pimp transfusions
my favorite zany paragraph of the holiday season, so far:
The quote comes from a pretty interesting article about a new documentary criticizing violence, misogyny, and homophobia in hip-hop. The article makes explicit an interesting connection between increasing gangsterism and increasing white audiences, suggesting that the gangster rap image is in large part a minstrel show fulfilling the fears and secret wishes of a suburban audience:
"It also includes portions of the video “Tip Drill,” an extended fantasy of male sexual domination by the rap star Nelly, who has won praise by promoting literacy and bone marrow donations, but, as the film notes, also markets a drink called Pimp Juice."Can't forget the pimp juice.
The quote comes from a pretty interesting article about a new documentary criticizing violence, misogyny, and homophobia in hip-hop. The article makes explicit an interesting connection between increasing gangsterism and increasing white audiences, suggesting that the gangster rap image is in large part a minstrel show fulfilling the fears and secret wishes of a suburban audience:
"What concerns Mr. Hurt and many black scholars is the domination of the hip-hop market by more violent and sexually demeaning songs and videos — an ascendancy, the critics say, that has coincided with the growth of the white audience for rap and the growing role of large corporations in marketing the music."
posted by bc at 1:36 PM
2 Comments:
The article's been NYT archived, unfortunately, but, from your precis, I don't really buy it. For one, a lot of the first hip-hop songs to generate crossover appeal with white audiences (PE and "The Message" notwithstanding) were the very opposite of gangsta -- think MC Hammer or early, goofy Will Smith. Then you had the Native Tongues -- Tribe, the De Las, Black Sheep, Jungle Brothers, etc. -- who had lots of white crossover appeal and weren't anything close to gangsta.
I also think it's hard to argue that rap is getting increasingly misogynistic or violent. Geto Boys ("Gangster of Love"), 2 Live Crew ("Me So Horny"), Slick Rick ("Treat Her Like a Prostitute"), and of course N.W.A. and all its derivations (Cube, Dre, Snoop)...there's always been a violent/misogynistic element in some hip-hop, and some of that old stuff is pretty raw. Hard to say it's been getting worse.
One thing about hip-hop that I think has changed, and that's pretty unfortunate, is the rise of bling and the loss of a political message. Back in the day, I think hip-hop used to more often channel the hopes and frustrations of ordinary people, particularly (obviously) in Black America. Think Big Daddy Kane's "Who am I?" or almost anything by Public Enemy. Now it's P Diddy and Jay-Z racing needle boats. Really, who cares?
Of course, there are still vital currents in hip-hop, but (and I don't just think it's because I'm getting old, although that doesn't help) the signal-to-noise ratio has gotten a lot worse.
good points all. I agree it's hard to draw a line between 2 live crew and nelly; i still think there's something to be said for the relationship between the decline of politicized rap and its growth in the suburbs, though maybe not as clear as the article makes it.
It's interesting that the hyphy movement in the bay area seems to have gone past politics and gangsta rap to pure partying.
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