Post Revisted: Ms Peachez vs. Oil (For Leo)

I agree with Leo's thoughts that identity and representation within hip hop in not explored in mainstream media. What has given this idea a little burn was the whole Don Imus controversy and him blaming hip-hop for his usage of the phrase “nappy headed hoes.” Don Imus brought to the forefront the issue that because something is acceptable in black culture and in music, why can’t other cultures use the same phrases? Which leads to conversations of the n-word today in mainstream media and the re-purposing of the word in black circles. Whoopi Goldberg recently discussed the n-word and does a pretty good reasoning of its usage and context today versus the past.

Many hip-hop artists have to battle with themselves to figure out if they want to and can provide social commentary regarding issues within black culture or if they would like to get spins on the radio and have their videos played on mainstream outlets like MTV, BET, and VH1. In order to get noticed they fall on misogynist imagery within songs and video. BET (Black Entertainment Television) does not necessarily represent black people in a positive light. In fact, BET was supposed to be a reflection of black culture and issues given a space or public sphere to be discussed and instead it has segued into culture that plays upon the minstrel showand the exploitation of black stereotypes. Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder often discusses BET in his comic strips and in his television show. Has BET has become a network that is more concerned with the bottom line and just giving the people what they want? Yes, it is no longer considered a reputable forum for black issues....it rarely showcases news stories leading many to go online and to other networks for information on black issues, which is also the case with other main media sources. Recently, BET came out with a exploration of Hip-Hop vs. America. Spike Lee discusses this idea that media is giving the people what they want in the movie Bamboozled where he explores the ideas of looking at black people as buffoons here for entertaining the masses.



In different environments we all play different roles and show different aspects of our personalities. Like we discussed in class in regards to Barack Obama, he had to maintain himself as a non-threatening black male and still maintain his blackness within his own culture to remain relevant and a viable candidate. Often a subset within black cultural discussion of Obama falls into the idea that he is not black enough or whether he will remember black issues when it counts the most. There is also the thought that Obama should not do anything to embarrass the black community although many rappers do this consciously or unconsciously according to NY O.I.L. The rappers in many respects are playing multiple roles and exploring duality in rap and hip-hop culture. There are rappers that cater to the demographic that love hip-hop dances , objectifying women, violence, and battling amongst themselves. So how do they get “message songs” heard such as NY O.I.L.'s tactical media video? Some artists use mainstream attention as a means of grabbing the ear of consumers so they buy their cd and then listen to others songs that have more inspirational content on the disc. The use of alternative media finds many hip-hop artists taking to the internet to discuss issues that they care about and want to draw attention to them. The message has to go underground and be heard through alternative media sources .


NY O.I.L. is not commenting on something new in regards to the continual perpetuation of negative black stereotypes that continue to run under the radar in mainstream media and culture. The issue is do black people have to fall back to the vestiges of minstrel show tactics in order to be heard? Is commercial rap music able to function outside of minstrel show tactics and still get the attention of popular culture? Is main steam commercial rap a form of tactical media itself? NY O.I.L. sees it as embarrassing that rappers would stoop to exploiting stereotypes to make money and fall in line with bling, bling culture and materialism. There is unspoken motto of “embarrass me, embarrass yourself.” Black women, particularly video-ho-professionals (video models), allow themselves to be seen as only sexual beings that do not have any value other than their bodies as tools of advancement but there are not that many representations of black women on television that counter-act this ideal. NY O.I.L’s images play upon this in his video.

Another video , made by BET, that circulated the Internet falls into the category of tactical getting the attention of CNN.



The Mz. Peachez video, in my opinion, is more than just an ignorant representation of media. I think of it as a form of tactical media used to give light to the uneducated who do not necessarily see themselves as exploited in a video showcasing a love of chicken. Mz. Peachez is a man in drag playing the role of a matriarch taking care of children eating fried chicken. I often think that black men dress in drag to make them less abrasive and intimidating.

The video is meant to be shocking and open up discussion. As appalling as the video may be in other circles, there is still entertaining qualities seen in it by other black people. The issues are do they know better or are they a product of the failing education system in America unable to critically analyze the message in the video?

