#Lyrical themes: Death Politics Social issues Violence | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

coreofyourspirit · 5 years

Text

Tupac Shakur The Spirit

Legacy-Greatest of All Time/G.O.A.T., Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Educational Courses taught at Universities on his life and music, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, Biographical Books & Movies, Hologram at Coachella, Tattoos with his image, Apparel with his image, Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts, 7-Foot Bronze Statue, Tupac themed Restaurant, Stories that he is hiding out in other countries, Ongoing questions about who assassinated him, etc.

Tupac Amaru Shakur commended by God in Heaven, to come into the world in 1971 to serve as a Prophet. Tupac was born Lesane Parish Crooks and was ready for his commission when he was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur. As Jesus was born Immanuel, he was commissioned and was then called Jesus. Abram to Abraham had the same occurrence, all of these men left a legacy and established creation in the world for God. Tupac amazed the world with his talent and ambition. He left a prolific impression on those who have been graced by his artistry, wise words and witnessing his fearless way of speaking out about the injustice placed upon him and the injustice that he observed in the inner city. A black man that inspired other black men to feel comfortable wearing a bald head. Why is it far-fetched that he worked for God in Heaven, when we acknowledge his legacy?

Tupac Shakur was in the world as a 7th Level Elder, part of a group of Elders titled Hierarchy of Heaven. They are the oldest and most mature Spirits who are complete and balance. They come into the world and experience alongside everyone, they are unconventional, mature in their personality, use their soul as a guide and closely work with God in dealing with creation. They don’t remember their full eminence while living in the world and everyday people wouldn’t know or consider what rank these people have in Heaven. God allows them the same free will as everyone, because he wants to see how they behave while forgetting their rank of attainment in spirit. God doesn’t want them to appease him, he wants them to use their soul and fix problems, they have to be selfless without trying or pretending to be, these requirements ensure that they do not take advantage or misuse their spiritual rank. God wanted Tupac to have a massive platform, that could be used for national attention. Tupac was already a very creative Spirit, so he chose music and acting as a career. He started out early at 14 years old developing his creative side and future career. Everyone can look into Tupac’s eyes and see how genuine and introspective he was, how his conversation was well past that of his age, how everyone was and are drawn to him for their own personal reasons and how he would talk about God. We don’t know many who have left an enormous legacy and have accomplished so much, even if they had lived to be 75.

Tupac had a direct connection to God and as he openly let people know that he talked to God, he already was sent insight that he had adversaries in the world and that is why he made it known in some of his lyrics. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was also given insight and spoke about it; he knew he wouldn’t be present to see the end of the civil rights movement. In life, when you observe and listen to the underlying message of what people say, you have tapped in to their innermost feelings, like when Tupac first piqued our interest in who Makaveli was. When Tupac brought Makaveli into present day conversation, he was sharing what resonated in his soul. You can come back from death, because you don’t die, your spirit has returned to the world over and over. Makaveli faking his death could never happen, because you don’t die anyway, even if you get put on the cross, you don’t have a lifetime, you have an existence. Although, Tupac delivered the message in an unusual way, you have to dig deep in order to discern what he was saying about what Makaveli did and why he connected with the notion of not dying.

Tupac was sometimes looked at as a thug figure, gangster rapper, homeboy, cool and controversial, but as he left Heaven to begin his lifetime in 1971, God knew Tupac as Master Teacher, Prophet, Healer, Creative Artist, Activist, Mediator, Wise, Faultless, Mature, Intelligent, Gift Giver, Naturally Ambitious, Focused, Resilient, Trustworthy, Reliable, Philosophical, Responsible, Eyes that are good and bared the purity of his old soul, Elder. God’s colleagues the Elders, work with him in Heaven and are sometimes born into the world. Elder’s, establish creation and intervene in the leading problems in the world. When their lifetime is over, they bring back their experiences, as well as the evidence of, the methods & modalities of Spirits in the world. While in life Tupac blended in well with others and his first-hand experience gave him an insider’s view. He shared with God the pandemic of inner-city crime & poverty, murders & atrocities against each other, misdeeds of politicians, the entertainment industry, religious & personal greed, homelessness, police brutality, increased drug addiction, teenage pregnancy & prostitution, racism, children growing up in lack, decline of the family unit, criminal justice & legal system, people’s behavior hateful/lustful/jealous, the oppression of “Thug Life.” God cursed Tupac to see what life should be like. It was painful for him to witness the plight of others and that is why he was so outspoken and passionate, Tupac was doing “God’s work.”

Tupac shared his wisdom on Thug Life as anything in life, that robs you of experiencing life by oppressing you, someone else intentionally causing you hardship by exercising their personal power over you, to hold you back or keep you down. The expansiveness of your life is taken from you. Thug=Take. When you wear Thug Life on your body, you identify with being held down by circumstances, people, legal system, etc. Tupac knew the violence was attributed to a survival mentality, I’m going to take your life before you take mine. Henceforth, “Thug Life” was appropriate for the problem that existed and it was not just about Tupac intervening by coining the term and tattooing it on his body. It was about God having to deal with the massive number of Spirits that returned to Heaven murdered, taking life from each other. Tupac interceded as an Elder, with going into the trenches and sharing what it looks like, when someone wants to take from you. He did not promote gang banging and wanted them to stop taking from each other. He presented them with Thug Life and what it did to their community. Tupac wanted to bring peace to the ongoing feud between those who grew up in the inner-city just like him. He brought the idea of unity and what that would feel like. “Instead of self destructive, try self productive, all the mentality must stop, we have to find a way out. Organize, if we so strong as Hustlers, as G’s, as Thugs, then we shouldn’t have no rape, no violence and no gunshots in our community. We need to take care of our own.”

Although in Tupac’s lifetime he was a black man, non-religious, didn’t hold to one particular ideology, he was God’s elect sent to advocate and change circumstances for the better, for a mass number of people. He innately knew that he was doing God’s work and found that, the images that reflected those doing God’s work was misleading. The characters who were supposed to be doing God’s work, got their money and went home to their luxurious accomodations after leaving their mega church and the people remained in lack and poverty. This is one of the reasons God was secure in his choice of Tupac, his reflective nature shed light on many critical matters, he did not pretend and he participated in many platforms that worked to heal the inner-city communities with underserved children. To God those children, would grow up and needed to be useful within creation, by bringing something original and beneficial to the world, that only their soul could create. God already knew that Tupac could be trusted to use his soul and that he would serve as prime example, of a person using their soul. Tupac was never distracted or slowed down by his mounting criminal allegations, he remained ambitious and focused. He was still working and wasn’t asking God to rescue him, Bloods vs. Crips Truce, East Coast/West Coast “their is no beef,” activism for political issues, activism for social issues, business, wisdom, music, movies, legal issues, etc.

Their is a spiritual explanation for every worldly occurrence and experience. Every person in the world is a Spirit who has a body and were born for a purpose. It’s everyone’s job to find their purpose and the meaning of it, that is why their will never be another Tupac Shakur. God only created one, there is no comparison to Tupac because no one has had the same experiences, that he has had within his existence and have not been commended to fulfill the specifics of his lifetime work. Tupac is a very accomplished Spirit and it took eons of time for him to develop into a Prophet and now a Lord. He earned his rise in rank and when Tupac was assassinated in 1996, he returned to Heaven and had ascended to Lord, due to him using his massive platform, reaching a wide range of people, in every age group, in every part of the world for the betterment of all. No one in the world really considered why Tupac was so great and why his legacy continues to grow? It is because he was here on business and he corrected some of the issues God was dealing with. God’s choice of his elect in the world, comes with them being tried and tested thoroughly on every level imaginable, so that they can assist in establishing creation and bringing resolve to the prevailing issue of the time. Like everyone else, Tupac is a Spirit from Heaven, who happens to be a decision maker because of his personal contribution throughout the existence of spirit. As a Lord, Tupac works in a council of Elders who create, mandate and impose ordinances/decrees that impact every individual spirit created.

When Tupac lost his body due to the trauma it received after being shot multiple times, his spirit returned to Heaven, his work didn’t begin when he arrived on the scene as Prophet Tupac Amaru Shakur, it began when he was created.

#tupac shakur #tupac #tupactuesday #tupac amaru shakur #2pac #2pacshakur #soul spirit

1 note · View note

itsairarara · 6 years

Text

BTS: The Influential Artists of the 21st Century

(From Left to Right. Top: V, Jin, RM & J-Hope; Bottom: Suga, Jungkook & Jimin)

Nowadays, a lot of individuals specifically, the teenagers are engaging in Korean industry. One of those are the Korean-pop (K-pop) group. They are idolizing various K-Pop group because of their distinctive concepts, their musics with a catchy up-beat and rhythm, and also their dance choreographies plus their charming personalities. However, there is one K-pop group who doesn't focusing only on their looks and appearances on stage but instead they are voicing out all the things that are happening in the society through creating musics and interpreting it through their flawless dance routines, that is BTS.

Bangtan Sonyeondan (Hangul: 방탄소년단) meaning, Bulletproof Boy Scouts also known as BTS are South Korean Boy Band Group who was debuted on June 13, 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. They conceptualized their group name with the thought that they would block out stereotypes, criticisms, and expectations that target adolescents like bullets and protect the values and ideals of today’s adolescents.

The members are the following:

(L-R: Suga, Jin, J-Hope & RM)

Kim Namjoon also known as RM, born on September 12, 1994 in the province of Ilsan in South Korea. He is the rapper and a songwriter of the group and a very hardworking leader taking responsibilities anytime being inspirational to the youth. Additionally, he has a 148 IQ and fluent in speaking English.

Jin

Kim Seokjin, is the oldest in the group who was born on December 4, 1992. He is the vocalist who has a mentorship role within the group and loves throwing dad jokes to his co-members.

Suga

Born as Min Yoongi on March 9, 1995, a rapper, music producer, and also a songwriter. He dedicates his energy both to the fans and members.

J-Hope

Jung Hoseok, a rapper and a great dancer who was born on February 18, 1994. He helps in composing songs alongside with RM and Suga and also in choreographing dance steps. He is the sunshine of the group and the mood maker with Jin.

(L-R: Jungkook, Jimin & V)

Jimin

Park Jimin is the vocalist and dancer of the group who was born on October 13, 1995 in Busan, South Korea. He is good in giving advices and also the most active in social media.

Born as Kim Taehyung on December 30, 1995 in the land of Daegu in South Korea. He is the vocalist of the group. He is fashionable and he admires painting art.

Jungkook

The member who will complete the list is no other than Jeon Jungkook who was born on September 1, 1997 in the province of Busan, South Korea. He is the maknae (youngest) of the group. He is also nicknamed as "golden maknae" because he is excelled mostly in everything.

Behind the Success

BTS are now popular across the country. Despite their rising popularity and success, they undergo a lot of stuggle and hardships. They started from nothing because they come from small company who lack in funds and budgets but still they managed to survived. Many people threw them a bunch of negative judgements. But like from the meaning of their group "bulletproof", they disregard and withstand all the criticisms. Their music is meant to reflect the issues that teenagers and youth in their 20s in society, and use their songs as a shield against prejudice.

A consciously authentic style combined with socially conscious messaging

BTS’s name and motto remains true, in their musical production as well as their visual direction that engage with social consciousness themes for a youth age group. They have done this in an unpretentious way that allows young fans to have open conversations about difficult topics on family, mental health, inequality, sexuality, and more.

“We came together with a common dream to write, dance and produce music that reflects our musical backgrounds as well as our life values of acceptance, vulnerability and being successful,” said BTS’s leader, RM, in a 2017 interview with Time.

There are six main ways BTS breaks with established precedent for K-pop boy bands to carry out this mission:

1. They frequently write their own songs and lyrics.

2. Their lyrics are socially conscious and especially attuned to describing the pressures of modern teen life in South Korea.

3. They create and manage most of their own social media presence.

4. They aren’t signed to “slave contracts,” nor do their contracts have the grueling restrictions of other idol groups.

5. They tend to focus on marketing entire albums rather than individual singles.

6. They talk openly about the struggles and anxieties of their career instead of presenting an extremely polished image at all times.

It should be noted that most of these elements have been present in numerous other recent K-pop groups — most notably Big Bang, which probably influenced BTS more than any other K-pop group. What Big Hit Entertainment did, however, was to systematize these elements in BTS, and market them hard.

The Aesthics of Complex Storytelling

K-pop wouldn’t be the phenomenon that it is without its visual appeal that crosses linguistic boundaries. Beautiful, model-like aesthetic and sleekly synchronized dances are the expected arsenal of any K-pop group, and each group aims to have high production value in their Music Videos (MVs), concepts, and live stage performances. But there is something that sets BTS apart in this aesthetics competition, and it’s their relentlessly intricate and sensible visual and lyrical storytelling.

In every BTS' MVs, it depicted a story about mental health and the desire to belong in society together with their hip-hop lyrical finesse, and their straight-shooting social consciousness lyrics that differs them in other K-pop groups.

Like in their I Need U MV, if you watch it, it shows happiness together as a group contrast with scenes of social isolation and disorder. Also, psychological violence and mental suffering that caused hurt, death and suicide to individuals.

Another BTS video which is entitled as Prologue, it signifies about psychological breakdown that was due to domestic violence or might through loss of identity and depression.

In the Run MV, which is more up-beat, but the MV reflects youthful mischief and deliquency, with underlying tension of social dissatisfaction. The youngest vocalist, Jungkook, says, “If I Need U had happiness in sadness, [Run] is about sadness within happiness.” Produced by the largest number of members thus far – Jungkook, V, Rapmon, J-Hope, and Suga – Run’s lyrics suggest the complexity and necessity of loving someone with psychological suffering (including oneself)

Lastly, their MV entitled Blood Sweat & Tears (BST), which examines the psychology of shame and temptation, of a reality where there is not only godliness, but also demonization and sin. In a country where Christians account of 29.2% of the population, BTS has begun to engage its young audience with questions of embodied shame and sexual identity politics with overtly Roman Catholic and Neoclassical aesthetics and symbolism. Dozens of fine art pieces, including Herbert Draper’s Lament for Icarus, a statue of Laocoön, Bruegel’s Fall of the Rebel Angels, and Ceiling frescoes of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas tease at deeper metaphors in the storyline. Where V was the first to fall in their previous MV, he became the fallen tempter in BST. Where Jin was the lens through which the viewers understood the boys in previous MV, he became the Dante looking into the inferno in BST.

Overall, BTS is not all about being an K-idol, but instead they are the new role model in our society that opens our mind and soul and also to be aware what are happening in this world. All the things that the other people cannot voice out, BTS is here to express it through their songs and story line in their MV.

8 notes · View notes

this-is-for-the-record-blog · 6 years

Video

youtube

Binaural - Pearl Jam - Album Review

Binaural is the sixth record from respected alternative rock band Pearl Jam. It was around the time, in 2000, that this record was released when many people had forgotten about Pearl Jam and many of the other 90s rock bands from Seattle. Ironically it was actually around the time I discovered Pearl Jam and many of the 90s rock bands. I didnt catch wind of this record till a year after it was released though. I remember buying Binaural from Virgin Records along with Live on Two Legs the bands compilation of live performances from the bands Yield tour. This record was very different from anything Pearl Jam released prior, Yield included. It had a much different energy and really utilized the space in the songs. This record like No Code took me some time to understand. This change in pacing and sound was in part because of the bands switch in producers. This would mark the first record for producer Tchad Blake, who was chosen as the replacement for long time producer for the band Brendan O’Brien and also marked the bands first record with new drummer Matt Cameron who was best known for his work with Soundgarden before their departure. Binaural refers to the recording technique used on the record and literally means to listen with both ears.

Binaural takes a pretty different approach in recording style, which is where the record gets its title. Tchad Blake was chosen to produce the record because he was known for this Binaural style recording. The album was recorded using a technique where two microphones were used to create a 3D stereophonic sound an effect that simulates being in the studio with the band. Regarding producer Tchad Blake guitarist Stone Gossard said “He was just there for us the whole time, wanting us to create different moods.” This record marked some difficulties for the band members, such as Eddie Vedder suffering from writers block, which inspired the hidden track consisting entirely of typewriter noises after the last track “Parting Ways” which features, for the first time, a string arrangement. This frustration of coming up with ideas led to Eddie picking up a ukulele for the first time to inspire him on “Soon Forget” but also it led to heavy influences on the record like on that same track which musically almost completely rips off the Who’s ukulele song “Red, Blue, and Grey” and the track “Breakerfall” sounds like “I Can See For Miles” also by The Who with its Townshend’s style windmill guitar strums while “Nothing As It Seems” guitarist Mike McCready performs a couple vicious solos on a track with a guitar tone, structure and mood similar to “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd. At the time of recording Binaural, McCready had been struggling with Crohn’s disease, which led to an addiction to prescription drugs. McCready had again checked into a rehab center during the recording process.

Also like Yield Binaural included creative input from all member of the band including the newest addition drummer Matt Cameron collaboratively writing both the music and lyrics. Much of the structures here incorporate a lot of experimenting but not in the lo-fi, stripped back kind of way that was present prior to Yield but much more of a mature and professional experimenting with guitar effects like swirling choruses vibratos, phasers and delay. If Pearl Jams previous records were Young, Stones, Zeppelin and Beatles records Binaural is definitely Pearl Jam’s Floyd record. In “Nothing As It Seems”, one of my favorites, the band really creates a very atmospheric sound like on much of the record with the use of the Binaural recording technique but also with the song structures and instrumentation as well. A song written by bassists Jeff Ament who uses a moaning upright bass which contributes to much of the songs atmosphere as well. Mike McCready plays a very eerie, echoing, psychedelic David Gilmour-esque solo and guitar melody, and as I said earlier, similar to “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd, with just a sight more edge in his tone. Other times McCreadys guitar tone also pulls influence from Mick Taylor and Eric Clapton on the bluesy, moody track “Of The Girl” a song similar to clapton’s “After Midnight”. Singer Eddie Vedder said this about the production, “It’s a type of recording that’s called binaural recording. There’s several ways to do it, whether there’s two microphones clipped here [motions to both temples by ear], to not just record the instruments, but record the air around the instruments. You can hear, there’s a song called ‘Of The Girl.’ You know you can hear Mike’s, Mike McCready’s guitar. You can really feel the space of the room. That is something that you kind of miss from modern recordings…” “Insignificance” and “Evacuation” are very rhythmic and drum driven tracks and are arguably the most complex songs up to this point with their layered build, complex, unpredictable timing and beats (thanks to new drummer Matt Cameron) echoing vocals and atmosphere. Many of the songs burn slower though than most of their back catalog.with texture and atmosphere being the focal point like the meditative and experimental “Sleight of Hand”, “Of The Girl”, “Thin Air” and “Parting Ways”. While a couple of the tracks are some of the bands heaviest like “Breakerfall”, “Evacuation” “Grievance” and ”Gods Dice”.

The album artwork features The Hourglass Nebula. The image is a Nasa photo of a planetary nebula, an “expanding, glowing shell of ejected ionized gas” some 8,000 light-years from Earth, apart of a binary system that was taken from the Hubble Space Telescope. Jeff Ament said, “The reason that we went with Tchad [Blake] is because he provides an amazing atmosphere to songs….So, I think we wanted the artwork to represent that….One of the themes that we’ve been exploring…is just realizing that in the big scheme of things, even the music that we make when we come together, no matter how powerful it is, it’s still pretty minuscule. I think for me the whole space theme has a lot to do with scale. You know, you look at some of those pictures, and there are thirteen light years in four inches in that picture.” Much like many planetary nebulae this record is also extremely complex and varies in its morphologies, incorporating my different genres, neopsychadelia, folk rock, garage rock, blues, indie rock and moody post punk undertones. The records title, atmosphere and themes as they are compared to the cover art are phenomenally accurate. About one-fifth of planetary nebulae are roughly spherical, but the majority are not spherically symmetric. The mechanisms that produce such a wide variety of shapes and features are not yet well understood, but binary central stars, stellar winds and magnetic fields may play a role. Each song a bit different from one another but created from the same energy.

