A little under a year ago Kanye West was a phariah.
I guess that's just the way the world works, express a valid opinion based on a President's response to a disaster and no one cares. Rudely, but all the same correctly proclaim that Beyonce had the best video of all time and the entire world sides with the pop star major label product. I'm not gonna front, aside from the millions in the bank and supermodel looking gold diggers, dealing with that much misplaced hatred must have sucked. If I had an Amber Rose at my side I too would have said fuck it, and disappeared for a while.
But even more interesting has been his return. It really started with his joining twitter soon before power dropped. He was easy to follow, you got exactly what you expected, silliness, wanton luxury consumption, twit pics of a life led by few, and unexpectedly, some rambling introspection. And as expected, it is a hit.
Power itself was a departure from the normal Kanye opening single. Dark and introspective wit over a track that was patently un-pop. A short teaser video based on an imagery of hell that was only available on the interwebs. There was no upbeat beat or MTV worthy video. I for one wondered what is Kanye up to. I understood his desire to move toward deeper artistry in his work but not how exactly he could do that and sell records according to the industry model.
His next departure from the norm was GOOD fridays, say what, who can resist free music. Great beats, great rhymes what more could you want(phonte voice). It made sense, it kept him relevant musically, and us patient, while allowing him forgo releasing other tracks until he played runaway at the VMA's.
Then there is the masterstroke. The Runaway video. It is an impressive accomplishment. He showcases his music, his desire to have what he makes seen as real art, and the emotional turmoil of the last year in a beautifully shot easy to watch short film. As far as the music, he gives us just enough of it to confirm that his album should be at least good, while again leaving us wanting.
I really think that Kanye West has waged an incredible campaign for our hearts and minds. He may have lain a blueprint for all artists on how to explore your other artistic interests while setting your album up for monster first week sales. I won't call Kanye the official rapper of the internet generation, but one thing is for sure he does get the internet generation, and that will only help his star burn brighter.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Stale Crumpets and Cold Tea
The fall of 2008, the first semester of my senior year, I had the pleasure of taking an amazing class called “Race and Politics”. It looked at politics and its complex relationship with, you know, race. Which is to say it basically looked at American politics since the passage of the voting and civil rights acts, no wait, since emancipation proclamation. Apparently, it is a class that Mike Taibbi of rolling stone should have taken.
Mr. Taibbi’s article on the Tea Party, “Tea & Crackers”, is highly insightful. He chronicles the origin of the tea party, from its birth in libertarian ideals to its hijacking by the upper echelons of republican corporate interests. He provides an excellent look at the motivations of the tea partiers and their narcissistic thought process. However, he loses me when he says it would be wrong to call the Tea Partiers racist.
I say this because in almost all facets of society, especially politics, there is nothing new under the sun. Yes, mankind has seen it all before. And, America has seen this all before.
America’s history is one dominated by oppositional groups. Us versus Them. The most poignant of these is the history of African Americans and white (mainly southern white) Americans. (A quick aside it’s fucking disgusting that American without a modifier is reserved for white Americans, I’m gonna start a movement to call white American’s European Americans and Native American’s Americans. Jk about the second part). After all it is this history that has shaped American politics since it’s inception. Yes, since the declaration of independence black Americans and their relation to white Americans have been a source of consternation and contention.
The best way to examine the long history of this interracial (pause/no porn) relationship is to take a look at a one particular phenomenon of slavery, the escaped slave. It is not the escaped slave who was interesting; after all wouldn’t you try to escape forced labor, heinous treatment, and inhumane living conditions. It was the people who hunted the escaped slaves: posses. Groups of poor white men who would take up their arms and relentlessly hunt down the only people that had it worse than them.
Here’s an inexact analogy to the posse’s situation. I am a soldier. A robot has recently taken my job and income, as such I am poor and idle, scratching out a meager living on my land while the generals I could be serving earn obscene amounts of money because the military no longer has to pay humans, or worry about their well being. It only has to pay for the upkeep of these ever-toiling machines that they can easily replace when broken or destroyed. Say one of these robots develops sentience and makes a break for it. Those generals would now come to me, because they could not risk the robot freeing its compatriots. Now I as the recently fucked over soldier would tell the generals to shove it, hoping that it has a sharp point and reaches their brains. But if I believed that the robot posed a threat to the lives of my wife and children I might willingly enlist in the hunt for this rogue.
The poor white southerner truly believed that the “savage” African slave would not hesitate to kill him and his family if he were freed. Quite frankly, I don’t blame the poor white southerner. If I helped keep a people subjugated in heinous conditions for a long period of time, nothing would scare me like the prospect of them rising up and seeking revenge. The main culprit of the poor white southerner’s attitude was ignorance. Unlike my soldier they never had the benefit of working for slave owners. They were born poor and fated to remain poor due to shitty employment prospects, due to the fact that slaves held the majority of southern jobs, and they were taught to fear dark skin and all the savagery that would be unleashed if this dark skin were to be freed. They never thought, how am I benefitting from slavery? They never thought who is benefitting from slavery? And most importantly they never thought, who is actually suffering from slavery?
