Recently, University of Alabama Sorority Girls posted a recruitment video on Youtube, singing a Chris Brown rap song (with different lyrics) and Rebecca Black's "Friday." Give boys a video camera and they're re-enact Jackass endlessly. Give girls a video camera, and they'll sing and dance (badly).
Perhaps the popularity of Rap videos among White girls (and guys) is how easy they are to ape. Classic 1980's videos require … actual singing. Rap means basically nasal and monotone well, rapping with no attempt at a melody, harmony, nothing but rhythm. Everything else is fixed in Auto-tune. It is striking however how the 1980's represented the last gasp of the traditional White rock/pop artist, with only niche (gay-fan created Lady Gaga) people remaining. All else is Rap, and Country, which should be the natural music of these young ladies (this is after all, the University of Alabama) is absent. No country songs mimicked (the Country artists put out tons of them, all easily accessible by the internet). Country is all over the radio, even out here in LA, and particularly in the South.
Maybe we do need a law. Banning both rap videos and any remakes of them by out of tune, off-pitch girls and boys. Its sad that all the girls could come up with was a Chris Brown rap video and Rebecca Black. Poorly made fashions of the moment.
That the girls are bad singers goes without saying. Singing well is a matter of both native talent and endless practice, usually acquired in a Church choir while children. The decline in Church attendance among other things radically reduced the amount of raw musical talent among Black and White populations alike. No wonder current music is so bad. No one can sing anymore. It certainly is indicative that Chris Brown, he of the beat-down administered to Rihanna, seems to have no problem with the sorority girls here. They are certainly willing to sing his rap song. No doubt his notoriety only made him more attractive as a model to copy.
The campus certainly looks pretty, though. No doubt it could stand in for any number of Ivy League schools. Ironically the University of Alabama entering Freshman are 84% White, and only 12% Black. Which matches both the South and the nation as a whole. Whites move heaven and earth to stay away from Black people physically, yet copy Black rap artists and athletes endlessly. Even if in the case of rappers, there is not any artistry. [Jazz and Blues and R&B Black musicians and composers are and were great artists, there is much wisdom in copying men and women who achieved great things: The Marsalis family, Marvin Gaye, Duke Ellington, and Billy Holliday (in singing only of course) are all great artists worthy of copying. Chris Brown is not.] White attitudes remain schizophrenic towards Blacks. Great artists regardless of color should be emulated for their greatness. Their music repeated, copied, admired. Those who are bad (which includes all rappers) should be ignored. It is very puzzling why these girls ignore the talented and far more musically interesting and melodic country artists they can hear on the radio in favor of … rhythm only Rappers or bad internet sensations.
The girls don't even want to be this girl:
They'd rather be Chris Brown or Rebecca Black. How sad is that?
Thursday, August 18, 2011
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21 comments:
It is well known that women have execrably poor taste in music.
The vast majority of serious fans of classical and jazz are men. Women go to classical and jazz concerts for "status whoring" reasons and nothing more. They want to be seen showing off their fine clothes, jewelery and their alpha male partner and they want to gossip with their SWPL friends before the show and during intermission. They're not really interested in the actual music and they certainly don't listen to classical and jazz at home. That would be nerdy [i.e. beta or omega].
Why do men appreciate classical and jazz while women do not? It's quite simple. Women are emotional creatures who are governed by the heart, not the head. They listen to music that makes them feel good, regardless of how bad the quality of the music might be.
Whiskey you are missing the entire world of indie rock music, which is overwhelmingly white in terms of both audience and artists, not to mention sensibility. It is both musical and inventive and a lot of the artists actually can sing, though often in a rather breathy way (and often very feminized). And there are a LOT of young girls that are into it. (I give you Sufjan Stevens as exhibit A in this category -- a brilliantly musical young man.)
As for aping (oooh, racist word choice!) rap, you are right they do it because it's easy, especially if you are trying to re-write lyrics. The simplistic rhyme schemes make it a natural. Also, it's declarative music and the most direct way to "advertise" something, which these girls are going here.
So I don't think it's necessarily fair to say they want to "be" Chris Brown or, for that matter, Rebecca Black (who is widely considered a joke, and imitating her is mockery not flattery). It's just that rap is the easy way to do this and rap takeoffs are widely understood as a vehicle for exactly this kind of thing.
All that said, I do agree that the eagerness with which young whites support rap is disconcerting. But I think you go too far in seeing it as a cultural marker. I can assure you that none of these very, very white girls want anything to do with "being black" (except for the obvious status win of dating the superstar black running back, which isn't about being black, but about one-upping their white girlfriends).
I think country music is probably regarded by these girls- as it is by all aspirational Americans- as low class. Aping ghetto behavior for amusement on the other hand has been regarded as great fun by the upper class for a long time.
Thrasymachus/Peterike -- you're probably correct, both. It just puzzles me why Country is considered low class when other "Southern" markers are quite trendy: Blanton's Bourbon, high end Jack Daniels, BBQ and other Southern working-class foods, etc.
I thought Country was trendy again.
Scroll down mid way.
Lil Wayne has 56 gold and platinum song credits second only to Elvis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_certification
It just puzzles me why Country is considered low class when other "Southern" markers are quite trendy.
If I had to hazard a guess, it's because hip people can drink bourbon or eat BBQ without actually seeing and hearing icky country people. And there is always an edge of "irony" to such things. Just like hipsters will drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Sure, it's terrible, but it's cheap (poverty is cool) and it's campy, so bad that it's good.
