Until the Lion Learns to Speak (and Listen)

 

Until the lion learns to speak

The tales of hunting will be weak…

K’Naan, a Somali rapper now living in the United States (with a pretty amazing background), recently published a beautifully written piece in the New York Times about the kind of self-censorship in which  artists in the American music industry must engage in order to maintain success on the charts.  From his op-ed: 

I could reach more people, it told me.  Was it right to spit in the face of fortune, to not walk in rhythm with my new audience?  Didn't all good medicine need a little sugar before it could be swallowed?

So I began to say yes...some songs became far more Top 40 friendly, but infinitely cheaper.

K'Naan's article calls to attention a crucial problem in American [popular] culture today - the self-indulgence and the need to be sheltered and isolated from the less than stellar realities that many people around the world, and even within the United States, face on a daily basis.  Lupe Fiasco, an American rapper, writes frequently about social issues within the United States and has also critiqued the music industry and popular culture's will to "dumb it down" (Different is never good, good is only what we pick/You ain't got a hit unless it sounds like these did...).

Music indeed serves many purposes.  Music is a form of expression and entertainment that conveys a message through the lyrics, tone, rhythm, melody, harmony, breaks, and a variety of other aural rhetorical tools.  Sometimes, music can provide the listeners with a temporary escape from reality - the glamorous lifestyle of constant partying and financial success that many pop stars write about is an understandably appealing subject matter for listeners today living in a world struggling to emerge from a global economic crisis leaving many with economic troubles of their own.

However, the problem is that constant escape through these types of messages results in a willful blindness to and ignorance of crises in the real world.  A flat-out refusal by record labels to promote and radios to play songs that actually attempt to address these issues serves as a cultural tool of collectively devaluing the lives of those human beings caught in rough situations where music can actually have the power to make a positive difference.  And there is something seriously perverse about mass acquiescence to the willful devaluation of another human being's life.

This is not to say that music has to be serious and contain socially critical messages all the time.  As previously stated, music serves many purposes, but it is important to remember that music always contains a social message.  The question now is, what are the messages that we as a society collectively value?

Do we choose to turn a deaf ear to reality and remain immersed in 3 minute - 40 second escapes?  Or can we decide that other messages are important too, that the suffering experienced by others is real and their voices are worth our brief attention?  By constantly dumbing down the messages to which we are open to receiving, we dumb down our own humanity.

Here is a story about fame.  I heard it first as a fable in Somalia, before living it out in America.

The fox, they say, once had an elegant walk, for which the other animals loved him.  One day, he saw a prophet striding along and decided to improve on what was already beautiful.  He set out walking but could not match the prophet's gait.  Worse, he forgot his own.  So he was left with the unremarkable way the fox walks today...

So I am not the easiest sell to Top 40 radio.  What I am is a fox who wanted to walk like a prophet and now is trying to rediscover his own stride.

I may never find my old walk again, but I hope someday to see beauty in the graceless limp back toward it. 

So beware what's on the airwaves

And be more aware of what's not getting airplay...

Busta Rhymes Busts His Brain

Busta Rhymes bust a few too many this time with his video "Arab Money." While BET has been playing the video, Busta Rhymes pulled it from play after controversy surrounding it.

The video is here:


Muslims and Arabs in the USA and the UK called for the video to be pulled due to the song's wrong (and racist) characterization of the Middle East, Arab culture, and using Islamic verses from the Quoran in a derogatory manner.

So, Dubai-based rapper The Narcicyst put out a song, "Real Arab Money," in reply to Busta Rhymes' video.

Check it out here:


Although this article reports that after Narcicyst released his song, Busta Rhymes contacted him apologizing for the video and stating that he would take the necessary steps to correct the action.

As Billy Johnson, Jr. of Hip-Hop Media Training writes,

So what prompted the re-release?

Has Busta done enough damage control and effectively communicated to the Arab and Muslim communities the message that there was no disrespect intended with the track and has since received their blessing to fully distribute the video?

Did Busta just let the controversy calm enough so that he could take full advantage of an otherwise great, graphics-enhanced video with arguably more A-list cameos than any other video of the past year? Are the multiple remixes with Diddy, Bow Wow, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, Akon, T-Pan, Swizz Beatz, Ron Browz, Lil' Wayne, etc. too good to toss, controversy or not?

Or has Busta just received enough support from fans who understand that he meant no ill will and was merely doing the ultimate hip-hop metaphor, bragging and boasting about experiencing all things lavish?

While I agree with Narcicyst about Busta's video, I guess it's nice that at least some segment of the American culture is for some portion of the Middle East, calling it "cool" and glorifying it, however terribly it's being done.

But that just leads us to what is "Cool"...

"The Cool" from Lupe Fiasco's album...

"The Cool is the physical manifestation of History's debt to humanity. Payback for every user abused and every family torn apart by History, The Cool walks amongst the living as a zombie. “He” – that term used lightly, considering The Cool isn't human – reeks of death, an ironic contrast to his polished three-piece-suit appearance. Searching for his purpose, The Cool haunts The Streets."

FINALLY!

Whether or not you agree with the candidate, this video made me so happy for so many reasons. First, the guy, J Xavier, looks like he's about 15 years old yet he's invested himself into the election system enough to write a song and produce a video about his candidate (that he can't vote for).  

Secondly, while the lyrics and musical technique is simplistic at times, the fact that this kid paid enough attention to what is happening to mention the important issues circling in this campaign season is also commendable.

Third, most of the role models of rappers who make it big available for kids to emulate suck. Point blank suck.  There are hardly any well-known rappers now aside from Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Lupe Fiasco that actually incorporate sociopolitical issues into their songs (as in their music also serves a higher purpose than mindless entertainment).   For J Xavier to show other kids his age that knowing about politics and being involved (and to encourage this behavior in their parents) in spite of all the other influences that say that flashy crap is cool is amazing.

Hopefully, this kid gets some airtime and that this is only the beginning of a new wave of conscious music, like "The Proud" by Talib Kweli. It's a little angry, though, but at least it's talking about issues that drastically need to be addressed.

WE GOTTA MAKE EVERYBODY SEE, IN ORDER TO FIGHT THE POWERS THAT BE!  ~Public Enemy