Like the music on the record, the lyrics cover much darker and more somber subject matter like war, peace, violence, authority abuse, discomfort in life and love, especially when compared to the bright uplifting mood of their previous record Yield. One of the sadder but most beautiful tracks to ever be written by Pearl Jam is “Sleight of Hand” a song that brings to mind The Great Gatsby or the character Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman” where the character in the song realizes what he always believed adult life to be was not what he thought or hoped it to be and the dreams he’d had as a child would never be achievable, ultimately tricked by the so called “American Dream”. Some political and social issues regarding civil liberties are stated in songs like “Evacuation” a song about embracing change and “Insignificance” and “Grievance” songs questioning the significance behind the 1999 Seattle WTO protests and speaks of the dehuminization and detachment effects from technology beginning around the turn of the century and the adverse affects of political struggle. The song “Rival” reflects on the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. At the time the deadliest school shooting in American history. The shooting was influenced by their desire to rival the Oklahoma City bombing and other deadly incidents in the United States in the 1990s. Vedder had this to say regarding some of the sadder themes and social criticisms and political themes within the lyricism on Binaural, “I think what everyone’s looking for, y'know, is freedom…That’s part of being comfortable in your own skin. I know I had a problem with being told what to do, and had a problem with being mentally and physically constricted. All of humanity is searching for freedom and I think it’s important to know when you have it, too.”

The album covers some very personal feelings and topics like spiritual beliefs on the track “Gods’ Dice” which is a song that judges anyone with a belief system. “Nothing As It Seems” is about something that appears one way from an outside perspective but is viewed a whole other way when you’ve seen from inside. Other times Eddie is mourning the loss over someone who has past on to a place that is not of this world but might just possibly still be reachable within the cosmic universe somewhere on the Neil Young inspired “Light Years”. Vedder not only suffered from some writers block, but also had some personal turmoil in his love life and marriage which came to an end during the time of this records recording. I feel songs reflect this inner turmoil in songs like “Breakerfall” and “Of The Girl” a song about relying heavily on love as a drug to where when its gone you’re left vulnerable and having withdraws. “Parting Ways” a song about a separation of two lovers. Many songs are very expressive emotionally and send the message of you can define your own life or let your life define you. “Soon Forget” is about a man who lets the material world and the size of his wallet define him and in the end hes like the money he defines himself by, here today gone tomorrow.

I feel Binaural gets overlooked even by the band themselves. Its a record that gets neglected most live and probably the first record to really get neglected by the mainstream radio, bytbreally anything after Vitalogy or even VS never gets airplay. The band still not perusing mainstream marketing in interviews and no music videos came from this record. Any mainstream success present during the early 90s for the band was definitely long gone. With Matt Cameron on board live performances became a primary for the focus at this time for the band. Reaching their 10 year anniversary as a band they were definitely paving their road to the Hall of Fame. Binaural really proved to be a huge progressive step for the band trying and experimenting with new things from production, structure, textures and instrumentation. Its not quite as good of a record as Yield or even their next effort in 2002, but I think its a record that makes sense as a bridge between the two records and at the time was a record youd expect from Pearl Jam being a sort of evolution in progression. Its brash, calming, atmospheric, personally emotive and expressive. Tragedies would soon follow after the release of this record that would play a big role on the bands seventh record that would leave the band questioning their purpose of even existing. Despite Eddies writers block he had been dealing with during the writing of the record a lot of songs were cut from the record such as “Sad”, a song that sounds like something off Sleater Kinney’s Hot Rock album and “Fatal” an acoustic ballad, and theres the grungy “In the Moonlight”, “Education”, “Sweet Lew”, which is a song led sung by Jeff Ament. “Hitchhiker”, the Three Fish inspired “Strangest Tribe”, and the folky acoustic “Drifting”. My favorite songs are “Light Years”, “Nothing As It Seems”, “Sleight of Hand”, “Of The Girl”, “Gods’ Dice”, and “Thin Air”. If you like Matthew Good Band, Temple of the Dog, Candlebox, Soundgarden, Finn Brothers, Wellwater Conspiracy, Supergrass, Stillwater, Mad Season, The Dismemberment Plan, Life House, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Three Fish, Pink Floyd, Neil Finn, The Verve Pipe, Brad, The Rockfords, Mother Love Bone, Josh Freese, Neil Young, The Who, Seven Mary Three, Skin Yard, Stone Temple Pilots, Hater, Stegosaurus, Smashing Pumpkins, The Doors, Chris Cornell, Foo Fighters, or Red Hot Chili Peppers you will love this record.

youtube

4 notes · View notes

gabrielmanagement · 6 years

Photo

MINDWARS (ex-Holy Terror) To Release New Studio Album "Do Unto Others" on Dissonance Productions Mike Alvord’s MINDWARS release their third and most accomplished album to date, "Do Unto Others" on Dissonance Productions, on April 13, 2018. MINDWARS and HOLY TERROR fans won’t be disappointed: 11 tracks of well constructed, dark thrash metal with thought provoking and questioning lyrics. "Do Unto Others" is a disturbing journey into the dark world we live in, let this be the sound track to the demise of the new world order! MINDWARS "Do Unto Others" - CD out on Dissonance Productions on 13/04/18 Vinyl edition to be issued via Back On Black on 15/06/18 MINDWARS Facebook page: www.facebook.com/mindwarsband HOLY TERROR Facebook page:www.facebook.com/holyterrorofficial Mike Alvord walks us through each track: "The Fourth Turning" - The opening track jumps through the speakers with thundering double bass drums, pounding bass guitar, and thrashing guitars. "The Fourth Turning" has the power and aggression capturing the tone of a pure thrash album. The lyrics were inspired by William Strauss and Neil Howe’s look at the historical cycles and distinct patterns in human history. The disorder within the world and the control by the political elite is a recurring theme on "Do Unto Other"s. "I Am The One" - Many leaders in society claim to be "The One" who can provide the masses with whatever they desire. The song begins with an epic old school thrash feel and transitions to a mid tempo march leading to a first person chorus chant of "I Am The One". The song bursts into an all out speed frenzy through a frantic solo bouncing between speed and dive bombs. The song ends with the antagonist shouting he is the one to save, rape, and ultimately kill us all. "Blacklisted" - This juggernaut starts at full speed and never lets up. Galloping through lyrics of surveillance and censure, blacklisted flies through the depths of secret surveillance. Our privacy is no longer. We are all being watched on multiple levels and are at the mercy of social media and the government. Do we have control? Do we have freedom? If this song doesn’t boil your blood… what will? "Conspiracy" - This song brings us to the heart of the album. What is real and what is fake and full of lies? Conspiracy theories are all around us, from 9/11 in the US to the life of Jesus Christ and everything in between. Is it the elite trying to manipulate the world or are they just that… conspiracy theories? The song drives this question through a Germanic tempo which leads to a mid tempo bridge and Egyptian style solo. Soon enough the song takes us back to the pounding drive and encapsulating with the idea of a Deep State! "In God’s Name" - This is the slowest song on the album and was inspired by the David Yallop book of the same title. It carries on the conspiracy theme and questions how Pope John Paul I really died. Some believe that John Paul I was uncovering the corruption of the IOR and P2 Lodge, therefore he was assassinated. The slow drive of the verse and chorus soon give way to a galloping high-speed bridge and solo. The song circles back to the question of what really happened. "Allegiance Of Death" - ATD as the band refers to this song returns to the speed and thrash of what is MINDWARS. It begins with a marching beat before the speed sets in. The song questions the struggles of the men and woman of any military. They give their all, but for what? They truly pledge their allegiance to death by paying the ultimate price. The speed of the song breaks to a pounding mid section chanting about the people fighting the wars as puppets for the political elite. It ends with a full out thrash dual style solo. "Wall Of Fire" - Scientology has always been an interest and this song looks at the OTIII and the secret advanced technology doctrine of the Church. After hours of auditing the follower can eventually advance to the third level Operating Theatan. This song is the shortest song on the album and is a combination metal mid-tempo song with various punk rock influences. Keep reaching higher and you too can become a member of L Ron Hubbard’s twisted society. "Kill Or Be Killed" - The song begins with a dark and haunting opening. It sways back and forth through an evil grinding tempo. It transitions through various musical tempos and segments with vocals, solos, and 70s style rock. Lyrically this song departures a little from the over arching political theme of the album, but stills revolves around the controlling of others. Munchausen by proxy is a psychological disorder where you control people, usually your children by convincing them that they are really ill by exaggerating and making up symptoms. The person has no choice but to Kill or Be Killed or do they… Do unto others as you would have them do unto you! "Peace Through Violence" - Returning to speed and thrash once again, "Peace Through Violence" opens with a New Wave of British Heavy Metalesque intro and capitulates to a fast driving pace. The song was inspired by Sun Tzu’s military strategy in "The Art Of War". Walking through this strategy, one will subdue and trick their opponent into a sense of self-confidence. That’s when you ATTACK! "New World Order" - This was supposed to be the last song on the album because it brings to a close the Fourth Turning, conspiracies, and control, and leads us to our New World Order. Not a traditional thrash song by any means, but the galloping tempo drives the listener through their consciousness and brings them into the new order with a frantic and frenzied mid-section and solo. It returns to the memorizing and hypnotic intro before finishing with the ultimate distraction and control of the New World Order. "Take It All Away" - Unfortunately the album didn’t end with New World Order. This song was written in just about 15 minutes right after the untimely death of Chris Cornell. Cornell’s death rocked the music world and this is our tribute to this amazing artistic person. We aren’t really sure where this song came from, because it does sound a bit different than the rest of DUO, but we felt it only appropriate to include it as the final track.

2 notes · View notes

sinrau · 4 years

Link

On Friday, Donald Trump and his wife Melania attended an early Independence Day celebration held at Mount Rushmore.

This article first appeared on Salon.

There were fireworks, a military flyover, and “patriotic” songs such as “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

The entire spectacle embodied the worst kind of superficial juvenile patriotism.

More than 130,000 Americans are dead from the coronavirus pandemic. The country teeters on the edge of a second Great Depression. A neofascist regime rules in Washington. Donald Trump is in thrall to Vladimir Putin and Russia and in doing so actively betrays the United States and the American people.

Music and fireworks and loud planes are distractions for a country facing an existential crisis.

Donald Trump’s early July 4th celebration had little to do with uniting America in a time of trouble and pain. Instead the gathering at Mount Rushmore was just a Trump campaign rally in disguise where the Great Leader spat out his usual themes of racism, neofascism, authoritarianism, ignorance, violence, Orwellian doublespeak and lies, Christian fascism, white identity politics, and other right-wing dreck to his red hat MAGA political cult members.

Throughout his time in office, Donald Trump has made it clear through his words and deeds that be views his personal interests to be the same as the nation’s.

Such thinking is like that of King George III and the other despots who the founders rejected with the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War and the United States Constitution.

In the end, because he is a malignant narcissist, Donald Trump thought that all the pageantry was to honor him and not the country’s birthday.

Donald Trump’s re-election campaign advisers have suggested, apparently not facetiously, that they want his face added to Mount Rushmore. They are enabling his delusions of grandeur.

History sometimes has a dark sense of irony and coincidence all its own.

Because he does not read and is proudly ignorant, Donald Trump most certainly does not know that “The Star-Spangled Banner” channels his white supremacist and racist values. If Trump knew such a thing, he would likely love the song even more.

Francis Scott Key’s anthem has a third verse which is rarely sung, after the ones we have all heard before sporting events and on other occasions.

The lyrics are:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion A home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

As many historians have documented, “hireling and slave” refers to self-manumitted Black people (that is, slaves who freed themselves) who served with the British military, fighting to liberate other enslaved Black people in America.

In the third verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Key is celebrating the Colonial Marines who were burned alive or drowned in Baltimore Harbor.

Trump would find much to admire about Key, who owned Black human property during the time he wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” and was an enthusiastic defender of white-on-Black chattel slavery.

Like Donald Trump, Key was wealthy. He was also a friend and adviser to Donald Trump’s favorite president, Andrew Jackson, who was not merely a white supremacist but literally a slave driver. Jackson also ordered that Native Americans be expelled from their home regions to endure a death march later known as the Trail of Tears. While serving as a general prior to being president, Andrew Jackson led a military campaign against the Seminole nation and the free communities established by self-manumitted Black people in Florida.

The racism and white supremacy embedded in “The Star-Spangled Banner” provide a soundtrack for Donald Trump and today’s Republican Party in other ways as well.

Donald Trump leads a movement that is waging a counterrevolution against the civil and human rights of Black and brown people in the United States and around the world.

To maintain and keep power, Trump and the Republicans have embraced the white supremacist ideology, politics and symbols of the Confederacy. This began in the 1960s with a backlash against the civil rights movement, first with 1964 Republican nominee Barry Goldwater and then with Richard Nixon’s “Southern strategy,” meant to appeal to white racists uncomfortable with the civil rights movement. More than five decades later, right-wing appeals to racism and white supremacy are in some ways less restrained with the rise of Trumpism.

As part of that strategy Donald Trump and his party are defending the legacy of the Confederacy and its statues and other monuments to white supremacist terrorism.

Trump recently issued an executive order proclaiming any person who dares to “vandalize” American statues, monuments or memorials can be charged with a federal crime and imprisoned for up to 10 years.

Trump is also refusing to change the names of military bases that bear the names of treasonous Confederate military leaders. He has even threatened to veto the military’s 2021 budget if such changes are made.

Here are the president’s own words from his failed “comeback” rally in Tulsa:

The unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrate our monuments, our beautiful monuments, tear down our statues, and punish, cancel and persecute anyone who does not conform their demands for absolute and total control. We’re not conforming…. This cruel campaign of censorship and exclusion violates everything we hold dear as Americans. They want to demolish our heritage so they can impose a new oppressive regime in its place.

The repeated use of “our” is a signal to the fact that Trump views white America as his tribe. Nonwhites are explicitly and implicitly not welcome. In essence, Trump behaves as though he is only beholden to those white people — his MAGA cultists and “real Americans” — who vote for him.

Trump has retweeted and shared videos of his supporters yelling “white power!” and of white people brandishing weapons at Black Lives Matter and other human rights protesters. In the last few weeks Trump has also shared videos on Twitter of Black people attacking white people. Of course, he provides no context for the latter.

The goal here is twofold. First, to mobilize his voters by exciting decades-old or centuries-old white nightmares of a “race war” and possible Black “domination” over white people. Second, to encourage acts of political violence by his right-wing followers against his and their “enemies.”

Writing in the Washington Post, Greg Sargent explains this:

With nearly 125,000 Americans dead and cases spiking again from a pandemic that Trump horribly mismanaged, and amid the most pronounced civil upheaval in a half century, Trump’s propagandists want to convert disorder to his advantage.

That’s obvious enough. But the true nature of it is often shrouded in euphemisms — Trump is “stoking division,” or “throwing a match on gasoline,” or some such phrase, which implies Trump is a passive bystander to societal conflicts that he’s merely cheering on for cynical purposes.

It’s much worse than that. Trump and his propagandists are actively trying to engineer violent civil conflict, by signaling to white Americans that they are under siege in a race war that they’re losing.

The rub is that this signaling requires actually saying this in one form or another. And that forces Trump and his propagandists into a position where they must be cagey about his actual intended meanings when he does things like tweet out supporters yelling “white power.”

Trump and his propagandists want a lot of white Americans to think they need to take sides in a race war.

In total, Trump and the Republican Party’s dedication to causing pain and harm to nonwhite people is not collateral damage or coincidence: Such outcomes are integral to permanently maintaining society-wide white privilege and white power. This embrace of racism is so extreme that social scientists have shown that Trump supporters and other white conservatives would rather America be an authoritarian society than live in a democracy where they would have to share power with nonwhites.

The Confederacy shared such goals as well. In his infamous Cornerstone Speech in March 1861, shortly before the first battles of the Civil War, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens said:

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

From the founding to the present there is a terrible reservoir of racism and white supremacy that now provides the raw energy and fuel for Trumpism and the Republican Party in post-civil rights America.

America will need another revolution and founding to fulfill its hopeful potential as a true “we the people” multiracial democracy. Donald Trump and his movement of racist reactionaries stand against such progress and are actively working to send America back to a time when white men’s rule was (at least in their minds) uncontested, universal and eternal as the natural order of things in America and around the world.

On this Fourth of July weekend Donald Trump is grandly reminding the world that patriotism is the last refuge of traitors and scoundrels. Trump may wrap himself in the American flag and other vestments of “patriotism,” but his heart and mind are truly of the antebellum South and Jim and Jane Crow America. Trump claims to be a greater president than Abraham Lincoln. Trump in his delusions believes he is as great as George Washington. But Donald Trump is really a 21st-century Jefferson Davis, president of the treasonous Confederacy. May he be remembered in the same ignominious fashion.

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes

village-skeptic · 7 years

Text

There are just so many damn things to pull out of this image, and some subsequent Googling to legitimate my initial knee-jerk reaction of "oh hello, William Faulkner" just seemed to bring into sharp relief a lot of interesting connections. These ended more as scattered remarks than as a full proper essay, but it still got long, ‘cause I don’t know any other way to be!

So: thoughts about the symbolic aesthetics of this image; class, trash, and “timelessness”; a constellation of classic literature, film, TV, and pop music connections; and ideas about Jughead Jones in S2, below the cut.

@lessoleilscouchants knows her Faulkner much better than I do, and so encapsulated brilliantly a lot of what I was going to say in her own observations about this aesthetic: “a semi-tragic narrative of class warfare, dead yellow grass, weighty history, bare feet on broken steps, useless resistance against the paths set out for them, and a general sense of doom.” I want to also add a theme from Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning": a son agonizing over whether he should remain loyal to his father in the face of that man's repeated crimes. The choice is complicated by the fact that his father's acts of destruction are clearly a form of protest against the family's place in the profoundly inequitable structure of their society. Hellllooooo FP, Jughead, and South Side Serpent feels! (Although I certainly hope that FP does not suffer Ab Snopes’ fate.)

I got to "Barn Burning" from this really great essay about the material culture of trash and waste in Faulkner's work. Jumping back to the campy elements of Riverdale, it certainly made me think about the ways in which we are all “trash” for this “trash show” - but it also made me move more broadly from the materiality of "trash" to remember that Faulkner's Snopeses are generally considered one of the most famous examples of "white trash" in American literature. (I am scare-quoting this term to be clear that I’m not just throwing it out there, but rather am bringing it up to analyze it.) Despite Jughead calling himself "a damaged loner outsider from the wrong side of the tracks" and Cheryl calling him "a hobo," I'm pretty sure that up to this point, no one on Riverdale has actually used a term that would seem to present itself very naturally: "trailer trash." (Again, not just throwing this term out there!)

This absence is interesting, especially considering the (seemingly increasing) importance of FP's trailer as a physical location where important plot points happen (*ahem*), and as a general shorthand for characterizing conflicts between FP and Jughead, the South Side and the North Side, and the issue of class within Riverdale generally.

And so now we get this beautifully composed image, which is just full of elements of entropy and decay and trash, in all the varied and loaded meanings of that term. I’m going to repost for scrolling convenience - many thanks to @musingmola for the original image of the tweet, and @jandjsalmon‘s close-ups.

There's the trailer itself, with discoloration of the siding - the old and tilting antenna - the bars on one set of windows (but not both) - the blue tarp on the roof at top left. As we know, this is a decaying and neglected home, both literally and metaphorically.

We have the selection of objects outside the trailer, which seem to have just accumulated there over time - there's that breakdown of order, the rejection of social rules about keeping a neat house. The objects SEEM random - an old hand mower, a washtub, the various scrap metal parts behind Jughead, the garden gnome - and there, too, we have that postmodern fascination with evocative fragmentation, with the potential in trash and pieces.

A quick note on "trailer trash," considered now as an identity category rather than as the actual physical objects surrounding the trailer. Although obviously non-white people can and do live in trailers, "trailer trash" is pretty much interchangeable with "white trash." And "white trash" is first and foremost a distancing term that lays down boundaries to try to contain problematic whiteness - whiteness that is poor, disorderly, violent, ungovernable; whiteness that threatens to disrupt and undermine the typical racialized social hierarchies. (This is not my insight - people like Annalee Newitz and John Hartigan, Jr., and most recently Nancy Isenberg have written much more thoroughly about the history, connotations and function of the term.)

Let’s go for the loudest detail first: that white tank top is such a loaded symbol in this context, you guys. It's SO loaded. We all know what the awful colloquial term for a shirt like that is. I don't totally buy the full explanation for the origins of the term here, but the observation that classic films (like Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire) cemented its symbolic association with violent, unstable, and I would add a sexualized working-class masculinity, is apt.

