MTV

[nfotxn]

I think the way I feel about bling r&b and hip-pop must be much akin to the way people felt about disco in the early 80s. I mean the shallow excess is really getting close to the absurd point. I don't care how many expensive cars you have or that hot women want you. I never did and will only continue not to. The whole genre as it appears on top-40 is so utterly uncreative musically Honestly there's not a second of Funkadelic's entire catalog that hasn't been exploited one, twice or more.

Sampling is just like recycling paper fibers. Each time you bring back a sample you have less fiber to it and need to be more and more creative. Popular R&B is going much the way of other really simple music like Jungle. I mean of the entire pop vernacular I can't think of anything more tired and uninteresting as the Amen break. That Chic sample (Faith Evans, Fatman Scoop, Others) is sounding exactly the same way to my ears. Musical innovators have already moved long past Jungle and R&B sampling into the finely spliced grooves of IDM, Breakcore etc. Catch up already, the sound is STALE.

Label me a racist, whatever I know I'm not. I'm so sick of the ass end of urban ghetto culture being in my face in every public place I visit. It's vulgar, misogynistic and materialistic.Yes, yes girls and cars and product placement is all very nice but can we move on already? There's lots of awesome hip-hop that's also conscious out there. Just look in the direction of Def Jux or Anticon. There's also a plethora of artists that are far beyond the fucked up racial barrier that Big Music Business loves to market to us.

Oh and I'm sick of pretty people being the only people represented on TV. I'm sure it's well documented that beauty is a culturally held perception so can all us supposedly "ugly" people start a revolt already?

Comments

beauty

[nthebare.livejournal.com]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are many people that are not 'main stream beautiful' that I'm attracted to. At the same time there are many "beautiful people" I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.

Many people tout the cliche "it's what inside that counts," but it's rare that anyone can truely live that motto. Even I fall pray to making judgements on people based on thier looks before getting to know them. It's a hard habit to break, but at least I recognize it as a fault I need to improve.

[brianrdu.livejournal.com]

A-fuckin'-men.

People need to rise up out of the ghetto, not swill in it's (lack of a) culture like pigs. I swear, I hate seeing middle-class white people (pretty much exclusively boys) acting like they are from the 'hood. Popular culture right now is one giant celebration of ignorance. I can't remember the last time my car stereo had the radio on, because I exclusively listen to MP3 CD's I make myself. I mean, I just refuse to engage this shit.

[brianrdu.livejournal.com]

There I go again with my apostrophe problem. *sigh*

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

It's ok, at least it's not a drinking problem.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

I agree except that there is Ghetto Culture, it's just not really been embraced or explained to people. Mostly just sold in the form of really expensive sneakers and hoodies. Infact Grafitti has gone High Art/Commercial so quickly in the last few years it's nearly astouding.

[brianrdu.livejournal.com]

OK, your point on a technicality. Yes, there is *a* ghetto culture. I don't think it's something to strive for, though. The idea is to ESCAPE the ghetto, not wallow in it.

Grafitti went high art with Basquiat in the 80's, by the way. It's not a new trend...

[abearius.livejournal.com]

The ugly people are ALREADY on TV. We're the ones they want to keep down so that the guys without back hair won't feel like dickless mediocrities.

If it ain't got back hair, it's ugly. And if it's Anne Coulter, it's REALLY ugly.

[bigboychb.livejournal.com]

*wipes away the tears*


*stands up and applauds*

Bravo!!!


That was great.

YES!

[(Anonymous)]

That was a great rant. Isn't it a shame? About ten years ago when I first started LISTENING to hip hop, the thing that struck me was how much relevant, vital information the Mcs were giving the audience. Chuck D, Michael Franti, even Ice Cube, it really opened my mind to the black experience in America ("black CNN"), something never really addressed in the media. Now the prevailing MC style seems to be "I've taken too many hits to the head/I'm possibly retarded". Older acts like Cypress Hill or ODB did this too, but to an extreme and always with wit and panache. Now it just seems like the norm, and nobody is willing to rock the boat. I blame P diddy (whatever his fucking name is today). Totally talentless and all over everything. Where would he be without Bowie/Sting/Clinton? He just exploited his very talented friend and his unfortunate legacy and gave us some of the worst pop of all time.
As for MTV! Did you see a program about the cross over between hip-hop and porn? One of the few things I have ever seen that made me feel genuinely nausious[?]. Utterly depressing. While I have nothing against porn per se, the reality of STRAIGHT mass-produced porno is utterly demeaning to both performers and consumers, and to see it marketed and accepted on such a massive scale... ungh. These guys have serious issues they need to address about sex/women/relationships. I am on the lookout for some gay hiphop, I heard it exists but I have not actually heard it. There is a good site called gayhiphop.com, I think, it's something simple like that. I would love to make some, as for all these guys pretence of hardness and gangsta posturing they are all still shitless of getting one in the butt. What we need is a hip hop opera set on a prison block about a young good looking inmate who gets turned out and ends up in love with an older guy, who then has to protect him from the predatory advances of some other less-nice guys on the block. Well, that is what I think, but then I always feel very out of step with popular culture!
As for disco, there is a great programme on Radio 2 on Wednesday nights called Good Times, the history of Disco. It has already aired 3 episodes and next week is Saturday night fever, so I assume it is downhill from here on in, but what they have covered already has been excellent. WHile I can understand why people got really pissed off with disco in the end, it has to be remembered that in its early stages it was truly revolutionary, a uniting force that had a huge cultural impact. There really would be no raving without it, and it is highly likely that gay culture would not be where it is without it. I have been taping this series, and am very willing to make copies and send it people who want it. THe music (so far) has been fantastic (Philly Soul, Salsoul, early Uptempo crossover R&B) and the interviews are well done and researched well. This may be illegal, but if you want a copy email me: theNiallist@hotmail.com.
Sorry for clogging up your board with ranty stuff! But it is good to hear and needs ot be said. As for being racist, fuck that, that smacks of inverse racism. Is one homophobic if one does not like Kylie Minogue records? Is one sexist if one does not like Avril Levigne records? I don't think so! It's not racist to reject the image of black people as ruthless thug idiots being forced down our throat. At the end of the last Nas single an old man asks "If that's the way we get down, how are we ever gonna get UP?"

[gusmacroy.livejournal.com]

Welll, you are in the UK, can't you just switch to the BBC to see ugly people on TV?

[buc.livejournal.com]

Very well put, indeed. Unfortunately, I am too old for MTV demographic, so you will have to get on the Real World for all us old fogies, and show the world what good music is. Although, since you have a brain, you probably wouldn't qualify for the show. Even if you did manage to get on it, they would probably cut you out unless you started a drunken cat fight in a bar.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

It's true, in one respect I'm glad not to be directly marketed to and in another wish that I could be. Because large markets that agree on what they want have a lot of clout in a capitalist market. I mean being able to by records by The Books or weird swedish IDM labels at The Mall would be nice. Also it would provide great artists with lotsa cash, but I'm fantasizing.

And I am fucking AWESOME at drunken cat fights. You should see me at The Toolbox about 2AM on bear night when all the pretty girls have picked up dates and dragged them off by their cromagnum brows. I can be a disappointed bitchy princess with the best of them!