In an interesting parallel to Theo’s comments, my wife sent me this link just now. I for one cannot believe it has been 20 years. The really depressing part is to think of how far black musical artists came in the 20 years preceding that album which surely has to be a pinnacle of political and social thought in art, drawing from what James Brown, Gil Scott-Heron, and Marvin Gaye (amongst many, many others) did before them. Consider the past 20 years. Looking out there now, all that you can see is clownish stereotypes of uneducated, drug dealing, gangbanger thugs who sing nursury rhymes and do silly dances while covered in diamonds from head to toe. And people wonder why it is that Theo Parrish is angry about the way black artists are handled by the white recording industry and music media? They have had their balls cut off and smashed into the ground.
Those negative stereotypes of black artists that are plastered all over have also helped perpetuate the idea that it is okay to be ignorant, regardless of the race of people listening to the music. Not all music needs to have a college degree’s worth of ideas behind it, but when there is nothing more serious than “superman that ho” to choose from, that shit is wildly depressing. Especially when the history of black musical culture in the US has had intelligence and awareness as part of its legacy for quite a while now, this continued emphasis on only the most ignorant music despite the presence of many other options throughout the underground is especially cynical and evil.
Also of great interest is the fact that PE will be performing the album for a Pitchfork festival. Quite an interesting turn of events that the “black CNN” is now simply entertainment for pseudo-intellectual priveleged white folks.
Quite an interesting turn of events that the “black CNN” is now simply entertainment for pseudo-intellectual priveleged white folks.
Same audience responsible for popularizing the negative stereotypes (that flav is falling into himself)
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pipecock reply on July 16, 2008 1:30 pm:
well that audience is part of who is responsible, though there definitely hasn’t been a nearly concentrated enough effort in the black community to be against it either, despite a large large amount of distaste for that kind of music in the community. but this ties into corporate control of the media, when this kind of thing is all that anyone sees, it doesnt surprise me much that everyone buys into it, white or black. but that media is of course almost entirely white owned and controlled.
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Martin Dust reply on July 16, 2008 2:58 pm:
“but that media is of course almost entirely white owned and controlled.”
You sure about that Tom? You’ll be saying Jewish next, just like Chuck eh?
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pipecock reply on July 16, 2008 10:05 pm:
as if the idea of jewish conspiracy was the same thing as institutional racism. i guess if you think ignorance and stupidity are a conspiracy, it might be the same. otherwise, i cant be sure where that comparison came from.
Martin Dust reply on July 17, 2008 6:58 am:
I was merely reflecting on the fact that that kind if thinking is not far off Tom really, it’s all the same - just a different race to blame.
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pipecock reply on July 17, 2008 9:41 am:
comparing institutionalized racism to conspiracy theories is really pretty insane, dood. seriously.
Martin Dust reply on July 17, 2008 11:30 am:
Hey Tom, keep getting spambotted, I’ll reply over email to ya.
kdiddy reply on July 18, 2008 11:43 am:
except it’s not the same. at all.
yeah, what you said.
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Nice post. I was 11 years old when I heard this album for the first time. A nerdy white kid in Dublin, Ireland. It was a million miles away from anything that I had heard before or have since. When people now ask me who my favourite artists are, Public Enemy would be in the top 3. In spite of the current portrayal of rap stars in the mainstream media, at least we can look back at Public Enemy and see that they laid some sort of musical and cultural benchmark. Maybe in the future black artists with power and influence in the music business will return to.
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very similar to redleeroy. i first heard this album at a scout camp (yes!) when i was about 12 years old. i had never heard anything like it. but i knew i liked it. after camp, i immediately ordered the tape. if i’d did a musical genealogy for myself, i think this could be the origin. amazing stuff. much, much respect to PE.
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Aye, this was the first hip hop album I ever had. Amazing stuff. I was tempted to go see them when they performed it in Dublin a few months ago, but I don’t really go for this craze of passed it acts performing a classic album. Along with the continued trend of many acts passed their prime reforming - many solely for the money - it’s something that doesn’t really interest me. This was the only show that really tempted me. I did hear a few reports though, that the opening especially was a real hair standing up on the back of yer neck moment. The original definatly has one of the best intros ever. Though i seriously doubt Dave Seaman is introducing them on stage this time around
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brelson reply on July 17, 2008 8:36 am:
Isn’t there a risk though that you’re falling into the trap of believing that all modern things are rubbish and that everything was better at the past? it’s important to control for that instinct when comparing now to then.
Specifically, my questions are:
- prior to 20 years ago there weren’t just less stereotyped black artists in the mainstream, there were *less black artists* full stop. could it be that that was a sign of there being more institutional racism, not less?