(So: RAS commenting on the "timelessness" of this shot? Check. Possibly Jughead reaching into his own store of classic film symbology? Also check. I can’t find the promo image of Jughead in that weird jacket right now, but I want to point out that this isn’t the first Brando aesthetic nod we've gotten for S2. I STILL need to know who the fuck Stefano is!)

That bandaged hand is straight-up evidence of previous violence; that wary look and the tense posture implies the promise of more to come, as needed. I am NOT, of course, suggesting the connotations of the shirt as an explanation for that injured hand in this case! Just observing on the general aura of trouble.

Furthermore. This kid normally lives in layers of clothing, and now we've got him down to that ever-so-symbolic sleeveless top, sitting resignedly outside his family home? Way to underscore the idea that the circumstances of Season 2 are going to strip down all those layers, and make Jughead grapple with who he is, where he comes from, where his loyalties lie, what he's afraid of being underneath it all, etc.

Jughead's fascination with writing and film, particularly auteur film - I'm now thinking about that as a layer of cultural armor against being called "white trash." Like, I don't think it's feigned or anything - but it certainly has the happy side-effect of being a way to forestall those accusations of a lack of culture. He's not TRASH; he's a WEIRDO. He's on the fringes, but that gives him the power of insight that you lack. (I should also point out here that @foresightfromforsythe has been doing this Jughead-as-trash-king analysis piece by piece for months now. Whoever runs that account is brilliant.)

The idea of concealing or revealing your fears about who you are and what you've inherited from your parents, got me thinking about another one of my beloved TV shows, in which the main character creates a new identity that allows him to escape the childhood wounds inflicted by poverty, a troubled, alcoholic father/son relationship, and repeated maternal rejection. And I realized that nearly any time that Don Draper is getting touch with his inner Dick Whitman, white sleeveless undershirts come into play in EXACTLY the same ways I've been talking about above.

Dick Whitman and his “Uncle” Mack:

Dick Whitman in the moments leading up to the creation of Don Draper:

And then I got lost in considering the fact that Don Draper's father's name is ACTUALLY ARCHIE; the whole Betty connection; and that in one memorable episode, Don Draper hallucinates about sleeping with a character played by Madchen Amick and then strangling her to death. I don't think that any of that is actually all that useful in reading this image or the direction of Season 2 - I'm not arguing that Jughead is Don Draper - but it sure was fun to think about.

Of course, the connection to Mad Men also gets us to some of the criticism leveled at that show - that it was more in love with its own aesthetic than with exploring the historical issues of the period, and particularly the racial tensions of the 1960s. I'm not going to rehash that debate here, but I *will* observe that Riverdale also loves its aesthetic and has also received some criticism about needing to make its non-white characters more fully realized. There's always the possibility that Season 2 is going to do the "Civil War" storyline in a way that centers mood and aesthetic, which, like, clearly I HOPE IT DOES, but there are ways to do that with more and less heft, you know? I know I'm going to love it one way or the other - for me, it's honestly enough for this show to be Teen Peaks/Maple Syrup Murder Hour, without necessarily saying that it must also be Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. But it's going to be interesting to see just how seriously the showrunners decide to engage with this theme.

Because of course, a predilection for surface-level engagement is another interpretation of the image. For everything that I've just said about trailer trash above, God knows that there is also a certain type of undeniable (and undeniably comfortable) cultural capital in the melancholy aesthetic of rusty metal and decaying trailers and lithe young white men showing off their defined biceps in sleeveless T-shirts. (CS himself also seems to love to play with and remix this aesthetic in his photography and personal aesthetic.) It's the minor-key version of Americana. We might call it, as Everlast does, "White Trash Beautiful."

(Please note: this is the potential departure point for a whole other Current Events meta on the cultural politics of nostalgia and the romanticization of an idealized version of the white working class, which - in short: please make smart and savvy choices, RAS!)

Anyway, now that I've gone and broken the seal on musical connections here, it's time to say that I probably could have just copy/pasted the lyrics to Modest Mouse's "Trailer Trash" here and been done with it. (Here's a great little essay on this song at Pop Matters.)

The ephemeral "trash" of plastic forks and paper plates; the "short love and a long divorce"; calling the people you love "fakes" when they try to compare their trauma with yours, and then realizing that you need them anyway and apologizing as best you can: is there anything more 1x10 Jughead than this? It'll be interesting to see whether it turns out to be S2 Jughead as well.

#riverdale #riverdale season 2 #jughead jones #fp jones #william faulkner #mad men #don draper #dick whitman #class in popular culture #the importance of costuming #high culture and low culture #overanalyzing pop culture #overanalyzing everything #one person's trash is another person's treasure #sorry for that pun but come on #riverdale meta #my words #if you made it through this whole thing I love you to bits!

151 notes · View notes

vincentacovino · 6 years

Text

I Was Given Lemons and I Made Lemonade: What Beyoncé’s Album Says About Contemporary American Race Relations

The release of Lemonade brought with it a public fervor. More than any other record last year, it spurred think pieces and discussion by the public and major music publications alike. Some were quick to praise Beyoncé’s visual narrative album as a complex and textured take on feminist politics and black identity. Others founds its themes of infidelity to be nothing more than manufactured drama with the intent to sell records — an example of commercial spectacle at its absolute worst.

What quickly became clear was that, regardless of the kind of conversations that were being had, they were certainly being had at an alarming rate. Something about Lemonade, beyond merely its commercial significance, had struck a chord with the American cultural conscience.

It’s hard to talk about Lemonade without mention of its creator’s cultural clout. Beyoncé, the R&B artist and business mogul, has been at the epicenter of American culture for sometime now. With six platinum studio albums and 62 singles, Beyoncé has cemented herself as one of the most successful solo artists of the century. And Beyoncé’s relationship with the American masses – at times messy and controversial – is emblematic of something else about American authorship and how impossible it is to navigate the constructs of the American race binary. Three particular moments, isolated in this paper, each suggest something significant about contemporary race relations: 1) Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performance and the subsequent White Rage that followed; 2) the release of Lemonade and the questions of authenticity that swirled around the record; and 3) Beyoncé’s loss to Adele at the Grammy’s. Each of these moments say something unique about the racial dynamics that rendered themselves so explicitly within the past year, culminating in the emergence of a new radical right regime.

***

“So when the national anthem started playing, I was not looking at the ground. I was praying. The lord’s prayer. My hands went up in the air. I wore black gloves, to represent social power, or black power. I wore socks — not shoes — to represent poverty. I wore a scarf around my neck to symbolize the lynchings, the hangings, that black folks when through while building this country.”

John Carlos

American sports institutions have long been a hotbed of racial and political tension. From the black power salutes at the Olympics in 1968, to Muhammad Ali’s anti-Vietnam speeches on University campuses, to Colin Kaepernick’s recent refusal to stand for the national anthem — the legacy of black athletes using their respective sports institutions as platforms for protest are well documented. And the reaction of the White masses is just as visible. But often this history of white violence is borne less from an ideological disagreement than from the threat posed by a black presence in spaces largely characterized by their whiteness. Claudia Rankine, in her popular novel Citizen, details how the arena of sports is often defined by the expectations and ideologies of its white audience with an essay on Serena Williams’ treatment by the tennis umpires. Williams place in American culture runs largely parallel to Beyoncé’s: both are entertainment titans, masters of their respective crafts, and powerful wealthy Black women who are often in the spotlight. Her presence on Lemonade itself speaks to this parallel. Rankine describes how the experience of being a black woman in a white space is often itself enough to garner a reaction from the American masses. Serena becomes the victim of aggressions from line judges in several major tournaments, where a series of egregious calls over the course of a number of years altered the course of key matches. This came to a head in 2009, as Serena reacted to a bad call with an expletive tirade launched in the direction of the line judge: “I swear to God I’m fucking going to that this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that? I swear to God!” (29). Rankine calls this reaction somewhat laudable, or at the very least, understandable. It’s a response borne from “being thrown against a sharp white background” (29). And it was another sharp white background where the first defining moment of 2016 came for Beyoncé. On one of the most watched national events of the year, Beyoncé performed her recently released “Formation” at Super Bowl 50 in front of the largest T.V. audience of 2016, and the third biggest U.S. audience in history. After some muted and sterile performances by Coldplay and Bruno Mars, Beyoncé entered the frame, introduced by the pounding thump of a bass drum. She assumed center frame, surrounded by fire, and was quickly joined by her dancers — all black women, dressed in a black ensembles, hair styled into afros. Although Beyoncé’s “Formation” music video alludes strongly to issues of police violence, the Super Bowl performance itself hardly warranted much in the way of critique. Beyoncé spoke exclusively through matters of style: the afros, black clothing, and hip-hop inspired dance moves. There was nothing in the way of lyrical or spoken ideology. And yet, Conservative media was quick to react. David Clarke, a regular contributor to Fox News, posed the question: “Beyoncé in those Black Panther-type uniforms, would that be acceptable if a band, a white band came out in hoods and white sheets in the same sort of fashion? We would be appalled and outraged” (“Interview with David Clarke”). Rush Limbaugh followed suit, suggesting that perhaps Beyoncé because Beyoncé was a woman who was probably “not a big sports fan,” she likely read an article that was recently run in the “Huffington Puffington Post — which claimed that the Carolina Panthers were the first NFL team to be unapologetically black.” Out of this confusion, “it's understandable that Beyoncé might have thought the Black Panthers were playing in the game, and hence her tribute to the Black Panthers” (The Rush Limbaugh Show). Michelle Malkin joined the conversation on Twitter, writing, “Cuz nothing brings us all together better than angry Beyoncé shaking her ass & shouting "Negro" repeatedly.” It is no secret that this American reaction had nothing to do with politics or overt displays of ideology, and everything to do with the performance and its proud declaration of blackness — itself a frightening threat to white bourgeois power. And it’s worth taking a moment here to reflect on Clarke’s comment, as it's the most explicit reaction to matters of black style among any of the conservative commentators. While style might not be a spoken ideology, it plays an important role in establishing and influencing one. It was the Black Panther’s who recognized this better than anybody: “This brother here, myself, all of us were born with our hair like this. And we just wear it like this. Reason for it you might say, is like a new awareness among black people that their own natural appearance, physical appearance, is beautiful,” stated one member of the Black Panther Party (Stanley). Style has the potential to disrupt norms and operate as a genuine act of subversion. And it was this style on display at the Super Bowl that was clearly the source of the outrage. Because for every empty critique of Beyoncé’s homage to the Black panther party was another critique that framed the performance as a danger to The Great American (White) Family. Rudy Giuliani referred to the Super Bowl show as a “terrible” display of “a bunch of people bouncing around and all strange things.” He continued, ”Let's have, you know, decent wholesome entertainment, and not use it as a platform to attack the people who, you know, put their lives at risk to save us” (“Fox and Friends”). Laura Ingraham similarly lamented the death of wholesome television: “So in ‘Formation,’ women dressed like prostitutes. That's the message to little girls today...This is only 8:43 p.m. last night, Eastern time. 8:43 — no family hour. Family hour is over. There is no family hour” (“The Laura Ingraham Show”). In his book Race Matters, Cornel West talks about the taboo subject of “black sexuality.” He writes, “Americans are obsessed with sex and fearful of black sexuality” (West 83). West claims that this fear is derived from myths about black sexuality that still persist today. Which form of these myths Beyoncé is seen for is relatively unclear: is it the “seductive temptress” Jezebel (West 83)? The “evil, manipulative bitch” Sapphire (West 83)? It hardly matters. The presence and threat of black sexuality itself is enough to garner a visceral response, enough to elicit the White rage that became so visible a sentiment in our past electoral season. West argues that it is a cultural space occupied by both artists and athletes that presents an opportunity for a dialogue about black sexuality, that “when white and black kids buy the same billboard hits and laud the same athletic heroes the result is often a shared cultural space where some humane interaction takes place” (84). It’s easy to push back against this claim. As has been noted historically by many a cultural commentator, America has always had a relationship with black culture that has been more parasitic than symbiotic. The valorization of black music does not equate to a similar valorization of black people. This is certainly relevant in the case of the Super Bowl, where this shared cultural space is complicated by the aging demographics of the National Football League. While the NBA has been quick to adopt youth and millennial culture as its backbone and has offered its players at least some semblance of a political platform, the NFL has taken an almost totalitarian and apolitical stance on matters of politics, and especially issues of race. This may have less to do with the political good-will of the NBA than with each institution’s respective capital audience. According to a 2015 Nielsen report, 43% of the NBA’s viewership is under 35 years old: one of the youngest fanbases of all sports. In addition, 63% of NBA viewership was done on behalf of African-American viewers (“Hoop Dreams”). Beyoncé’s performance at, say, the Super Bowl as opposed to the NBA Finals is different than not only in the sense of the magnitude of viewership but in the dynamics of its space. The National Football League is the same organization that’s recent decline in viewership was arguably tied almost directly to the Colin Kaepernick protests. When white America is watching, blackness seems remarkably more offensive. Perhaps nothing sums up better the extent of the white reaction more than that of Tomi Lahren, America’s blond alt-right spokesperson: “What is it they are trying to convey here. A salute to what? A group that used violence and intimidation to advance not racial equality but an overthrow of white domination?” She continues: “You’re just like President Obama, Jada Pinkett Smith, Al Sharpton, and so many others — you just can’t let America heal. Keep ripping off the historical band aid. Why be a cultural leader when you can play the victim, right?” (“The Blaze”). Lahren’s slip here is remarkable: remarkable for the way it simplifies the ideology of one of America’s most radical, successful, and powerful black organizations; remarkable for its acknowledgement of white domination ; remarkable for its blatant acknowledgement of racial violence and the total erasure of its historical implications. This white fear of the black body and black sexuality, ironically, strengthen the relevance and importance of Beyoncé’s project. Is not the only way to combat fear of the black body by making that same black body hypervisible? Is that even possible within the confines of an American cultural enterprise that puts a premium on black style but continually devalues and destroys the black body? How can black creators resist a framework that “either liberates black people from white control in order to imprison them in racist myths or confines blacks to white ‘respectability’ while they make their own sexuality a taboo subject?” (88).

***

Months after her Super Bowl performance, the release of Lemonade drew another wave of reactions spanning the full breadth of American cultural commentators. The conversations this time had nuance, lacking some of the vitriol that came with the world stage of Super Bowl 50. And yet, the questions that replaced the outrage seemed troublingly loaded, complex, and difficult to answer. In her article “Why We Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Critique Beyoncé,” Zeba Blay argues that it’s okay to have conversations about Beyoncé’s position in contemporary culture. These conversations further “important discussions about the ways in which we underestimate femme feminist women, about the roles that capitalism and consumerism play in Beyoncé’s work, and about what we should (and shouldn’t) expect from our feminist and pop cultural icons” (n.p.). This points to an interesting phenomenon: so much of the conversation surrounding Lemonade became less concerned with the content of the record than a conversation and critique of Beyoncé: her identity, her role in American life, the authenticity of her messages. When was the last album where so much of the criticism hinged on questions of authenticity and authorial intent? Infidelity, a major thematic strand of Lemonade, was often central to this critique. The media and critical commentary was quick to frame the album’s narrative as a commercial ploy to sell records, a cheap attempt at manufacturing an artificial drama between two music industry titans. Yet, this is a gross simplification of the scope of Lemonade’s thematic ambition. Much of what Jenna Wortham had to say about the “Formation” video rings true of the record as a whole, it’s not just a record about police brutality, or infidelity — “it’s about the entirety of the black experience in America in 2016, which includes standards of beauty, (dis)empowerment, culture, and the shared parts of our history” (n.p.). Lemonade borrows quite heavily from contemporary poet Warsan Shire. Her poem “For Women Who are Difficult to Love” is recited by Beyoncé as the voiceover track for many of the visual album’s most pivotal and evocative narrative moments: like when Beyoncé walks a deserted street, baseball bat in tow, smashing car windows. Shire grapples with many of the same questions Beyoncé does: how does any black woman manage to level the varying identity expectations continually imposed upon them? How are feelings of reactionary violence (“so what did you want to do love / split his head open?”) reconciled with adherence to traditional notions of femininity (“and you tried to change didn’t you? / closed your mouth more / tried to be softer / prettier”)? (n.p.) And yet, the aforementioned inquiry makes sense, and is almost impossible to ignore. Lemonade remains available today exclusively on Tidal, a streaming service that Beyoncé and Jay-Z have joint ownership in. Both artists are industry moguls. And this was the year where a dissatisfaction with the status-quo became a rallying cry for both sides of the political spectrum. It is worth asking: how do we remedy questions of capital intent with those of aesthetic authenticity? And in their influential work “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception,” Adorno & Horkheimer frame the answer quite simply — you can’t. Art made in the era of mass industry is art made for the purpose of consumption. Mass produced art is “nothing other than style,” and incapable of “creating truth” (103). It’s purpose is purely industrial. It exists solely for mass consumption. This critique was raised not only by the white masses but among prominent critics and writers as well. In bell hooks blog post “Moving Beyond Pain,” she argues that we cannot divorce the process of listening/viewing Lemonade from its status as a commodity object. This, however, is not necessarily a problem for hooks. While hooks acknowledges that the “celebration” of black female bodies is also impossible to differentiate from their “exploitation,” she differentiates that the commercial intent of Beyoncé’s record is quite different than many other commercial contexts (“Moving Beyond Pain” n.p.). This is commercial art created for the sake of ascribing value to black women. And yet, hooks has reservations about Beyoncé’s brand of feminism. In this context of high-stakes relationship drama, the black woman remains in the “victim” position to which her only escape is violence. Hooks states, quite controversially, that violence “does not create positive change” (“Moving Beyond Pain” n.p.). Additionally, Beyoncé’s conception of feminism lacks an intersectional approach, and is situated closer to the Hillary-Clinton-class-enemy brand of feminism than a true radical feminist ideology. Beyoncé adopts a contemporary conception of feminism that ultimately is not rooted in resistance in patriarchal domination but which is tied to it; and that is concerned ultimately with matters of capital self-interest. Ultimately, hooks questions the merit of the fictive space that Lemonade occupies: a world in which words like “Intuition, Denial, Forgiveness, Hope, [and] Reconciliation” are seen as effective combatants to racism and misogyny. In 2016, mainstream feminist ideals ultimately rang hollow: the wage gap feminism of the Democrats was not enough to rally a progressive base that wanted something lasting and systemic; and the radical right, angered by the very idea of a woman president, retaliated with fervent vulgarity. While hooks ultimately finds Lemonade as falling short of its feminist potential, is not the very fact that it puts such a value on black life, on black representation, and on the pure celebration of black culture a radical politics in and of itself? At the conclusion of her article, hooks asks a question of Lemonade that speaks to a point about black women authorship in general: how can one move beyond celebrating pain and instead look to how it can be transcended? What does a transcendent feminist politics look like? How does black authorship escape the condition of a parasitic consumer culture? ***

On February 12, 2017, Adele’s album 21 won album of the year at the Grammy Awards. In her speech, she talked about why she couldn’t accept the prize:

“...but tonight winning this kind of feels full circle, and like a bit of me has come back to myself but I can’t possibly accept this award, and I’m very humbled and very gracious but, the artist of my life is Beyoncé, and this album to me — the Lemonade album — is just so monumental, it’s just so monumental, and so well thought out, and so beautiful, and soul bearing. And we all got to see another side to you that you don’t always let us see. And we appreciate that. And all us artists here, we fucking adore you. You are our light, and the way you made me and my friends feel, the way you made my black friends feel, is empowering, and you make them stand up for themselves. And we love you, we always have, and we always will.” (“Adele’s Grammy Acceptance Speech”)

