off every flabby nation as long they present about as much threat as a Loon diss track. Jones maintaining our school yard bully complex in the name of self absorbed capitalists one fall-away jump shot at a time.
2. Pusha T & Malice (Clipse) - (These two can go best of five rocks paper scissors for prez versus vice prez position). The Democratic Party has been criticized for not presenting strong alternative strategies to the increasingly conservative climate. Well, our friendly neighborhood pushers may be the true reformists we need. A rap world vacant of lyricism and plagued with the decadence of fraudulent dope boys finds our candidates prepared to re-affirm traditional hip-hop values. Purists who balance the realities of self determination with self reflective responsibility could bring realistic yet substantial change. Fila jumpsuit rockers desperate for social security will ensure these two will have a monopoly on the b-boy/ b-girl vote.
3. Eric B – You nominated him nearly 2 decades ago, Rakim! It’s about time we mobilized the campaign.
4. David Banner – Essentially the only person I could stand to listen to speak at the Ozone awards. Banner may be a long shot but represents a strong grassroots campaign. Single-handedly using his voice and actions to save more people from Katrina than FEMA and Sean Penn combined. Banner speaks out of sincere interest for the people. Representing a unique figure who brings a voice of large scale political consciousness to those who are too often ignored…and consequently wins 2% of the vote and screws everything up
5. Questlove – Intelligent, experienced and steady handed. The Big one might be a perfect combination of industry power and purity within personal policy. Unlike the others in the race, his campaign funds would be thick as well as clean from any legal controversy. The key to winning an election is being able to touch the highest numbers within the most diverse demographics and Quest is well connected and well learned across the board. Always calmly seated behind on the drums on some FDR ish ?Love could supply a secure backbone to a collectively weary American neck exhausted from dangling too much ice.
Who would win? Who the hell cares… what time does “Beef” come on?
I know I know yup yeah him too…contrubted art at rory.roryandcraig.com
Topics: Words is Like Ziti | 10 Comments »
Only Twelve Trying to Tell Me That He Like My Style
By zach | October 24, 2006
My child is going to get nothing but Sam Cooke and Big Daddy Kane in his crib. But recently I realized maybe the message I want my child to get from hip-hop won’t be so simple. I was reading an article in the Washington Post in which the author stated that she forbids her daughter to listen to a hip-hop radio station. No hip-hop?! She is denying her seed my educator, my most beloved art form. But strangely, the tone of the article made me consider her position as a parent raising a child within a popular culture where hip-hop is dominant as well as at an low point artistically. Mc Lyte and Heavy D tapes cannot have the same impact on today’s youth because they are relating to ideals of their time and society’s popular standards. This mother was not trying to deny her daughter cultural agency or a diverse voice to learn from. This concerned parent is responding to the limited voice of hip-hop that she hears and that influences her child.
My initial response to the article was that to denounce hip-hop based on the actions of a few artists is the precise problem. However, those who have become the face of hip-hop are bigger than the genre. The symbolism they project is unjustly beamed upon the entire genre. The dynamic and positive voices of hip-hop are not readily tangible to those outside of the culture. Hip-hop’s mainstream radio and television success has led individuals, such as the mother who wrote the Post article, to deny all of hip-hop based upon the voices of a few.
It degrades hip-hop as a musical artform if we allow the actions of few to represent many. However, we cannot assume the worst about the judgment of those like the parent in question; after all, for much of America, 50 Cent and Dem Franchize Boyz have become hip-hop! We can easily say “who cares?” If they don’t respect the genre then they are in the wrong. But that does not deal with the problem that people like this particular author articulated: that it is best to
shield her daughter from an entire culture based on the images of those currently in the spotlight.
The hip-hop community must work to take back it’s identity. An identity which is not dictated by societal standards that carelessly knights superstars on a rapidly spinning carousel of consumerist construction; an identity of co-dependence which allows the music to shape the individual and the individual to shape the music. If hip-hop ignores this challenge the dominant voices will continue to misrepresent those of us who are proud to be a part of hip-hop. It is that pride which makes me honestly understand why parents are shielding their young from what hip-hop is coming to mean.