- isn’t a lot of more underground and non-appropriated black music playing up to those stereotype? I’m thinking of the ghetto stuff here. it’s not just the mainstream that peddles that image…
- it’s pretty much undeniable that, in today’s music marketplace, an act like PE would come nowhere near the success or visibility that they were enjoying 20 years ago. but doesn’t this say more about widespread and growing political apathy than about race specifically? in the west there’s a general drift towards a vapid kind of acceptance of how life is, isn’t that largely to blame?
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pipecock reply on July 17, 2008 9:57 am:
“Isn’t there a risk though that you’re falling into the trap of believing that all modern things are rubbish and that everything was better at the past?”
i don’t believe that modern things are inherently worse than older things, i just look at the evidence at hand and call it as i see it.
“- prior to 20 years ago there weren’t just less stereotyped black artists in the mainstream, there were *less black artists* full stop. could it be that that was a sign of there being more institutional racism, not less?”
what exactly are you basing those numbers on? when i go through record shops, i see a completely ludicrous number of records by black artists from the 50’s on in any number of genres. if somehow there are *more* black artists today, does it matter if there are less who are doing anything more interesting than lowest common denominator music? as if sheer quantity can make up for the fact that most of it is a joke.
“isn’t a lot of more underground and non-appropriated black music playing up to those stereotype? I’m thinking of the ghetto stuff here. it’s not just the mainstream that peddles that image…”
i am not saying that that image or stereotype needs to go away completely. it obviously exists for a reason. however, it shouldn’t be the ONLY image of black artists available in the mainstream. people honestly think that black people in the US are all like people they see in rap videos which is of course the farthest thing from the truth. but that is the only popular image in the media, so it becomes the truth in peoples’ heads.
“- it’s pretty much undeniable that, in today’s music marketplace, an act like PE would come nowhere near the success or visibility that they were enjoying 20 years ago. but doesn’t this say more about widespread and growing political apathy than about race specifically? in the west there’s a general drift towards a vapid kind of acceptance of how life is, isn’t that largely to blame?”
Erykah Badu’s most recent album was probably one of the most politically and socially aware albums in the mainstream in a long time, and she was pretty much universally praised for it by white and black critics and audiences. it is still possible! and it does still move people when it is made available! i agree that people are less likely now to be interested in ideas like that, but is it because of the same forces that have taken the ability for artists to talk about that out of the mainstream? people are consistently offered only vapid news and art, is it surprising that they would be less interested in anything of substance? record labels, film studios, networks who show news and television programs, and cable news networks are all owned by the SAME EXACT PEOPLE. it is in their interest to keep america dumbed down!
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hedonism is “good for the economy”
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Also of great interest is the fact that PE will be performing the album for a Pitchfork festival. Quite an interesting turn of events that the “black CNN” is now simply entertainment for pseudo-intellectual priveleged white folks.
Those you’ve staked out as your enemies (or at least objects of perpectual scorn) can’t win, can they? If it were an all-white, all-indie lineup, you’d savage them for that, and then when they open up to someone like Public Enemy, it’s automatically a bad thing, a sign of some kind of false consciousness. Which would you prefer they do?
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pipecock reply on July 18, 2008 12:00 pm:
i mean, that was not necessarily a dig at the Pitchfork crowd as much as it was an indicator of exactly how decimated the market for more serious black artists in the black community is. PE have always had white fans, and really can it be a bad thing for ANYONE to hear what they had to say on that album in 2008? but it is frustrating to see that the ONLY audience remaining 20 years later is the polar opposite of the intended audience, despite conditions for poor black people in the US not really changing very much.
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I’m pretty sure PE’s debut gig in Ireland was at a Trinity Ball to a bunch of students in tuxedos, now you can’t get much more rich white privileged than that!
but I do share tom’s sadness about the state of most modern hip hop today, always brings me back to Common’s track “I Used To Love H.E.R.”, it seems to get more relevant every year
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Going to see this Pitchfork show tonight in Chicago, they’re billed to be doing _It Takes A Nation of Millions_ from end to end… no idea how many of the original crew will be there but what a landmark album at just the right time. I’m sure Chuck will find some ways to make it updated with some snaps on Bush, the Iraq war, and stakes so high in the election year… can’t wait. As for it being Pitchfork putting it on, sure they can be annoying, but I’m glad there’s some disruption in the lineup and I’d be a fool to miss this live for such a cheap price on an outdoor summer night. But yeah, I’ll count the ironic t-shirts and get back to you with a grand total on Sunday.
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