Okay... so today my friend Tyler was blowing up my messages talking about music and spreading ideas to me. In the messages, he sent a link to a dude who was breaking down MF Doom's many aliases/characters he raps in the perspective of throughout his career.
An interview of MF Doom was shown around 3:25, (The Hypocrisy Of The DOOM Fan) and he begins to really dig deep about his purpose for wearing the mask:
He felt that hip hop began to be too much about how things look opposed to how they actually sound.
Continuing, he said to actually know what a person actually looked like, you had to go see them at a party before videos and access to the internet. Once hip hop started getting more publicized, it became more money oriented and less about skill. What he was getting at was that the lifestyle was glorified and talked about way too much, but Doom's theory is that it doesn't matter what he looks like or other artist look like, its about what they sound like. Therefore, he wears the mask to rebel against selling the product as a human being and to focus on the sound.
So you might be wondering what I'm getting at... well here it goes:
I'm not too sure who motivated these new rappers, or why the feel the need to glorify the lifestyle of the endless consumption of drugs, toting weapons (they don't even use), and other nonsense your
parents would probably hate to hear.
Accurate description of what I'm talking about, this people are pretty much around my age, still very young. Music has lost its substance, its mainly about flaunting what you have now, acting drugged out, and putting it all over a hard hitting beat. If you ask me, there's nothing fascinating about what most rappers have to offer these days, just about everyone sounds the same and has the same gimmick.
Welcome to The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, or more importantly The Home of Hip Hop. I think I'd be pretty accurate if I said that New York was basically at the top of the rap game from the 70's till the mid 2000's. NY is the home of some legendary greats such as the Notorious B.I.G, Run DMC, Wu Tang Klan, and LL Cool J. I grew up listening to Dipset (Camron, Jim Jones, and Juelz Santana) They were signed to one of the best rap stables/Labels of all time, Roc a Fella. From Jay Z, Nas, and Beanie Sigel all the way to 50 cent, DMX, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, and Ja Rule to name a few favorites during my time.
You hear all of these good things about New York but what happened with the sudden stop to the NY movement? The amount of artists putting on for the City has had a huge drop as of late. In the new age of hip hop we have the likes of Veteran Fabolous, Asap Rocky, Aboogie, Bobby Shmurda, Desiigner, Young M.A, Nicki Minaj, and a few others who are relevant and consistent with Music. But there has been an expansion of Hip hop artists coming from the south. The main sound of music now is from mostly Atlanta. They're spiraling out of control!!! The amount of successful and popular artist from Georgia is crazy. We have Future, Young Thug, T.I, Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka, Migos, 21 Savage, Rich the Kid, Lil Yachty, and the list could go on for days as you can see. As of right now they are amongst the most successful artists of this generation. Rapper, Future just recently dropped not one, but two albums in the same week. Both have at least three radio hits each. Rap trio Migos have been releasing hit after hit records for about 3 years now, and they don't look to be slowing down anytime soon.
The big question here is will the birthplace of hip hop continue to be overlooked? Passed on? Unappreciated? I'd say they've been making some good moves lately with the bulk of new artists. A couple of summers ago Bobby Shmurda and Rowdy Rebel gave the Tri State some buzz with Hot N*!#a and Computers. French Montana usually gives us a summer anthem every year. Aboogie and Don Q have been absolutely killing it with their freestyles, Desiigner made Pandas lit and Female artist Young MA has had all of us screaming "Ooouuu"
I'll admit that the south definitely has the melodies, hooks, and ad-libs down pact. Nobody can really do it better than they do. However if you aren't looking to hear mumbling and some good bars, id highly suggest the New York sound. I feel as thought the new class of artists are really helping NY get back on the map when it comes to Hip Hop. The competition is great and only makes artists want to work harder than the next male or female MC.
