I want to thank those of you that left such kind comments on the blog. I am thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the class-and learned something in the process. I meant it last class when I said it was a wonderful semester-and you were such a lively, spirited, and intelligent group. I had a wonderful time teaching-and you made it all the more enjoyable. I also want to thank you for your comments on the course (i.e. blog) and what I can do to improve it-without your feedback I wouldn't be able to strengthen the course and its structure. Good luck on your paper for this course (and don't forget-I'm only an email/appointment away if you need help) and for your other courses this semester. You'll do great! You're almost there-and then its summer vacation! I should have played Alice Cooper's "School's Out" on the last class-my bad.
I know I asked you what you learned from the semester-I thought maybe I should share the knowledge I gained. 1) Jameson really doesn't like pop music, 2) Love for music runs deep from the students of AMS209, 3) Ronald Reagan used Springsteen's "Born in the USA" for his presidential campaign (thank you Andy!), and lastly....that music is indeed a universal language-though we all don't speak the same dialect, we understand its power and its meaning. I have learned more-but perhaps I've bored you enough with my incessant talking all semester long!
Thank you all for a fantastic semester. Take care!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
The Ooks of Hazzard cover "Kids" by MGMT
I know that we don't have to make any more posts, and that most of the class may not see this, but I just wanted to share it. This is a country/folk cover of the very popular electronic/pop song by MGMT. I'm more than a little impressed. I really love it. Also, in my quest to find an illegal copy of it so I could own it, I found that it has gotten a lot of attention on many different music blogs that focus on specific genres. I saw it on a hip-hop blog, an electronic blog, an indie blog, a country blog, a general music blog, and a pop music blog. It was pretty cool to see that not only was it popular with fans of the song under such an unexpected genre, but popular among fans of country and folk who may have never heard it before. Anyway, I'm rambling but it's really cool and if you see this you should check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgpsXURZFo4&feature=player_embedded
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Hip-Hop: The Media Scapegoat
“They say music can alter moods and talk to you
Well can it load a gun up for you, and cock it too
Well if it can, then the next time you assault a dude
Just tell the judge it was my fault and i'll get sued
See what these kids do is hear about us totin' pistols
And they want to get one cause they think the shit's cool
Not knowin' we really just protectin' ourselves
We entertainers, of course the shit's affectin' our sales,
You ignoramus, but music is reflection of self
We just explain it, and then we get our checks in the mail”
- Eminem
From Fox News to the election, to the classroom, hip-hop cannot escape the accusations that it prompts violence and degrades women and homosexuals. Its not that hip-hop prompts these concepts, it just doesn’t run away from them. Women statically have less of a chance of getting a job than a man. They will not be respected in the workplace as much as a man (unless they act like a man). Hip-Hop does not always portray women in the best image by calling them “hoes” and “bitches.” But at the same time these worlds do not always mean negative things. In the Notorious B.I.G.’s song “Me & My Bitch”, he says his bitch is his best friend and he hopes they grow old together. Although he uses the world bitch throughout the song he is praises this women.
As good and uplifting hip-hop can be it can be just as bad. We live in a world where sex and violence is cinematized, video-atized and Jersey Shore-atized. Hip-Hop has become the media scapegoat in a world filled with sex and violence. Eminem hit it on the head, rapping, “It's all political, if my music is literal, and i'm a criminal, how the fuck can I raise a little girl!”
With that said, support hip-hop, listen to the music, don’t just skim through it and remember the fox media is full S#!%!
(& I just wanted to say I enjoyed this class. One of most enjoyable classes I’ve taken in my four years at UB.)
Well can it load a gun up for you, and cock it too
Well if it can, then the next time you assault a dude
Just tell the judge it was my fault and i'll get sued
See what these kids do is hear about us totin' pistols
And they want to get one cause they think the shit's cool
Not knowin' we really just protectin' ourselves
We entertainers, of course the shit's affectin' our sales,
You ignoramus, but music is reflection of self
We just explain it, and then we get our checks in the mail”
- Eminem
From Fox News to the election, to the classroom, hip-hop cannot escape the accusations that it prompts violence and degrades women and homosexuals. Its not that hip-hop prompts these concepts, it just doesn’t run away from them. Women statically have less of a chance of getting a job than a man. They will not be respected in the workplace as much as a man (unless they act like a man). Hip-Hop does not always portray women in the best image by calling them “hoes” and “bitches.” But at the same time these worlds do not always mean negative things. In the Notorious B.I.G.’s song “Me & My Bitch”, he says his bitch is his best friend and he hopes they grow old together. Although he uses the world bitch throughout the song he is praises this women.
As good and uplifting hip-hop can be it can be just as bad. We live in a world where sex and violence is cinematized, video-atized and Jersey Shore-atized. Hip-Hop has become the media scapegoat in a world filled with sex and violence. Eminem hit it on the head, rapping, “It's all political, if my music is literal, and i'm a criminal, how the fuck can I raise a little girl!”
