To me this article reps everything that is wrong wrong wrong with the way issues of race and appropriation are dealt with by cultural critics. I hope that the following is not an average representation of the kind of dialogue that goes on down South about these issues.white "white" people, you can't be Big Pimping if you got no hoes m'kay? K-Dawg says so. Pimps apparently are in no way shape or form a part of The Whiteness in Kennicott's world and Kenny is NOT a pimp, he knows his "church music". Shit, the whole bit about the "baroque" and detached nature of an attractive female vocal above the "noise" makes me think this is K's first attempt at listening to anything even remotely resembling hip hop. Oh, the best paragraph in this entire work of fart:
P.S. The best way to get 50 Cent out of your head is by gargling tequila while doing a head stand. Desperate times and desperate measures. Trust me, it also works for Three 6 Mafia and "Laffy Taffy".
Witness the explosion of a new hip-hop meme into "white culture." Yes, it was a memorable Oscar moment when Three 6 Mafia won the best song for their musical contribution to "Hustle & Flow." And yes, the song has a catchy tag melody. But this is a cultural brush fire ...A vast new audience got hip to the song ...And sent it down the long road of appropriation and misreading that almost inevitably accompanies cultural objects when they cross over into the world of Whiteness.If you ever wanted to know anything about "white culture" Kennicott is the man to read. Listen up
And so "It's hard out here for a pimp" enters white culture, as so many black memes do, with a wink and a nod. Of course your great aunt sitting down the table complaining in an impeccably white way that it's not easy for a pimp isn't thinking about real pimps. She may not even know what real pimps do. But that doesn't matter. Black memes in "white culture" are vaguely scandalous, used with a wink and nod that say, "I know this is transgressive, but I'm not going to learn anything more about it."MY great aunt? MINE? MY great aunt ain't white. And your aunt sounds like a big ol' racist with all her winking and nodding. Also, what about the "brown memes"? I want some meaningful looking quotes around my badass "brown" culture too. It's hard out here for a DIMP (Desi in Moral Peril).
P.S. The best way to get 50 Cent out of your head is by gargling tequila while doing a head stand. Desperate times and desperate measures. Trust me, it also works for Three 6 Mafia and "Laffy Taffy".
6 Comments:
Once again i will reiterate with this point:
I hate everyone equally, whether youre white, black, chinee or eskimo. The masses are asses.
On a different but similar note, is race a bigger issue in the states than it is in Canada??
Ive seen it come up in my geek forums with americans more so than anywhere else, or is it just my hippy parents and their uberliberal ways and race is an equally big issue here in Canada???
Sonia dated a blackman once.
Thats where i get my junglefever from.
That's what I'm trying to figure out, race seems to be a bigger issue there but all the race-talk seems to boil down to white vs black and Canada's black population isn't exactly in the high figures when compared to the States (even with the difference total population figures taken into account).
I wonder if we will face the same sort of mindset when our population grows. I hope not and at this point it doesn't seem likely but there's many a jackass around to challange that I'm sure.
From what I've seen Canucks are generally a good lot. Every human being must hold some type of stereotype but here I find it is easier for most to let go of them and learn if they are wrong and eventually make light of the whole deal. This diffues quite a bit of the issue at hand. I think that's a part of "Canadian culture", along with "beaver tails" and "poutine". We're also commie filth so that helps too.
I think we know who your real dad is now.
Lol @ D.I.M.P. - cute, that should be a T-shirt.
I like that you brought up brown memes. My personal interest has been in the brown memes transmitted into black culture (and i guess by default pop culture) for the last 5 years via the popularity of Indian samples in hip-hop. It's amusing watching people - who don't know who the hell Lata is dance at the club to a track with her voice on it - with wierd pseduo Indian hand moves.
By-the-by, thanks for the sweet comment you left.
I second your interest, Dutty...
Most of the crossover happens, like you said, in hiphop, from Lata to the flute so it's surprising to me that barely anyone actually makes an effort to listen to some non-sampled Lata let alone give her some credit. Gone are the days of Nusrat being remixed and courted and blared by non-desi folk from LA to Fife.
I'm just bitter becuase desis have yet to produce a popular hiphop act. "Patel Rap" does not count. *shudder*
Canada's got HUGE race issues - particularly with regards to our aboriginal population. Live in a city like Winnipeg and racism reeks everywhere.
We just like to hope/think we're "nice"....
thanks for the comment, ang, it's good to hear from a non-Ontario centric view. i agree with you, we certainly have a problem with systematic prejudice especially with aboriginal issues and especially on the law & order front. but can you imagine the globe & mail running a piece like the one above with "aboriginal" substituted for "black"? things are much more p.c. here, which doesn't mean there isn't a problem, but it does make conversation easier for anyone who cares to address the issues.
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