Adele’s speech is important for a couple reasons. The first is that it speaks to a critique that has become rather common of the Grammy’s the past couple of years: victories by black artists have been confined to the Hip-hop, Urban Album, and R&B categories. Not a single black artist has won album of the year since 2004; a black woman hasn’t won the category since Lauryn Hill did so in 1999. Meanwhile, the last few years have featured some high-profile snubs, including Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly in 2016, Beyoncé (again) in 2015, Kendrick Lamar (again) in 2014, and Frank Ocean in 2013. The Grammy’s failure to recognize the relevance and cultural significance of certain artists is partially the reason why it has lost some credibility in the past few years, with several high-profile artists refusing to attend the ceremony, and others speaking out publicly regarding their declining cultural clout and position as an outdated, archaic institution. It’s become impossible to define what it exactly is that can win you an Album of the Year Grammy. It is not solely commercial success (see: Beck’s win two years ago) neither is it totally critical reception. What you’d guess is that the recipe lies somewhere in between: an album that has popular appeal and that is critically viable; that speaks to a certain condition of the American politic at that time; that promises to reshape cultural trends in a way that is both significant and lasting. So what wrong? That inquiry feels almost ludicrous in a year where the stakes felt so high. It’s difficult to reconcile a relatively meaningless spectacle like the Grammy’s with the current American sociopolitical turmoil, where the threat of violence against marginalized people is real and tangible. In that way, maybe hooks was right: there is a limit to what the fictive imagination can do and say. But sometimes, the politics that play out on the small stage say something profound about the politics that play out in the midst of our real and frightening reality. They lead us to conversations, to discomfort, and to the promise of something different. And that brings us back to Adele’s speech. Somehow, Adele’s awkward and imperfect display of appreciation for Beyoncé and her art made startlingly visible what was so obviously playing out before our very eyes. The moment Adele marked her “black friends” was the moment that the thematic concerns of Beyoncé’s album became visible on the world stage. And on this world stage, Beyoncé’s album made sense only as one thing — a “black” album. And that was, arguably, Beyoncé’s intention. But despite the declining clout of the Grammy’s, the album’s loss felt profound. And glaringly obvious. No other outcome made more rational sense with the context of contemporary American race relations. And that’s why it matters so much As easy as it is to fault Adele for the deficiencies in her speech, it’s also sort of admirable for the way she is able to cut through the codes and signifiers that even Beyoncé seemed unable to do. In her own acceptance speech for Lemonade’s win in the Best Urban Album Category, she stated:

My intention for the film and album was to create a body of work that would give a voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness and our history. To confront issues that make us uncomfortable. It’s important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty, so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror — first to their own families as well as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House and the Grammys — and see themselves. And have no doubt that they are beautiful, intelligent and capable. This is something I want for every child of every race. And I feel it’s vital that we learn from the past and recognize our tendencies to repeat our mistakes. (“Beyoncé’s Grammy Acceptance Speech”)

Beyoncé employs an “us” that is shifting and uncertain: sometimes clearly alluding to the black experience, at other times alluding to a collective American experience, and even, at one point, alluding to “every child of every race.” She certainly is not entering any All Lives Matter territory here, but is it fair to call her an activist? Beyoncé speaks about race like an American who is afraid to say the wrong thing. And although her performance and her album spoke very clearly in matters of style, it’s strange to see Beyoncé speak so carefully around matters of race, of police brutality, of problematic gender expectations and matters of black beauty, of violence against black lives. It’s clear what she’s talking about, but the ideologies remain invisible, unspoken — to use Morrison’s phrase, “playing in the dark.” And that seems strange for an artist that seemed so concerned with, in the context of their art and performances, making visible the black American experience. Lemonade goes to great lengths to subvert our concept of the literary imagination. Less talked about than it’s visions of blackness are its spots of whiteness: like when Beyoncé jumps to her death in an all-white dress, or when she’s surrounded by a blindingly white mise-en-scene. It’s an album where the black/white binary is turned on its head; where blackness takes center stage and pushes whiteness to the periphery — but where the threat of the white imagination is still present. And here we are on another national stage, with whiteness somehow pushing Beyoncé to the periphery, the world re-orienting itself. Despite Adele’s best intentions, her refusal of the award means little. What does it mean for a white women to refuse an award and offer it to another artist’s work because she understands its importance for her black friends? I think again of Serena Williams and Rankine’s essay: of being “thrown against a sharp white background.” On Lemonade and it’s most popular single “Sorry,” -- viewed over 213 million times on YouTube -- Serena Williams makes an appearance. And although she doesn’t appear in any other songs, her appearance is memorable because, like Beyoncé, she is so clearly a symbol for everything Lemonade is trying to do. For what she represents to American culture and the American people. For her tendency to inspire white rage and overt displays of racism (see: Serena’s appearances at Indian Wells). For her position as a successful black woman and the significance that holds to other women and girls of color. And I wonder, in the context of the Grammy Awards, where that moment of rage — one that looked like Serena yelling at the line judge — was for Beyoncé. Why was it Adele who got to speak on her behalf? Looking back on Kanye’s infamous Taylor Swift incident, it seems oddly more sensible now, less like an awkward and personal attack on Taylor Swift than a genuine but misguided effort to right an injustice. The Grammy Awards affair makes it again clear how impossible it is to define what “success” means for black authorship in America. If a genuine radical politics is the goal for black authorship, than why does it matter who wins what popularity award? And adversely, 2016 was a year where not just black texts, but black texts about race were tremendously successful commercially. And what did these commercial accomplishments mean for black and marginal people? It seems difficult to answer anything in a time of such complete and uncertain political chaos. But if it’s true that the “subject of the dream is the dreamer,” is there anything else to do than dream (Morrison 30)? Maybe the fictive world holds more weight than we care to believe.

Works Cited "Adele's Grammy Acceptance Speech". GRAMMY Awards. CBS. Television. Transcript. Adorno, T. & Horkheimer, M., 1944. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” In T. Adorno and M. Horkheimer. Dialectics of Enlightenment. Als, Hilton. "Prince, Cecil Taylor, and Beyoncé's Shape-Shifting Black Body." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 20 Dec. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. bell hooks. "Moving Beyond Pain." Bell Hooks Institute. Bell Hooks Institute, 09 May 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. bell hooks. "Racism and Feminism." Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader. New York, NY: Routledge, 2009. 373-402. Print. "Beyoncé’s Grammy Acceptance Speech". GRAMMY Awards. CBS. Television. Transcript. Blay, Zeba. "Why We Shouldn't Be Afraid To Critique Beyoncé." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 May 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. Caramancia, Jon, Wesley Morris, and Jenna Wortham. "Beyoncé in 'Formation': Entertainer, Activist, Both?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. Carlos, John. “1968 Black Power Salute.” 100 Great Sporting Moments. Web. Clarke, David. “Interview with David Clarke.” Interview on Fox Business. Television. Giuliani, Rudy. “Fox and Friends.” Fox News. 8 February 2016. Television. Hebdige, Dick. Subculture, the Meaning of Style. London: Methuen, 1979. Print. "Hoop Dreams: Multicultural Diversity in NBA Viewership." Nielsen. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2017. Ingraham, Laura. “The Laura Ingraham Show.” Courtside Entertainment Group. 8 February 2016. Lahren, Tomi. “The Blaze.” Mercury Radio Arts. 8 February 2016. Limbaugh, Rush. The Rush Limbaugh Show. 08 February 2016. Television. Malkin, Michelle. "“Cuz nothing brings us all together better than angry Beyoncé shaking her ass & shouting "Negro" repeatedly.” 7 February 2016, 5:43 PM. Tweet. Morrison, Toni. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. New York: Vintage , a Division of Random House, 2015. Print. Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric. , UK: Penguin, 2015. Print. Shire, Warsan. “For Women Who Are Difficult to Love.” Bandcamp. 2014. Web. Nelson, Stanley. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. , 2015. West, Cornel. Race Matters. Boston: Beacon, 2001. Print

#beyonce #lemonade #super bowl #music

1 note · View note

anewhope4change-blog · 4 years

Text

An American Dilemma

“Theme for English B” is a poem written by the famous poet Langston Hughes. The poem is narrated by a young, African American man who is attending a college near Harlem. He is told to write an assignment about himself. The teacher in the poem could be a symbol of American Society during this time. The narrator begins to think of what to write and looks to the city. He says, “I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you. hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page. (I hear New York, too.)” (Hughes) Many African Americans came to New York and populated Harlem during the 1950s, when this poem was written. The author making Harlem the main subject of the line could be an underlying message that the student is mostly concerned with listening to his own culture and people. Having New York in parenthesis makes it seem like a secondary concern and it could be because New York had a large white population and a mainstream white culture as well. There was often white opposition to integration in the neighborhoods and schools which is also shown in the poem as he says “I am the only colored student in my class.” (Hughes)

Segregation is even still present now and affecting minorities, “residential segregation, which economically and politically marginalize communities of color.” (Bylander) Also like today, people are spilt up residentially and economically often with the same pattern. White people tend to make more money and live in higher class neighborhoods, “The average wealth of white households in the United States is 13 times as high as that of black households” (Bylander) and people of color who do not make as much tend to be placed in lower class communities with lower income. “Segregation helps determine a person's socioeconomic status by affecting the quality of education and employment opportunities available to that person.” (Bylander) As the narrator writes his paper for class, he lists things he likes that are normal like eating, being in love and records for Christmas. He seems to think his interests are questionable because he is African American when he states, “I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races.” (Hughes) This question about identity can be seen in today’s society as white people do not experience the same inequality as African Americans. This has caused “An American dilemma": the wide gap between the American ideals of liberty and equality and the actual conditions of African American life.” (Harris)

This shows how segregation and racism work in separating cultures and races. He goes on to ask the question, “So will my page be colored that I write?” which could also be another hint at the differences shown between white and African American culture. The poem takes a positive turn when he says that “the page, being me, will not be white” but will be a part of his instructor as they are a part of each other. (Hughes) The narrator is talking about how people are all connected in America and says, “yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. That’s American.” (Hughes) He is referencing that people are connected no matter their race, “perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you. But we are, that’s true!” (Hughes) Americans are supposed to be equal to each other and have that connection.

As centuries and decades passed, the United States has indeed become more progressive in racial equality and wanting to celebrate diversity. However, there are underlying issues in the structure of our government and our society. “The idea that American society is now colorblind neglects a crucial fact: apparently race-neutral practices often mask deeply unequal arrangements.” (Harris) Hughes takes a shot at racism in the last few lines but also sends a good message of equality by explaining that people learn from each other even though they are different, “As I learn from you, I guess you learn from me—although you’re older—and white—and somewhat more free.” (Hughes) Overall, “Theme for English B” is seemingly calling out the racism and discrimination that effect African American communities while also encouraging the thought that different people with different backgrounds can still be a part of the same community and learn from each other.

We can see the need for discussion on racism today. America is seen as a place of equality for all yet even today we see the effects of the underlying racism of the system. With social media so prominent in our society, we repeatedly see instances of police brutality, racist attacks and exposure of racist politicians. Musicians have taken to their music as well to express their anger towards the broken system.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, a rock band, has a song called “The Power of Equality.” The lyrics express their issues with American society as far as equality. “Blood red, but without sight, exploding egos in the night,” could be reference to politicians not recognizing violence in the country while only caring about themselves. They call out America’s history to give notice that it has not fully equal even today, “American equality has always been sour, an attitude I would like to devour.” Along with this they also call out the Ku Klux Klan. White supremacy has recently come back to light with public appearances by the group during Trump’s election. “Death to the Ku Klux Klan, I do not buy supremacy.”

Media, being one of the roots of public information, has been known to bring the wrong attention to the wrong things. More often than not, African Americans are showed in the media in a bad light. This lyric may be referencing this wrongdoing of the media, “Media chief, you menance me, The people you say cause all the crime, Wake up motherfucker and smell the slime.” The United states has progressed if people look at the big picture. African Americans have been historically oppressed and discriminated against and although lawmakers have progressed the country at a legal level, it is up to the citizens of America to change its society in order to keep making change.

Works Cited

Bylander, Jessica. "Civil Unrest, Police use of Force, and the Public's Health." Health affairs 34.8 (2015): 1264-8. ProQuest. 9 Nov. 2019 .

Harris, Fredrick C., and Robert C. Lieberman. "Racial inequality after racism: how institutions hold back African Americans." Foreign Affairs, Mar.-Apr. 2015. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A412275533/OVIC?u=viva2_vccs&sid=OVIC&xid=cd9f9780. Accessed 6 Nov. 2019.

”Langston Hughes - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47880/theme-for-english-b

0 notes

blackmusicreview-142-fan-blog · 5 years

Text

Lemonade by Beyonce: F**k Respectability Politics

Lemonade by Beyonce, released in 2016 was her sixth studio album and second visual music album that topped the charts and became her most critically acclaimed album to date. Beyonce uses her platform to radically approach the marginalized narratives of Black people in American history through the use of visual efforts in airing a sixty-five minute film to accompany the album, which showed on HBO. In the visual album, she includes the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown: all of whom have fallen victim to the anti-black police state enforced in the United States. She breaks all stereotypical chains of the cookie cutter Black woman pop artist she portrayed herself as at the beginning of her musical career. Refusing to be known as only being capable of sticking to one sound, she crosses through multiple genres of music including country, reggae, blues, hip-hop, soul, funk, R&B, americana, gospel, electronic, and trap all in one album. Confronting historical anti-black violence in “Freedom” featuring Kendrick Lamar, and facing intersectional forces of oppression that Black women deal with in “Formation,” and “Sorry,” Beyonce lays out her socio-critical perspective on the table whether we were ready for it or not.

“Formation” focuses on prominent issues within the Black community and turns the historical oppression of “othering” of Black people into an “us,” encouraging the Black community to come together “okay ladies now let’s get in Formation” and rise up against the oppressor. When she dropped this song, she did so a day before her huge Super Bowl Halftime Show appearance as a way to really stick her nose up in the air at the fact that yes, although she is Black and comes from a marginalized community within Houston, Texas, she is still here taking up space on such an esteemed stage, earning millions of dollars for her talent, “I earned all this money, but they never take the country out me / I got hot sauce in my bag (swag).” In Beyonce’s visual piece to “Formation” there are references to Black Lives Matter and Hurricane Katrina that are clear; it includes an image of Beyoncé on top of a sinking police car, walls strewn with "Stop Shooting Us" graffiti, and a young African American boy in a hoodie dancing in front of police officers. The significance behind including Hurricane Katrina is a commentary on the lack of government involvement in providing assistance like shelter and adequate resources, such as food or medical attention to survivors, most of whom were Black. In the video, the young, Black boy is used to symbolize the tragic and inhumane death of Trayvon Martin. Beyoncé uses this as a way to highlight the discrepancies in the government and their lack of support for marginalized communities. Beyoncé also shows Black women in different hairstyles that have been deemed as inappropriate. Not only does she showcase the beauty and power of hair within the Black community, but she uses it to make a statement that Black beauty is majestic. Incorporating lyrics like, “I like my baby hairs with baby hairs and afros / I like my negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils” she makes a strong statement on beauty standards claiming they have always been eurocentric, while doing the work of marginalizing and demonizing Afro-descendant features like large nostrils, and kinky hair. Throwing the Jackson 5 reference in there further proves her point in showing that the biggest voices in music like Michael and Janet Jackson were harmed because of these societal norms so much to the point where they paid to have their faces reconstructed and even further, skin bleached. I believe she also included these lyrics in response to the racist and eurocentric outlast she got from revealing what her baby, Blue Ivy, looked like after her birth.

In her song “Sorry,” Beyoncé uplifts her Black feminist voice, creating commentary of the cheating scandal involving her husband that broke the internet. Here we see Beyoncé lose all respectability politics by including words and phrases like, “n*gga naw” and, “middle fingers up, put them hands high / wave it in his face, tell him, boy, bye.” Here she is taking a stand and saying she refuses to play the quiet role of the stereotypical Black wife who stays at home and takes whatever treatment her husband puts her through. “he tryin’ to roll me up, I ain’t picking up / headed to the club, I ain’t thinkin’ bout you” and “suck on my balls, pause, I’ve had enough” shows her refusal to stay in the confinement of what society thinks Black women should be and how they should act. She’s bringing the focus to her doing her own thing and making her own money, she does not have time to lose fussing over a man who she can easily replace giving that she is independent and makes her own money and shows it through her use of lyrics like, “suicide before you see this tear fall down my eyes / me and my baby, we gon' be alright / we gon' live a good life” and “stop interrupting my grinding / I ain't thinking 'bout you.” At the end of her song she finishes it with, “he better call Becky with the good hair” providing commentary once again on beauty standards for Black people, but Black women specifically and their hair. The social norm in American culture today focuses hugely on Black women’s hair and how it must look a specific way, lose, soft, curls, in order for it to be considered “good” hair. The association of good hair and Black women historically has always served as a losing-comparison to white women who usually have what is deemed as neater, straight hair. Here she is playing against the stereotype that Black women’s hair is unkept, deemed as ugly, and associated with undesirability and low intellect by pushing that narrative onto “Becky” who is painted here as the culprit and the one being undesirable.

In “Freedom,” Beyonce brings back the theme of #BlackLivesMatter, this time accompanied by Compton gangsta rapper Kendrick Lamar. Separately, both artists have quite much to say on the oppression of Black people and racist institutions. Together, they have created a beautiful spiritual ballad that speaks to the souls of past enslaved Africans. In the chorus you hear the strong, and undeniably sense of a Black Negro spiritual with lyrics like, “Freedom, freedom, I can’t move/Freedom, cut me loose (Yeah)/Freedom, freedom, where are you?/’Cause I need freedom too/I break chains all by myself/Won’t let my freedom rot in hell, hey./I’ma keep running/’Cause a winner don’t quit on themselves.” Alluding to an older spiritual that tells one to “wade in the water”, she also includes, “I’ma wade, I’ma wave through the waters/Tell the tide don’t move” in her lyrics, bringing the timeline of slavery, emancipation, Jim Crow, and segregation full circle.

0 notes

k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9 · 2 years

Photo

#Terrorizer #Genre: Death Metal/Grindcore #Lyrical themes: Death Politics Social issues Violence #Metal #Grindcore #Death Metal #Oldschool Death Metal #USA #Jesse Pintado (R.I.P. 2006)#Oscar Garcia

78 notes · View notes

ejsponge61 · 7 years

Text

Kendrick Lamar’s FEAR.

Since he released his first studio album in 2011, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth has been one of the most celebrated artists in all hip hop. While many contemporary rap artists make songs about the usual topics of sex, drugs, and violence, Kendrick has always tried to have his music deliver deeper messages. In 2012, he imbedded Christian themes and used unique techniques to tell the story of Good Kid, m.A.A.d City, which introduced him to mainstream success. In 2015, he used historical African imagery and references to modern pop culture to tell the story of To Pimp a Butterfly, which is widely considered a classic in the genre. His dense lyrics encourage greater interpretation, which has led to the overwhelming reaction to his latest release, DAMN. This album is by far his least straightforward, which has led to several theories on what the tracks could mean. However, once the lyrics themselves are analyzed, the deeper message is not so obtuse. Now, while I would love to breakdown the entire album, I don’t think anyone would want the pages of this paper to reach double digits. So, instead, I will use the longest track, FEAR., to speak to the album as a whole. But first, allow me to quickly summarize the preceding tracks.

The track is the twelfth of fourteen, and it serves as the climax of the entire album. In the first track, “BLOOD.”, Kendrick delivers a monologue, in which he is shot by a blind woman while trying to aid her. “DNA.” Tackles both the positive and negative aspects of his being and eventually serves to highlight the fact that these aspects are found in everyone. “YAH.” goes into his family relationships and how they motivate him in his music. “ELEMENT.” highlights Kendrick’s confidence and unwillingness to let people alter his path in life. “FEEL.” serves as the antithesis of “ELEMENT.”, in that it shows, despite his image of being the savior of hip hop, he still desires support from family, friends and fans. “LOYALTY.” describes how he greatly desires faithfulness in his inner circle, while still feeling that God should be to whom one is most loyal. “PRIDE.” and “HUMBLE.” both discuss his struggle to set aside his pride, and how being humble would maybe allow him to better serve mankind. “LUST.” speaks to the reliance on and desire of worldly possessions by not only people he sees, but himself, and how those desire goes against the wishes of God. “LOVE.” is about his ability to love others, and in some cases, specifically about his love for his longtime girlfriend Whitney Alford. And finally, ”XXX.” is about the violence he would see daily during his childhood and adolescence in Compton and how, with his new broadened world view, he believes some of that violence is created by those of higher social and political power.

Now, the biggest of Lamar’s worldly emotions is “FEAR.”, which he goes into in detail on this track. The song begins with the following phrase.

“Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?

