Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Don't Say I'm Preaching To The Choir (On Miley Cyrus)


Jazz lovers know this, and with Jazz, you can't get more upright, suit-and-tie. But - just as with religion - there's a real musical world, along side the made-up bullshit we're fed:
“The same kinds of dynamics still occur. The general public is unaware of artists of color who are punk, country, alternative, or any other label record companies use to identify them. To some, these artists appear as outsiders.”

And in the current situation, we are. 

Just as with religion, visions of Hell predominate. It doesn't matter they don't believe in Hell, it's the chain-yanking that's important, with blacks as the chain. C'mon, that's Madonna's entire career, and she's been rewarded handsomely for it, by the #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen feminists.

Why shouldn't Miley Cyrus expect the same?


Another question is why didn't anybody expect Miley's shenanigans to begin with? Didn't Jay-Z turn her out on his last album - for civil rights and all that - while taking his work to the high-end galleries?


Miley believes in that. And, pro or con, so does everyone else.

 

They want to, somehow.

Here's a white female Rapper, showing some rhyming potential, but notice the uniform hand gestures - and the uniform itself? Her "homies"? It's all so tired. But there she is, talking about white privilege.

I keep waiting for her head to explode.


 Meanwhile - back in the real world - I told you about Glenn Reynolds missing Kendrick Lamar starting a tidal wave:
Oh, it's on. 
Big Sean's album "Hall of Fame" doesn't drop until August 27, but the rapper already got upstaged on his own track, "Control." The leaked song features contributing verses by Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica, but the spotlight is arguably on Lamar. 
Understandably so: Kendrick goes on full blast, crowning himself the "King of New York" (mind you, he hails from Compton) and name-checking several leaders in the game. In a sample lyric, Lamar attests, "I got love for you all but I'm tryna murder you ..." 
The rapper cites celebrities all over the map -- everyone from Phil Jackson to Lindsay Lohan, famous Brits Paul McCartney and Sean Connery, and rappers including Wale, Pusha T, Mac Miller, Drake and Tyler the Creator. 
This competitive challenge hasn't gone unnoticed. Both unmentioned and dissed rappers are posting their responses to the track. Memes are popping up at the speed of light. Some unlikely stars are even throwing in their two cents.

But even those who are aware of the controversy are mostly missing the larger story and it's implications:

Lamar's breakout album, Good Kid/M.A.A.D. City, was about his efforts, as a Christian, to resist temptation - which, I think we can agree, ain't exactly Miley's concern. 

Now he's demanding everyone DO BETTER. A message most would doubt is even being discussed in Rap. Much less, taken seriously, or that it's happening organically, in it's own very Rap/Hip-Hop way, with no input from the outside.


It's like religion, very few want anyone else to know anything else, except for what they tell them. 


 Because that would mean they'd actually have to start talking about other kinds of ideas.


And - it's a fact - there's weirdoes wandering around out there,...
 

10 comments:

  1. Curious what you think of Lady Sovereign, since you mentioned white female rappers.

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  2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiBMzoXsHcc

    This is killing me.

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  3. Mr. Jarrett your link isn't working -- and I'd kinda like to see it.

    Wonder what would have happened if white rapper chick had done a video with a "typical white" get up and background? Especially considering her lyrics?

    Thing that's pissing me off about Miley and the rest is that that it promotes this image which Kendrick Lamarr was addressing (imhao): it isn't better (in fact, it's pretty much a disaster), it's way too easy to fit into a stereotypical box (it helps to do it) which in the end kills art and jades audiences.

    PW

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  4. Dunno what to tell you, PW. It works for me. Firefox opens it when I highlight it or I can copy and paste it.

    Just search youtube for Lady Sovereign The Battle (Best Quali) HD

    that should do it.

    And maybe look for the actual video (not a fan vid) for the Lady Sov song "Love Me or Hate Me". It's a little more pop, but it is a white girl (albeit a British white girl) in typical white get up and so forth.

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  5. Ok, will do. Thanks.

    Hey, "typical white girl get up" is a stereotype -- come on, we both know it exists and that reality is usually something far greater and more varied...but the stereotype is the thing that gets promoted and is something that all good artists will mess with, because it trips out the audience's expectations/assumptions rather than playing to them.
    Hence, Miley didn't really shock so much as do the same old same old, and we should have called her out for being trifling more than anything else.

    PW

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  6. By the way Mr. Jarrett, it's kinda nice to see you in the comments here.
    Come around more often? -- it would be...fun(and I mean that in the most hospitable of ways -- there's a lot of topic to riff off of, hate to see it not get it's due).

    PW

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  7. Yeah. I always mean to comment, I just get busy. I try to stop by and read at least every other day.

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  8. Still thinking about the Cyrus thing and shocking an audience (and cultural dialogue in music) -- what if she'd come out on that stage (minus the creepy bears and bad get up) with a black male rap star (who? I don't know, probably not Kanye, because I don't think he's very bright, but somebody with some talent) and did a reworked version duet of this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFZsunzjDXU

    and this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOwblaKmyVw

    She could have even twerked a little before or after -- as a free handout to the audience's assumptions.

    because 1) it would have shocked, but in an artistic way rather than a cringe worthy way; 2) it would have played with people's assumptions of white/black music (the songs I linked to are heavily influenced...and that's the turn around and think thing).
    We would be (hopefully) talking about what an interesting performance she gave rather than this, and we might (hopefully) have been talking about the shared cultural roots of American music, rahter than pedo bears.
    Oh well...

    PW

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  9. That Jolene cover was really good.

    Not incredible, but really good.

    WTF happened to her? Drugs? Mental breakdown?

    I've heard some people whispering that there was some monkey business going on in her youth...someone at Disney or even Billy Ray himself.

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  10. I have no idea; I don't really follow pop stars very closely (just now found out who this Lena Dunham person was, LOL!).

    Yeah, I don't find her a great talent, but there were far more possibilities open to her than what she wound up doing...I think the marketing consultants got to her myself (I think she's probably always been under that control).

    As far as Billy Ray is concerned: Achey Breakey Heart was enough to make me not like him, so my opinion is probably biased...from listening to not strange, but highly irritating sounds. (I really hate that fucking song, can you tell? only thing that even comes close is Night Moves by Seeger, which sadly gets a lot of airtime where I live).

    PW

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