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The Black Culture Thread

L

Londa

Banned
Air said:
Kreashawn is just a really bad writer, and she has no presence at all, amongst other things. There are plenty of bad rappers who are black, she just happens to be a bad rapper who is white. I don't discriminate, I'm an equal opportunity hater.
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Basically...
 
V

Veidt

Blasphemer who refuses to accept bagged milk as his personal savior
justjohn said:
So just because a White girl loves hiphop she should start fucking black dudes to be really down? Lol.
.
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It's the terrorist's law man.
 
L

Lv99 Slacker

Member
Kreayshawn sounds like the very definition of hipster racism if I ever saw it.

What is hipster racism?

Hipster racism involves making derogatory comments with a racial basis in an attempt to seem witty and above it all. Specifically, the idea is to sound ironic, as in “I’m allowed to say this because of course I’m not racist, so it’s funny.” It’s an aspect of a larger part of the hipster culture, which wants to seem jaded and urbane and oh-so-witty. Using language which is viewed as inflammatory or not appropriate is supposed to push the boundaries and make someone look edgy, but it only really comes across that way to people who buy into that system. To everyone else, it’s just racist.

The thing about using racist content in an “ironic” context is that it still perpetuates racist ideas, and it is, in fact, racist. While people may ardently claim that they are not racist, the people who engage in hipster racism are overwhelmingly white and middle class, and they clearly have some unaddressed racial issues which are being subverted in their attempts to be edgy. Sometimes, they are actually explicitly racist, and they are using hipster racism as a way of presenting their racism in a way which will be acceptable within their social groups.

Hipster racism often hides under the unassailable guise of satire. People who suggest that something is racist, and not actually funny, are told that they obviously just don’t get it, and that the whole point of humour is to push boundaries. They are told that the racism is so obvious and overstated that it’s meant to be laughed at, and that people are laughing at the racism and the racists, not supporting the ideas which are supposedly being mocked. But, oddly enough, a lot of racist satire doesn’t read that way, and it ends up just being racist, full stop.

Much as people seem to think that having gay friends makes it ok to make homophobic comments, or that having female friends makes it ok to be sexist, hipster racists often draw upon their anti-racist credentials such as “having black friends,” “dated an Asian girl once,” or “really liking Mexican food” to fight accusations of racism. If they even bother fighting the accusations, that is, because most live in an insular world where they will not be challenged.

The other favourite hipster defense is, of course, to claim that people are being “too politically correct” or “too sensitive.” This is supposed to be a pithy insult which indicates that the person pointing out offensive behavior is too uptight, and not really part of the freewheeling hipster movement, but in fact, it’s just silencing. Saying that people deserve to be treated like human beings and that discourse should be respectful has nothing to do with being too sensitive, and everything to do with genuinely believing that people should be treated equally.

The very hipster lifestyle is, in some ways, racist, and definitely not very introspective when it comes to race. Hipsters are a driving force behind gentrification, driving out low income people and people of colour. They consistently co-opt and appropriate elements of other cultures, piecemeal, and often without any cultural sensitivity or respect. They regularly draw upon the work and legacy of people of colour, usually without crediting them, and most of their contact with people of colour comes in the form of the service personnel serving them their food, cleaning their wine bars, and picking their organic produce.

As hipster racism has become more widespread, it’s also crept into more general society. Racist content appears in films and television shows, disguised as “satire,” it’s on the cover of major magazines, it’s in the pages of respectable newspapers. While explicit racism is viewed as socially unacceptable, racism disguised as irony or satire is evidently perfectly acceptable, especially if it comes from middle class white people with trust funds. Indeed, I recently read a New York Times article in which the author suggested that people feel “relieved” when they are no longer “harassed by prevailing cultural sensitivities,” because apparently the idea of treating people with dignity or confronting your own racism is a burden.

I think that this concept is also pretty closely tied in with liberal sexism, because the core defense of practitioners of liberal sexism and hipster racism is “but I don’t really feel this way, therefore it’s funny/acceptable.”