*Knock em’ out the box Rory, Knock em out Rory…pics at rory.roryandcraig.com
Topics: Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »
What’s Beef?
By zach | October 6, 2006
I won’t lie. I was just as quick as the next 17 year old to drop my algebra book and run over to the crowded circle when I heard “Fight!” and I spent full afternoons arguing with friends over Cam dissing Jay. But when BET decided to create a series based on the collection of documentaries “Beef” 1-3 I had to at least question the morality of this decision. I am not very learned in human psychology but it seems that most people are intrigued and influenced by confrontational acts of aggression and, historically, humans on a macro scale consistently trade hierarchal positions through destructive acts of violence. Violence may be an unavoidable marketing tool, but this specific element of entertainment may stand out as questionable in instances where life, violence, art and race all play a role in the entertainment.
Battling as a founding principle in the elements of hip-hop was an expressive alternative to physical conflict. Using music or dance rather than weapons or fists allowed one to express many of the emotions of violence without any of the dangerous outcomes. Beef has conversely used music as a vehicle for real confrontation. Beef does not translate to battling nor is it strictly a product of hip-hop; it implies something more serious than just music. Beef is something that has caused a shift to violence, and lyrical content having the potential to manifest into real life repercussions.
Beef has become a part of hip-hop culture so in essence I have no problem with it being a featured subject. However, what if this featured subject is surrounded by depictions of hip-hop culture, which are not being presented purely, but instead glorifying many of the worst stereotypical images of hip-hop? BET has degenerated into a music video channel gradually cutting more and more political and socially relevant programming. An extreme example of which being the Katrina crisis when the channel did not cut away from programming but only used a news ticker across the bottom of the screen. This metamorphosis from an ideally Black cultural network that addresses black issues to mainstream music television has been steady and undeniable. With this as a context one must question the way that Beef is marketed on the BET network.
Honestly I don’t know where I stand on this issue so it is a practice of mine to investigate both sides through discourse. Does this program simply educate and entertain on a subject that has become relevant in an art form that is often driven by oppositional rivalry? Or does it prey on a human inclination towards violence and perpetuate negativity in hip-hop? Does the circumstance of the network make a difference in the decisions they make to market a program like this?
What do y’all think?
And a little something new from the man who said it best…
Mos Def – “Undeniable” (First single off Tru3 Magic)
Note: Rory with the art! if you want or need his talents roryandcraig.com
Topics: Words is Like Ziti | 6 Comments »
"Back In the Day When I Was Young…"
By zach | September 29, 2006
The perspectives of hip-hop are being polarized within the context of a generational divide. There is a rift between forewarning voices that speak from experience and those of brash youthful romanticism. While many of the issues in hip-hop, such as class, race and family structure are universal concerns, the perspective (and consequently the message) radically differs depending on age. You can’t make your 15 year old daughter believe she is not in love or convince your little cousin not to take elementary school years for granted; the beauty of growth is the struggle of experience, which is necessary as a traditional education process. Youth based movements are more likely to respond aggressively to situations that more established groups of individuals have encountered, dealt with and lived through. Generational gaps often are the chasm that divides communities once rich with solidarity and movements ripe with the channels of mobility. Hip-Hop has lived to a point of true maturity while continuing to birth a new generation of influential youth.
The time of the rap narrative is fading; a voice of day to day experience is being replaced. Hip-hop story telling has largely become either a glorified image of ideals or a retrospective tale of reform. Extreme progress versus extreme stagnation creates a large gap filled by condescending and ignorant notions about the other side. The fault of the youth is in their message; the fault of the elders is in their delivery. Contrary to the title of Nas’ forthcoming album, hip-hop is not dead, but rather, hip-hop has simply has changed; change is a sign of life and symbolizes the reality of changes to come. A radical yet mature record like Dead Prez and the Outlawz “Can’t Sell Dope Forever” and 16 year old Jibbs vaudeville sampled ice cream truck anthem “Chain Hang Low” exist in the same genre! Both can be heard as lessons on perspective that clarify how wide the range of life experience is and how many different constituencies are being represented.