This line of questioning could have freed the slaves earlier and launched America on a vastly different path. Unluckily for the slaves, political thought is a top down exercise. The rich and few hold sway over the poor and many.
This relationship has continued throughout American history. It is most severely expressed when the theys, seemingly, stand to benefit.
Lincoln, A Republican, emancipates the slaves probably creating a job market and a white middle class by unintentionally creating a racially segregated capitalist market. How does America thank him, by electing a Democrat.
The dixiecrats maintain a political stranglehold over the American south by preying on the fears of white men that they are sexually inadequate when compared to the black male whose sole desire is to taste the pure as the driven snow sex of the white female. Well this is a gross simplification, but for the purposes of this article it is all I need. As such blacks are segregated, lynched, and hated. In the south they are practically rights less from the emancipation proclamation to the signing of the civil rights act.
When the civil rights act is signed Lyndon B Johnson proclaims to his Democrat colleague’s “We have lost the south for a generation”. Never mind that integration destroyed black companies that could not compete with larger white companies, helping to take a black middle class with it. Never mind that black teachers(and academic excellence) and other professionals, part of the black middle class, became a dying breed crushed under the immense weight of southern institutionalized racism. Southern whites only thought was you gave those niggers rights. Which then ushered in a new era (no fitteds) of Republican dominance.
And the Republicans took the insecurities of white America and kicked the ball further down the road. Barry Goldwater’s nearly openly racist rhetoric of returning safety to America, Reagan referencing non-existent welfare queens, Bush Sr. using the Willie Horton ad to crush an opponent: all example of how the black other has been used to rally poor whites, who are actually in direct competition with poor blacks for whatever scraps fall from the plates of the wealthy, to the republican cause. A cause that has increasingly strayed away from its somewhat noble principles, that are now only truly espoused by libertarians.
The tea party is no different. It is the same ruse worked to perfection. Us and them. The them may not be overtly persons of color, but the racial implications seethe beneath the surface. For instance, anti socialism: why would any poor person oppose a system that would make their lives better by raising taxes on the rich and corporations?
Well to answer that you need to look at the “appeal” of the Republican party. It’s original values were to encourage open competition between all persons. As such your wealth would be commensurate with your hard work and intelligence. The government should not help any specific group of people no matter the circumstances. Socialism is obviously to be abhorred. When applied to America this does not account for it’s racial history or the fact that wealth is accumulated and begets more wealth as generations live and die. What it also does not take into account is that this accumulated wealth provides a false image to the white populous, who see the rich white benefactors of the accumulated wealth of slave owners and think that they are part of a superior people. While the other, the inheritors of the accumulated poverty of slavery, colonialism and second class citizenship are lazy, stupid, criminals. As such under educated whites are drawn to the Republican party rhetoric that soft plays this image of the other.
What has happened with the Tea Party is that the thought of an African American president is too much. It is not the blind faith in their candidates, who are mostly inexperienced and tend to gaffe often. It is the blind fury constantly and wrongly aimed at Obama for all the issues he inherited and an agenda that would benefit the Tea Party members the most and hurt, not that significantly, big business. The fear of being engulfed by an other propped up by socialism seems to have dug in too deeply. It has brought racist vitriol to the front and sent subtlety to the back of the bus. Racist signs are paraded on the street courted by the GOP while it moves with impunity to protect its corporate interests.
Race is at the heart of Tea Party politics, just as it is at the heart of all American politics. There will never be any real progress for the majority of Americans. Until the European American majority begins to understand that their us and them is not black vs. white. It is the haves versus the have nots, with the haves heavily favored, and by siding with race over the potential gains for all they are just helping the other team more.
Mr. Taibbi’s article on the Tea Party, “Tea & Crackers”, is highly insightful. He chronicles the origin of the tea party, from its birth in libertarian ideals to its hijacking by the upper echelons of republican corporate interests. He provides an excellent look at the motivations of the tea partiers and their narcissistic thought process. However, he loses me when he says it would be wrong to call the Tea Partiers racist.
I say this because in almost all facets of society, especially politics, there is nothing new under the sun. Yes, mankind has seen it all before. And, America has seen this all before.
America’s history is one dominated by oppositional groups. Us versus Them. The most poignant of these is the history of African Americans and white (mainly southern white) Americans. (A quick aside it’s fucking disgusting that American without a modifier is reserved for white Americans, I’m gonna start a movement to call white American’s European Americans and Native American’s Americans. Jk about the second part). After all it is this history that has shaped American politics since it’s inception. Yes, since the declaration of independence black Americans and their relation to white Americans have been a source of consternation and contention.
The best way to examine the long history of this interracial (pause/no porn) relationship is to take a look at a one particular phenomenon of slavery, the escaped slave. It is not the escaped slave who was interesting; after all wouldn’t you try to escape forced labor, heinous treatment, and inhumane living conditions. It was the people who hunted the escaped slaves: posses. Groups of poor white men who would take up their arms and relentlessly hunt down the only people that had it worse than them.
