Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Trophy Hunter

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  • Danielle,

    hey, if you're A-OK with music where a woman's place is on her back with her legs open (though she's a gold-digging slut if she obliges) be my guest

    That's a really reductionist view of hip-hop, and it kind of sounds like you don't listen to it much. Plus, since I can think more than one thing simultaneously, I just have to accept that some music, or painting, or television, or film, or fiction, makes me morally or ethically uncomfortable because it has the 'wrong message', while nevertheless being artistically valid.

    (On the other hand, I could just be a plain old bad feminist for liking Ludacris.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    (On the other hand, I could just be a plain old bad feminist for liking Ludacris.)

    Badass feminist?

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    BTW, Danielle, I'd like to withdraw and apologise for the first two sentences of my last comment. I went and did something I get very pissed off by when people do it to me: Unfairly and offensively caricaturing your argument. Do unto others and all that.

    But I thought the Tipper Gore crack was out of line too. Can't you critique the uglier aspects of popular culture without being some dingbat neo-Puritan who thinks the Bill of Rights is only good for toilet paper?

    And while I'm no fan of Tipper Gore, this gem from Ice-T wasn't particularly endearing either:

    Yo Tip, what's the matter? You ain't gettin' no dick?
    You're bitchin' about rock'n'roll, that's censorship, dumb bitch
    The Constitution says we all got a right to speak
    Say what we want Tip, your argument is weak

    Way to go, T. Of course, when you don't approve of a woman's political speech it's obviously the result of some kind of sexual frustration. Never heard that song before...

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    Why? According to you he isn't even black.

    I think the word Craig was looking for is "touché".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    And wouldn't be nice if President Obama used that bully pulpit to condemn black men like Russell Simmons and Mr Beyonce who get rich off selling casual bigotry and romanticising drug abuse and crime, with a little of the same vehemence he used to attack Wall Street "fat cats"?

    Let me guess. You don't really know anything about Russell Simmons, right?

    If you're looking for figureheads for Obama's new "age of responsibility", Simmons is your guy. If all millionaire businessmen displayed his acumen and conscience the world would be a better place.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    I think the word Craig was looking for is "touché".

    Zing! Yeah, Giovanni, that was awse. :)

    Can't you critique the uglier aspects of popular culture without being some dingbat neo-Puritan

    Yeah, of course, but your initial post oversimplified everything about hip-hop and what it means and why it's popular. It just sounded... Tipper-esque. Sorry.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    (On the other hand, I could just be a plain old bad feminist for liking Ludacris.)

    Pole dancing and pron. I think you're a long way down the bad feminist line behind me, darlin'. I was even perving at one of the women in the Media 7 audience ("she looks familiar, and also hot"), so I may just be doomed.

    As one chemistry teacher put it, "'Sssnot a problem. 'Ssss... a sholution".

    And if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

    Sounds like long past time I went back to the cricket...

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I think the word Craig was looking for is "touché".

    No, Don, I'm really happy with "quit fucking trolling, Gio".

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Lx,

    Let me guess. You don't really know anything about Russell Simmons, right?

    According to that link he's a 'warewolf'.

    Did anyone catch the full piece on the changes to Wikipedia's editing process on This Way Up earlier? I was in & out & missed most of it. The upshot seemed to be approval from the commentator.

    Wellington • Since Apr 2007 • 24 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Danielle:

    I wouldn't be arrogant -- or suicidal -- enough to pontificate about whether you're a good, bad or indifferent feminist. Didn't go there, and not planning to start in this or any other lifetime.

    You like Ludicrus. I adore grand opera -- another musical form whose back catalogue is loaded to the Gods with noxious sexist stereotypes. Hell, let's be honest and cop to a hell of a lot of in your face Madonna/Whore misogyny, where the wages of sin for an uppity woman is death. OK, I'm being all reductive again, but it's not totally fanciful either.

    So, perhaps I'm just a pointy-headed elitist hypocrite who doesn't mind macho woman-hatred at all, as long as it's over a century old and presented with surtitles.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Oh, and I've just realised Russell's a much better gay than me. Drop the two of us in the middle of the floor at a dance party, he'd be getting down with his bad self. I'd be running to the nearest all-night pharmacy for a pair of ear plugs.

    Anyone know where I hand in my toaster oven? :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    No, Don, I'm really happy with "quit fucking trolling, Gio".

    If I thought it was trolling I'd put on my grumpy voice, but it wasn't. In the context of previous discussions it was actually pretty sharp. C'mon ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Giovanni: When you've lured the troll back to its bridge with a goat or three, I'll dignify a serious contribution with a serious response. You might, however, want to consider that misogynistic culture is no less our problem because we happen to have cocks between our legs rather than pussies.

    Sure. I remain curious of whether you're expecting Obama to come and paint your roof as well, once he's done solving all of society's problems. And my other point stands, trollish as you may regard it: he seems to be an African-American to you only when it suits the particular counterpoint you're trying to make that day. Which would make you the pot to Obama's own "I'm black when it suits me" kettle (assuming the latter is the thrust of your "he's not really African American" riff).

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    OK, I'm being all reductive again, but it's not totally fanciful either.

    Yo word .dat, yol. ayite?
    Different languages are not always easy to translate into English and this is no different. To try to literally translate recognizable words is kind of pointless as they do not necessarily have the same meaning. Knowledge Bro!

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Littlewood,

    Let me guess. You don't really know anything about Russell Simmons, right?

    If you're looking for figureheads for Obama's new "age of responsibility", Simmons is your guy. If all millionaire businessmen displayed his acumen and conscience the world would be a better place.