Voices that speak tangibly to multiple audiences are necessary to strike at the hearts of those who feel unguided passion. People want to believe in something and it is hard to say ‘no’ to the glitter of short term seduction, particularly at a young age. But social and structural conditioning can most directly be combatted by attacking the sources of their manifestation. Applying lessons of experience gives the present a blueprint of the past with which to move forward to the future. Those who preach will continue to do so to the choir while voices who remember the value of their own mistakes can choose more carefully the right words to say.
*drawing by Rory Panagotopulos, keep stunting like your daddy
Topics: Miscellaneous | Comments Off
"Back In the Day When I Was Young…"
By zach | September 29, 2006
The perspectives of hip-hop are being polarized within the context of a generational divide. There is a rift between forewarning voices that speak from experience and those of brash youthful romanticism. While many of the issues in hip-hop, such as class, race and family structure are universal concerns, the perspective (and consequently the message) radically differs depending on age. You can’t make your 15 year old daughter believe she is not in love or convince your little cousin not to take elementary school years for granted; the beauty of growth is the struggle of experience, which is necessary as a traditional education process. Youth based movements are more likely to respond aggressively to situations that more established groups of individuals have encountered, dealt with and lived through. Generational gaps often are the chasm that divides communities once rich with solidarity and movements ripe with the channels of mobility. Hip-Hop has lived to a point of true maturity while continuing to birth a new generation of influential youth.
The time of the rap narrative is fading; a voice of day to day experience is being replaced. Hip-hop story telling has largely become either a glorified image of ideals or a retrospective tale of reform. Extreme progress versus extreme stagnation creates a large gap filled by condescending and ignorant notions about the other side. The fault of the youth is in their message; the fault of the elders is in their delivery. Contrary to the title of Nas’ forthcoming album, hip-hop is not dead, but rather, hip-hop has simply has changed; change is a sign of life and symbolizes the reality of changes to come. A radical yet mature record like Dead Prez and the Outlawz “Can’t Sell Dope Forever” and 16 year old Jibbs vaudeville sampled ice cream truck anthem “Chain Hang Low” exist in the same genre! Both can be heard as lessons on perspective that clarify how wide the range of life experience is and how many different constituencies are being represented.
Voices that speak tangibly to multiple audiences are necessary to strike at the hearts of those who feel unguided passion. People want to believe in something and it is hard to say ‘no’ to the glitter of short term seduction, particularly at a young age. But social and structural conditioning can most directly be combatted by attacking the sources of their manifestation. Applying lessons of experience gives the present a blueprint of the past with which to move forward to the future. Those who preach will continue to do so to the choir while voices who remember the value of their own mistakes can choose more carefully the right words to say.
*drawing by Rory Panagotopulos, keep stunting like your daddy
Topics: Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
With the Third Pick, I Made the Earth Sick
By zach | September 22, 2006
In a genre where time moves like dog years, longevity has a peculiar and unique role in one’s legacy. Rappers make songs about “I’m back,” after a 6 month hiatus. Rakim is considered by many to be the best rapper ever; when was the last album he dropped that could hold up this claim? Rappers like Ra, Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap are legends, but not dominating forces today, and none of them are even fifty years old! The pace of change is better suited to creating legends than careers with longevity. Death has been the only exclusive permanence. The combination of grievance and enhanced sensitivity toward the music places deceased emcee’s in a position that no living emcee has yet to reach, except one.
My grandfather is retired; he watches boxing on TV all day in Florida. Jay on the other hand, was featured on every big artist’s record this past year. He may have retired but kept reminding us to remember him; he knew exactly what he was doing. He created an aurora that was bigger than the game by orchestrating a perception of intriguing removal. This calculated strategy placed bookends on his career and allowed the fans and the media to analyze him in a retrospective way, culminating with him undeniably leaving on top of the game on some Jim Brown shit.
Did any of us really think he would never rap again? No, but we had never heard of a rapper retiring and we romanticized the idea and the individual. The retirement made us look back at him in the way we have done with Big and Tupac. The spectacle in which he left the game effectively allows him a resurrection-like quality upon his return. He told us that he himself was the “business, maaannn!” and he sold the idea of his retirement in a way that would promote his legacy and mystique using these variables (usually reserved only for emcees who have passed away) to heighten his return. We bought every word of it and I for one am happy that I made the purchase.