Where do I start? She is seen as the ideal women with an amazing career. She does no wrong does she ? Beyonce is a women in the music industry whom is one of the best musicians I know. Why did I choose her ? She is a very known artist who is very wealthy and is mostly at the top of the charts. She makes a clear point in her music on how in society women are not expected to do what men can do. She makes a music video that reverses societies view of men and women to make a great point. Her music expresses her personal views on how she believes women should be more powerful and be the queens we were mean't to be.
Beyonce makes a very interesting point in her song " If I were a boy". She makes clear statements on how women are judged based on views of society. Women are not expected to be so masculine but more as emotional. She says "Drink beer with the guys, And chase after girls , I'd kick it with who I wanted, And I'd never get, confronted for it,Cause they'd stick up for me". She makes it clear that guys have this image of being a typical "dog". They have this stereotype that males always have multiple partners. Beyonce is expressing one out of many social norms we hear about everyday. When you see a female cop, they think that she may not put up a gun because females have always been known to be soft.
These type of social norms make me as a female wonder am I good enough to go into the army or into the police force and not be judged. We live in a patriarchy society where men are suppose to be the protector and women are suppose to be the caregiver. In the beginning of the song she makes small points about what is expected for women . " Loyalty , and commitment" is one of many things that women are expected to do but men are too. The question is why does society view ALL men to be interested in multiple partners. I've met men who have been an a committed relationship for men then 7 years and have not cheated once. It happened to be the women being disloyal.
Beyonce is seen as the ideal beautiful young women. She has the shape many women desire to have ( not right now she is pregnant ). She has this amazing image and she has uplifted many women throughout her music career. She is married to one of the best known rappers in the music industry. What's wrong with her life ? Its perfect right ? No one knew Beyonce has struggled with having children. She has been cheated on by her husband many times and because he is a great artist he is seen to this " great man". Many questions but not a lot of actual answers.
The song itself expresses the views of how men have this more dominant and free will while the women is expected to isolate herself from people to please her man. She even asked her boyfriend " Why are you so jealous?". The song is literally expressing the opposite of what women do. Most women get jealous when they see their man or husband hanging out late with a co-worker is the opposite sex. I think her point was to show that women can do exactly what men can do.
" But your just a boy". She uses machismo within to express her womanhood. We as women can do exactly what men can do or maybe even more. Beyonce comes is a very individualistic person who came up with some help from prior music groups. The image she wants to portray is that women should show their power and express it because women are seriously looked down upon. Even in the music industry, we have some women artist but they aren't as recognized as men artist like Kanye West, Chris Brown, Trey Songz, and more. We need more women power and her whole point is to give us some acknowledgement on what we need to do as women. She also is acknowledging that we as women are seen as weak and wants to uplift us to become better women.
Beyonce encourages women to do better in society and not continue to be the typical or the expected. Be something different that you can be recognized for in the long run. She does have the ideal body and ideal image but that doesn't dignify what anyone else could become. Society expects women to do things but we always have been looked down upon to cater to men. This is not the only song that implies the same message and she is not the only person who tries to apply this knowledge to us women. Its for us to be wise and be powerful so we can change what society views us to be . We have to be wise, powerful, and divergent.
“The most dangerous ideas are not
those that challenge the status quo. The most dangerous ideas are those so
embedded in the status quo, so wrapped in a cloud of inevitability, that we
forget they are ideas at all” -Jacob M. Appel. I don't know who this guy is, but after this quote I'd love to talk to him. I mean he has totally confused
the hell out of me. Let me tell you why. My understanding of cultural
hegemony, which is what the quote is about, is a dominance of a ruling class or
group that manipulates the culture of that society towards the liking they see
fit. Now tell me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't generating ideas made solely to
challenge and go against the status quo be dangerous? Let me give you an
example that will contradict what this Jacob M. Appel claims. SLAVERY. Slavery
was the status quo back in the 17-1800's. Society made it the norm to own a
human, and work them like they were animals. As soon as we had leaders such as
Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King Jr., Black Panthers and similar figures
uprise and plant propaganda of independence and equality into the black people.