    Quite. Simmons, who, for all his flaws, has actually shown something of a conscience in the way he's used his clout. The story of Def Jam records is a fascinating one, really, and in many ways a nice distillation of how the Music Business has changed, and how rap music became so pervasive over the last twenty-odd years.

    Also, it'll be interesting to see where the label (in its current form) goes next, now that Jay-Z has stepped down as its CEO, too. The label is undergoing many of the same problems as most major subsidaries these days, although they seem to display slightly more business acumen than the majority. But that's for another discussion.

    As for the gig which got FOX (is there a pundit in the world more unhinged than Michelle Malkin?) so hot under the collar, it looked pretty damn intense, actually. Would've been a lot of fun to be there. Incidentally, the track ("My President is Black") is worth comparing to Nas's more self-questioning, uncertain "Black President," which was released before Obama's eventual victory.

    And I agree with the general consensus on Ryall's early performance, the words "contradictory" and "shambles" spring to mind. Btw, do any ChCh PA members want to meet up at Dramfest? I think it'd be...educational.

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Btw, do any ChCh PA members want to meet up at Dramfest? I think it'd be...educational.

    Matthew, if you want to organise a little PA Dramfest group, I can probably get you a discount. Especially if someone writes about it ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Incidentally, the track ("My President is Black") is worth comparing to Nas's more self-questioning, uncertain "Black President," which was released before Obama's eventual victory.

    And which sets a 1998 sample ("We ain't ready for a black president") from the late Tupac Shakur against an Obama speech recording ("They said this day would never come/They said our sights were set too high"). That's some conflicting feelings there.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Littlewood,

    .

    Matthew, if you want to organise a little PA Dramfest group, I can probably get you a discount. Especially if someone writes about it ...

    Hey, cheers, I'll get onto it over the next few days!

    And which sets a 1998 sample ("We ain't ready for a black president") from the late Tupac Shakur against an Obama speech recording ("They said this day would never come/They said our sights were set too high"). That's some conflicting feelings there.

    Yeah, it's a fascinating track for the reasons you mention there. I do think that Nas has only released one stone-cold classic record ( Illmatic ), and all his subsequent records have been patchy at best, but every now and then he releases a track like the one above which reminds you why he was so feted in the first place. I actually think "Black President" works as a post-election treatise as much as an anticipatory one. I mean no one knows what the next four years are gonna hold instore at all...

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Let me guess. You don't really know anything about Russell Simmons, right?

    If you're looking for figureheads for Obama's new "age of responsibility", Simmons is your guy. If all millionaire businessmen displayed his acumen and conscience the world would be a better place.

    Let me guess. You'd find much of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch's philanthropic activities (and she makes Rosie Horton look like a slacker in the charity queen stakes) entirely admirable, while having no respect whatsoever for much of the content or business practices that have underwritten it over the last forty years or so.

    Philanthropy is entirely admirable, and I'm quite happy to give Simmons or Elizabeth Murdoch and her son or anyone else credit where it's due. But that doesn't mean you can't find the places where that money comes from rather distasteful. Whether it's misogynistic and homophobic rap lyrics, or misogynist and homophobic moonbats in The Sun or on Fox News.

    And though it might me a wee bit Tipper Gore-y for some tastes, I had my attention pointed to this -- so if that's translated from talk in the aftermath of Don Imus' sacking (for using racially-charged and sexist slurs on air), to 'corporate social responsibility' here and now, that's cool. One more occasion I'm very happy to be proved wrong.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • andin,

    Please, no more Dee Snider speeches in front of House Committees! I couldn't bear it.

    Shit, so that was, what 15- 20 yrs ago?
    Shit someone has even made a docudrama about it.
    Thank thuck the world doesnt live to by your sensitivities.
    Is this a throwaway line, Im hoping it is.

    Cause by any other yardstick (sorry metric ruler) this has to be the stupidest thing I have seen in writing since some dunce wrote he's risen from the dead.

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    This just in: andin is a HUGE Twisted Sister fan! Sorry man. Didn't mean to harsh on anyone's love for The Snider.

    In other Over-Explaining a Joke Kills It Dead news: I was just being all Generation X-referencey about the PMRC hearing in which Dee Snider featured prominently, despite the fact that his band was hugely, hugely inoffensive and kind of cartoony, and all the American politicians were totally square, daddy-o. And Dee Snider wouldn't be part of any hip-hop related hearing like that nowadays. Because his band is 30 years old. And glam-metal. And was never very threatening anyway. So me saying that was supposed to be deliberately ridiculous. Ho ho ho, etc. Oh, god, never mind. <headdesk>

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    Way to go, T.

    Yes, I've got really mixed feelings about mr Ice-T. On the one hand, a large number of stonking tunes with general anti-'thug life' sentiments. And on the other, a bucketful of casual misogeny.

    I've got more of a problem with Tipper Gore and the PRMC for the problems she caused whiteboy music (punk labels like Alternative Tentacles, for example). A casual read through the PRMC article on wikipedia lists far more rock bands than it does hip-hop artists.

    Still, I'm off to turn up the bass on 'It takes a nation of millions...'. Now there's a black group that all us guilty white liberals can get behind!

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Killer album!

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Still, I'm off to turn up the bass on 'It takes a nation of millions...'. Now there's a black group that all us guilty white liberals can get behind!

    Then try and watch Flavor of Love without have a "WTF?" brain melt as you try to figure out how anyone could get from 'Fight The Power' to that classic of reality television: "Somethin Poop'd on the Floor".

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    This just in: andin is a HUGE Twisted Sister fan! Sorry man. Didn't mean to harsh on anyone's love for The Snider.

    I met The Snider! Musta bin 1985. Lovely man. Seriously.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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