In a message dated 05/29/2002 5:37:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
jentelligent@yahoo.com writes:
> He then looked at me in
> disgust like I expected he would. That's a common
> reaction I get. He was shocked to see me as black man
> listening something besides Mystikal or Camron. It's
> frustrating how much mind control radio and TV has on
> the masses. Has anyone had a similar experience?
>
> -Chris Jentile
>
Sparked by my man Chris, this is a rant, by the way, good to see dialogue
flying again on this list.
That reaction is a result of many layers ranging from the blatant payola
between the deep pocket major labels and commercial radio to the never-ending
saga of the low self esteem of the poor and working class that is hammered
every second of everyday with misguided images of success being related to
perpetual promiscuous casual sex and drugs with many and the ownership of
everything that is pointless to really moving ahead in life i.e., excessive
jewelry and high-end automobiles with car notes the size of some people's
mortgages.
"Ghetto fabulous" is perhaps one of the most sickening terms that could have
ever come out of the stagnant Hip Hop & R&B scheme. I mean let's break it
down. Once upon a time, people who lived in ghettos had one main
objective...work to get out of the ghetto. You had to try and work harder
because you weren't making much to save but you had to save what you
could...if it took you 3 jobs to afford an apartment in a better
neighborhood, it was worth it. Better schools, quiet clean streets,
whatever, but the aim was to get there and out of the ghetto. Now, the
ghetto, as told through people who move out as soon as they are platinum, is
this great place full of these honorable men called thugs and women who have
the distinction of shaking their ass the fastest to be alluring enough to be
one of the thugs many bitches, who then will be subjected to countless bouts
of infidelity (thus many trips to the OB/GYN for STD or pregnancy tests),
smackdowns, and marked with the scarlet G...for the goldigger at home taking
care of the thug's kids).
Stay with me please.
Hip Hop music was once the most authentic and sometimes painfully honest
forms of music ever. Hip Hop was truly the voice of the voiceless, Chuck D
coined it Black America's CNN. I know what your are thinking, now I'll go
off into a rant about P.E., BPD, Tribe, and conscious lyrics. It is not just
about that, it was about the diversity and the freedom to be exactly who you
are. When I mentioned painfully honest, I think about how I cringed when I
heard what N.W.A stood for, but eventually gave them a listen...and no I
didn't love them after listening to them because their experience wasn't my
experience...but it was their experience and how they lived life.
Young music fans do not the choice or opportunity to make that distinction
anymore. For to many reasons to write about, in the last 10 years, Hip Hop
has dulled into an homogenized product for mass consumption. Consider this,
Hip Hop (commercial) is the music of choice for 10 years olds now. The worst
forms of it the better. I recently DJed a Bar Mitzvah for a friend of my
wife's family and I believe that that's the 13th birthday celebration. The
music of choice as sent to me as a playlist...Nelly, Jay-Z, P Diddy, J-Lo,
Fabulous, Mystical, Ashanti (with her shameless obvious sample of another
obvious sample), and so on. These artists are regarded, going by the request
of these kids, with the likes of Shaggy, Little Bow Wow and the Who Let The
Dogs Out group. Gimmicky and silly enough for children is the underlying
theme, although these artist would never admit or even realize that that is
what their music has become.
Flip the scene to a New York City popular buppie (black urban professional
25-35 year-old crowd...aka the group that will symbolize what black people
have come to in this country since the civil rights movement - yes, we are
(I'm 32) the first generation born into life in America without segregation
and overt racism to contend with). You might imagine a group of
sophisticated well learned college graduates, might be bored with the
playlist of 10 year olds but in reality, it is the same playlist. I'm the
first of 2 DJs at a pretty nice party with an outdoor setting that faces the
sunset. My job as per the promoters is to play that "cool-out shit like
acid-jazz and all that different shit" to the corporate ghetto fabulous
crowd. I'm into because here is a chance to be part of the solution and drop
everything on them from 4 Hero to Mr. Scruff, from Jurassic 5 to Mos Def,
from Jill Scott to Spacek...you all know what I mean.
