>Hi, Christopher...Chris?
Christopher if you are in a lofty anglophillic mood.
>I'd think poor black folks would
>regard rappers as relatively priviledged rip-off artists making a buck off
>purveying "their culture". It's all a pose.
Rapping is one of the few means by which (a form of) the American Dream is pursued, and occasionally realized, by young brothers and sisters in the ghetto (have you noticed that that word has been replaced by terms like "inner-city" and "urban core"?). They want desperately to "make it" like Tupaq. Of course, like every other form of American Dreaming, it's delusional, though Black American Dreaming has particularly tragic proportions. Also, it must be emphasized that rappers are just about the only Black people these days who get to express Black rage publicly (be it contrived or the real thing, with all of its contradictions and mysogynistic content) and, more or less, get away with while bringing home bank. Why wouldn't lots of young, legitimately pissed off Black folk identify with tunes like "Fuck the Police" and "Whitey Sucks!"? These are things that Black youth feel and they are things that need to be said. Problem is, nobody is saying them except apolitical or politically wack rappers. Most of the "left," including lefties of color, has absolutely no idea what to do with Black rage. In fact, most of the "left" is afraid of Black rage so we should not be surprised when Black youth favor corporate gangsta rap over the "left," whatever that is.
Also, is it not interesting that folks display more public rage over what gangsta rappers do than what their (usually) "white" overlords do? And should we not be spending more time trashing all those second-rate "white" "rock legends," like the Rolling Stones, who've made millions off of pimping a watered down version of the blues to part soul-dead "white" kids?
>I do
>like pop and rock music, I always have, and black pop in particular.
Which is not to say, of course, that the Stones never recorded anything of interests.
When I was in High School in Los Angeles in the early 80's there were only several "white" recording artist considered worthy of play on Black radio stations--Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, Tina Marie, Michael McDonald and a couple of others whose names are not coming to mind at the moment. Steely Dan ranked the highest by far. Boz, Tina and Michael were loved cuz they sounded like they had some real soul. These days, there are no "white" soul survivors on Black radio (Micheal Bolton does not really count!). I find most of taday's pop and rock music annoying because its so...market friendly, nothing challenging or daring about it; and Black R&B is, for all intents and purposes dead (though Baby Face and a few others have done some very interesting things).
>Commercial broadcasting has to be very careful of messages that are "too
>passionate".
Which is, of course, another way of saying that America is anti-commie and anti-Black at its core.
>And here's a question...you once stated in a post that there's no such
>thing as >"white culture". What did you mean by that?
I mean there is no such thing as "white" cuisine, no tradition of "white" art, no "white' religion, no "white" architecture, no "white" music, no "white" literature. I do not mean that people assigned a "white" racial status do not "practice culture, only that "white" people do not produce or practice culture as "white" people per se. "White" as a racial identity was manufactured to reproduce "white" racial power, "black" obedience, and disunion among working folk in general, not culture.
That's the quick in dirty version. I'm happy to clarify if you need me to.
Toodles!
Christopher
PS Hey, where and when is your radio show?