Pain in my heart carry burdens full of struggle

Why God, why God do I gotta bleed?

Every stone thrown at you restin' at my feet

Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?

Earth is no more, won't you burn this muh’fucka?”

This is one of dozens of religious references made on the album, however this one is filled with much more despair than others. In all the preceding tracks, he discusses his issues and here, he admits he’s not sure why he is chosen to suffer. Also, with the line “Every stone thrown at you restin” at my feet” he is referencing the view of him by many as a savior, or even prophet. In his prior album, To Pimp a Butterfly, he has named himself a prophet on the final track, “Mortal Man”. Because he delivers the message of God, he feels that any criticism of God is one thrown at him as well, hence the stones thrown at God resting at his own feet. After this phrase is heard, the same phrase is then played in reverse as to lead into the first verse of the song, where Lamar is seven years old.

In this verse, he begins nearly every line with “I beat yo ass”, followed by something a young kid would likely do. These lines, all being from the perspective of his mother, are meant to highlight how instead of calmly correcting a young Lamar’s mistakes, she instead wields fear as a constant threat. The repetitious use of “I beat yo ass” here serves to highlight how, while initially terrifying, the shock of the violence fades away and eventually becomes normal. It also highlights how the same aggressive response is used for things trivial and minor, from acting out in school to just watching TV too loud. However, in some instances, Lamar does test the boundaries of his mother. The line “Better not hear ’bout you humpin' on Keisha's daughter” implies that something similar, or maybe this very act, has occurred before. This leads to the last lines of the verse: “Seven years old, think you run this house by yourself? Nigga, you gon' fear me if you don't fear no one else.” Here Lamar’s mother calls out his maturity, but strikes his confidence back down as she desires herself to be in control solely. This leads to the fear he has of disappointing his family and elders, one that sticks with him to this day. After the chorus, which emphasizes how he wishes fear was easy to overcome, the second verse begins.

Here, Kendrick returns to speaking from his own perspective, except he has aged a few years and is now seventeen. This goes another one of his biggest fears, death. Having a fear of death is by no means rare, but in his exposure to the violence of Compton has led to this fear being more to the forefront of his mind. This verse, once again, uses repetition to hammer home just how prominent this fear is. The phrase “I’ll prolly die” begins almost every line, and after it, he lists another way he could possibly perish. These possible outcomes are ones he’s seen firsthand in Compton. “I'll prolly die from witnesses leavin' me falsed accused” speaks to how he could easily be blamed for crime that he didn’t commit, simply because he may fit the profile of a suspect. “Or maybe die because these smokers are more than desperate” speaks to how those addicted to crack, and other hardcore drugs, will do anything for money to feed their addiction, including murder. “I'll prolly die tryna buy weed at the apartments” speaks to how the most innocent of interactions to them could easily turn into a life changing event when interference of the police. Specifically, he has a few lines about the possibility of death by police brutality:

“I'll prolly die from one of these bats and blue badges

Body slammed on black and white paint, my bones snappin'”

Kendrick might have been a child during the Rodney King riots in L.A., but incidents like that have clearly stuck with him. In addition to his general fear of dying, he also fears that he’ll “die anonymous” or “die with promises”, meaning he fears that he’ll either die without having left any significant mark on human history or without delivering on the promises he made in life. Then, he reveals that his real fear is not death but that he is not in control of his own life. The final line of the verse, “All worries in a hurry, I wish I controlled things”, illustrates this, and then leads into the final verse of the song.

In this verse, Kendrick winds the clock forward once again and is now 27, two years away from his current age. He finally ditches the repetitive structure to more clearly speak on his final fear: losing his success. At the age of 27, he released the aforementioned To Pimp a Butterfly. It was likely the most successful period he had ever seen, with him being able to work with him winning his first Grammys for the project. However, this even did not fill him with confidence, but instead shocked him and made him more concerned of losing all that success. Because he has reached heights higher than he had ever foreseen, he questions why would God allow this to happen.

“All this money, is God playin' a joke on me?

Is it for the moment, and will he see me as Job?

Take it from me and leave me worse than I was before?”

Job is a biblical character who was a prosperous man who followed the word of God devoutly. However, God tested him by taking away his wealth and family and inflicting him with disease, only to give his prosperity and health back once he stayed faithful. Lamar questions if his is God’s plan for him, which would justify his fear of losing his wealth. Also, he interesting has a few lines referencing a 2015 controversy between music artist Rihanna and one of her former accountants. After Rihanna sued this accountant over a $9 million loss from that year, they agreed to settle the case for $10 million, only for him to go missing before paying the total. Kendrick uses this example to show just how his own funds could vanish if just one of his accountants was to behave similarly. It’s also funny he’d use Rihanna as an example, as she if featured in the earlier track, “LOYALTY.” At the end of this verse he, once again reveals that his biggest fear is not just that he will lose all he has gained, but that it will come about due to the public misinterpreting his music. Lines like “How they look at me reflect on myself, my family, my city” and “What they hear from me would make 'em highlight my simplest lines.” speaks to how he worries about his perception. And in the final verse, he wraps up the topics of the entire album.

He lists even more fears here, but now he is using the titles from other tracks on the album in his lines:

“I'm talkin' fear, fear of losin' loyalty from pride

'Cause my DNA won't let me involve in the light of God

I'm talkin' fear, fear that my humbleness is gone

I'm talkin' fear, fear that love ain't livin' here no more

I'm talkin' fear, fear that it's wickedness or weakness

Fear, whatever it is, both is distinctive

Fear, what happens on Earth stays on Earth

And I can't take these feelings with me, so hopefully they disperse”

Incorporating all these themes heard elsewhere on the album allows up to find the meaning of the album itself. Near the end of that quote, he claims he can’t take these feelings with him. Where could it be going if it’s not earth? The answer is Heaven. In the first track, “BLOOD.”, he is murdered, and all the songs leading to this one are him wrestling with his problems that have led to his fears. And in this track, it culminates in him coming to terms with fear itself, all in order to disperse all of these worldly emotions and leave them on Earth, as they have no place in God’s domain. The following track, “GOD.”, further validates this theory as he now know “what God feel like”, a feeling he could only know by seeing him firsthand.

DAMN. is one of Kendrick Lamar’s most dense and experimental projects to date. However, despite its initial absence of a straightforward plot, there is just enough here to create a larger framework. And the track, “FEAR.” does the most to help aid in the creation of that framework.

#kendrick lamar #k. dot #Damn #fear #album #rap music #rap #hip hop #lyrics #analysis

1 note · View note

theblacktivity-blog · 7 years

Text

“DAMN”: A Review.

Over two years after the release of the critically acclaimed and Grammy winning sophomore album “To Pimp a Butterfly”, Kendrick Lamar has done it again with the release of his long awaited follow up “DAMN”. While it has been obvious to many in recent years that Kendrick is not only the future of hip hop but very much its present, his new album also further solidifies him as one of Black America’s most important poetic voices, period. If “To Pimp a Butterfly” was heralded for the melodic way in which issues such as racial inequality, profiling, and depression were tackled with skillful clarity, its sequel can be likened to the way a surgeon after addressing the larger tumor, uses his scalpel with steady precision to cut away at and expose the nuances of its effects. This is to say that whereas “To Pimp a Butterfly” was in many ways more of a ‘what’ album, “DAMN” goes a bit further as Kendrick in fourteen tracks, gives us an exposition into the ‘how’s’ of systemic racism and interpersonal conflict. Themes of fear, self-doubt, isolation, mistrust, fame, and posturing are woven in between cinematic production that has the effect of pulling the “foreign” listener into the matrix of schizophrenia that at times characterizes the emotional toll of the Black experience in America. Like most renowned artist, Kendrick through his willingness to be vulnerable and introspective, portrays with stunning depth the many cruxes at which Black folk stand when attempting to deal with life in a world in which they find themselves the seemingly perpetual “subject”. Even further, this latest album sonically succeeds in framing such matters in a way that has made Kendrick Lamar synonymous with being hailed as the poetic interpreter of Black life, by evoking strong idioms of the blues and classic soul via pin point production. While it is true that most artist and thinkers are products of their time often drawing from that which is available personally and macrocosmically, it is just as true that many still can trace at least some of their theory from a predecessor, however intentional or not. Considering this fact, one could argue that in Kendrick’s “DAMN” is most reminiscent of Richard Wright’s semi-autobiographical narrative “Black Boy”. While the former’s latest work isn’t what one would consider autobiographical in the purest sense, Kendrick does utilize personal innuendo in such a way as to strike a note with the listener who can appreciate Kendrick’s honesty about his own personal battles with identity and social crisis. In this way, “DAMN” cleverly blends the polemical with the intimate. Like Wright, Kendrick is apt at painting a vivid picture as it pertains to the totality of subjugation and the myriad of its absurd effects on not only the body, but the psyche and behavior of the oppressed. In the opening Kendrick goes into a short story in which he speaks of a blind woman who appeared to be looking for something, approaching the woman he say’s “it looks like you lost something and I want to help you find it”. In kind the woman responds, “you have lost something…you’ve lost your life” after which the ominous echo of a gunshot can be heard before the album trails into the first track “DNA”. This intro has a shrewdly symbolic bent, and like most symbols can likely be interpreted in several ways. But, given the socially conscious range of Kendrick’s lyricism, it wouldn’t be a stretch to theorize that Kendrick’s attempt at helping the blind woman (in this case the symbol of justice) find something (finding “her” soul, or conscious maybe?) is somehow a figurative representation of the historic and often thwarted attempts of Black America to do the same for the country at large. Or maybe the shot heard in the intro’s finale illustrates the violence placed upon the body, mind, and spirt at such attempts. In any event, Kendrick leaves a cleverly carved space for which the listener can fill in the intro’s blanks before being ushered into the meat of the album beginning with the aforementioned title track “DNA”.

It is on this track that we are forcefully reminded of what makes him great…his sheer adeptness at shredding a track to pieces with crafty lyrical dexterity. He then goes on to blend that which makes him great with that which makes him and ultimately us, human; “I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA/I got hustle though/ambition flow inside my DNA”. This duality is ultimately a part of the human experience but is particularly acute within the realm of Blackness wherein resides the DuBoisian concept of the double consciousness. It is this concept of being both Black (African) and “American” that has simultaneously served as our biggest psychic burden and has allowed us to adapt creatively to circumstances in such a way as to make improvisation one of the signifying markers of Blackness. Thus, Kendrick acknowledges that not only is it in his DNA but in all of ours through that ever-elusive Black genetic marker known as soul or ‘cool’. The following song entitled “YAH” is a slow-paced track in which the image of an isolated star comes to mind, it’s a near dreamlike state in which one awakes to the amalgams of distorted “advice” and rumors from all sides. Cornered he finds that his proverbial “radars is buzzing” with the white noise so often accompanied with fame, he laments from the outset: “I got so many theories and suspicions/I’m diagnosed with real nigga conditions”. He then harps on the signals he receives in everyone from his mother who thinks he will “work himself to death”, to his girlfriend who reminds him “not to let these hoes get his head”. One gets the feeling that being famous has a way of rendering a person worn at the emotional seams from being pulled in multiple directions in an already fast paced world. And as if that isn’t enough, Kendrick then alludes to FOX News’s misinformed critiques of his lyrics (particularly Geraldo Rivera), this while simultaneously seeking clarity via a renewed sense of identity as a Hebrew Israelite a path suggested by a distant cousin eluded to in recorded phone calls throughout the album. The latter path isn’t one atypical of the African American search for identity as it is well documented about myriad of Black socio-political/religious movements that sprang up during the earlier half of 20th century, many of which adopted a nationalistic posture in defense of community and against injustice. However, Kendrick does offer us a glimpse in to what he considers the silver lining of normalcy in it all, his niece who simply sees him as “Uncle Kendrick”. The ensuing track “ELEMENT” could be best described as a Molotov cocktail of witty lyricism, signature hip hop braggadocio and anxiety. After all he opens by stating: “I’m willing to die for this shit/I done cried for this shit/might take a life for this shit/put the Bible down and go eye for an eye for this shit”. Certainly, no one even vaguely familiar with the lyrical elements and strident nature of hip hop verse wouldn’t consider Kendrick “violent” for such an opening line. Rather it reveals the crossroads that one finds themselves at when coping with the pressures of relatively new found fame and the contradiction between wanting to hold dear to what one has worked so hard for, despite whatever could potentially come about. Such is the nature of success and particularly Black success in America which often tends to be linked to surviving extraordinary circumstances to attain status. Said status achievements are then even more guarded with hubris, and sometimes a paranoid anxiety based in fear and mistrust best summed up by Kendrick with the line: “we ain’t going back to broke/family selling dope”. However, in the hook he dually reminds himself not to be taken out of his element given this fear. “FEEL”, the succeeding track opens in a whisper woven into instrumental through which Kendrick and a female voice can be heard repeatedly saying “ain’t nobody praying for me”. Here he comes off on the production as an embattled MC’s withering internally from the demands and misunderstandings of the world around him. Even mentioning the false sense of security yielded from a celebrity that has compounded many of the life’s difficulties. Kendrick feels intensely, yet these feelings about the toxicity level of a rap world in which he dominates are balanced by his own feelings of confidence about his standing in the hip hop world. It’s a theme that has often been explored in depth with childhood celebrity and in spaces outside of hip hop’s mainstream where it is speculated that the pressure to adapt to life in celebrity has led to many a down fall. Hip hop has often been categorized as distinctly different however given the genre’s braggadocios nature, and it is often assumed that since most rappers from starkly humble beginnings fame and fortune serves as not only an antidote, but as a permanent source of material. Kendrick shatters this myth, while simultaneously acknowledging his new-found wealth and celebrity he also considers what’s happening in the world around him as akin to apocalypse where for everyone else “nothing is awkward”. The legendary Nas once stated, “in the land of the blind the man with one eye is the king” and Kendrick heavily tuned into seeing this through the maze of confusion that is fame with all of its participants: “the feelin' of an apocalypse happenin', but nothin' is awkward/the feelin' won't prosper/the feelin' is toxic/I feel like I'm boxin' demons, monsters/false prophets schemin', sponsors, industry promises/niggas, bitches, honkies, crackers, Compton/Church, religion, token blacks, and bondage/Lawsuit visits, subpoena served in concert/fuck your feelings, I mean this for imposters”.

Yet and still, irrespective of these predicaments and more, his sentiment is best condensed in the hook, “ain’t nobody praying for me”... heavy indeed is the head that wears the crown. “LOYALTY” is a track that could best be described as having the components of a future radio single with a classic west coast sound. It’s slow paced and laid back roll out serves as perfect fodder for Kenny’s semi-automatic style flow in which he questions the loyalty of females particularly those near and around the industry. He quips sarcastically, “you caught me at the right time/when it’s dollar signs”. This track featuring Rihanna is a perfect match as she matches the tempo of Kendrick and weaves lyrics that question the nature of a man’s loyalty. Is loyalty merely driven by your convenience to others (family, friends, etc) or is there something deeper? This is question that is faced when one encounter’s extraordinary levels of fame and even more when one is Black and successful, as most Black wealth when such is achieved is often first generational, thrusting one into the role of provider for nearly every family member. This has an adverse effect of blurring the lines of what is considered loyalty. “PRIDE” illustrates a conflict of possessions and purity. Honest enough to acknowledge that his what is often perceived as his persuasion to social consciousness doesn’t make him perfect, he poses a question throughout the length of the track that can be best summed up at the top of the songs opening: “hell-raising, wheel-chasing, new worldly possessions/flesh-making, spirit breaking, which one would you lessen?/the better part, the human heart, you love 'em or dissect 'em/happiness or flashiness? how do you serve the question?/see, in the perfect world, I would be perfect, world/I don't trust people enough beyond they surface, world/I don't love people enough to put my faith in man/I put my faith in these lyrics hoping I make a band, I understand/I ain't perfect”.

In a sense, Kendrick can be found attempting to explain the complexity of human life and the peculiar effect that certain responsibilities have on others perception of you. Fighting internally, one must at times ground themselves or find external ways to do so by reminding those with these expectations of their humanity and flaws, and how those flaws were created. “HUMBLE” the album’s first commercial cut is yet another exercise in lyrical prowess and genius arrangement. Ironically the track is boastful as we are reminded why he is indeed the greatest at press time. It’s lock and step with hip hop’s confidence idiom but not without reminding us from whence Lamar came: “Aye, I remember syrup sandwiches and crime allowances/Finesse a nigga with sum counterfeits/But now I'm countin this/Parmesan where my accountant lives in fact I'm down at this/D'usśe with my boo bae, tastes like kool aid for the analysts”. The end of “HUMBLE” takes us back into the depths of Kendrick’s social analysis with on the succeeding track “LUST”. Much like his theoretical predecessor Richard Wright, Kendrick is more than apt at pointing out with stunning quality the ways in which we as a people often get in the way of our own progress through behaviors that have seemingly become second nature. The first two verses shepherd the listener through the inner sanctum of two parallel lives one male, the other female, engaged in the daily routines of selfish instant gratification. Such a signifier has been considered among one of the many negative elements of Americanism, the desire for immediate pleasures and whims without regard for long term consequences. And given that the Black experience is inextricable in many ways from the American experience at large, this trait has been considered among one of the most damaging. This is a line of thought most often commercially associated with Black nationalist types who espouse industry over frivolity, but which is shared among Black movements of all theoretical types to some degree or another. It’s clear to peep the knowledge of Kendrick through the examples of these two narratives. However, he again drives home the point that he’s not merely critiquing society from a lofty and self-appointed perch, rather he draws from personal experience to reflect on his entanglement in the same web: “I wake in the mornin', my head spinnin' from the last night/both in the trance, feelings I did-what a fast life!/manager called, the lobby called, it's 11: 30/did this before, promised myself I'd be a hour early/room full of clothes, bag full of money: call it loose change/fumbled my jewelry, 100k, I lost a new chain/Hop on the bird, hit the next city for another M/take me a nap and do it again/we all woke up, tryna tune to the daily news/lookin' for confirmation, hopin' election wasn't true/all of us worried, all of us buried, and our feeling's deep/none of us married to his proposal, make us feel cheap/still and sad, distraught and mad, tell the neighbor 'bout it/bet they agree, parade the streets with your voice proudly/time passin', things change/revertin' back to our daily programs, stuck in our ways; lust”. It’s at once a song of frustration with the perpetual cycle of society’s failure to learn from its errors and the absurd notion that even in learning we tend to repeat them, leading to an inner contention that rivals suffering itself. “LOVE” is the ensuing 10th song on an album that if it had ended here would still deserved to be deemed an instant classic. This poem’s sequence on the album however is more like the metrical version of seeing Kendrick relax and take a calming breath of air, this induced only by thoughts and reflections on the meaning of a special someone that he’s been in a long term low profile relationship with. While much of “DAMN” up until this point tends to be about the perils of success the song evokes the duality of its privileges, but only when there is someone to share them with. Not only this, it’s a light track that once again acknowledges the good in a mad world and lightens the album’s genius yet dense subject matters. “XXX” is one of Kendrick Lamar’s most stinging feats of rhetorical prowess in which he connects the dots between what’s often posited as “inner city violence” or rather “Black on Black” violence and America’s role in fostering such environments. Tackling the humanity of anger is yet another narrative of this track wherein upon the murder of a friend’s son he’s contacted by the friend for advice. Hoping for Kendrick to serve as his better half under what could only be described as a parent’s worst nightmare, Kendrick finds himself unable to tap into the loftier spiritual expectations placed upon him, a portion of the verse summarizes this interaction: “yesterday I got a call like from my dog like 101/said they killed his only son because of insufficient funds/he was sobbin', he was mobbin', way belligerent and drunk/talkin' out his head, philosphin' on what the Lord had done/He said: "K-Dot, can you pray for me?/It's been a fucked up day for me/I know that you anointed, show me how to overcome."/he was lookin' for some closure/hopin' I could bring him closer/to the spiritual, my spirit do know better, but I told him/"I can't sugarcoat the answer for you, this is how I feel:/if somebody kill my son, that mean somebody gettin' killed."

