Spring in Laramie looks like winter in Alaska.
Thank you to Adrian Molina, Bethany, and the whole Laramie fam for taking care of their boy while we were all snowbound yesterday. The Shepherd Symposium was longish, I know, but great.
Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this afternoon to the Vassar event. Skies are clear here now in Wyo but there is no physical way to be there today. We'll resched the event as soon as we can.
See yall in Hartford at the Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival tomorrow.
Meanwhile it appears that the neocons have discovered hip-hop (or, uh, whatever that is), and they are still confused.
So I finally get out of town this morning to find that the neocons have discovered hip-hop (or, uh, whatever that is that they are trying to do). And that some of them have even begun trying to figure out how to create a neocon way of understanding hip-hop.
Signs of the end of the world or just that hip-hop really is dead? You decide.
Joseph Abrams begins by critiquing my new book Total Chaos, but he starts heading toward a way of defanging hip-hop by reducing it to just a pleasurable way of understanding "the black street world", his words, not mine. You may remember these are the same folks that last year tried to rewrite rock history recently as a proto-conservative movement.
Might have helped if folks actually read Can't Stop Won't Stop, or for that matter, the book being reviewed, rather than just say they did.
In any case, reducing hip-hop to a simple "identity movement" is one way to make hip-hop safe for the Karl Roves of the world. (And you see what the results are...) Now, although many academics have made the claim, I have never claimed hip-hop began as political movement. I've always repeated the lesson that Kool Herc schooled me in: it simply began as a way for Black youth--African American, Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean--in the Bronx to have fun. No more, no less.
So, identity, yes. And yes, hip-hop is a worldview by now. That's what Can't Stop Won't Stop was all about, for anyone paying attention. So the National Review is half right.
But here's where they're got it wrong. I have always said that it is impossible to separate aesthetics from the world it emerges in. If new-century neocons, or anyone else for that matter, would like to separate the rap and hip-hop arts that they think they like from the living, breathing context that it all issues from--the way they did with rock and roll--they will always have beef from me and the large large fam out here. Aesthetics is not a neutral truth that lives above the people.
People make art. Art represents actual lives. We can disagree about what it means, but no one should ever be able to erase those lives, just so that we can enjoy their labor conscience-free. Even if we buy the art, we don't purchase innocence along with it.
But anyway, no use wasting any more time on time wasters. Hit us back here or in person when you see us. It's all about extending the conversation.Labels: aesthetics, hip-hop, karl rove, neoconservatives, total chaos
I was here. (Here, too.) And, thanks to you all, I didn't look too bad.Labels: colorlines, dressing Jeff, racewire
Nusrat Durrani, the embattled visionary behind MTV World
Quick on the news of MTV World's demise, a number of activists have begun circulating a petition to save it.
Last month, in a start-of-the-year downsizing, Viacom eliminated MTV World, the 18-month experiment headed by Nusrat Durrani in niche channels targeting Asian American audiences. In July 2005, it launched MTV Desi for South Asian American audiences, following with MTV Chi for Chinese American audiences, and finally MTV K for Korean American audiences last year. A fourth channel, possibly for Pilipino Americans, was rumored to be on the drawing board.
None of the channels gained traction, but it could be fairly argued that they were never given the chance. The channels were accessible mostly through obscure "international" premium packages from DirecTV, and a mix of smaller cable networks.
Offering the channels through such "international" packages was a strategy that made the least sense. Such packages are usually purchased by older, wealthier immigrants who want to stay in touch with news and pop culture from "back home". But the entire MTV World experiment was predicated on the idea that the children of these immigrants--and their curious friends--would demand a completely different, much more eclectic, polycultural aesthetic. Yet very few options were available to allow this next generation to get their MTV World.
Expansion efforts were afoot when the axe came down. MTV World was about to offer a more robust set of websites, including some recognized bloggers (I was asked to be one, though I couldn't), and rumors circulated were that MTV World was about to offer cell-phone content. But there were no, say, ala carte options, which would have allowed young viewers to perhaps add MTV World into a mix of stations they might have wanted, like say, ESPN or MTVu.
To be sure, things change slowly in the cable world, and while there have been debates in Congress on the issue ala carte, no big change has yet been forthcoming. When I interviewed Durrani in late 2005, he was assembling a whipsmart staff, who would go on to do some very creative and relevant programming on a shoestring. Durrani was certain that MTV's leadership was well behind the project and that they understood it would not produce immediate returns, but take hold slowly.