With that said, support hip-hop, listen to the music, don’t just skim through it and remember the fox media is full S#!%!
(& I just wanted to say I enjoyed this class. One of most enjoyable classes I’ve taken in my four years at UB.)
Kanye
I have always been a fan of Kanye's music, but not a fan of Kanye himself. I think Kanye does great things for hip hop nowadays but, to me, that is almost overshadowed but all the ridiculous stunts he pulls. I guess I really should not be surprised by his crazy publicity stunts anymore, but he makes it easy to not like him. Every time he does something that brings about negative publicity to himself I cannot help but to lose a little respect for the guy. I am not really a fan of Taylor Swift, but when he interrupted the poor girl of giving her acceptance speech I felt bad for her and embarrassed for Kanye and thought what the heck is he doing now? I think the reason that Kanye does stuff like that is for publicity, but I think he could go about that in a more positive way and one that does not make him look like a fool all the time. I respect Kanye for his music, but that is all, but every time he does something erratic and at the expense of others it starts to make me want to boycott his music. So, Kanye's publicity stunts are having a negative effect on me in the fact that it is starting to make me not want to listen to his music and I am sure that is not the vibe that Kanye is going for when he does these things, but these are the things that he needs to think about before the next crazy shananigans that he pulls.
soundtrack of my life
I found it really interesting that I would have so many different genres on the soundtrack of my life extra credit assignment. I am a huge fan of rock and alternative and found it interesting at the selection of songs and albums that I would want to be on the soundtrack of my life. But, after taking this class, it makes sense to have so many different musical genres because everything is an off shoot of each other and everything influences each other in some way. This was a really fun extra credit assignment to do, but was slightly hard at the same time because picking ten songs or albums to represent your life is not an easy thing to do. There were so many other songs and albums I would want to be on the soundtrack of my life, but I tried to pick the ones I felt best represented me or I tried to pick my most favorite albums, the ones that I could not live with out. I wonder if I would have some of the same songs and albums on the soundtrack of my life if I were to do this assignment in ten, twenty, thirty, etc. years?
Why Blacks Kids Only Listen To Hip-Hop
When we were assigned the Soundtrack to our life assignment, I started asking my friends on what were the top 10 songs and albums that impacted their lives. I actually made it my facebook status. Within a couple minutes the comments piled up and said everything from Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill to Linkin Park’s Hybrid Park to Michael Jackson’s Thriller to Yolanda’s “Still I Rise,” etc. I could go on and on. But what this assignment made realize was that most of friends (African America Teengers-20 year olds) predominately listen to only one genre and refuse to venture outside of it. That one genre is Hip-Hop/R&B (Modern R&B and Hip Hop are pretty much twins).
After making this realization I looked at my own iTunes and not to my surprise 95% of my iTunes was Hip-Hop/R&B. The other 5% was a mix of rock (Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Maroon 5, Creed, Bon Jovi, etc), reggae, pop and gospel. So I asked one of my co-workers that same day what genres were on her iPod? Her mind began fondling thoughts as she answered saying everything from Screaming, to rap, to boy bands to country to modern autotune pop music. She then started naming bands and artist I’ve never even heard of. I almost embarrassed to say to her the only artist I recognized from her list was Lil Wayne and 2pac.
The imprint of African Americans on America music is hugh! But throughout musical history black’s creativity and founding in genres has been overshadowed, stolen or erased by whites. Blacks have certain connection to hip-hop unlike the numerous genres they have previously started and as a result they will not let go hip-hop. Also, hip-hop is based around the concepts around struggling. Every black in America struggles everyday and as result they relate to hip-hop music more than any other genre. Even though hip-hop is consumed by whites, its made for blacks. In other words black people listen to hip-hop because its their music and they relate to it. So the iPods of African Americans will continue to be dominated by hip-hop until stops making music for them.
After making this realization I looked at my own iTunes and not to my surprise 95% of my iTunes was Hip-Hop/R&B. The other 5% was a mix of rock (Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Maroon 5, Creed, Bon Jovi, etc), reggae, pop and gospel. So I asked one of my co-workers that same day what genres were on her iPod? Her mind began fondling thoughts as she answered saying everything from Screaming, to rap, to boy bands to country to modern autotune pop music. She then started naming bands and artist I’ve never even heard of. I almost embarrassed to say to her the only artist I recognized from her list was Lil Wayne and 2pac.
The imprint of African Americans on America music is hugh! But throughout musical history black’s creativity and founding in genres has been overshadowed, stolen or erased by whites. Blacks have certain connection to hip-hop unlike the numerous genres they have previously started and as a result they will not let go hip-hop. Also, hip-hop is based around the concepts around struggling. Every black in America struggles everyday and as result they relate to hip-hop music more than any other genre. Even though hip-hop is consumed by whites, its made for blacks. In other words black people listen to hip-hop because its their music and they relate to it. So the iPods of African Americans will continue to be dominated by hip-hop until stops making music for them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)