But, guess what? It’s not.
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After going over some posts here this morning, I decided to check out the commentary from some of my favorite anti-racist blogs, and I think the Crunk Feminist best explained why Kreayshawn rubs some black folks, myself included, the wrong way:

On Kreayshawn and the Utility of Black Women

06/06/2011

tumblr_li4jhozgdb1qambyno1_500.jpg


“De nigger woman is de mule uh de world…”- Zora Neale Hurston

I grew up in a white suburban/rural community where I was one of a few black kids and the only one in my classes and social circle. In high school, we had this habit of waxing nostalgic for our not so distant youth in a way that made us feel older than we were so at a parties we’d often play songs from our childhood. Well once, Baby Got Back came on and I was rapping along as were a white boy and white girl. A crowd formed around them and folks were cheering them on for knowing most of the words while my flawless performance went unacknowledged. Looking back, I see clearly the messy contradictions of racism (and my own internalization of it) as white folks celebrated their proficiency in repeating a black man’s words of purported celebration of my curves that in general, made me invisible. My blackness rendered my rendition null and void as it was presumed I should be able to reproduce that lyrical dexterity on the spot. It was exceptional when they did it but par for the course for me.

And this is partly why Kreayshawn makes me mad. The White Girl Mob media darling blowing up the interwebs whose potential deal with Sony is making waves makes me angry in a way I haven’t been in a long time. Her appropriative swag is yet another reminder (not that we needed any more this month) of how little black women are valued in our society, even in genres we co-create. In a moment where cool is synonymous with swag, a particular manifestation of black masculinity, Kreayshawn’s dismissiveness and denigration of black women animate her success.

“It’s like tumblr made a video,” said one tumblrite, speaking of the white Cali hipster aesthetics of Kreyashawn’s Gucci Gucci. Replete with Indian medallion, black girl hair cut and color, black men flank her on all sides, lending their cool and legitimacy as she talks stealing bitches, smoking blunts, and realness. Catchy with no substance and ample “I’m so different from them other black girls,” Kreyashawn is the perfect accoutrement to the tortured misogyny of her friends and co-signers Odd Future. For her, calling women bitches and hoes is funny, a category she is somehow exempt from via her whiteness and sometimes queerness. She’s got swag because she fucks bitches too, though she’s quick to point out she’s “not a raging lesbian.”

I think “Hoes on My Dick” perhaps best captures my problems with Kreayshawn and those who dig her. About a year ago, comedian Andy Milonakis (Who you might remember from his brief MTV fame) and Rapper Lil’ B decided to parody rap music and made the satirical “Hoes on My Dick” which features the choice language “Hoes on my dick cuz I look like Madonna” or “Hoes on my dick cuz I look like grandma.” Anyway, we were supposed to laugh. Ha ha! Isn’t funny/ironic when they say misogynist things when they know it’s wrong? Kreayshawn took their track and made it her own adding her own lyrics, “rapped” (if you could call it that) with all due seriousness and folks love it!

As Crunktastic has already pointed out on this blog, the derogatory slang words used for women imply race. “Hoes” are black and the proverbial punchline (pun intended) for the LA hispster/hip hop mash up sound that music critics are lauding. The supposed *wink wink nudge nudge* associated with their misogynoir is what makes them so edgy and so real. The objectification of black women as a lyrical trope is what makes Kreayshawn interesting. Look at this white girl who talks like a black man! Isn’t she awesome?

And not that black women haven’t tried to appropriate a type of black masculine cool through a similar practice of denigrating other black women and expressing their allegiance to black men but they have not been as successful. Syd Tha Kid, DJ and beat maker for Odd Future is currently following this path and her queer black masculinity doesn’t seem all that queer when she speaks of women in the same derogatory fashion as her band mates.

Kreayshawn claims Nicole Wray, Missy and Aaliyah as women who inspired and influenced her sound but black women are rarely seen in her circle or videos. I’ve clocked two black women in Kreayshawn’s videos, one a silent love interest, and the other a silent hair stylist. In so far as black women are useful, they exist, though they never get to voice their own reality. It’s incredibly frustrating that the more things change the more things stay the same, that Zora Neal Hurston’s words still ring true today.

Special thanks to Alexsarah and CF’s Sheri & Whitney for talking through this with me!