I would guess that SWPLs who are into "country" things are always doing it with a tinge of irony and slumming. "Hey, look at us, eating this prole food and drinking this glorified moonshine."
There's a world of difference between a BBQ joint in Nashville and a BBQ joint in Williamsburg.
My conscience forces me to note the shocking lack of diversity in this video. I mean, really.
NINE blondes and only two brunettes?
Lousy blondists.
peterike:
'Just like hipsters will drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Sure, it's terrible, but it's cheap (poverty is cool) and it's campy, so bad that it's good.'
Boy is this true.
Favorite cheap beer of snobby young SWPL, NPR listening men in the Boston area is PBR and has been for a few years now.
Its so bad,its obvious they didnt even try. (BTW I dont find any of these pleasant looking girls fuckable)Rebecca Black's song is just horrible;they must be tongue in cheek,saying "hey we know this song is dumb.." You'r eright,a country song would be more apropos,but its OK to despise country;its NOT OK to hate rap.
Just a note re Chris Brown.What a strange guy! He is soooo lightskinned,he hardly seems black;but then again he is so gorilla looking,he looks barely human. He looks extremely stupid and apelike. It must have been some very low IQ white trash woman that got the hots fo' Tyrone a couple of decades(and no doubt,many many beatings,welfare checks,late payments etc)ago. He looks like a monster. But thats just me.
Hey whiskey have ya seen this very cool video: Seems some Nig-I mean some African american youths from Georgetown tried a little stuff and their Chinese opponents took exception. beautiful video. In America of course,the white boys would cry and the white dumb bitches would get on their knees to apologize to the dear youths. Those wonderful "young people". See:Georgetown Basketball Team Brawls In China on youtube.
EAT A DICK adolph.
note the simplistic rhythm.
Favorite cheap beer of snobby young SWPL, NPR listening men in the Boston area is PBR and has been for a few years now.
This dates back to 1986, when Blue Velvet came out. As you may recall, PBR was Frank's favorite tipple. ("Heineken? Fuck Heineken! Pabst Blue Ribbon!" I heard hip Bostonians quoting that line in bars back in the late '80s.)
"It is well known that women have execrably poor taste in music. "
It is well known that the above sentence is the dumbest I have ever read.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_18726190
OT.
Recall the posts less than a year ago on sports violence. Tragically predictable.
Svigor said...
learning is racist
Learning is racist, tests are racist, history is racist, America is racist, western civilization is racist, Europe is racist, whites are racist, conservatives are racist, firemen are racist, colorblindness is racist, equal opportunity is racist, the truth is racist, fairness is racist, "live and let live" is racist, self-determination is racist, free association is racist, rights are racist...
Courage is racist, honesty is racist, forthrightness is racist, fighting city hall is racist, speaking truth to power is racist, fighting the system is racist, speaking up for yourself is racist.
Sane, decent people should start worrying if they're not being called "racist."
Robert in Arabia
"It is well known that women have execrably poor taste in music. "
It is well known that the above sentence is the dumbest I have ever read.
August 20, 2011 7:09 PM
Really? Are you saying that women actually do have good taste in music? What planet are you from?
"It is well known that women have execrably poor taste in music. "
It is well known that the above sentence is the dumbest I have ever read.
August 20, 2011 7:09 PM
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Who drives sales in the Top 40/CHR format?
In the DC area, the (young) male oriented music programming offered on the radio is minimal. The rock stations that do exist tend to play older playlists, with fewer new artists. The urban stations appear to be primarily female focused until late at night, when edgier/hardier music comes on. That of course is not the fault of women, but much more the result of the radio market condensation. On the otherhand, the playlist issue issue is an interesting one.
Is there any particular reason why women tend to listen to "newer" music, while in general men tend of have a wider range of musical tastes catered too?
As far as poor taste in music, most people have a tendency to be herd animals who just want to listen to what everyone else is listening to at the same time. I said this recently to a bunch of Adele fans and they were outraged and started verbally abusing me. I didn't say Adele was bad. I just pointed out that there's over 80 years of recorded music that people can listen to and that's it's just as easy to buy and listen to something like Billie Holliday, Etta James or dozens of other artists but most people close themselves off to that because they just have to listen to whatever's currently popular. That's how Adele's new album ends up with ten times as many reviews at Amazon.com as Billie Holliday's greatest hits. Is she really ten times better as a singer? I don't think so.
(Cliff Arroyo)
IME women by and large have average taste in music. They mostly go for the safest most mainstream artists in whatever genre they like. Most men do roughly the same thing.
On the other hand those who have really eclectic tastes or who like delve into the history of a genre and develop a taste for obscure artists are overwhelmingly male.
I've only known one woman who wasn't a semi-professional musician who had eclectic taste (as in able to appreciate soul, mariachi, punk and classical on their own terms). And she wasn't a collector of any kind she was just more open to out of the ordinary things than most women who want the stamp of mass approval on whatever they consume.
Most women and men go for the middle of the road in music but those who are interested in the extremes are almost all men.
It's possible your experiences of women and their tastes in music is informed by your apparent proximity to dumb/shallow women. I'm into jazz, classical, blues etc., as are pretty much all of my female friends. People in general are pretty dumb/shallow, I'm not sure that's a gender thing.
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