Topics: Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »
Simon Says "Shut The F**k Up!"
By zach | September 14, 2006
The controversy over outside pressure that resulted in the editing and censoring of ABC and CBS 9/11 inspired films made me realize how little I have heard about efforts to censor hip-hop in the last few years. It’s not that rappers have had their mouths washed out and learned their lesson, but rather that the language was not the decisive issue. The issue was the content and after years of trial runs, the strategy has been perfected.
Yes, Tipper Gore and C. Delores Tucker got all hot and bothered by the words of “gangster rap” and the sanctity of free speech was compromised by morally righteous explicit lyrics stickers. But a more substantial war had been waged by governing bodies and moral leaders on the voices of the American people. The now familiar bleeps and blanks are a Band-Aide solution to protect listeners’ virgin ears from expletives deemed too vulgar for a public audience. However, these strategies have a limited effect on potentially dangerous messages. It is often the way the language is contextualized in the message that causes outrage and it is the message that is the ultimate target.
A strategy reminiscent of McCarthyism finds powerful economic and social agencies morally chastising corporations who distribute or fund particular artists. Chasing legal restrictions led to a spectacle but got dead end results. Rather than falling flat on their face before the First Amendment (Free Two Live Crew!) they use their power to force adherence to their moral position by affecting profits. When Bill O’Reilly called for a boycott of Pepsi for using a “thug” (Ludacris), Pepsi dropped him 3 days later. Newt Ginghrich, in regard to Ice-T’s track “Cop Killer”, sent Warner Bros the following statement: “ It appears you have chosen potential profit over any reasonable sense of public responsibility. We believe that your decision to disseminate these despicable lyrics advocating the murder of police officers is unconscionable.” Five major chains pulled the album and Warner Brothers dropped pressing of the record less than a week later. I guess Ice T is serving community service on the set of Law & Order SVU.
These censorship traps compromise the agency of the artists to thrive in markets outside of hip-hop culture, creating a circumstance of little choice with the illusion of options for the distributor. Pepsi and Warner Bros have many consumers who don’t love hip-hop and censorship attacks limit them to “safe” choices for hip-hop representatives. This tactic leads to a standard of content that limits the voice of the artist as well as limits potential for varying messages to lead to sales for the company. I wouldn’t particularly want Tony Yayo to star in Wild Wild West II, but I sure as hell don’t want Bill O’Reilly casting Will Smith in Belly II.
Topics: Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »
Simon Says "Shut The F**k Up!"
By zach | September 14, 2006
The controversy over outside pressure that resulted in the editing and censoring of ABC and CBS 9/11 inspired films made me realize how little I have heard about efforts to censor hip-hop in the last few years. It’s not that rappers have had their mouths washed out and learned their lesson, but rather that the language was not the decisive issue. The issue was the content and after years of trial runs, the strategy has been perfected.
Yes, Tipper Gore and C. Delores Tucker got all hot and bothered by the words of “gangster rap” and the sanctity of free speech was compromised by morally righteous explicit lyrics stickers. But a more substantial war had been waged by governing bodies and moral leaders on the voices of the American people. The now familiar bleeps and blanks are a Band-Aide solution to protect listeners’ virgin ears from expletives deemed too vulgar for a public audience. However, these strategies have a limited effect on potentially dangerous messages. It is often the way the language is contextualized in the message that causes outrage and it is the message that is the ultimate target.