You began to see the many problems that occurred, all the havoc and
violence that happened as a result of going against society.
Now, for the second part of this quote that
confuses me, "The most dangerous ideas are those so embedded in the status
quo..." So, you mean to tell me an idea within the status quo is a danger?
A danger to who?? It's like going to a farmer and asking him if he wants more
land, for FREE, and he's like nah bruh that extra land might damage my crops.
If anything, he's expanding his economy and increasing his revenue. Wouldn't an
idea within the status quo expand society and further strengthen the dominance
of that ruling class or group? Therefore, there should be no danger in that
idea because it is benefiting society, and society is allowing it to
happen. An example I have for this, is the company Apple. Computers
started to become a thing in the late 1940's. Apple created their computer in
1976, but they didn't stop there. They continued to invent and expand their
market with more products. Since Apple's products such as the iPod and
iPhone were still within the parameters of the status quo of technology, Apple
thrived and came on top because it benefited society (how you may ask, the very
apple device you are using right now or one like it) and opened the pathway for
other companies to become more innovative. In result of that, the economy
increased greatly. Yes, I know that was a stretch, but it proves
my point.
With all this being
said, I have to play devil's advocate. There must be a reason and a logic
established in what Jacob M Appel said. It would be evil to not at least try to
decipher the meaning of his quote. Alright, the first part of the quote says,
"The most dangerous ideas are not those that challenge the status
quo." The million-dollar question is WHY? Maybe it's because going against
status quo IS status quo?? What I mean by that is, there is always going
to be differences and society knows that. Ideas that are upfront, obvious, and
opposing are easy to control and shut down. An example of that would be
Slavery, yea I'm contradicting myself, but it's all coming together for me. So,
although slavery got abolished, racism is still an issue and part of the status
quo. Racism is pretty much a form of slavery. Black people are still slaves,
and the slave master is society. Just last week I was learning about a system
called "Redlining." Which is, where banks would purposely not
guarantee loans to African Americans to mortgage a home in specific areas,
because they were black. So African Americans would obviously go to
where they were accepted and that is how these "black communities"
were formed. Basically, being forced to be in one place. There were also these maps that were color coded to show the division in neighborhoods by categories including occupation, income and ethnicity. And this is where the term redlining comes from, because the black people were located in the red zones.
This ties in to the
second part of the quote, "The most dangerous ideas are those so embedded
in the status quo..." The official name for redlining was the
National Housing Act of 1934. This was an act implemented to make homes and
mortgages more affordable for Americans. After the Great Depression (stock
market crashed) few people were able to purchase homes and many people who had
homes lost them due to foreclosure or forced sale. The government stepped in
and created the National Housing Act. What people do not tend to know is that
this act greatly discriminated against and segregated black people and
other races. This is how they played this act out, "In order to obtain a
mortgage, the FHA (Federal Housing Administration) required that the mortgage,
property, and borrower meet certain requirements, some of which led to the
perpetuation of racial discrimination and urban disinvestment" (Bostonfairhousing.org).
Housing was definitely fair in Boston lol. As you can see, it was a very
easy system created to control non-white races. You simply met the requirements
or not. This idea was so embedded within the status quo, so wrapped in a
cloud of inevitability, that we forgot it was an idea at all. See what I did
there. The National Housing Act was not formed to be against black people, in
fact everyone thought this was going to better the country, which it did, for
white people. But, eventually this act came out to be what it was really created
for. Redlining, and it took America 34 years (Act ended in 1968) to finally
figure out what was actually going on. I now agree with Jacob M Appel after doing this blog because ideas embedded within status quo are dangerous. You don't know it is an idea till after it is too late. -Riley S.E.
An interview of MF Doom was shown around 3:25, (The Hypocrisy Of The DOOM Fan) and he begins to really dig deep about his purpose for wearing the mask:
