His Point of View

I don’t know how many of my readers follow me on twitter but if you do, perhaps you read a tweet I sent out a couple weeks ago about hearing a song mentioning a person (or people) you know.  The long and short of it is that I happen to have grown up in a neighborhood with a few people who have found some success in the music industry.   A couple of weeks ago I heard a song by one of these individuals which mentioned the fact that one of my closest childhood friends was murdered.   I had to play the song about 10-15 times to make sure I was hearing the lyrics correctly.  I made a few phone calls and my family could not confirm it, nor could the only other person I grew up with in the neighborhood that I still have contact with.  So I sort of dismissed it as perhaps it was another person the musician knew with the same name.  The band that made the song in question came to DC this past weekend and I got to spend a few moments catching up with the band member that I knew growing up and sadly he confirmed that he was talking about my friend.

The fact that this young man lost his life in such a senseless manner is bad enough, but I could not help but to think of his remaining family that has been hit so very hard by death.  My deceased friend, lost one of his older brothers when we were very young and his mother to cancer while we were in middle or high school.  I could not help to think of the pain his father and remaining brother  must have experienced.

The second tragedy is that this is the fourth young man from the single block that makes up the neighborhood that I grew up in that is immortalized in the lyrics of a song, who is now dead and no longer here to hear the songs written about him.

The third tragedy related to this issue is the fact that I am the only young man from my neighborhood within a 5 year age range that is alive, currently not incarcerated, and has never gotten caught up in gangs or drugs as far as I know…(there is 1 other young man who I really didn’t know growing up from our neighborhood, and I have no idea of his status over the last 11+ years since I left East Point, GA).  My neighborhood was squarely upper middle class, suburban (continue reading…)

Let me start with a disclaimer:

I love rap music, I grew up in the 1980’s so it is a part of who I am.  I kind of, sort of like Soulja Boy and many of the artisit who rap about money and drugs while they “…say the word nigga like it makes their teeth white.”- (excerpt form an interview of Paul Mooney, not related to the topic at hand, or the rap industry at all)

Ok, so I like many of the people I am about to discuss… but I like their music, not necessarily their message.  I am a fan of good music yet some of the lyrical content is disturbing to me.

Last year I took a trip to South Korea. This year I took a trip to South Africa. You may ask, What’s the  common thread  here? And if you were to ask I would say the influence of American “urban culture” (the hip hop/rap culture).  When I stepped off the plane in Korea I had no idea that I would not see another person of African descent (aside from the one friend who I knew from college) for 3 solid days, furthermore I only recall coming in contact with two people of European descent for those 3 days as well. But that’s not the point of this post.  The point of this post is that despite being on the other side of the Earth I was surrounded by American hip hop culture and rap music… and all of it was not good in my opinion.

As I wandered the streets of Seoul, Gapeyong, Chuncheon, and Bukmeyon (surprisingly it appears that I spelled all of those places correctly on my first attempt… I am improving at this memory thing) I was greeted by young adult Koreans who could speak some English as a result of it being a required course in the public schools there.  I was not greeted as you may imagine, by a smile, a handshake, a hello, or Ahn Yong hasehyo…but rather with a dance.  What dance you ask??? The “Crank that Soulja boy dance.” The first two occurrences caused me to think that it was  it was interesting that they were familiar with our culture… But I was in Korea for 8 days and by day 3 I was thoroughly disappointed that the “Crank that” dance is the first thing that comes to mind when these people see a black man from America.   There was one particular day when I had to endure 3, maybe 4 live performances; in the bus station, on the side walk, in the mall…everywhere I went people would break out into the Soulja Boy dance before approaching me.  Once the dancing was over I had decent conversation… well after they asked if I knew Andre 3000, Soulja Boy, 50 Cent, and so on.  Ok, so  you are probably thinking that I am over reacting, or that its no big deal, or that its good that our culture is accepted world wide.  Well if only it were that simple. Outside of Seoul the Korean people were not familiar with African Americans aside from what they saw in music videos.  And that is the disturbing part.  Imagine that half of the world literally, knows nothing about you, your culture, and your experiences, except for what they see in music videos.  Well you don’t have to imagine, because that’s pretty much the truth.  The few television shows and movies that show a decent view or even a positive view of life as an African American are not translated or even aired around the world but music videos certainly are.