The hip-hop artist Nas has used his records as a space to discuss controversial topics and issues that plague Black Americans. He deals with dualities within his personality all the time. Which brings in the idea that people change their priorities and messages as they get older. Nas has always been a street poet but he also has songs that objectify women. This does not dismiss his relevance as a commentator on social issues and black cultures. He has a song titled “These are our Heroes,” which talks about the same issues as NY O.I.L. There is a call for responsibility for so called black role models because in a sense they represent all black people, which is unfair but true. Nas recently wanted to name his record Nigger but faced the product not being distributed, so in order to have his message heard he changed the name to N and used the album cover to make a statement. So in honor of Mz. Peachez here is another song politicizing the love of fried chicken.



Other Nas songs worth a listen:

N.I.G.G.E.R.- Master and Slave

Sly Fox


So where is the responsibility within hip-hop? And can black people play more than one role in a medium that only wants one-dimensional caricatures of black identity? Recently, Bill Cosby provided commentary about the vestiges of institutional slavery and stating that black people need to take responsibility for their circumstances and not changing them. The problem was no him speaking out but taking the topic outside “a black community” discourse. Bill Cosby is more than just a comedienne.

NY O.I.L. is commenting on the responsibilities of rappers to stop dumbing and watering down information and demeaning a culture that has come so far and fought so hard for the ability to be taken seriously. Yet there is always another aspect of artistic expression and the music as an extension of that expression and creativity. It comes down to the hip-hop artist personal choice and what message they want to be remembered by. So here is an additional question: Where is the growth in hip-hop and its soul ?

Shrinking Cities, Dead Space and Green Space

Before we leave the topic of place and public space behind, I thought I would share one of my favorite topics/initiatives. I think I briefly talked about the Shrinking Cities Project last quarter. It is an attempt by academics and industrial professionals world wide to consider the causes, ramifications and opportunities created by the shrinking of nearly one fourth of the planet's major urban settings. Since 2006, they have released three free standing case studies on different regions of the world. From Detroit, Manchester, Liverpool, Leipzig and Halle to Tokyo and Osaka, cities are losing population. In the the first section of their third case study, Philipp Oswalt writes, 

"...even though urban growth will continue to dominate in coming decades. An end is in sight, around 2070-2100, the world population will reach its zenith and the process of urbanization will largely come to an end. Then processes of growth and shrinkage will reach a balance and urban shrinkage will be a process as common as it was before industrialization began."₁

To a large extent they blame four processes for contemporary shrinkage. The first is suburbanization. This is a largely American phenomena, perhaps tied to residual westward expansionist mindsets, where large chunks of the urban population continually move outward.

The second is deindustrialization, which is exemplified by Detroit and Manchester. This process occurs when an industry dies and the former laborers are forced to move elsewhere for work.  The third is demographic shrinkage. Population loss on this level occurs when entire demographics have aged with low rates of reproduction and high rates of brain drain/deindustrialization. The result is a massive swathe of the population simply disappearing. The final process is post socialist change. This process is evident in Russia and many Eastern European countries.  It occurs when the shift of regime creates an economic, technological and cultural vacuum within a country. ₂ The result is once again massive exodus. 

These changes certainly do not affect all urban centers around the world, but this trend has been going on for long enough to grant serious consideration. The simple fact is that around the world there are former urban locations, which are now empty. Imagine entire blocks of vacant housing projects, homes, stores, factories and warehouses. The real question that I find interesting is not whether this phenomena is threatening or what its far reaching socio-economic implications are, but what populations around the world will do with this empty space. Furthermore, I am curious what possibilities these vacant places will grant for artists, critical thinkers and practitioners of digital media. Also, I wonder what this will mean for public space, the public sphere and urban green space.

One project has already responded to the writings of the Shrinking Cities group, with Fiber Cities Tokyo 2050. This project hails from some of the very brightest interdisciplinary minds Japan. They have a four fold plan to convert the empty/dead spaces of the city into public green spaces. They include "green finger", which converts locations further than walking distance of public transportation into a green belt, "green web", a strategy that turns redundant sections of highway into green space, "green partition", a design strategy that uses green space to ameliorate natural disasters (i.e. in earthquake prone regions) and "urban wrinkle", a plan to develop and upkeep linear regions of city.

The question I have is how this could be applied to most any American setting and how these once dead, newly greened spaces will thrive in the ubiquitously connected contemporary city.

Notes

1. "Complete Works 3: Case Study: Japan" (2008) shrinkingcities.com (accessed January 11, 2009).

2. Ibid.

3."Four Strategies" fibercity2050.com (accessed January 11, 2009).