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Eternal sunshine of the spotless playlist · by Sach O
In the past 10 years the content pushed by the corporate owned mainstream media has gone from…
This
To this
and
This
To this
Question: Do you really think they’re going to have a problem getting rid of the dreaded n-word and other expletives on your “favorite” Universal music distributed rap cd? They’ve already gotten rid of the last semblances of rebellion, critical thought and objection to capitalist culture over the past 10 years in favor of a dedication to fashion and other marketable trends, I’d say the hard part is done. Make no mistake about it, there are no Ice Cubes, 2Pacs, Scarfaces, Biggies or Public Enemies out there to question their motives or raise a stink about this: if Al Sharpton and the heads of Viacom and Clear Channel tell Lil Wayne and T.I to clean up their act or get replaced by Mims and Lil Mama, do you really think they’re going to stand their ground in the name of artistic integrity? Didn’t think so.
Not that it makes a difference to you. No one in their right mind thinks the radio plays anything decent these days. But there are a hell of a lot of people who aren’t in their right mind and they’re the ones deciding what gets the marketing money.
I just don’t want to look back on the days where we fondly remember this…
Just because some cracker ass sports host let some bullshit fall out of his mouth, giving those in power the opportunity to finally get their perfectly immaculate sponsor-ready, guaranteed vetted playlist of insipid mindless rap-drones to rhyme product placement to the people.
I’m not saying I care to hear emcees repeating the words bitches, hoes and nigga like Too $hort on tourettes or nothing…but if you don’t tell the cultural gatekeepers what you want to hear, they damn sure will tell you.
Comments for "Eternal sunshine of the spotless playlist"
“Do you really think they’re going to have a problem getting rid of the dreaded n-word and other expletives on your “favorite” Universal music distributed rap cd? They’ve already gotten rid of the last semblances of rebellion, critical thought and objection to capitalist culture over the past 10 years in favor of a dedication to fashion and other marketable trends, I’d say the hard part is done.”
The framing of your argument conflates use of the “n-word and other expletives” with “semblances of rebellion, critical thought.” Use of the n-word and expletives is just that. Too many people assign this usage rebellious or transgressive signficance or in contradistinction the baggage of vulgarity and moral indefensibility when it quite logically depends on the context. Binaries don’t fucking work. Given the remarkable, shameless and pervasive ignorance of the african diaspora in america by blacks and whites alike most current commentators have none!!!! How can anyone comment on any usage of nigger without an awareness of its etymology. I want to say the bar is far too low for those who wish to critically engage in black cultural discourse but in fact it has become quite clear that there is no bar. Anyone can talk about blackness (or gender trouble for that matter) however ill informed. The hardest to learn is apparently the least complicated.
— jb Apr 24, 02:24 PM
Hardly, the framing of the argument is to prove that corporate gatekeepers can and will control whatever aspect of mainstream culture they want. I’m not making a judgement on the ethics of the word because I think there’s been more than enough chatter about this subject out there (both intelligent and terrible). Ny issue is the freedom or lack there of to engage in such discourse in the way that an individual sees fit.
Don Imus could very well have called the Rutgers team “crackheads” and Al Sharpton, Russell Simmons and the ilk could have called for the end of drug references and the issue would have been the same to me.
— Sach Apr 24, 02:29 PM
jeezy > al sharpton
— brownstone pat Apr 24, 04:17 PM
Biggie was a raging anti-capitalist, after all.
— Brick Cheney Apr 24, 04:54 PM
I don’t see why folks try to make this out to be anything other than lesser, kid-friendly music winning out becuase of bad taste. It has nothing to do with corporate masters driving out dissent. If quality critical rap still sold, labels would back it.
— eauhellzgnaw Apr 24, 05:01 PM
“hardly” ?!?
The part of your post excerpted in my earlier comments is an example of the above noted conflation. That’s a straight reading, not an interpretation. What you may have attempted to “prove” is another thing but what you wrote in the opening lines achieves something else. I understand your concern for freedom of speech and I think ‘Blood Diamond Russ’ and Minister/Rev. Chavis/Muhammad’s plan is as useful as they are useless but earlier you equated that freedom of speech with “rebellion” and “critical thought,” which is just false. Freedom of speech allows for anything and everything under the sun including oppression and exploitation. I’m not arguing against it but it’s not inherently good or revolutionary. It allows for conversations and products that demean, disparage, denigrate and do physical harm and it has legal limits. Irrespective of freedom of speech, America has cultural mores that disallow certain speech in most public spaces and venues. The concern, here, is not one of appeasing so-called bourgeous sensibilities but for what happens when speech that uniquely assaults the humanity of a specific demographic is no longer covered by this de facto cultural prohibition.