One is taken back to the title of his sophomore album “good kid, M.A.D.D. city” and reminded of Kendrick’s Compton, California origins where like so many systematically deprived Black areas, violence is commonplace. But Kenny makes it perfectly clear that this dysfunction isn’t mere osmosis when he states within the last verse (among other barbs): “it's nasty when you set us up/then roll the dice, then bet us up/you overnight the big rifles, then tell Fox to be scared of us/gang members or terrorists, et cetera, et cetera/America's reflections of me, that's what a mirror does”, this statement is made even more superb given the fact that in a country that often embraces the right of white males to arms, people with color and arms are framed as particularly dangerous. Nonetheless the testament track and most Richard Wright-esque work on the album just may be “FEAR”, which delivers an apt description of the trait (other than coolness, spirituality, and improvisation) that so often finds itself expressed in Black behavioral patterns. It opens with a recorded call from Kendrick’s cousin Carl Duckworth a seemingly zealous follower of Old Testament Biblical religion, who we later learn is a possible member of the Hebrew Israelites, a nationalist Judeo African American religious movement. The phone call appears to be in response to a Kendrick that may well be falling victim to an inner crisis, one for which he feels no one has the answer to. At one point on the call Carl harps back to Kendrick’s lament: “I know you been having a lot on your mind you know, like you feel like, you know, people ain’t been praying for you”. He then goes into a spiel that is among the myriad of socio-religious identity theories of found among Black versions of all schools of religion, but especially those born in the states. Carl in part attempts to explain Kendrick’s confusion by attesting to our cursed nature utilizing a verse from Deuteronomy 28: 28. This track’s opening then questions God himself “why God why God do I gotta suffer/pain in my heart carry burdens full of struggle”, before launching into a full-fledged verse in which Kendrick appears to describe abuse or the threat of it, often doled out at the hands of some Black parents (in this case appears to elude to a Black single mother) for the least of infractions. There’s a direct parallel that exist here between the work of Richard Wright and Kendrick Lamar. In “Black Boy”, an overall narrative that runs through much of the text is the domestic corporal punishment that Richard almost always seems to be threatened by. This is particularly acute as it pertains to his maternal grandmother and “Aunt Addie”, strict Seventh Day Adventist who so controlled by a “puritan” religion and the southern “custom” of Black fear of white retribution for Black “misbehavior” that they practically attempt at every turn to “beat out” what to them appears to be a young Richard’s staunch independence. As a result, Wright finds himself trapped between a racist and unforgiving white world and a Black world whose response to the white world is one driven by fear and its own form of “for your own good” oppression and other responsive madness. This kept Wright in a constant state of fear of not only the outside world but what was supposed to be the intimate familial space. This sentiment is echoed on the first verse of Kendrick Lamar’s “fear”. The second verse tackles the fragility of Black life in which activities that would otherwise be harmless, could lead to possible death. It’s a peek into what so often appears to be the randomness of violence in poor Black neighborhoods and the added burden that comes with attempting to navigate a hostile larger world in the microcosm of one’s own community. In the last verse, Kendrick goes into the irony of fame. While the sentiments of American late capitalist types would have us believe that fame and fortune are the only antidotes to poverty and lacking, we are reminded that for those of us who are able to make the transition from the proverbial “rags to riches” it is not always so simple. Kendrick’s new found fame is explored in the last verse as juxtaposed to the poverty from which he came and this has the effect of evoking a new type of fear…the fear of losing it all. It’s in this verse that one can also see where much of his anxiety stems from. The worlds of money and celebrity are riddled with tales of those who have succumbed to its shark infested waters only to return to the places and madness from which they were thought to have escaped. It’s a preoccupation that has seemingly driven Kendrick to the brink at times and it is in part his reason for reaching out to his cousin Carl, who in the swirl of all the madness appears to be a guiding spiritual voice. At the end of the last verse Kendrick’s confusion is summed up in a haunting refrain: “Goddamn you/Goddamn me/Goddamn us/Goddamn we/Goddamn us all. Afterwards, yet another recorded phone call from Kendrick’s cousin Carl can be heard in which he can be heard spinning a somewhat confusing logic on the “curse” of Blackness stating this time: “So, until we come back to these commandments, until you come back to these commandments, we're gonna feel this way, we're gonna be under this curse. Because he said he's gonna punish us, the so-called Blacks, Hispanics, and Native American Indians, are the true children of Israel. We are the Israelites according to the Bible. The children of Israel, he's gonna punish us for our iniquities, for our disobedience, because we chose to follow other gods that aren't his son, so the Lord, thy God, chasten thee. So, just like you chasten your own son, he's gonna chastise you because he loves you. So that's why we get chastised, that's why we're in the position we're in. Until we come back to these laws, statutes and commandments, and do what the Lord said, these curses are gonna be upon us. We're gonna be at a lower state in this life that we live here in today, in the United States of America. I love you, son, and I pray for you. God, bless you, shalom”.

To be sure pointing out this religious sentiment of Carl’s is not a dig at his religion or beliefs, however within the context of the Black experience in America, it is important to recognize the myriad of systems on the spectrum of Black religion. Historically speaking, religion has served as a guiding light for Blacks, a political tool, and an explanatory narrative of systemic racism. In this way theories of the Black station in American life can at times become varied and confusing from the outside looking in, and one gets the feeling that Carl himself while appearing zealously coherent in Hebrew Israelite doctrine, is just one of the millions of Blacks in America seeking answers to the madness. Appropriately, the following track entitled “GOD” can be looked at from either one of two angles. One the one hand one could interpret this as typical hip hop theatrics of boastfulness, the type wherein the celebratory nature of making it can render one seemingly invincible to at least one’s former woes. Yet everything Kendrick touches seems to hint at deeper meaning, and “GOD” may just as easily be in step with the meeting of the secular and the spiritual. It has often been stated that some are made but the greats are chosen, and on this track, there is full embrace of the latter as he reflects on from whence he came and where he has arrived. It also should not escape the listener that proclaiming oneself as “god” incarnate is not a new religious theory and in hip hop was proselytized by adherents to 5% Islam better known as The Nation of Gods and Earths. The message is context can then be seen as Kendrick reminding us that like him we too can embody gods and goddesses on earth.

“DUCKWORTH” the final track of this album gives a previously unknown glimpse into Kendrick’s origins and the genesis of his relationship with TDE (Top Dawg Entertainment). Known for not only his lyrical prowess but his somewhat guarded nature as it pertains to his personal life, we find that the origins of Kendrick’s relationship began long before he was scouted by Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith as a 15-year-old mixtape rapper. It was in-fact a near fatal encounter between the then street hood Tiffith and Kendrick’s father Kenny Duckworth in the 80′s that brought the pair together when Lamar was but a child. Kenny, a Chicago native, relocated to Compton, CA where he too brought his street savvy with him splitting time between hustling and working part time at a KFC across from the infamous Nickerson Garden homes, a blood gang territory and home to the hustling and banging Tiffith. A chance encounter between Kendrick’s father and Tiffith at the fast food spot led to a relationship that was at first born out of Kenny’s savvy in recognizing the street status of Tiffith and his crew, who had previously robbed the restaurant, shooting two people in the process. Little did Kenny aka “Ducky” know that the crew was planning to rob the store again and this time willing to take out Ducky if necessary. However, Tiffith took a liking to Ducky and this led to a relationship that would re-manifest years later when the two would bump into each other at a recording studio. By this time, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith would be managing producers and scouting talent and one such talent would be Ducky’s son, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth. The genius of the track is in a sense admittedly overshadowed by the listener’s interest in the story itself, yet the vivid tale of chance and choices are obvious throughout. “DUCKWORTH” is the proverbial slam dunk ending on an album which at its core is about the duality and absurd complexity of the human condition and more specifically when it’s in Black. While there may be some who will tout “DAMN” as only an album fraught with anxiety, confusion, and introspection, the final track is a testament that in the madness of it all silver linings guided by divine hands still exist. Classic.

#kendrick lamar #damn #blackboy #blacklivesmatter

1 note · View note

blackkudos · 7 years

Text

Dr. Dre

Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), better known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics. Dre was previously the co-owner of, and an artist on, Death Row Records. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including 2Pac, The D.O.C., Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit, Knoc-turn'al, 50 Cent, The Game and Kendrick Lamar. He is credited as a key figure in the popularization of West Coast G-funk, a style of rap music characterized as synthesizer-based with slow, heavy beats. In 2014, Dr. Dre was ranked as the second richest figure in the American hip hop scene by Forbes with a net worth of $550 million; he is at the top of the 2015 Forbes list, with an estimated pre-tax take of $620 million in 2014.

Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru and later found fame with the influential gangsta rap group N.W.A with Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella, which popularized the use of explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life. His 1992 solo debut The Chronic, released under Death Row Records, led him to become one of the best-selling American performing artists of 1993 and to win a Grammy Award for the single "Let Me Ride". That same year he produced Death Row labelmate Snoop Dogg's quadruple platinum debut Doggystyle, and even molded artists into top-notch producers such as his step-brother Warren G, which led to his Multi-Platinum debut Regulate...G Funk Era in 1994, and Snoop Dogg's cousin Daz Dillinger which led to the double platinum debut album Dogg Food by Tha Dogg Pound in 1995.

In 1996, he left Death Row Records to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. He produced a compilation album titled Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath in 1996, and released a solo album titled 2001 in 1999. During the 2000s, he focused on production for other artists, while occasionally contributing vocals to songs. Dr. Dre signed Eminem in 1998 and 50 Cent in 2002 to his record label respectively, while contributing production on their albums. He has won six Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year. Dr. Dre has also had acting roles in movies such as Set It Off, The Wash and Training Day. Rolling Stone ranked Dre at 56 on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All-Time".

Early life

Young was born in Compton, California, the first child of Theodore and Verna Young. His middle name, Romelle, is derived from his father's amateur R&B singing group, The Romells. His parents married in 1964, separated in 1968, and divorced in 1972. His mother later remarried and had three children: sons Jerome and Tyree (both deceased) and daughter Shameka. In 1976, Young began attending Vanguard Junior High School in Compton, but due to gang violence, he transferred to the safer suburban Roosevelt Junior High School. His mother later married Warren Griffin, whom she met at her new job in Long Beach, which added three stepsisters and one stepbrother to the family; the stepbrother would eventually become rapper Warren G.

Young is the cousin of producer Sir Jinx. He attended Centennial High School in Compton during his freshman year in 1979, but transferred to Fremont High School in South Central Los Angeles due to poor grades. Young attempted to enroll in an apprenticeship program at Northrop Aviation Company, but poor grades at school made him ineligible. Thereafter, he focused on his social life and entertainment for the remainder of his high school years. Young fathered a son with Cassandra Joy Greene named Curtis (born December 15, 1981). Curtis was brought up by his mother and first met his father 20 years later, when Curtis became rapper Hood Surgeon.

Music career

1984–85: World Class Wreckin' Cru

Inspired by the Grandmaster Flash song "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", he often attended a club called Eve After Dark to watch many DJs and rappers performing live. He subsequently became a DJ in the club, initially under the name "Dr. J", based on the nickname of Julius Erving, his favorite basketball player. At the club, he met aspiring rapper Antoine Carraby, later to become member DJ Yella of N.W.A. Soon afterwards he adopted the moniker Dr. Dre, a mix of previous alias Dr. J and his first name, referring to himself as the "Master of Mixology". Eve After Dark had a back room with a small four-track studio. In this studio, Dre and Yella recorded several demos. In their first recording session, they recorded a song entitled "Surgery", with the lyrics "calling Dr. Dre to surgery" serving as the chorus to the song. He later joined the musical group World Class Wreckin' Cru under the independent Kru-Cut Records in 1984. The group would become stars of the electro-hop scene that dominated early 1980s West Coast hip hop. "Surgery", which was officially released after being recorded prior to the group's official formation, would prominently feature Dr. Dre on the turntable. The record would become the group's first hit, selling 50,000 copies within the Compton area.

Dr. Dre and DJ Yella also performed mixes for local radio station KDAY, boosting ratings for its afternoon rush-hour show The Traffic Jam. Dr. Dre's earliest recordings were released in 1994 on a compilation titled Concrete Roots. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the website Allmusic described the compiled music, released "several years before Dre developed a distinctive style", as "surprisingly generic and unengaging" and "for dedicated fans only".

His frequent absences from school jeopardized his position as a diver on his school's swim team. After high school, he attended Chester Adult School in Compton following his mother's demands for him to get a job or continue his education. After brief attendance at a radio broadcasting school, he relocated to the residence of his father and residence of his grandparents before returning to his mother's house. He later dropped out of Chester to focus on performing at the Eve's After Dark nightclub.

1986–91: N.W.A and Ruthless Records

In 1986, Dr. Dre met rapper O'Shea Jackson—nicknamed Ice Cube—who collaborated with Dr. Dre to record songs for Ruthless Records, a rap record label run by local rapper Eazy-E. N.W.A and fellow West Coast rapper Ice-T are widely credited as seminal artists of the gangsta rap genre, a profanity-heavy subgenre of hip hop, replete with gritty depictions of urban crime and gang lifestyle. Not feeling constricted to racially charged political issues pioneered by rap artists such as Public Enemy or Boogie Down Productions, N.W.A favored themes and uncompromising lyrics, offering stark descriptions of violent, inner-city streets. Propelled by the hit "Fuck tha Police", the group's first full album Straight Outta Compton became a major success, despite an almost complete absence of radio airplay or major concert tours. The Federal Bureau of Investigation sent Ruthless Records a warning letter in response to the song's content.

After Ice Cube left N.W.A in 1989 over financial disputes, Dr. Dre produced and performed for much of the group's second album Efil4zaggin. He also produced tracks for a number of other acts on Ruthless Records, including Eazy-E's 1988 solo debut Eazy-Duz-It, Above the Law's 1990 debut Livin' Like Hustlers, Michel'le's 1989 self title'd debut, The D.O.C.'s 1989 debut No One Can Do It Better, J.J. Fad's 1988 debut Supersonic and funk rock musician Jimmy Z's 1991 album Muzical Madness

1992–96: The Chronic and Death Row Records

After a dispute with Eazy-E, Dre left the group at the peak of its popularity in 1991 under the advice of friend, and N.W.A lyricist, The D.O.C. and his bodyguard at the time, Suge Knight. Knight, a notorious strongman and intimidator, was able to have Eazy-E release Young from his contract and, using Dr. Dre as his flagship artist, founded Death Row Records. In 1992 Young released his first single, the title track to the film Deep Cover, a collaboration with rapper Snoop Dogg, whom he met through Warren G. Dr. Dre's debut solo album was The Chronic, released under Death Row Records with Suge Knight as executive producer. Young ushered in a new style of rap, both in terms of musical style and lyrical content, including introducing a number of artists to the industry including Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Daz Dillinger, RBX, The Lady of Rage, Nate Dogg and Jewell.

On the strength of singles such as "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang", "Let Me Ride", and "Fuck wit Dre Day (and Everybody's Celebratin')" (known as "Dre Day" for radio and television play), all of which featured Snoop Dogg as guest vocalist, The Chronic became a cultural phenomenon, its G-funk sound dominating much of hip hop music for the early 1990s. In 1993 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album triple platinum, and Dr. Dre also won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for his performance on "Let Me Ride". For that year, Billboard magazine also ranked Dr. Dre as the eighth best-selling musical artist, The Chronic as the sixth best-selling album, and "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" as the 11th best-selling single.

Besides working on his own material, Dr. Dre produced Snoop Dogg's debut album Doggystyle, which became the first debut album for an artist to enter the Billboard 200 album charts at number one. In 1994 Dr. Dre produced some songs on the soundtracks to the films Above the Rim and Murder Was the Case. He collaborated with fellow N.W.A member Ice Cube for the song "Natural Born Killaz" in 1995. For the film Friday, Dre recorded "Keep Their Heads Ringin'", which reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Hot Rap Singles (now Hot Rap Tracks) charts.

In 1995, Death Row Records signed rapper 2Pac, and began to position him as their major star: he collaborated with Dr. Dre on the commercially successful single "California Love", which became both artists' first song to top the Billboard Hot 100. However, in March 1996 Young left the label amidst a contract dispute and growing concerns that label boss Suge Knight was corrupt, financially dishonest and out of control. Later that year, he formed his own label, Aftermath Entertainment, under the distribution label for Death Row Records, Interscope Records. Subsequently, Death Row Records suffered poor sales by 1997, especially following the death of 2Pac and the racketeering charges brought against Knight.

Dr. Dre also appeared on the single "No Diggity" by R&B group Blackstreet in 1996: it too was a sales success, topping the Hot 100 for four consecutive weeks, and later won the award for Best R&B Vocal by a Duo or Group at the 1997 Grammy Awards. After hearing it for the first time, several of Dr. Dre's former Death Row colleagues, including 2Pac, recorded and attempted to release a song titled "Toss It Up", containing numerous insults aimed at Dr. Dre and using a deliberately similar instrumental to "No Diggity", but were forced to replace the production after Blackstreet issued the label with a cease and desist order stopping them from distributing the song.

1996–98: Move to Aftermath Entertainment

The Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, released on November 26, 1996, featured songs by Dr. Dre himself, as well as by newly signed Aftermath Entertainment artists, and a solo track "Been There, Done That", intended as a symbolic farewell to gangsta rap. Despite being classified platinum by the RIAA, the album was not very popular among music fans. In October 1996, Dre performed "Been There, Done That" on Saturday Night Live. In 1997, Dr. Dre produced several tracks on The Firm's The Album; it was met with largely negative reviews from critics. Rumors began to abound that Aftermath was facing financial difficulties. Aftermath Entertainment also faced a trademark infringement lawsuit by the underground thrash metal band Aftermath. First Round Knock Out, a compilation of various tracks produced and performed by Dr. Dre was also released in 1996, with material ranging from World Class Wreckin' Cru to N.W.A to Death Row recordings. Dr. Dre chose to take no part in the ongoing East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry of the time, instead producing for, and appearing on, several New York artists' releases, such as Nas' "Nas Is Coming", LL Cool J's "Zoom" and Jay-Z's "Watch Me".

The turning point for Aftermath came in 1998, when Jimmy Iovine, the head of Aftermath's parent label Interscope, suggested that Dr. Dre sign Eminem, a white rapper from Detroit. Dre produced three songs and provided vocals for two on Eminem's successful and controversial debut album The Slim Shady LP, released in 1999. The Dr. Dre-produced lead single from that album, "My Name Is", brought Eminem to public attention for the first time, and the success of The Slim Shady LP – it reached number two on the Billboard 200 and received general acclaim from critics – revived the label's commercial ambitions and viability.

1999–2000: 2001

Dr. Dre's second solo album, 2001, released on November 16, 1999, was considered an ostentatious return to his gangsta rap roots. It was initially titled The Chronic 2000 to imply being a sequel to his debut solo effort The Chronic but was re-titled 2001 after Death Row Records released an unrelated compilation album with the title Chronic 2000: Still Smokin in May 1999. Other tentative titles included The Chronic 2001 and Dr. Dre. The album featured numerous collaborators, including Devin the Dude, Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Xzibit, Nate Dogg, Eminem, Knoc-turn'al, King T, Defari, Kokane, Mary J. Blige and new protégé Hittman, as well as co-production between Dre and new Aftermath producer Mel-Man. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the website AllMusic described the sound of the album as "adding ominous strings, soulful vocals, and reggae" to Dr. Dre's style. The album was highly successful, charting at number two on the Billboard 200 charts and has since been certified six times platinum, validating a recurring theme on the album: Dr. Dre was still a force to be reckoned with, despite the lack of major releases in the previous few years. The album included popular hit singles "Still D.R.E." and "Forgot About Dre", both of which Dr. Dre performed on NBC's Saturday Night Live on October 23, 1999. Dr. Dre won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2000, and joined the Up in Smoke Tour with fellow rappers Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube that year as well.

During the course of 2001's popularity, Dr. Dre was involved in several lawsuits. Lucasfilm Ltd., the film company behind the Star Wars film franchise, sued him over the use of the THX-trademarked "Deep Note". The Fatback Band also sued Dr. Dre over alleged infringement regarding its song "Backstrokin'" in his song "Let's Get High" from the 2001 album; Dr. Dre was ordered to pay $1.5 million to the band in 2003. The online music file-sharing company Napster also settled a lawsuit with him and metal band Metallica in the summer of 2001, agreeing to block access to certain files that artists do not want to have shared on the network.

