Re-play of the African American Media Images on C-Span

[PDenton]

I watched this today. I missed it the first time. Let me preface by saying I am not a big fan of rap, I am not black. But I do believe strongly in the freedom of artists to be true to their calling, even if some people are so philosophically immature they don't "get" that, that not all art is suppossed to give you a feeling of awe and reverence for the State, Oligarchy, or whatevery Deity you are suppossed to worship- that is old-school "classicism" that most of the naive identify as art, and not the only kind of art out there.

It seems to me this hearing was inspired by the Tipper Gore wing of the Democrat party, which is unfortunate. I thought those voices got layed to rest ages ago, didn't they? Haven't we had enough Mortal Combat and Doom bashing? Haven't we already gone over music lyrics enough times? Didn't Joe Lieberman finally decide to leave the Democrats? Is there really an issue with the lyrics in Hip-Hop? Haven't we always had sensationalized art or art with images of violence and/or sexuuality?

I think first and foremost the duty of the artist isn't necessarily to create "eusocial", uplifting art, which alot of white Congresscritters seemed to be suggesting. You know, the "classicist" definition of art. Stuff that is "enobling" to the tastes of elites who run the show, that gives them warm and fuzzy affirmations that their vision for society is good and just. OTOH, I couldn't help but think that the Congressmen (and woman) were overlooking the reality that alot of this stuff is being sold to white kids in suburbia who are craving authenticity in their lives. It is being produced by corporations (with $$$ on their minds) for consumption, out of context, by white kids. They are playing around with stuff they really don't understand but they want an authentic experience, and maybe don't realize the consequences of their actions.

It sort of reminds me of the great Forrest Whitaker monologue in Last King of Scotland. Nicholas Garrigan the naive, idealistic (and horny) doctor goes to Africa in search of authenticity and an escape from the mundane, and befriends Idi Amin (Forrest Whitaker). He treats it all as a big game, even messing around with Amin's wife, he is messing around with force he doesn't understand, and things aren't as they seem (Amin isn't a bubbly idealist but a maniacal crackpot, for instance). In the end, Amin figures it all out, that the disillusioned doctor is trying to kill him and is screwing with his wife (whom he hacked to bits), and he decides to brutally kill Dr. Garrigan. He gives a great monologue about the white man comming to Africa and playing games... but "we are real, Nicholas" and the great line "I think your death will be the first real thing you have experienced in your life".

So much of the white infatuation with "gangsta" rap reminds me of that- dabbling in a culture that most white kids cannot relate to. Their angst is a pimple or not getting a B on their exam - that is about as "real" to them as they are going to get for angst. Alot of those rappers have probably seen their friends dead in a coffin or on the street. That is "real" to them. A reality that you probably can barely grasp from sitting in your McMansion listening to your MP3's- to them it might just be a game with the pain not being existentially real at all. To have a white Congressman or woman lecture the black artists about aesthetics and what they should or shouldn't be rapping about seems to me to smack of that same lack of understanding of what the hell they are really talking about- forcing their own particular idea of aesthetics onto others who have no reason to drink the kool-aid; it certainly isn't in their best interests to do so. It's like the white doctor stepping into Africa, only these Congresscritters are stepping into a realm they really don't know much about and telling people what they should and shouldn't be feeling and expressing.

Having said that, they also had some good counterpoints for people who did not like mass-market "gangsta rap", particularly by the white male psychologist (alot of the others were just preachy, honestly). I do think that certain kinds of rap could feed into negative stereotypes in peoples subconscious minds, especially if it is used out of context. Though frankly I found the arguements still weak on many levels (he totally missed the issue that perhaps African Americans may have some level of internalized racism = lower social expectations, but that's another issue). But it still begs the question, is it really an artists responsibility to do what is "good" for the weak minded masses and a politically designated community, or do they have a duty to speak on a deeper level. I think that point was missed.

The whole thing really missed the main point, whihc I'm getting to: so much of the white perception of "rap music" is dictated by corporate elites who want $$$, and have no sense of corporate responsibility to anybody but shareholders. Context of an artists' speech doesn't mean much to them, if spiritually empty kids will buy it up out of the social context the art was written in. It is very telling that this was frame as an issue of "artists vs. society" rather than "corportations vs. society".

Any feedback is of course welcome.

[madeline_con]

1. "... dabbling in a culture ..."

Is listening to 50 Cent and wearing one's pants around one's butt and a cap cocked at a funny angle "dabbling in a culture"?

Are you saying white kids have nothing authentic in their own culture to grab hold of, and are trying to borrow something they see as excting from another?

[PDenton]

4. yes

Keep in mind media companies are trying to sell stuff that is always new. If people were happy listening to Enrico Caruso and you didn't push Elvis on them... then who would make money? You wouldn't sell as many new records.

It's all about being the merchants of cool. If you can convince somebody else their culture or experience is fake or inadequate, they need to be different than their parents and squares, and maybe there's something better out there, oh, and would you part with a few bucks for a CD while you are at it... that's the ticket.

I could go on, and on... but that's enough for tonight.

[madeline_con]

5. Thanks for the reply.

I didn't know what to expect, or if my post would be misinterpreted.

[nightrider767]

2. Much Of Rap Music Is Really Bad

I think a lot of it IS horrible. I'm a DMX fan myself, and especially listen to him when it's time for a good workout. Man, nothing puts me in the "zone" to lift some heavy metal better than hearing DMX screaming and yelling at his Friends, gunshots, and his dog barking and snapping at people. It's fun for me. But I'm a grown up and realize it is just for show.