Apparently Kreayshawn was on the brain today. Check out Clutch Magazine’s take.
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S

spindashing

Banned
Londa said:
Aww, what is wrong with my taste in music?
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No, no, no. Nothing!

I meant her and your stance on hip-hop. You both aren't listeners.

Hip-hop will always be my first love, but my tastes are pretty eclectic.

I want to get into the indie rock/pop scene more, as hipster as that sounds.
 
E

eternaLightness

Member
I've actually gotten more into rock the past few years more than anything else. Not so much the indie rock stuff but I may start giving that a try.

Any of you guys listen to Robyn? I like her music and would like to find more music similar to that.
 
L

Londa

Banned
eternaLightness said:
I've actually gotten more into rock the past few years more than anything else. Not so much the indie rock stuff but I may start giving that a try.

Any of you guys listen to Robyn? I like her music and would like to find more music similar to that.
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Robyn is more pop. Hmm well if you ever want music advice I don't mind suggesting things.

Here is one artist I like: Imogen Heap (I'm not sure if she is indie, but I like her)

Hide and Seek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYIAfiVGluk

Head lock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKZsZkH_MJc

For black artists.. well they aren't really into making indie, and rock which makes me feel bad. I hope that more blacks experiment with other forms of music.
 
E

eternaLightness

Member
Londa said:
Robyn is more pop. Hmm well if you ever want music advice I don't mind suggesting things.

Here is one artist I like: Imogen Heap (I'm not sure if she is indie, but I like her)

Hide and Seek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYIAfiVGluk

Head lock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKZsZkH_MJc

For black artists.. well they aren't really into making indie, and rock which makes me feel bad. I hope that more blacks experiment with other forms of music.
Click to expand...

Did she make that "Whatcha Say" song? Kinda sounds like her.
 
S

spindashing

Banned
eternaLightness said:
I've actually gotten more into rock the past few years more than anything else. Not so much the indie rock stuff but I may start giving that a try.

Any of you guys listen to Robyn? I like her music and would like to find more music similar to that.
Click to expand...
I listen to Robyn. I love that woman.

Also if you do like Robyn, check out the Royksopp track "The Girl and The Robot." She does the singing and Royksopp produced it. I've had that on repeat all day.

I also listen to a lot of Florence + The Machine. I'm trying out Marina and the Diamonds (Marina is one of the most beautiful women in the world in my opinion).

As far as indie stuff goes I listen to MGMT, Ratatat, Bear in Heaven, some Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, Class Actress, Cults (love their debut album). Mostly New York acts...

I need more.

Fake Edit: I like Imogen Heap too. Props @ Londa for the mention. =P
 
S

spindashing

Banned
Londa said:
Someone used part of her song in a rnb track.
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Yeah, Jason Derulo, who is actually Haitian as well. I don't listen to his music but that's pretty cool.

Before that song, it was known for the SNL skit and the meme that followed.

Uncharted 2 Beta later! =O
 
E

eternaLightness

Member
I've liked what I heard so far. I could see myself singing Headlock in the shower.

Ahem.

I just checked out some of Royskoop's stuff and like it also. Owl City is pretty good too. Just picked them up awhile back.
 
L

Londa

Banned
spindashing said:
Yeah, Jason Derulo, who is actually Haitian as well. I don't listen to his music but that's pretty cool.

Before that song, it was known for the SNL skit and the meme that followed.

Uncharted 2 Beta later! =O
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lol Uncharted 3 fool
 
U

Urban Scholar

Member
So um I'm I got SSFIVAE today on the PS3. If you guys want to play hit me up on PSN. It's my day off so I'll be online all day. Unless I fall asleep or something.
 
C

captmcblack

Member
Ahh, I love it when white people cross the street or get all sketched out if/when I'm walking by them or behind them. This happens even at 7pm, it's light out and I'm wearing my work slacks/shoes/button down.

When that happens, I like to put my arms out and make a scary face like the Thriller video. Real-life trolling, y'all...and the reaction is almost always priceless.
 