Durrani is a visionary, and at the time, his thinking seemed to make a lot of sense. If MTV was to wedge itself into the Asian American market early, it could be in a great position to develop it and reap the whirlwind when it took off. This was the same thinking that had guided the creation of AZN-TV, a Comcast vehicle that now functions almost mechanically, and Imaginasian, the lovable independent NYC-based bootstrapping upstart.
But there were warning signs: AZN imploded almost as soon as it began, laying off almost all of its talented staff in one fell swoop early last year. Imaginasian--with a much different model than MTV World--has been growing organically and intelligently, but not at a rate that impresses Wall Street types.
In the end, MTV World heard from the mothership. Viacom's recent moves--especially its $1b lawsuit against Google/YouTube--seem to demonstrate that the company is reorienting itself to what it considers to be immediate threats in the internet space. (The fairly quiet relaunching of MTV and VH1's websites last year were the first part of this reorientation.) It's hard to get anyone to hear about the importance of a long-term investment--however small in the grand scheme--in as-yet unproven niche markets when Viacom's leaders are running around scared over Google/YouTube.
And so Asian American activists are taking a page from the multicultural wars of the 80s and 90s, and trying to demonstrate grassroots support for MTV World to the folks who run Viacom.
I think it's important to show support for any kind of community-oriented programming in these days of media consolidation and stock-market oriented decision-making. I just want to add that we need to champion our visionaries as well. There aren't too many like Nusrat Durrani out there anymore. Let's recognize what we've got.Labels: asian american, cable, mtv, nusrat durrani, tv, viacom
I need a fashion intervention!
"I'm From Rolling Stone" winner Krishtine De Leon and her fam at SF State, along with my man Jazzbo, have been offering me unsolicited but very necessary fashion advice.
Now when I was at SoleSides, I dressed pretty good because those guys were relentless with it. (Lyrics Born to Jeff: "What is that, dude, a cowboy shirt?" It was.) And when I worked at 360hiphop, I had to look good because Halle Berry might walk in the door at any moment. (Kris Ex to Jeff: "So are you tryna bring New Balance back?" I was.) But for the past 2 years or so, I have heard no sartorial complaints at all.
This worries me. I wonder if people are like, "I can't tell Jeff that guys aren't supposed to wear capri pants, even in the summer, because he's a faaaamous author." It's like I haven't looked decent since "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" was on, and yall won't tell me.
Fuck that!
Here is what I am asking: if you have advice as to what I should (or should not) be wearing, holla. Now. Please. Especially if you've seen me talk in the past 2 years and thought, hmmm, not a good look. I can't afford a stylist--I write books and articles!--and I am about to go on tour again.
We're going for fresh and clean. Easy assignment.
Thank you, fly people.Labels: dressing Jeff, fashion faux pas, rap eye for the old school guy
Just off the wire: Two of the detectives--who accounted for 42 of the 50 shots--have been indicted on first- and second-degree manslaughter charges. One more detective is being indicted on a reckless endangerment charge.
Coverage is here:
-Newsday
-New York Times
However, many believe that there was enough evidence for the Queens DA to bring stronger murder charges.
As a result a new wave of protests has begun, already resulting in 4 arrests at the Queens' DA's office. Famed community activist and former Young Lord Panama Alba is among those arrested. Hundreds also gathered at Union Square this afternoon and marched down Broadway to City Hall, blocking traffic.
Here's the press release:
Activists Block Entrance to Queens Courthouse to
Protest DA’s Failure to Indict All Cops in Bell Shooting
A group of activists today blocked the entrance to the Queens Courthouse at 125-01 Queens Boulevard, Kew Gardens, to protest the Queen’s DA’s failure to indict all the police officers involved in the murder of Sean Bell and the attempted murder of his two friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.
“If the District Attorney is closing the doors of justice to the victims of these shootings, then we feel obligated to physically close the doors of justice to demonstrate our outrage with this criminal, criminal justice system,” said one activist.
Members of the group also expressed concern that the trial would be moved out of New York City and will result in the acquittal of the indicted police officers as was the case with the police officers who killed Amadou Diallo. Additionally, they called for the immediate removal of Police Commissioner Kelly and NYPD Chief Anthony Izzo and an independent prosecutor for all cases involving police brutality/misconduct.
Activists are calling for a 5pm rally tomorrow evening at Union Square.Labels: hip-hop activism, Sean Bell