What about South Africa?  Well my experience there was somewhat different.  Well it definitely was not an issue with race, because mostly everyone there was black or coloured(in Africa there is certainly a difference between being black and coloured).  But there as I wrote yesterday there was a disconnect from what they imagined life in America was like compared to the reality of life here is for an African American.  But still the hip hop culture was pervasive.  They have a whole other genre of music in S. Africa, which is a blend of hiphop/rap style and African song styles and African drum rhythms.  This is in addition to the standard mainstream rap artists we have here in the states.  Unlike in Korea, I did not hear any American rap played in the bars or in people’s cars as I wandered around town.  But it was still clear that their Young urban class was heavily influenced by ours.

I decided to try not to make this post too negative.  I could have gone on about who needs to clean up what, and how our rappers and record labels are not considerate of how the world views “urban America”  but I think any reasonable person an connect the dots.  What will say is that if more of these celebrities took a day when on tour to see the real behind the scenes look of how their foreign fans live, they would not be able to continue to produce much of the stereotypical, garbage that is being promoted these days.  If they really got to see what is going on in the world when they tour or vacation they would have to be completely selfish and motivated purely by money if they did not change their ways.  That is not who I want representing my culture.

Richard Pryor was formerly the king of the word nigga/nigger but even he said that when he went to Africa he stepped off the plane and he did not see any niggers/niggas.  And upon his return to the states he was determined to stop using the word in his skits.   Travel should change who you are, if it does not, you are not stepping far enough outside your familiar routine and that is unfortunate.   But it is clear to me that many entertainers from the inner city are not exposed to what life is like outside of the bubble in which they live.  If only they had a clue as to the influence they have on the world. Few entertainers have the power to start or stop a trend on their own… but when 5 mediocre to average artists perpetuate a similar theme or stereotype, it infects the world just the same.

The generation that was raised on and still thrives on rap/hip hop is about to be in the world’s driver’s seat… we need to act like it.   If you must “Represent” at least do a good job of it, and make sure you put some real thought into what and who you are representing.

On another note… I came across this video today of a street poet & musician and I wanted to share it.  Check out the entire clip if you can, at the least just enjoy the music(starting at 0:48).  Click Here

These are some bands/groups/artists that I have stumbled across lately and I am feeling their music… you should check it out, try some music beyond the genres you are familiar with:

Crystal Castles – http://www.myspace.com/crystalcastles

SlipKnot -”All hope is Gone” – http://www.myspace.com/slipknot1

Oceans 7-  “3000 and 9 shit” -Jermaine Dupri, Trey Songz, B. Cox, Nelly, Usher, Johnta Austin, and InTy ( yo, I still don’t know what InTy does… but he’s in the group)  team up on this mix tape available May 29, 2009 at www.global14.com definitely check it out.

Chrisette Michele -” Epiphany”-  http://www.myspace.com/chrisettemichele

Janelle Monae – http://www.myspace.com/janellemonae ( Her voice is amazing, and her lyrica content is refreshing,  she is not singing the same old love songs we have been drowning in for the last 20 years)

If you are a real fan of music you need to be at the Bonaroo music Festival June 11-14 in Manchester, Tennessee:  (Oh, how I wish I could be there)

http://www.bonnaroo.com/

Some of the acts lined up for Bonaroo so far are:

Al Green

Snoog Dogg

Crystal Castles

Amadou & Miriam

Public Enemy

Elvis Costello

Bruce Springsteen

Erykah Badu

Jimmy Fallon

Nine Inch Nails

Paul Oakenfold

The Beastie Boys

Ani DiFranco

and the list goes on… its crazy check it out http://www.bonnaroo.com/artists.aspx Its got to be close to 100 bands, plus a dozen or so comedians, and a couple movies planned for this event.  Its gonna be sick… if you remember a few years ago this was the event where Kanye rocked the show at like 2 or 3am or something stupid like that…