antiMUSIC is pleased to welcome aboard
with Chuck DiMaria, who will be giving us his 2 cents every week on a variety
of music topics.
As always the views expressed
by the writer do not neccessarily reflect the views of antiMUSIC or the
iconoclast entertainment group
.
Rap It Up
I was talking to Rick James once and he
told me the difference between white artists and black artists.
He said, “Do you know what the black artists
want?” I said no, what?
He said, “Black artists want respect.
That’s what all the gold is, that’s what all those people following them
around is. That’s respect. They’ve never had it and they want
it.”
Then he asked me if I knew what the white
artists wanted. I told him no, I didn’t.
He said, “Women and drugs.”
Now, I know what you’re thinking -- What
the hell were you doing talking to Rick James? I was getting an education.
Rick had a point. He was right, in
the most general of terms, as to what the mindset of a black artist was
compared to a white artist. The black artists were using music, specifically
rap, as social commentary, as a way to lift themselves up from the huddled
masses yearning to breathe free.
The white guys were just scanning the huddled
masses, looking for strippers.
However, that was a while ago, and it looks
like things have juxtaposed. (Or at least the black guys are looking
for strippers, too.)
I was watching MTV the other day (Something
I normally don’t do, but it was a slow news day.), and was shocked by what
I saw. I was pretty sure I was watching the Cherry Pie video.
I mean, chicks were all over the place; on the ground, spinning around
a brass pole, ripping their clothes off, getting doused with water…
All in all, not a bad video.
However, it was a rap video, not a Warrant
retrospective. And the next video was pretty much the same.
And so was the next one. And the next…
And we’ve just come full circle.
I’m not sure at what point social commentary
decided to focus solely on a woman’s ass; maybe it was Sir Mix-A-Lot, but
that’s really not the point.
The point here is this: What the hell is
going on, guys? Are we going for the lowest common denominator?
Are we looking for a little Jerry Springer factor?
We all know sex sells. I mean, that’s
a given. But when that term was originally applied, I’m pretty sure
they were talking about the artist’s sex appeal and not his favorite position.
Again, it’s all about the lowest common
denominator. But the problem is that the lowest common denominator
is the easiest thing to get to and the hardest thing to get away from.
And that’s where we are, kids. We’ve pretty much reached bedrock
here. (We’re gonna need blasting caps to go any lower.)
I hate to sound like my parents, but no
good can come from this. Here’s the bad news; most of us believe
whole-heartedly that if it’s on television, it’s gospel. Hell, the
damn thing may as well be a High Definition Burning Bush, or “HDBB” for
short.
And every image, no matter what you might
think to the contrary, carries with it a certain amount of legitimacy simply
due to the fact that it’s coming from the HDBB.
Let’s face it; young minds are impressionable
minds. (Hell, I’m a grown man and my mind is still practically freakin’
play doh.)
So, a word of advice to the rap stars:
If you don’t want to see your form of self-expression go the way of the
dodo bird and big-haired 80’s rock, you may want to concentrate your efforts
and your rhymes on something other than that chick’s ass.
Bottom-line, these kinds of images were
the death knell for 80’s music. You could only see Tawny Kitaen do
so many cartwheels over David Coverdale’s Jaguars before ADD set in and
your hand searched for the remote. And rap is heading that way in
a big way.
Maybe you should do something about it,
because in the immortal words of Rick James, in the end it’s either all
about respect or all about women and drugs.
Your choice.
That’s my two cents, now gimme my change.
Chuck DiMaria is Los Angeles
based musician and antiMUSIC columnist. Check out his website ChuckDiMaria.com
for more of his writings, MP3s and more (be sure to read about his adventures
in online dating!!)
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