Here’s an inexact analogy to the posse’s situation. I am a soldier. A robot has recently taken my job and income, as such I am poor and idle, scratching out a meager living on my land while the generals I could be serving earn obscene amounts of money because the military no longer has to pay humans, or worry about their well being. It only has to pay for the upkeep of these ever-toiling machines that they can easily replace when broken or destroyed. Say one of these robots develops sentience and makes a break for it. Those generals would now come to me, because they could not risk the robot freeing its compatriots. Now I as the recently fucked over soldier would tell the generals to shove it, hoping that it has a sharp point and reaches their brains. But if I believed that the robot posed a threat to the lives of my wife and children I might willingly enlist in the hunt for this rogue.
The poor white southerner truly believed that the “savage” African slave would not hesitate to kill him and his family if he were freed. Quite frankly, I don’t blame the poor white southerner. If I helped keep a people subjugated in heinous conditions for a long period of time, nothing would scare me like the prospect of them rising up and seeking revenge. The main culprit of the poor white southerner’s attitude was ignorance. Unlike my soldier they never had the benefit of working for slave owners. They were born poor and fated to remain poor due to shitty employment prospects, due to the fact that slaves held the majority of southern jobs, and they were taught to fear dark skin and all the savagery that would be unleashed if this dark skin were to be freed. They never thought, how am I benefitting from slavery? They never thought who is benefitting from slavery? And most importantly they never thought, who is actually suffering from slavery?
This line of questioning could have freed the slaves earlier and launched America on a vastly different path. Unluckily for the slaves, political thought is a top down exercise. The rich and few hold sway over the poor and many.
This relationship has continued throughout American history. It is most severely expressed when the theys, seemingly, stand to benefit.
Lincoln, A Republican, emancipates the slaves probably creating a job market and a white middle class by unintentionally creating a racially segregated capitalist market. How does America thank him, by electing a Democrat.
The dixiecrats maintain a political stranglehold over the American south by preying on the fears of white men that they are sexually inadequate when compared to the black male whose sole desire is to taste the pure as the driven snow sex of the white female. Well this is a gross simplification, but for the purposes of this article it is all I need. As such blacks are segregated, lynched, and hated. In the south they are practically rights less from the emancipation proclamation to the signing of the civil rights act.
When the civil rights act is signed Lyndon B Johnson proclaims to his Democrat colleague’s “We have lost the south for a generation”. Never mind that integration destroyed black companies that could not compete with larger white companies, helping to take a black middle class with it. Never mind that black teachers(and academic excellence) and other professionals, part of the black middle class, became a dying breed crushed under the immense weight of southern institutionalized racism. Southern whites only thought was you gave those niggers rights. Which then ushered in a new era (no fitteds) of Republican dominance.
And the Republicans took the insecurities of white America and kicked the ball further down the road. Barry Goldwater’s nearly openly racist rhetoric of returning safety to America, Reagan referencing non-existent welfare queens, Bush Sr. using the Willie Horton ad to crush an opponent: all example of how the black other has been used to rally poor whites, who are actually in direct competition with poor blacks for whatever scraps fall from the plates of the wealthy, to the republican cause. A cause that has increasingly strayed away from its somewhat noble principles, that are now only truly espoused by libertarians.
The tea party is no different. It is the same ruse worked to perfection. Us and them. The them may not be overtly persons of color, but the racial implications seethe beneath the surface. For instance, anti socialism: why would any poor person oppose a system that would make their lives better by raising taxes on the rich and corporations?
Well to answer that you need to look at the “appeal” of the Republican party. It’s original values were to encourage open competition between all persons. As such your wealth would be commensurate with your hard work and intelligence. The government should not help any specific group of people no matter the circumstances. Socialism is obviously to be abhorred. When applied to America this does not account for it’s racial history or the fact that wealth is accumulated and begets more wealth as generations live and die. What it also does not take into account is that this accumulated wealth provides a false image to the white populous, who see the rich white benefactors of the accumulated wealth of slave owners and think that they are part of a superior people. While the other, the inheritors of the accumulated poverty of slavery, colonialism and second class citizenship are lazy, stupid, criminals. As such under educated whites are drawn to the Republican party rhetoric that soft plays this image of the other.
What has happened with the Tea Party is that the thought of an African American president is too much. It is not the blind faith in their candidates, who are mostly inexperienced and tend to gaffe often. It is the blind fury constantly and wrongly aimed at Obama for all the issues he inherited and an agenda that would benefit the Tea Party members the most and hurt, not that significantly, big business. The fear of being engulfed by an other propped up by socialism seems to have dug in too deeply. It has brought racist vitriol to the front and sent subtlety to the back of the bus. Racist signs are paraded on the street courted by the GOP while it moves with impunity to protect its corporate interests.
Race is at the heart of Tea Party politics, just as it is at the heart of all American politics. There will never be any real progress for the majority of Americans. Until the European American majority begins to understand that their us and them is not black vs. white. It is the haves versus the have nots, with the haves heavily favored, and by siding with race over the potential gains for all they are just helping the other team more.
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