A strategy reminiscent of McCarthyism finds powerful economic and social agencies morally chastising corporations who distribute or fund particular artists. Chasing legal restrictions led to a spectacle but got dead end results. Rather than falling flat on their face before the First Amendment (Free Two Live Crew!) they use their power to force adherence to their moral position by affecting profits. When Bill O’Reilly called for a boycott of Pepsi for using a “thug” (Ludacris), Pepsi dropped him 3 days later. Newt Ginghrich, in regard to Ice-T’s track “Cop Killer”, sent Warner Bros the following statement: “ It appears you have chosen potential profit over any reasonable sense of public responsibility. We believe that your decision to disseminate these despicable lyrics advocating the murder of police officers is unconscionable.” Five major chains pulled the album and Warner Brothers dropped pressing of the record less than a week later. I guess Ice T is serving community service on the set of Law & Order SVU.These censorship traps compromise the agency of the artists to thrive in markets outside of hip-hop culture, creating a circumstance of little choice with the illusion of options for the distributor. Pepsi and Warner Bros have many consumers who don’t love hip-hop and censorship attacks limit them to “safe” choices for hip-hop representatives. This tactic leads to a standard of content that limits the voice of the artist as well as limits potential for varying messages to lead to sales for the company. I wouldn’t particularly want Tony Yayo to star in Wild Wild West II, but I sure as hell don’t want Bill O’Reilly casting Will Smith in Belly II.
Topics: Miscellaneous | Comments Off
Walk The Talk
By zach | September 7, 2006
Mos Def’s arrest outside of the MTV awards last week for his unauthorized performance of “Katrina Klap” is a welcome rebellion in a time that lacks displays of civil disobedience. Impassioned desire for change and organized strategies of reform often are the response to moments of unthinkable crisis. Turning points that force emotion and consciousness by collapsing the monotonous stagnation of day-to-day apathy. Often a building must fall to know why it must stand again or a person must die in order to recognize how important their life was. More than a year after the Katrina disaster, and at the height of the war in Iraq, I still await the unified voice of response appropriate for the dishonesty of our government and the consequential loss of life and civil liberties. Mos Def might not have intended to get arrested but his action conjures a faint memory of motivated defiance and engagement between music, politics, and the people.
The 1960’s are often romanticized as a time of solidarity in rebellion. The truth is that before our nightly television was blemished with images of racial violence or the draft began taking our middle class citizens, the closed fists and chants belonged to marginalized groups. Our tragedies and losses had to exist on an equal footing regardless of class, race and ethnicity before our fury could be unified. Although artists like Juvenile, The Roots and even Weebie have stepped out of their comfort zones to touch on some contemporary issues. Still, music of rebellion is a murmur that has little relevance for the masses. Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young blasted from every smoked out free loving radical fm radio. Pop music was rebellion music as was the political sentiment of the younger generation who listened. Today music with a message of defiance is pushed to the sewers of the underground while protesters are confined to a assigned taped off revolution. Our pop music scene and self-involved bravados are too nestled in bed with profiteers to afford defiant thoughts that might wake their partner.
Much of our artistic outlet against this administration has been limited to a cynical and one-dimensional spoof. A voice that limits its audience to those who already agree and places those on the fence, looking at the fence, or guarding the fence in positions of defensiveness and judgment i.e. Jurassic Five’s video “Work it out.” This suggests our feelings of outrage are limited to the way we wish to view ourselves rather than the desperate need for a renewal of an emphasis on human rights (thank you Spike Lee). Our apathetic and cynical society has allowed our political outrage to be funneled into less influential channels. Therefore the voices in our culture that chant the words of songs of struggle will remain those of the marginalized. Hip-Hop however, itself a marginalized genre, represents a subjugated population and may be a voice where protest is most viable. Music is not the ultimate solution to create change but reflects the tone of people and today reveals our dangerously comfortable indifference.
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I’m Your Pusha Man
By zach | August 31, 2006
The popular mantra of the present day is a personal dissociation from Hip-Hop as a passion. Hip-Hop is the product, the medium of occupying wealth utilized by individuals who identify themselves as hustlers on wax. While the result may be an increased authenticity in the voice of the romanticized project hustler in his pursuit of the American dream, what is lost is the connection between the artist and his art – like a pimp who can no longer recognize a female’s humanity, and only see the potential for her financial production trappers lose their emotional drive towards hip-hop. What concerns me is the attraction of rejecting Hip-Hop, yet continuing to view it as a means of personal upward mobility. Perhaps it is naive to assume that those who engage and excel in a medium must have a love for it, but lack of love does not translate to degradation: Sugar Ray Robinson said he hated to box but always threw the prettiest flurries, J.D Salinger disappeared from novel publishing but kept writing in solitude. The point is that one does not need to have an undying passion in order to operate with an understanding of the need for compassion for the dignity of one’s art. There is a major difference between an artisan and a salesman. An artisan, although producing a product they may intend to sell, will find intrinsic value in the nature of the piece they create (holler at the Clipse). The beauty is not dictated by the market. A salesperson is limited to the sale itself; without the sale the product has no value.