2001–07: Focus on production and Detox

Following the success of 2001, Dr. Dre focused on producing songs and albums for other artists. He co-produced six tracks on Eminem’s landmark Marshall Mathers LP, including the Grammy-winning lead single, “The Real Slim Shady”. The album itself earned a Grammy and proved to be the fastest-selling rap album of all time, moving 1.76 million units in its first week alone. He produced the single "Family Affair" by R&B singer Mary J. Blige for her album No More Drama in 2001. He also produced "Let Me Blow Ya Mind", a duet by rapper Eve and No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani and signed R&B singer Truth Hurts to Aftermath in 2001. Dr. Dre was the executive producer of Eminem’s 2002 release, The Eminem Show. He produced three songs on the album, one of which was released as a single, and he appeared in the award-winning video for “Without Me”. He also produced The D.O.C.'s 2003 album Deuce, where he made a guest appearance on the tracks "Psychic Pymp Hotline", "Gorilla Pympin'" and "Judgment Day".

Another copyright-related lawsuit hit Dr. Dre in the fall of 2002, when Sa Re Ga Ma, a film and music company based in Calcutta, India, sued Aftermath Entertainment over an uncredited sample of the Lata Mangeshkar song "Thoda Resham Lagta Hai" on the Aftermath-produced song "Addictive" by singer Truth Hurts. In February 2003, a judge ruled that Aftermath would have to halt sales of Truth Hurts' album Truthfully Speaking if the company would not credit Mangeshkar.

Another successful album on the Aftermath label was Get Rich or Die Tryin', the 2003 major-label debut album by Queens, New York-based rapper 50 Cent. Dr. Dre produced or co-produced four tracks on the album, including the hit single "In da Club", a joint production between Aftermath, Eminem's boutique label Shady Records and Interscope. Eminem's fourth album since joining Aftermath, Encore, again saw Dre taking on the role of executive producer, and this time he was more actively involved in the music, producing or co-producing a total of eight tracks, including three singles. In November 2004, at the Vibe magazine awards show in Los Angeles, Dr. Dre was attacked by a fan named Jimmy James Johnson, who was supposedly asking for an autograph. In the resulting scuffle, then-G-Unit rapper Young Buck stabbed the man. Johnson claimed that Suge Knight, president of Death Row Records, paid him $5,000 to assault Dre in order to humiliate him before he received his Lifetime Achievement Award. Knight immediately went on CBS's The Late Late Show to deny involvement and insisted that he supported Dr. Dre and wanted Johnson charged. In September 2005, Johnson was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to stay away from Dr. Dre until 2008.

Dr. Dre also produced "How We Do", a 2005 hit single from rapper The Game from his album The Documentary, as well as tracks on 50 Cent's successful sophomore album The Massacre. For an issue of Rolling Stone magazine in April 2005, Dr. Dre was ranked 54th out of 100 artists for Rolling Stone magazine's list "The Immortals: The Greatest Artists of All Time". Kanye West wrote the summary for Dr. Dre, where he stated Dr. Dre's song "Xplosive" as where he "got (his) whole sound from".

In November 2006, Dr. Dre began working with Raekwon on his album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II. He also produced tracks for the rap albums Buck the World by Young Buck, Curtis by 50 Cent, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment by Snoop Dogg, and Kingdom Come by Jay-Z. Dre also appeared on Timbaland's track "Bounce", from his 2007 solo album, Timbaland Presents Shock Value alongside, Missy Elliott, and Justin Timberlake. During this period, The D.O.C. stated that Dre had been working with him on his fourth album Voices through Hot Vessels, which he planned to release after Detox arrived.

Planned but unreleased albums during Dr. Dre's tenure at Aftermath have included a full-length reunion with Snoop Dogg titled Breakup to Makeup, an album with fellow former N.W.A member Ice Cube which was to be titled Heltah Skeltah, an N.W.A reunion album, and a joint album with fellow producer Timbaland titled Chairmen of the Board.

In 2007, Dr. Dre's third studio album, formerly known as Detox, was slated to be his final studio album. Work for the upcoming album dates back to 2001, where its first version was called "the most advanced rap album ever", by producer Scott Storch. Later that same year, he decided to stop working on the album to focus on producing for other artists, but then changed his mind; the album had initially been set for a fall 2005 release. Producers confirmed to work on the album include DJ Khalil, Nottz, Bernard "Focus" Edwards Jr., Hi-Tek, J.R. Rotem, RZA, Jay-Z, Warren G, and Boi-1da. Snoop Dogg claimed that Detox was finished, according to a June 2008 report by Rolling Stone magazine. After another delay based on producing other artists' work, Detox was then scheduled for a 2010 release, coming after 50 Cent's Before I Self Destruct and Eminem's Relapse, an album for which Dr. Dre handled the bulk of production duties. In a Dr Pepper commercial that debuted on May 28, 2009, he premiered the first official snippet of Detox. 50 Cent and Eminem asserted in an interview on BET's 106 & Park that Dr. Dre had around a dozen songs finished for Detox.

2008–14: The Planets, a break and Coachella

On December 15, 2008, Dre appeared in the remix of the song "Set It Off" by Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall (also with Pusha T); the remix debuted on DJ Skee's radio show. At the beginning of 2009, Dre produced, and made a guest vocal performance on, the single "Crack a Bottle" by Eminem and the single sold a record 418,000 downloads in its first week. and reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week of February 12, 2009. Along with this single, in 2009 Dr. Dre produced or co-produced 19 of 20 tracks on Eminem's album Relapse. These included other hit singles "We Made You", "Old Time's Sake", and "3 a.m." (the only track Dre did not produce was the Eminem-produced single "Beautiful").

On April 20, 2010, "Under Pressure", featuring Jay-Z and co-produced with Scott Storch, was confirmed by Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre during an interview at Fenway Park as the album's first single. The song leaked prior to its intended release in an unmixed, unmastered form without a chorus on June 16, 2010: however, critical reaction to the song was lukewarm, and Dr. Dre later announced in an interview that the song, along with any other previously leaked tracks from Detox's recording process, would not appear on the final version of the album. Two genuine singles – "Kush", a collaboration with Snoop Dogg and fellow rapper Akon, and "I Need a Doctor" with Eminem and singer Skylar Grey – were released in the United States during November 2010 and February 2011 respectively: the latter achieved international chart success, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and later being certified double platinum by the RIAA and the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).

On June 25, 2010, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored Dr. Dre with its Founders Award for inspiring other musicians.

In an August 2010 interview, Dr. Dre stated that an instrumental album titled The Planets is in its first stages of production; each song being named after a planet in the Solar System. On September 3, Dr. Dre showed support to longtime protégé Eminem, and appeared on his and Jay-Z's Home & Home Tour, performing hit songs such as "Still D.R.E.", "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang", and "Crack a Bottle", alongside Eminem and another protégé, 50 Cent. Sporting an "R.I.P. Proof" shirt, Dre was honored by Eminem telling Detroit's Comerica Park to do the same. They did so, by chanting "DEEE-TOX", to which he replied, "I'm coming!"

On November 14, 2011, Dre announced that he would be taking a break from music after he finished producing for artists Slim the Mobster and Kendrick Lamar. In this break, he stated that he would "work on bringing his Beats By Dre to a standard as high as Apple" and would also spend time with his family.

On January 9, 2012, Dre headlined the final nights of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on the weekends of April 13–15 and April 20–22, 2012.

In a June 2014 interview with RapUpTV, Marsha Ambrosius talked about working on Dr. Dre’s third album. She stated that she had gone to Hawaii before the end of 2013 for a few weeks to work with him on “so many things” including his upcoming album and a project of her own among other unspecified projects. Ambrosius also told RapUpTV that Dr. Dre’s third album is no longer called Detox, but didn’t reveal the new title. In a September interview with Shots Fired that same year, Aftermath Entertainment in-house producer Dawaun Parker confirmed the title change. Parker also refrained from revealing the new title because of the fact that the title hadn’t been leaked online. He also told Shots Fired that there are as many as 300 beats that have been created for the album over the years, but few of them have had vocals recorded over them.

The length of time that Detox had been record for, as well as the limited amount of material that had been officially released or leaked from the recording sessions, had given it considerable notoriety within the music industry. Numerous release dates (including the ones mentioned above) had been given for the album over the years since it was first announced, although none of them transpired to be genuine. Several musicians closely affiliated with Dr. Dre, including Snoop Dogg, fellow rappers 50 Cent and Game and producer DJ Quik, had speculated in interviews that the album will never be released, due to Dr. Dre's business and entrepreneurial ventures having interfered with recording work, as well as causing him to lose motivation to record new material.

2015–present: Straight Outta Compton film and Compton album

On his Beats 1 radio show "The Pharmacy" on August 1, 2015, Dre announced that he would release what would be his final album, titled Compton. It is inspired by the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton and is a compilation-style album, featuring a number of frequent collaborators, including Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Xzibit and The Game, among others. It was released exclusively for iTunes and Apple Music on August 7. A physical version was published on August 21. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he revealed that he had about 20 to 40 tracks for Detox but he didn't release it because it didn't meet his standards and he thought he was done being an artist. He also revealed that he suffers from social anxiety and due to this he remains secluded and out of attention.

On February 12, 2016 it was revealed that Apple would create its first original scripted television series and it would star Dr. Dre. Called Vital Signs, it is set to reflect the life of Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre will additionally be an executive producer on the show.

In October 2016, Puff Daddy brought out Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and others on his Bad Boy Reunion tour.

Other ventures

Film career

Dr. Dre made his first on screen appearance as a weapons dealer in the 1996 bank robbery movie Set It Off. In 2001, Dr. Dre also appeared in the movies The Wash and Training Day. A song of his, "Bad Intentions" (featuring Knoc-Turn'Al) and produced by Mahogany, was featured on The Wash soundtrack. Dr. Dre also appeared on two other songs "On the Blvd." and "The Wash" along with his co-star Snoop Dogg. In February 2007 it was announced that Dr. Dre would produce dark comedies and horror films for New Line Cinema-owned company Crucial Films, along with longtime video director Phillip Atwell. Dr. Dre announced "This is a natural switch for me, since I've directed a lot of music videos, and I eventually want to get into directing." Along with fellow member Ice Cube, Dr. Dre produced Straight Outta Compton (2015), a biographical film about N.W.A.

Entrepreneurship

In July 2008, Dr. Dre released his first brand of headphones, Beats by Dr. Dre. The line consisted of Beats Studio, a circumaural headphone; Beats Tour, an in-ear headphone; Beats Solo & Solo HD, a supra-aural headphone; Beats Spin; Heartbeats by Lady Gaga, also an in-ear headphone; and Diddy Beats. In autumn 2009, Hewlett-Packard participated in a deal to bundle Beats By Dr. Dre with some HP laptops and headsets. HP and Dr. Dre announced the deal on October 9, 2009, at a press event in Santa Monica, California. An exclusive laptop, known as the HP ENVY 15 Beats limited edition, was released for sale October 22. In May 2014, technology giant Apple Inc. made a bid for the Beats by Dre brand for a reported $3 billion. This makes the takeover Apple's most expensive purchase by far. The deal reportedly made Dr. Dre the "Richest Man in Hip-Hop", surpassing former leader, Diddy.

Philanthropy

During May 2013, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine donated a $70 million endowment to the University of Southern California to create the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. The goal of the Academy has been stated as "to shape the future by nurturing the talents, passions, leadership and risk-taking of uniquely qualified students who are motivated to explore and create new art forms, technologies, and business models." The first class of the Academy began in September 2014.

Endorsements

"St. Ides"

"Coors Light"

"Dr. Pepper"

"Chrysler 300S" - Imported From Detroit

Dr. Dre started Burning Man rumors

An urban legend surfaced in 2011 when a tumblr blog titled Dr. Dre Started Burning Man began proliferating the notion that the producer, rapper and entrepreneur had discovered Burning Man in 1995 during a music video shoot and offered to cover the cost of the event's permit from the Nevada Bureau of Land Management under an agreement with the festival's organizers that he could institute an entrance fee system, which had not existed before his participation. This claim was supported by an alleged letter from Dre to Nicole Threatt Young that indicated that Dre had shared his experience witnessing the Burning Man festival with her.

Business Insider mentions the portion of the letter where Dr. Dre purportedly states "someone should get behind this...and make some money off these fools" and compares Dr. Dre's potential entrepreneurial engagement with Burning Man as a parallel to Steve Jobs' efforts to centralize and profit from the otherwise unorganized online music industry. According to Salon, Dr. Dre's ethos seems to be aligned with seven of the ten principles of the Burning Man community: "radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation and immediacy."

Musical influences and style

Production style

Dr. Dre is renowned for constantly evolving his production style through the years, while always keeping in touch with his roots and re-shaping elements from previous work. In the start of his career as a producer for the World Class Wreckin Cru with DJ Alonzo Williams in the mid-1980s, his beats were in the electro-hop style pioneered by The Unknown DJ, and that of early hip-hop groups like the Beastie Boys and Whodini. These influences are evident in Eazy-E's 1986 song "Boyz-n-the-Hood," which Dre produced. Sampling was at the time a key element of Dre's production, the E-mu SP-1200 being his primary instrument in the N.W.A days.

In 1987, Dr. Dre sampled the Ohio Players' ARP synth riffs from their 1973 funk hit "Funky Worm" in the N.W.A song "Dopeman". Being the first hip-hop producer to sample the song, Dre both paved the way for the future popularization of the G-funk style within hip-hop, and established heavy synthesizer solos as an integral part of his production style. Dr. Dre was also one of the very first producers to interpolate the then little-known drum break from The Winstons' "Amen, Brother" in the N.W.A song "Straight Outta Compton". This break has since becοme a staple in not only hip-hop, but all popular music, having been used in over 1700 songs.

From Straight Outta Compton on, Dre uses live musicians to replay old melodies rather than sampling them. In Ruthless Records, collaborators included guitarist Mike "Crazy Neck" Sims, multi-instrumentalist Colin Wolfe, DJ Yella and sound engineer Donovan "The Dirt Biker" Sound. Dre is receptive of new ideas from other producers, one example being his fruitful collaboration with Above the Law's producer Cold 187um while at Ruthless. Cold 187 um was at the time experimenting with 1970s P-Funk samples (Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton etc.), that Dre also utilized. Dre has since been accused of "stealing" the concept of G-funk from Cold 187 um.

Upon leaving Ruthless and forming Death Row Records in 1991, Dre called on veteran West Coast DJ Chris "The Glove" Taylor and sound engineer Greg "Gregski" Royal, along with Colin Wolfe, to help him on future projects. His 1992 album The Chronic is thought to be one of the most well-produced hip-hop albums of all time. Musical themes included hard-hitting synthesizer solos played by Wolfe, bass-heavy compositions, background female vocals and Dre fully embracing 1970s funk samples. Dre used a minimoog synth to replay the melody from Leon Haywood's 1972 song "I Wanna Do Somethin' Freaky to You" for the Chronic's first single "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang" which became a global hit. For his new protégé Snoop Doggy Dogg's album Doggystyle, Dre collaborated with then 19-year-old producer Daz Dillinger, who received co-production credits on songs "Serial Killa" and "For all My Niggaz & Bitches", as well as Warren G and Sam Sneed, who are credited with bringing several samples to the studio.

The influence of The Chronic and Doggystyle on the popular music of the 1990s went not only far beyond the West Coast, but beyond hip-hop as a genre. Artists as diverse as Master P ("Bout It, Bout It"), George Michael ("Fastlove"), Luis Miguel ("Dame"), and The Spice Girls ("Say You'll Be There"), used G-funk instrumentation in their songs. Bad Boy Records producer Chucky Thompson stated in the April 2004 issue of XXL magazine that the sound of Doggystyle and The Chronic was the basis for the Notorious B.I.G.'s 1995 hit single "Big Poppa":

In 1994, starting with the Murder was the Case soundtrack, Dre attempted to push the boundaries of G-funk further into a darker sound. In songs such as "Murder was the Case" and "Natural Born Killaz", the synthesizer pitch is higher and the drum tempo is slowed down to 91 BPM (87 BPM in the remix) to create a dark and gritty atmosphere. Percussion instruments, particularly sleigh bells, are also present. Dre's frequent collaborators from this period included Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania natives Stuart "Stu-B-Doo" Bullard, a multi-instrumentalist from the Ozanam Strings Orchestra, Sam Sneed, Stephen "Bud'da" Anderson, and percussionist Carl "Butch" Small. This style of production has been influential far beyond the West Coast. The beat for the Houston-based group Geto Boys 1996 song "Still" follows the same drum pattern as "Natural Born Killaz" and Eazy E's "Wut Would U Do" (a diss to Dre) is similar to the original "Murder was the Case" instrumental. This style of production is usually accompanied by horror and occult-themed lyrics and imagery, being crucial to the creation of horrorcore.

By 1996, Dre was again looking to innovate his sound. He recruited keyboardist Camara Kambon to play the keys on "Been There, Done That", and through Bud'da and Sam Sneed he was introduced to fellow Pittsburgh native Melvin "Mel-Man" Bradford. At this time, he also switched from using the E-mu SP-1200 to the Akai MPC3000 drum kit and sampler, which he still uses today. Beginning with his 1996 compilation Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath, Dre's production has taken a less sample-based approach, with loud, layered snare drums dominating the mix, while synthesizers are still omnipresent. In his critically acclaimed sophomore effort, 2001, live instrumentation takes the place of sampling, a famous example being "The Next Episode", in which keyboardist Camara Kambon re-played live the main melody from David McCallum's 1967 jazz-funk work "The Edge". For every song on 2001, Dre had a keyboardist, guitarist and bassist create the basic parts of the beat, while he himself programmed the drums, did the sequencing and overdubbing and added sound effects, and later mixed the songs. During this period, Dre's signature "west coast whistle" riffs are still present albeit in a lower pitch, as in "Light Speed", "Housewife", "Some L.A. Niggaz" and Eminem's "Guilty Conscience" hook. The sound of "2001" had tremendous influence on hip-hop production, redefining the West Coast's sound and expanding the G-funk of the early 1990s. To produce the album, Dre and Mel-Man relied on the talents of Scott Storch and Camara Kambon on the keys, Mike Elizondo and Colin Wolfe on bass guitar, Sean Cruse on lead guitar and sound engineers Richard "Segal" Huredia and Mauricio "Veto" Iragorri.

From the mid-2000s, Dr. Dre has taken on a more soulful production style, using more of a classical piano instead of a keyboard, and having claps replace snares, as evidenced in songs such as Snoop Dogg's "Imagine" and "Boss' Life", Busta Rhymes' "Get You Some" and "Been Through the Storm", Stat Quo's "Get Low" and "The Way It Be", Jay Z's "Lost One", Nas' "Hustlers", and several beats on Eminem's Relapse album. Soul and R&B pianist Mark Batson, having previously worked with The Dave Matthews Band, Seal and Maroon 5 has been credited as the architect of this sound. Besides Batson, Aftermath producer and understudy of Dre's, Dawaun Parker, who has named Q-Tip and J Dilla as his primary influences, is thought to be responsible for giving Dre's newest beats an East Coast feel.

Production equipment

Dr. Dre has said that his primary instrument in the studio is the Akai MPC3000, a drum machine and sampler, and that he often uses as many as four or five to produce a single recording. He cites 1970s funk musicians such as George Clinton, Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield as his primary musical influences. Unlike most rap producers, he tries to avoid samples as much as possible, preferring to have studio musicians re-play pieces of music he wants to use, because it allows him more flexibility to change the pieces in rhythm and tempo. In 2001 he told Time magazine, "I may hear something I like on an old record that may inspire me, but I'd rather use musicians to re-create the sound or elaborate on it. I can control it better." Other equipment he uses include the E-mu SP-1200 drum machine and other keyboards from such manufacturers as Korg, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Moog, and Roland. Dr. Dre also stresses the importance of equalizing drums properly, telling Scratch magazine in 2004 that he "used the same drum sounds on a couple of different songs on one album before but you'd never be able to tell the difference because of the EQ." Dr. Dre also uses the digital audio workstation, Pro Tools and uses the software to combine hardware drum machines and vintage analog keyboards and synthesizers.

After founding Aftermath Entertainment in 1996, Dr. Dre took on producer Mel-Man as a co-producer, and his music took on a more synthesizer-based sound, using fewer vocal samples (as he had used on "Lil' Ghetto Boy" and "Let Me Ride" on The Chronic, for example). Mel-Man has not shared co-production credits with Dr. Dre since approximately 2002, but fellow Aftermath producer Focus has credited Mel-Man as a key architect of the signature Aftermath sound.

