Posts Tagged ‘writing’

this is the world wide web // February 26th, 2010 // 8 Comments

Hamburgers are better than pizza and here’s why:

I’ve been sitting on this topic for a few days now, but last night I read Jezebel’s re-purposing of Slate’s Nicki Minaj piece and many things struck me, tying back to this post over at The FADER. Mainly, The Way We Argue On The Internet, Especially When The Topic Is Rap Music.

 

We are all suddenly idiots when we visit websites. Regardless of one’s age or level of education, anyone is prone to calling someone a fag or a retard during an online disagreement. That doesn’t mean it will always happen, but when it does it’s unfortunate and annoying and drives well-meaning writers and bloggers batty. (There are, however, a number of bloggers that don’t mind this sort of thing if pageviews rely on the endurance of catfights.) Multiply that times music and pop culture, which attracts any variety of fans, “experts” and youth and it doesn’t matter how rich and entertaining your turn of phrase is if you’ve decided Gucci is wack, or dope, for that matter. People largely aren’t reading your opinions to be entertained by them; they want your opinions to be in tandem with their own.

 

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Hey stop that!! // February 21st, 2010 // 1 Comment

When emails look like mixtapes.

Look, I understand how frustrating it is for you music industry types to get the word out about MC Shitstain and Yung Filth’s latest “collabo”, considering no one is buying records anymore and there are more MCs than mics. However, you need to tell your interns, A&Rs and other assorted hired goons to stop sending out these dreadful-looking email blasts. Even when I was writing at a music blog I gaveth not a fuck about obnoxious promos for awful rap acts and I certainly have less than a fuck to give now. Why is all of this your subject line?:

 

All of these WORDS.

 

Why are you shouting at me in my inbox? Please tell me because I am so distraught that every time I see one of these I could do a Toni Braxton “Un-Break My Heart” wall-slide. There are three bios in this email: One for the artist, one for the label and one for the fucking network that is used to send these awful things. That’s 1,038 words of shit I don’t care about and that ultimately will never matter to anyone. Do the letters “TL;DR” mean anything to you? And then you have the nerve to shout at me in all-caps to “SUPPORT THIS RECORD!” Might your chin be interested in supporting my nuts? Fair is fair.

 

And, no, unsubscribing from you won’t help because I didn’t subscribe in the first place, nor will replying that you are taking too long to kill yourself. So the only thing I can think to do to get rid of you is creating yet another email filter that sends your shit and others like it straight to the digital ether before it even hits my inbox. But you probably already have 50 other email addresses from which you can harass me IN ALL CAPS WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!

 

Your bedroom smells like dirty socks and pee.

disclosure // February 1st, 2010 // 1 Comment

Ok, so fucking seriously

I don’t know how anyone at this juncture could mistake this for a music blog. Ok, so perhaps posting a weekly podcast, e-jizzing about Janet Jackson, talking about talking about music and penning the occasional Hip-Hop rant counts? Nah son. It so does not. Let me get to the point where I can be a fan again. The promo emails, the queries for submissions, etcetera are all kind of creepy, spammy, desperate and antithetical to anything I’m passionate about right now. This is a personal site and the focus shifts depending on what spirit I’m feeling at the time. (Technically, it’s FTP space masquerading as a website, but whatevs.) Why would I need a contributor? El oh el.

 

Editorializing and recommending music is not my arena. I suppose I’ve advanced to “Level 3 Cynicism” (which can be traded with “Ambivalence” depending on the day) in that there are probably about 4 or 5 people that I can engage with on the topic of music and feel like I am being matched. This does not come with the (public) online discourse, least not for me. Case in point, I was discussing this very matter with a music blogger (one of the aforementioned 4 or 5) who has mentioned that writing about music lately is rather like talking to a room full of people that are there to hear what you have to say but then don’t want to listen. As in, you may think you’re ready to go there with me, but you are so clearly ill-equipped to do so.

 

“Level 1″, by the way, is cautious cynicism wherein someone like myself is at a point of discovery and is still excited and inspired by uncovering gems and presenting them for your enjoyment, but with undertones of “Ha! While you were listening to 106 & Park’s Cultural Ambassador of The Week, you missed this.” ”Level 2″ is Pop Culture Shaming (“Oh you listen to that? What are you, twelve?”). So I’m at “Level 3″, where I’m more prone to ever-so heavily sigh and rub my temple regardless of the subject’s level of mainstream visibility, individuality, talent, or chutzpah. The Kid is drained, bored, and uninspired not only by the music itself (this feeling comes in waves; when something dope drops I’ll shout it from the rooftops) but more or less the dialog that exists right now. There is a circle, a social one and a mental one, that I choose to no longer run in, because I get dizzy. And when I get dizzy I vomit.

 

I’m not joking.

 

For anyone that has followed this for the past seven years, you already know when there’s some momentum to my output, the level of engagement increases right around the time I get bored. So this is either par for the course or I might stick to it.

 

sharing // October 26th, 2009 // 2 Comments

On checks & balances.

While I believe there’s something to the entirety of this, there are many points–especially with respect to examples–that are wide open to be challenged. Additionally, perhaps older voices are being silenced in a sense that most media outlets have to rely on what’s current as it relates to their bottom line. No one is gonna pass the mic or the pen to someone that says “This is garbage. All of it.” Not when there’s advertising to be sold. Read the whole thing, though.

 

“Furthermore, those most likely to challenge mainstream rap critics’ revanchist-influenced caricature of golden era fans—the disenchanted fans themselves—aren’t really represented in mainstream rap writing. There isn’t some grand plot to silence golden era fans’ opinions; these fans have virtually opted out of participating in the mainstream rap discourse. Why would anyone want to write about music that they don’t really like anymore? Moreover, why would anyone hire such a person to critique music? Due to the absence of these golden era fans’ perspectives as well as to the ignorance of mainstream rap critics’ readers, today’s rap criticism has become a series of echo chambers.”

 

“The Problem with These Kids Rap Critics Today, Part 1″ — Gordon / We Are Respectable Negroes