The potential for the development of a conditioning in which one no longer embraces Hip-Hop, but rather degrades Hip-Hop as simply a vehicle, has dangerous implications. Hip-Hop certainly can be the hustle, but what about when Hip-Hop itself is getting hustled? Not wanting to be identified as a rapper means that rap is no longer a source of personal pride and self respect. Consequently the art itself is approached without the respect needed to uphold its value. Once the music is no longer a platform of narratives and descriptions of hustling and has become the actual hustle it has undergone a transformation in which it is equivalent to any hustled product itself: the product which attracts demand of consumption. Rather than producing the voice of the emotion and experience that a world of hustling inspires, the language and focus leads the consumer to feel more like he is being hustled. If the music is valued as such there is a scenario in which the music is strictly produced for the artists [perceived] betterment rather than for the fans or the enhancement of the music itself.
The phenomenon of the trapper era is that it is received as the voice as well as the aspirations of the people; a relatable and tangible struggle which has triumphed. But just because someone speaks like you doesn’t mean they speak for you. If the audience today thinks that this line of thought is for their betterment, then they are not very astute hustlers themselves. When’s the last time a drug dealer cared about his fiend? A far cry from Jay-Z who actually spit pure china white and told us “I’m just a hustler that knows how to rap.” Today’s hustlers are cutting their 16’s with baking powder.
note: Art by Rory Panagotopulos, for more from this talented dude check out rory.roryandcraig.com
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This Guy’s a Gangsta? His Real Name is Clarence
By zach | August 21, 2006
Hip-Hop style has been the avant-garde because of its appropriation of existing ideals of status. By flipping the intended (marketed) image of a product an individual can display their financial agency in a system that has not been aimed at their acceptance. The originality and political undertone of Hip-Hop style existed before it was smart to market your product to Hip-Hop America. Rocking something with Hip-Hop flare rejected the status quo in the most blatant fashion by forcing the status quo to readjust or reassert itself as a result of an outside influence. Brands like Bentley and Hilfiger had campaigns to reestablish their products as upper echelon white products because Hip-Hop had established an image using them and consequently the products became synonymous with Hip-Hop style. Hip-Hop was changing the consumer as well as the representation of a product by using labels that represented parts of America that were intended to be the antithesis of Hip-Hop to represent agency and individuality within the culture.
The seduction of Hip-Hop into the grasp of shiny and soulless prosperity guaranteed by the offerings of capitalist ideals of wealth has become clear and with it style has suffered. There is nothing wrong with trying to get paid but an emphasis on money as being key to betterment and entitlement has led to a lack of emphasis on individualism and artistic progression. Style was once a result of originality and intangible charisma. A shift has occurred in which what one poses legitimizes them as star and as dictating style. Compare Meth in the “Ice Cream” video and Yung Joc in the “Eenie Meenie” video. It was the unique and almost abrasive manner in which Meth wore his gear that made it stylish while Young Joc’s outfits come neatly prepared in the Sean John section of your Macy’s and his jewelry and cars are returned promptly to their rental companies. It’s not how you wear it or walk with it anymore it’s level of consumption of particular labels.
Emphasized materialism has always been an issue in Hip-Hop but there is a big difference between 4 finger rings that say ‘fresh’ and Kangol hats and Louis Vuitton belts with matching cufflinks. While both operate as displays of financial status one allows American elite standards to puppet master the images of style while the other cuts the strings and dresses the puppet in shell toes and rope chains. The objective portrayed by Hip-Hop style today is one of desperate and confused acceptance; a leveling of fiscal means compromised by a continued alienation and skepticism from the social capitals of upper class elitism. Style in Hip-Hop is becoming a cliché term meaning simply a costume of classiest, materialist ideals draped on a revolving door full of G’d up mannequins.
Topics: Miscellaneous | 10 Comments »