V

Veidt

Blasphemer who refuses to accept bagged milk as his personal savior
Black Republican said:
i dont know why certain white people cross the road suddenly when they see me walk down the path, i dont look/dress/act like a thug at all,lol
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So strange.
Black people should make a conscious and collective effort cling to their purses and suddenly cross the road when they see a white person coming their way. If you think about it, just in historical terms, black people have been the victim by a wide margin.
 
K

Kitschkraft

Member
Londa said:
In all honesty I don't really listen to hip hop, rap, and rnb. But I occassionally will. I prefer indie music, rock, and whatever else. I do at times, hear something from rap that I will listen to occassionally. However, I don't own any rap albums.

I don't like krea because she is annoying and has nothing worthwhile to listen to.
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I'm the same way. I don't even really check for new releases or anything in the genre anymore. I just find most of that stuff to be pretty boring, honestly. Last rap album I tried to check out was Kanye's I think...and I never even ended up listening to anything outside of the singles.
 
L

Londa

Banned
Black Republican said:
i dont know why certain white people cross the road suddenly when they see me walk down the path, i dont look/dress/act like a thug at all,lol
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At work today, two white guys almost let the door close before I could get into the elevator.
 
K

Kitschkraft

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
*struggles to resist quoting his name*
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His post, with his name, makes me think of the Fresh Prince episode where Carlton doesn't understand what "driving while black" is, and Uncle Phil and Will have to school his ass on "being stopped".

It was one of those "very special fresh prince" type episodes, not as good as the one where Wills dad shows up or when Will gets shot though.
 
S

spindashing

Banned
Kitschkraft said:
His post, with his name, makes me think of the Fresh Prince episode where Carlton doesn't understand what "driving while black" is, and Uncle Phil and Will have to school his ass on "being stopped".

It was one of those "very special fresh prince" type episodes, not as good as the one where Wills dad shows up or when Will gets shot though.
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WHY DON'T HE LOVE ME NO MORE?
 
S

spindashing

Banned
Londa said:
aH5yU.png



lol
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I'm on my phone so I didn't see the whole image until I scrolled.

At first I was like, "Why is that funny? It's true."

Then I scrolled and said, "Oh.. XD"

By the way guys, the Uncharted 3 (fuck you guys) beta has been released in North America!

@Urban, I'd play you in AE but I have a final tomorrow to prepare for. I'm down for games after tomorrow haha.
 
M

MWS Natural

Member
[Black Republican]i dont know why certain white people cross the road suddenly when they see me walk down the path, i dont look/dress/act like a thug at all,lol
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Despite what you think that's not going to make a difference my friend.


Lv99 Slacker said:
Kreayshawn sounds like the very definition of
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Good read, one of many reason why I would never support shit like this even jokingly.


REAL TALK

The "please don't' be black" crew couldn't get more annoying.
 
A

Air

Banned
Black Republican said:
i dont know why certain white people cross the road suddenly when they see me walk down the path, i dont look/dress/act like a thug at all,lol
Click to expand...

I have the opposite problem. White people seem to come toward me when I walk down the road. Especially the woman, all the white woman I know are very assertive.Now that I think about it I need more black friends ;_;
 
I

Imm0rt4l

Member
spindashing said:
I'm on my phone so I didn't see the whole image until I scrolled.

At first I was like, "Why is that funny? It's true."

Then I scrolled and said, "Oh.. XD"

By the way guys, the Uncharted 3 (fuck you guys) beta has been released in North America!

@Urban, I'd play you in AE but I have a final tomorrow to prepare for. I'm down for games after tomorrow haha.
Click to expand...


Did someone say AE? Who wants it with the black Daigo? :mad:


off to download U3
 
V

Veal

Member
So anybody on Team Fortress 2? I love the game and would love to play with fellow BeeGee's! ( Yes I just called us BeeGee's )
 
K

Kaizer

Banned
If y'all are planning on getting into the Uncharted 3 Beta then PSN = ltizzle21, I played some earlier today, it's pretty good.
 
A

Air

Banned
Veal said:
So anybody on Team Fortress 2? I love the game and would love to play with fellow BeeGee's! ( Yes I just called us BeeGee's )
Click to expand...


I don't play too regularly (got lots of work to do). But im usually on at the end of the week. My steam id is wafflz
 
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