But for kids,,, they can buy into more. I think that can be harmful.

But along those lines, ultimately it should be up to the Rap community to police themselves. The government can't do that.

ANd before we decide the crucify the rappers, lets be fair and admit that if Rap is so bad, how about wars, violence on tv, divorces, and of course, video games.

I'm glad I had a chance to grow up in the 70's. It was sooo nice back then.

My 2 cents worth.

[Glorfindel]

3. A very thoughtful post, but as a gay man, I'd like rap to be a bit less "authentic"

Maybe I fail to grasp the subtle nuances of "kill the faggot" music. If so, I sincerely apologize to the sensitive, talented artists responsible for these warm and fuzzy affirmations:

http://www.phatfamily.org/dadislist.html

:hi:

[madeline_con]

6. Wow, that's some pretty phobic stuff.

:tinfoilhat:

[nightrider767]

7. Excellent Point

Now that is something that ought to be banned as a hate crime.

[PDenton]

8. didn't you get the memo?

Not all music/art is suppossed to be warm and fuzzy or make people feel comfortable. In fact alot of art has made alot of people uncomfortable over the year- there were near riots when Stravinsky debuted The Rite of Spring. That's not an endorsement of any particular style or kind of music, just a reality. IMO, the only "inauthentic" art is art that an artist produces without the intent of either reflecting reality as they see it, or reflects a reality that they cannot "own up to" in all its consquences- an artist takes responsibility for their vision. In this regard, maybe alot of rap is phony and more of Hip Hop should be circumspect, especially with the hurtful language they use, but I don't believe it's my place as an outsider to judge it.

[nightrider767]

12. Hmmm

Man, that was deep. I liked it, I had to read over it a couple times.

But don't you think, even if done in it's purest artistic form, shouldn't there be some restrictions?

Gay bashing was brought up. Now that is something I can't condone. How bout White racists, if they came up with songs that derided the people they hate, is that something we could condone on the air?

I'm all for artistic freedom, but dear god, if it's gonna have to spark a riot, I'd say noooo.

Interesting discussion though,

[PDenton]

15. it all comes down to what people would pay for

Alot of the gangster rap, as said before, in Hip Hop is financed by corporations. Without the money they'd be just like that ex-black panther professor at Virginia Tech that also has poetry published on "killing whitey"... it would be out there but not widely known.

The reality is hate speech is legal in the US, as it should be. The government shouldn't get in the business of defining what is right and wrong to say or think. It's called the First Ammendment for a reason, it's the Ammendment protecting our rights upon which all other rights are dependent.

The reality seems to be alot of rap music uses epithets that are not considered acceptable anymore by mainstream society. However, most of the music is not dedicated to just expressing hatred of a particular group... it's incidental. It's sort of a person who doesn't like nudity criticizing a classicist statue for "gratuitous" nudity- prurient interest wasn't necessarily the motivation behind his work, now was it? Likewise, maybe alot of rap music uses these ostensibly hurtful epithets in a way that still has artistic merit overall?

It is similar to the Israeli/Jewish stance on Wagner. For many years it was an unwritten rule you didn't play Wagner in Israel, all based on one tract that Wagner suppossedly wrote that was a thinly veiled attack on Mendelssohn (who actually was Jewish in ancestory only), and Meebeyer, but was profoundly anti-semitic and accused Jewish musicians and composers of being hacks and uncreative. Deep down in probably stemmed from jealousy more than overt hatred, and he may have been pressured by publicists to endorse the tract. Plus, the Nazis seemed to like him because he wrote in German and was a nationalist or patriot (though he also was comissioned to write "Rule Britannia"). If you mark his whole artistic expression just by acts of anti-semitism, well, you are throwing out the baby with the bathwater and possibly even distorting his art. You can admire his artistry without having to agree with every single sentiment he ever espoused.

Just some thoughts. I don't have all the answers on that one.

[flashl]

9. A point missed?

German Training Video Has Soldiers Training To Kill American Blacks

A German training video surfaced wherein a german army officer orders troops to imagine they are shooting at African-Americans in the Bronx.

The german government has apologized and said the actions of the instructor were isolated.

German news reporters and commentators were quick to say that it is the images they see and music they hear of Black Americans that make many feel like it's okay to view Black people the way they do.

[PDenton]

10. they are lying

The truth is they didn't get that from rap music, they got it from their own society (Germany). Germany has big problems with race relations... well, they would if there were actually that many racial minorities left in Germany. Hitler did such a bangup job of it back in the 40's of cleansing their nation that many Germans don't consciously think of race at all.

Germany actually has a small minority of black Germans, they are called Afrodeutsch. Most of them come from Alsaice and the border areas and are of French-German ancestory. The school I went to in highschool had a substitute teacher who was an Afrodeutsch. Needless to say, the history is a very sad story.

[flashl]

13. Yes, we can recognize the Germans backpeddling but ...

To date, * nor anyone from the State Department have issued ANY statement or objection.

[NOLALady]

11. Amazing justification.

"it is the images they see and music they hear of Black Americans that make many feel like it's okay to view Black people the way they do."

They have not seen images of the Tim McVieghs (our home grown terrorists including supremacists groups) The Columbines(school shooters), Serial Killers, as well as the murderous warmongers.

[nightrider767]

14. Agreed

Let's not be too quick to judge.

Let the innocent cast the first stone.....

Let's face it, though we live well together, our country certainly doesn't have too much to brag about when it comes to race relations, especially when you consider that most of the racism is now the subtle form, that like minded people share in private.