Now imagine people looking up to me with impatient rolling eyes, what are you
playing and can you pick it up shrugs, and worst of all people not even
nodding their heads or tapping their feet. For the context, I'm black, and I
know that my people once upon a time, danced to Jazz music, vigorously. I
watch my own people sit still to music that is truly an extension of our
entire musical experience...jazz, soul, blues, hip hop, disco, etc. I watch
my own people come at me one by one to ask me when am I going to play some
hip hop as De La Soul is cranking the system. I have to plead with
aggressive requesters who are so upset that they haven't heard Jay-Z's voice
for five minutes, that I'm a DJ with my own style, I have great records to
play for you...please let me play them for you because radio or your friendly
neighborhood regurgitating radio hits DJ will not play them. I ask them to
let me offer them a different experience, one that feels like New York City
10 year's ago when the crowd hardly had a clue what the DJ was playing, and
that made the party exciting, different, and worth going to. Please let me
show you how different music is energizing and you'll leave here feeling like
you were somewhere special because the music took you to unfamiliar but
soulful funky places.
Now imagine the blank stare, and then the response of..."but you still going
to play some Hip Hop right?" I used to get all worked up but now I feel like
it is my duty to explain what I'm doing and to defend difference, diversity,
and my own individual approach. As the dumbfounded requester walks back to
tell their people's how much I suck, I'm tempted to say "no, YOU suck, but
what's the point of that? I'd rather keep smacking them in the head with the
best of all the different genres I play...I try not to give them any room to
blame the music, but blame me for not playing what they are used to. I can
take that heat because some people do come around. I'll even take 2 or 3 out
of 200, because those 2 or 3 have friends and they will leave that night with
something special in their heads that they will want to share with their
friends and family...it happens all the time. It is rocky soil but you must
still plant seeds.
Chris, keep offering up those headphones, people don't like different, but
that they surely know what's different and that stays in their head.
One of my funniest encounters was with a guy who truly calls himself Rugged,
a true thugged-out cat that worked Def Jam's Street teams in New York. He
came to a gig, and folks this does happen, he gave me a Ja Rule single, and
then stood next to me for a while. I thought that he was checking out the
party but he was actually waiting for me to play his record. So I told him
that Ja Rule doesn't really mix well with Eddie Kendricks and that I'd be
playing more soul classics stuff for the remainder of my set (of course the
commercial DJ was up next for the late crowd...which I also explained to
him). Now these are guys that strong-armed New York into it's homogenized
state by doing just what they do, intimidating you into playing their tune by
implying that you will not get anymore free vinyl if you don't. Much to
Rugged's dismay, I didn't care if I was dropped from Def Jam's list and I was
not going to drop the (uncredited) Stevie Wonder rip-off of Ja Rule's "Living
It Up" in the middle of my classics set...but, keeping in mind that this
shouldn't be a standoff, I gave Rugged a couple of my mixed CDs that had
stuff like, Roots Manuva, 23 Skidoo, LTJ Bukem, Attica Blues, and the Silent
Poets on it.
People, even Rugged was converted as he know wants every mixed CD that I do
and has even propositioned me about promoting them.
So that is my rant and positive solution. Pointing out the problem is
practically the ethos of American existence now so I shamelessly admit that
I'm on the "point out the solution" bandwagon. All of you listers out there,
please burn those CDs of you favorite joints, songs you feel that deserve to
be heard and give them to that Hot 97, Z-100, K-Rock 92 listening coworker of
yours. Chances are they will dig at least some of the tunes and start your
dialogue with them about what else they may be into. It's all great to be
part of the exclusive community that reads Straight No Chaser religiously,
but I feel greater when I can share the new music that I've discovered with
people who seem disinterested in anything that they haven't heard on the
radio. Enjoying something new is a natural human instinct so you have hone
in on that urge for newness and provide some nourishment.
If you made it here thanks for reading this and what do you think?
EZ
Qool DJ Marv
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed May 29 2002 - 22:08:01 CEST