— jb Apr 24, 05:43 PM
“The part of your post excerpted in my earlier comments is an example of the above noted conflation.”
Grabbing a segment of what I wrote and using it to highlight your own point certainly merits use of the word “hardly”.
“you equated that freedom of speech with “rebellion” and “critical thought,” which is just false”
I stated the right to a variety of opinions and a more uncontrolled and varied cultural landscape was a good thing. That includes the right to say things which you or I may disagree with.
“Freedom of speech allows for anything and everything under the sun including oppression and exploitation.”
Can’t disagree there.
“I’m not arguing against it but it’s not inherently good or revolutionary.”
Not inherently, but I’d say that as media-conglomerates have tightened the reigns, a variety of speech hasn’t flourished either.
“Irrespective of freedom of speech, America has cultural mores that disallow certain speech in most public spaces and venues”
Who decides what is moral? That’s my point. Radio programmers? Al Sharpton, George Bush, the Interscope lyrics committee, a group of church mothers or a random bunch of people on the block? Once we appoint cultural guardians to tell us what is acceptable speech and what is not, that’s a very slippery slope.
Hate speech is like pornography, you know it when you hear it. No one is confusing a Michael Richards outburst with Q-Tip’s “Sucka Nigga” but while the individual has the ability to tell the difference between those two, a systematic banning of words does not.
I can see why you’d be offended if you took my point as me saying that these hurtful words are inherently progressive, but my main statement was and is that CONTROL of speech, ANY speech, is far more dangerous than speech itself. After all, the same people I’m railing against are the same people that PROMOTED the speech in the first place. They’re out to make a buck and they’re guilty of both offenses.
— Sach Apr 24, 06:05 PM
thread gives me a headache
— Rafi Apr 24, 06:44 PM
This is precisely why the fight for internet radio is so important.
The government acting in the best interests of the RIAA is going to effectively kill an entire industry. Sure there’ll still be the clearchannels and the launchcasts, but they’ll be forced to cut deals with the majors, deals that artists likely won’t see a dime of, just to break even. And who do you think will get to hand pick the playlists?
Yes radio sucks. We learned long ago to turn off that mutherfuckin’ bullshit, back when that bullshit was something to rebel against instead of aspire towards; back when nobody gave a fuck about a goddamn grammy. But I’m talking about internet radio, a place where programmers, real people mind you, actually hand pick and play the music they love.
Remember Yo!MTV Raps? Remember when Rap City was the shit? Soon it’ll be, remember when the internet was dope?
Fuck, I feel like a stinky pseudo-hippie, but using government regulations to shut down any industry is wrong, especially when its done to appease the “cultural gatekeepers.” So unless we do something there’ll be no more death metal channel for little johnny, no polka channel for grandma, and no nerdcore for jb. Peace.
http://www.savenetradio.org/
— jdiggs Apr 24, 07:05 PM
“my main statement was and is that CONTROL of speech, ANY speech, is far more dangerous than speech itself.”
Boom. Boo-yah. Fucking as on point as I’ve ever heard anyone be on this issue.
— jayson greene Apr 24, 11:33 PM
I think I’d rather have Fiddy over Dark Man X any day.
— Ninoy Brown Apr 25, 12:54 AM
OK, MIMS – fine but why hate on Lil Mama??!!!
— ian Apr 25, 01:51 AM
Sean Combs “Biggie” era was the beginning of the end.
— dante severe Apr 25, 12:17 PM
How about stupid bitches trolling around clubs half-naked stop listening to songs about stupid bitches trolling around clubs for … I dunno, a whole weekend maybe?
— R.H.S. Apr 25, 04:55 PM
Marylin Manson … Hi’s good and have nice girl
— teksty piosenek Apr 26, 09:51 AM
“OK, MIMS – fine but why hate on Lil Mama??!!!”
hahaha.
— chrisisaballer Apr 26, 08:01 PM
FOR ONCE SOMEONE AGREES WITH ME. Whoever said they want fiddy over DMX is a suburban kid who lives in a 4 story house who can relate about window shopping. Maybe if 50 cent was throwing white people in prison you would think different.
Fuck mims, id love to kill him and thats no bs, hes totally disprespecting BK and everything we built
— TruththeTruth Apr 30, 11:37 PM
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=63348003&blogID=259657291
— DJ Flash May 2, 03:30 AM