In 1999, Dr. Dre started working with Mike Elizondo, a bassist, guitarist, and keyboardist who has also produced, written and played on records for female singers such as Poe, Fiona Apple and Alanis Morissette, In the past few years Elizondo has since worked for many of Dr. Dre's productions. Dr. Dre also told Scratch magazine in a 2004 interview that he has been studying piano and music theory formally, and that a major goal is to accumulate enough musical theory to score movies. In the same interview he stated that he has collaborated with famed 1960s songwriter Burt Bacharach by sending him hip hop beats to play over, and hopes to have an in-person collaboration with him in the future.

Work ethic

Dr. Dre has stated that he is a perfectionist and is known to pressure the artists with whom he records to give flawless performances. In 2006, Snoop Dogg told the website Dubcnn.com that Dr. Dre had made new artist Bishop Lamont re-record a single bar of vocals 107 times. Dr. Dre has also stated that Eminem is a fellow perfectionist, and attributes his success on Aftermath to his similar work ethic. He gives a lot of input into the delivery of the vocals and will stop an MC during a take if it is not to his liking. However, he gives MCs that he works with room to write lyrics without too much instruction unless it is a specifically conceptual record, as noted by Bishop Lamont in the book How to Rap.

A consequence of his perfectionism is that some artists who initially sign deals with Dr. Dre's Aftermath label never release albums. In 2001, Aftermath released the soundtrack to the movie The Wash, featuring a number of Aftermath acts such as Shaunta, Daks, Joe Beast and Toi. To date, none have released full-length albums on Aftermath and have apparently ended their relationships with the label and Dr. Dre. Other noteworthy acts to leave Aftermath without releasing albums include King Tee, 2001 vocalist Hittman, Joell Ortiz, Raekwon and Rakim.

Collaborators and co-producers

Over the years, word of other collaborators who have contributed to Dr. Dre's work has surfaced. During his tenure at Death Row Records, it was alleged that Dr. Dre's stepbrother Warren G and Tha Dogg Pound member Daz made many uncredited contributions to songs on his solo album The Chronic and Snoop Doggy Dogg's album Doggystyle (Daz received production credits on Snoop's similar-sounding, albeit less successful album Tha Doggfather after Young left Death Row Records).

It is known that Scott Storch, who has since gone on to become a successful producer in his own right, contributed to Dr. Dre's second album 2001; Storch is credited as a songwriter on several songs and played keyboards on several tracks. In 2006 he told Rolling Stone:

Current collaborator Mike Elizondo, when speaking about his work with Young, describes their recording process as a collaborative effort involving several musicians. In 2004 he claimed to Songwriter Universe magazine that he had written the foundations of the hit Eminem song "The Real Slim Shady", stating, "I initially played a bass line on the song, and Dr. Dre, Tommy Coster Jr. and I built the track from there. Eminem then heard the track, and he wrote the rap to it." This account is essentially confirmed by Eminem in his book Angry Blonde, stating that the tune for the song was composed by a studio bassist and keyboardist while Dr. Dre was out of the studio but Young later programmed the song's beat after returning.

A group of disgruntled former associates of Dr. Dre complained that they had not received their full due for work on the label in the September 2003 issue of The Source. A producer named Neff-U claimed to have produced the songs "Say What You Say" and "My Dad's Gone Crazy" on The Eminem Show, the songs "If I Can't" and "Back Down" on 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin', and the beat featured on Dr. Dre's commercial for Coors beer.

Although Young studies piano and musical theory, he serves as more of a conductor than a musician himself, as Josh Tyrangiel of TIME magazine has noted:

Although Snoop Dogg retains working relationships with Warren G and Daz, who are alleged to be uncredited contributors on the hit albums The Chronic and Doggystyle, he states that Dr. Dre is capable of making beats without the help of collaborators, and that he is responsible for the success of his numerous albums. Dr. Dre's prominent studio collaborators, including Scott Storch, Elizondo, Mark Batson and Dawaun Parker, have shared co-writing, instrumental, and more recently co-production credits on the songs where he is credited as the producer.

Anderson Paak also praised Dr. Dre in a 2016 interview with Music Times, telling the publication that it was a dream come true to work with Dre.

Ghostwriters

It is acknowledged that most of Dr. Dre's raps are written for him by others, though he retains ultimate control over his lyrics and the themes of his songs. As Aftermath producer Mahogany told Scratch: "It's like a class room in [the booth]. He'll have three writers in there. They'll bring in something, he'll recite it, then he'll say. 'Change this line, change this word,' like he's grading papers." As seen in the credits for tracks Young has appeared on, there are often multiple people who contribute to his songs (although often in hip hop many people are officially credited as a writer for a song, even the producer).

In the book How to Rap, RBX explains that writing The Chronic was a "team effort" and details how he ghostwrote "Let Me Ride" for Dre. In regard to ghostwriting lyrics he says, "Dre doesn't profess to be no super-duper rap dude – Dre is a super-duper producer". As a member of N.W.A, The D.O.C. wrote lyrics for him while he stuck with producing. New York City rapper Jay-Z ghostwrote lyrics for the single "Still D.R.E." from Dr. Dre's album 2001.

Personal life

Relationships and family

Dr. Dre has had four sons and two daughters, by five different women.

In 1981, Dr. Dre and Cassandra Joy Greene had a son named Curtis Young when Dr. Dre was 16 years old and Greene was 15 years old. Curtis Young is an aspiring rapper who goes by the rap moniker "Hood Surgeon".

In 1983, Dr. Dre and Lisa Johnson had a daughter named La Tanya Danielle Young.

In 1988, Dr. Dre and Jenita Porter had a son, Andre Young Jr. In 1990, Porter sued Dr. Dre in Orange County Superior Court seeking $5,000 of child support per month. On August 23, 2008, Andre Young Jr. died at the age of 20 at his mother's Woodland Hills home. The coroner determined that he died from an overdose of heroin and morphine.

From 1987 to 1996, Dr. Dre dated singer Michel'le, who frequently contributed vocals to Ruthless Records and Death Row Records albums. In 1991, the couple had a son, Marcel.

In 1996, Dr. Dre married Nicole Threatt, the ex-wife of NBA player Sedale Threatt. They have two children together: a son named Truice (born 1997) and a daughter named Truly (born 2001).

Violence against women

Dr. Dre has been accused of violence against women in the past.

On January 27, 1991, at a music industry party at the Po Na Na Souk club in Hollywood, Dr. Dre assaulted television host Dee Barnes of the Fox television program Pump it Up, because he felt dissatisfied with her news report about the feud between the remaining N.W.A members and Ice Cube. Barnes filed a 22.7 million dollar lawsuit in response to the incident. Subsequently, Dr. Dre was fined $2,500 and given two years' probation and 240 hours of community service, as well as a spot on an anti-violence public service announcement on television. The civil suit was settled out of court. Barnes stated that Young "began slamming her face and the right side of her body repeatedly against a wall near the stairway." Dr. Dre later commented "People talk all this shit, but you know, somebody fucks with me, I'm gonna fuck with them. I just did it, you know. Ain't nothing you can do now by talking about it. Besides, it ain't no big thing – I just threw her through a door."

In March 2015, singer Michel'le accused him of physical abuse during their time together as a couple, but did not initiate legal action. Former labelmate Tairrie B also claimed that Dre assaulted her at a post-Grammy party in 1990, in response to her track Ruthless Bitch.

During press for the popular 2015 film Straight Outta Compton, questions about the portrayal and behavior of Dr. Dre and other prominent figures in the rap community about violence against women - and the question about its absence in the film - were raised. The discussion about the film led to Dr. Dre addressing his past behavior in the press. In August 2015, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Dre lamented his abusive past, saying, "I made some fucking horrible mistakes in my life. I was young, fucking stupid. I would say all the allegations aren't true—some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really fucked up. But I paid for those mistakes, and there's no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again."

In a statement to The New York Times on August 21, 2015, Dre again addressed his abusive past, stating, "Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life. However, none of this is an excuse for what I did. I've been married for 19 years and every day I'm working to be a better man for my family, seeking guidance along the way. I'm doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again." He went on to apologize to all the women he abused, saying, "I apologize to the women I've hurt. I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives."

Other convictions

Dr. Dre pleaded guilty in October 1992 in a case of battery of a police officer and was convicted on two additional battery counts stemming from a brawl in the lobby of the New Orleans hotel in May 1991.

On January 10, 1994, Dr. Dre was arrested after leading police on a 90 mph pursuit through Beverly Hills in his 1987 Ferrari. It was revealed Dr. Dre had a blood-alcohol of 0.16, twice the state's legal limit. The conviction violated Dre's battery conviction in 1991 and he was sentenced to 8 months in prison in September 1994.

Income

In 2001, Dr. Dre earned a total of about US$52 million from selling part of his share of Aftermath Entertainment to Interscope Records and his production of such hit songs that year as "Family Affair" by Mary J. Blige. Rolling Stone magazine thus named him the second highest-paid artist of the year. Dr. Dre was ranked 44th in 2004 from earnings of $11.4 million, primarily from production royalties from such projects as albums from G-Unit and D12 and the single "Rich Girl" by singer Gwen Stefani and rapper Eve. Forbes estimated his net worth at US$270 million in 2012. The same publication later reported that he acquired US$110 million via his various endeavors in 2012, making him the highest–paid artist of the year.

Income from the 2014 sale of Beats to Apple, contributing to what Forbes termed "the biggest single-year payday of any musician in history", made Dr. Dre the world's richest musical performer of 2015.

Suge Knight conspiracy accusation

April 4, 2016 TMZ and the New York Daily News reported Knight as having accused Dre and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's department of a kill-for-hire plot in the 2014 shooting of Knight in club 1 OAK.

Discography

Studio albums

The Chronic (1992)

2001 (1999)

Compton (2015)

Soundtrack album

The Wash (2001)

Collaboration albumsWith World Class Wreckin' Cru

World Class (1985)

Rapped in Romance (1986)

With N.W.A.

N.W.A. and the Posse (1987)

Straight Outta Compton (1988)

100 Miles and Runnin' (1990)

Niggaz4Life (1991)

Awards and nominations

BET Hip Hop AwardsGrammy Awards

Dr. Dre has won six Grammy Awards. Three of them are for his production work.

Wikipedia

#Dr. Dre

4 notes · View notes

itsfinancethings · 4 years

Link

November 29, 2019 at 07:00AM

List season has hit particularly hard this year, as the end of our first full decade of social media immersion has culminated in a multi-month spree of ranking and revisiting the likes of which humanity has probably never seen before. So I feel compelled to open by thanking you, the reader, for giving yet another highly subjective hit parade your attention.

My hope is that along with a few of the zeitgeisty critical darlings (Fleabag, Watchmen, Succession) you’re sure to find in every other top 10 of 2019, this list will point you in the direction of some equally wonderful series (Vida, David Makes Man, Back to Life) that haven’t gotten the shine they deserve. What you won’t find here, incidentally, is anything from the initial slate of shows on brand-new streaming services Apple TV+ or Disney+. Whether that disappointment turns out to be a pattern or a fluke, only time will tell.

10. Back to Life (Showtime)

Few characters have embodied the saying “you can’t go home again” as fully as Back to Life creator Daisy Haggard’s Miri Matteson. Out on parole after spending half her life in jail for a crime she committed at age 18, Miri returns to her small English hometown—not because she’s missed the place, but because she has nowhere to go but her parents’ house. While enduring harassment at the hands of neighbors who will never forget what she did, she struggles to find work, companionship and peace. From the producers of Fleabag, this quieter, gentler traumedy weighs Miri’s crime against the less extreme but more malicious transgressions of her family and friends. It poses the question of whether anyone who pays their debt to society really gets a fair chance to start over—and it suggests that you can tell a lot about a community by getting to know its scapegoats.

9. When They See Us (Netflix)

Ava DuVernay is the rare popular artist fueled by an irrepressible optimism about building a better future as well as righteous anger about the past and present. She brought both of these defining traits to bear on this four-part drama about the Central Park Five—whom her miniseries rechristened the Exonerated Five. Along with exposing how and suggesting why a broken New York City criminal justice system was so eager to vilify blameless children of color in the aftermath of a monstrous act of sexual violence, DuVernay and her stellar young cast worked with the real Five to create multifaceted portraits of regular kids with hopes, ambitions and communities that suffered as a result of their incarceration. And she found echoes of their story in the current movement against mass incarceration and in the presidency of Donald Trump, who stoked public fury at the boys. When They See Us celebrates the righting of a grievous wrong while acknowledging that no vindication, or remuneration, could fully heal such deep wounds.

8. Watchmen (HBO)

For those of us who haven’t enjoyed our culture’s never-ending superhero craze so much as endured it, the news that the most prestigious of all prestige cable outlets was adapting a DC Comics book sounded kind of like a betrayal. Et tu, HBO? But we should never have doubted The Leftovers creator Damon Lindelof’s ability to make Alan Moore’s brilliant, subversive 1980s classic resonate more than three decades later. Instead of revisiting the Cold War, Lindelof set his Watchmen in an alternate 2019 where the events of the comic are canon, Robert Redford (yes, that one) has been President for decades and a white supremacist group called the Seventh Kavalry is slaughtering police who are loyal to the liberal administration. Into this mess rides masked vigilante Sister Night (Regina King, in the would-be hero role she’s long deserved), a cop who is supposed to have retired from crime-fighting. There is (or should be) enough carryover from Moore’s original to appease its cult fandom, but the show is at its best when contending with our confused, misinformed, politically polarized current reality. And in that respect, it’s every bit as intelligent, provocative and mysterious as it is entertaining.

7. Undone (Amazon)

Fans worried that BoJack Horseman mastermind Raphael Bob-Waksberg would turn out to be a one-hit wonder could take comfort in this wildly imaginative sci-fi dramedy that he co-created with Kate Purdy, about a disaffected young woman (Rosa Salazar’s Alma) who narrowly survives a catastrophic car crash. In hospital-bed visions tied to her sudden physical trauma and preexisting mental illness, Alma reunites with her long-dead father (Bob Odenkirk), learns that he was murdered and allows him to guide her on a time-travel mission to prevent the crime from happening. Yet Undone is more than just a high-concept mystery; it’s a journey into human consciousness, a beautiful example of Rotoscoped animation and a subtle meditation on family, identity and spirituality.

6. David Makes Man (OWN)

The success of Moonlight sent ripples through Hollywood, elevating writer-director Barry Jenkins and a cast including Mahershala Ali, Jharrel Jerome and Janelle Monáe to the highest echelon of their art form. It also opened industry doors for MacArthur honoree Tarell Alvin McCraney, who wrote the play on which the film was based. This year he unveiled David Makes Man, a lyrical drama about a smart, troubled 14-year-old (Akili McDowell, astonishing in his first lead role) in the Florida projects who’s struggling to get into a prestigious high school and avoid being drafted into a gang, while mourning a mentor. Though it shares a lush aesthetic and many themes—black boyhood, complicated role models, queer identity—with Moonlight, the expanded format allows McCraney to explore the people around David. His privileged best friend (Nathaniel McIntyre) suffers abuse at home. His gender-queer neighbor (Travis Coles) takes in runaway LGBT teens and plays a delicate role in the local ecosystem. And his single mother (Alana Arenas), an addict in recovery, holds down a degrading job to keep the bills paid. This isn’t just the old story of excellence and poverty battling for the soul of one extraordinary child; it’s the story of a community where both qualities must coexist.

5. Lodge 49 (AMC)

At least once a year, a series too smart for prime-time gets canned even as network execs re-up long-running bores like NCIS for 24 more functionally identical episodes. In 2019, it was Lodge 49 that ended up on the wrong side of the equation. A loose, semi-stoned account of a young man (Wyatt Russell’s Sean “Dud” Dudley) treading water in the wake of his beloved father’s death, the show expanded over the course of its first season into an allegory for the isolation of contemporary life. The Southern California landscape around Dud, an affable dreamer, and his self-destructive twin sister (Sonya Cassidy) had been scarred by pawn shops, breastaurants, temp agencies, abandoned office parks. Refuge came in the form of the titular cash-strapped fraternal organization, where Dud found two precious things late capitalism couldn’t provide: a sense of community and a mysterious, all-consuming quest. Both propelled him and his cohorts to Mexico in this year’s funny, bittersweet second season; perhaps sensing the end was near, creator Jim Gavin’s finale provided something like closure. Still, the show—which is currently being shopped to streaming services—has plenty left to say. Here’s hoping the producers find a way to, as the fans on Twitter put it, #SaveLodge49.

4. Vida (Starz)

In its short first season, creator Tanya Saracho’s Vida assembled all the elements of a great half-hour drama. Mishel Prada and Melissa Berrera shined as Mexican-American sisters who come home to LA after the death of their inscrutable mom, Vida—only to learn that the building and bar she owned are on the verge of foreclosure. It also turns out that Vida, whose homophobia destroyed her relationship with Prada’s sexually fluid Emma, had married a woman. Meanwhile, their angry teenage neighbor Mari (Chelsea Rendon) raged against gentrification. These storylines coalesced to electrifying effect in this year’s second season, testing the sisters’ tense bond as they found themselves in the crosshairs of activists who saw their desperate efforts to save the family business as acts of treachery from two stuck-up “whitinas.” Thanks largely to the talented Latinx writers and directors Saracho enlisted for the project, Vida brings lived-in nuance to issues like class, colorism and desire—yielding one of TV’s smartest and sexiest shows.

3. Succession (HBO)

Right-wing tycoons and their adult children have gotten plenty of attention in the past few years—most of it negative. So why would anyone voluntarily watch a show in which the nightmare offspring of a Mudoch-like media titan (Brian Cox) compete to become his successor? A rational argument for all the goodwill around Succession might point out the crude poetry of its dialogue (from creator Jesse Armstrong, a longtime Armando Iannucci collaborator), the fearlessness of its cast (give Jeremy Strong an Emmy just for Kendall’s rap) and the knife-twisting accuracy of this season’s digital-media satire (R.I.P. Vaulter). But on a more primal level, one informed by the increasingly rare experience of watching episodes set Twitter ablaze as they aired, I think we’re also getting a collective thrill out of a series that confirms our darkest assumptions about people who thirst for money and power. It’s a catharsis we may well deserve.

2. Russian Doll (Netflix)

To observe that there was a built-in audience for a show created by Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland in which Lyonne starred as a hard-partying New York City cynic might’ve been the understatement of the year. But even those of us who bought into Russian Doll from the beginning could never have predicted such a resounding triumph. In a story built like the titular nesting doll, Lyonne’s Nadia Vulvokov dies in a freak accident on the night of her 36th birthday. The twist is, instead of moving on to the afterlife or the grave, she finds herself back where she started the evening, at a party in her honor. Nadia is condemned to repeat this cycle of death and rebirth until she levels up in self-knowledge—a process that entails many cigarettes, lots of vintage East Village grit and a not-so-chance encounter with a fellow traveler. Stir in a warm, wry tone and a message of mutual aid, and you’ve got the best new TV show of 2019.

1. Fleabag (Amazon)

Fleabag began its run, in 2016, as a six-episode black comedy about a scornful, neurotic, hypersexual young woman caught in a self-destructive holding pattern of her own making. The premise didn’t immediately distinguish creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge as all that different from peers like Lena Dunham, Aziz Ansari and Donald Glover. But the British show’s execution was sharp, funny and daring enough to make it a cult hit on both sides of the Atlantic—and to anoint Waller-Bridge as TV’s next big thing. She went on to helm the exhilarating first season of Killing Eve, giving this year’s second and final season of Fleabag time to percolate. It returned as a more mature but, thankfully, no less audacious show, matching Waller-Bridge’s somewhat reformed Fleabag with an impossible love interest known to fans as the Hot Priest (Andrew Scott). The relationship offered a path to forgiveness for the kind of character most millennial cris de coeur have been content to leave hanging. By allowing Fleabag a measure of grace without sacrificing her life-giving vulgarity, Waller-Bridge conjured the realistic vision of redemption that has so far eluded her contemporaries—and closed out the 2010s with the decade’s single greatest season of comedy.

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes