OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?

OMG a piece of writing about a male pop star* which treats his body with the same level of objectification that female pop stars are just routinely subjected to!!!1!11

*Yes, I know, before you all jump on me: Racial implications are complicated. But still.

I don't think writing fallen Mandingo fanfic is the route we want to go down to combat sexism but that's just me.

"And like his pendulous man-tits, D's newest joints wobbled in the deepening Brooklyn night before heaving skyward for a thundering and elephantine climax that left even his hungriest fans emitting soft burps of approbation"

Heavy beats, weighty lyrics, fat low end

Yeah, I know, it's racist tripe, and crossing another line into dismissive in a slightly sexist way towards his implied fans, in the way that "Serious Music Journalist Snides at Act Perceived as Popular With Women" always does.

(I still laughed though).

((I am admittedly a terrible person))

Exactly how much do you know about D'Angelo?

I don't feel like having that particular clusterfuck today, so point taken. Peace out.

I haven't personally seen reviews that drift off into dreamlike sexual fantasies mid sentence regardless of the gender in question.

pretty sure that sort of idiot shit happens more to non-white male artists than you might guess, esp in the coded "intimidating size/physically imposing" way applied to rap dudes that i see way too much. nobody every led off a review throughline with Glenn Frey getting paunchy.

"OMG a piece of writing about a male pop star* which treats his body with the same level of objectification that female pop stars are just routinely subjected to!!!1!11"

yes thank you for this sophisticated 'two wrongs make a right' analysis, well done

gonna go google "d'angelo tiny abdominal muscles" to find out whether this publication is bigger or smaller than a breadbox

ooh, bigger

I'm even struck by how his face has a vague resemblance to a Nazi helmet — that sleek, matte finish, that dull glans sheen.

oh gross.

shine bright like a cock head

well THAT was fun to google

how can sheen be dull and matte?

that's fêted pop critic simon reynolds btw, seemed relevant

to the discussion, I mean, obv

can't believe Parade Magazine published these

briefly tempted to go with "fallen Mandingo fanfic" dn, reason won out

how can sheen be dull and matte?

― EZ Snappin,

he has been ever since he left "Spin City"

badabing!

http://www.bite.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Clap-clap-clap.gif

Jody Rosen (the other one) posted this on Twitter this morning, and it's a pretty good demo of a person who just yesterday started listening to pop/Beyonce deciding to write about it: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/26/beyonc-is-our-indigo-girl-the-halcyon-90s-and-feminism-s-resurgence-in-pop-music.html

it reads like the work of someone whose knowledge of everything they write about in that feature was sourced entirely from wikipedia this afternoon.

En Vogue had a standout hit on their own that continues to be a great feminist break-up record in “Never Gonna Get It,” a predecessor to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” in the realm of songs empowering women to tell those disrespectful ex-boyfriends where they can shove it.

this mix of declarative flatness with calculated informal breaks is exactly how my students write for the paper.

idk what people mean by "feminist" anymore

fortunately neither does anybody else apparently

Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes

idk Marcotte doesn't usually write about music, does she? It's certainly better than when political op-ed writers would talk about gangsta rap groups like Nine Inch Nails.

Yeah, that piece may have been banal but it's not like the writing or the thesis is worthy of this thread.

I know that piece doesn't exactly reek of in-depth musical expertise, but if prominent feminist writers want to sometimes write a column about feminist messages in music, that seems fine with me.

not that they need my approval, definite poor choice of words on that. Just mean that it's weird to see it show up in the worst music writing thread, right after the piece about how D'Angelo used to be capital-S sexy and then he gained weight

I'm fine with it too, but not if it means disregarding entire eras of music (Rosen's Twitter feed spells it out pretty well what's wrong w/ it).

I'd rather discuss (and mock) pieces like this rather than the college paper shit that usually gets posted in this thread as of late.

(and I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Marcotte, I'm still bitter about how she's handled criticism from feminist POC about various issues).

Yeah, fair point. I'm not a huge fan of Marcotte either.

this jody rosen? http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/beyonce-the-woman-on-top-of-the-world/

Yeah, that's him. I don't see your point.

unfair, but kind of funny:

Beyonce: The Woman on Top of the World
By JODY ROSEN

A few years ago, Beyoncé Knowles was like any other record-breaking pop star in an already crowded field. Then something changed.

Jody Rosen ‏@jodyrosen

"But somehow, seemingly overnight, things changed." The Somehow Seemingly Overnight Theory of History.

This isn't funny or interesting enough to be in this thread tho, rly

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1602421

that piece may have been banal but it's not like the writing or the thesis is worthy of this thread

simon reynolds line is disgusting, tho

Which line is that?

the one about ll cool j's face looking like a nazi helmet

and this is a guy who said that indie bands were racist for not incorporating enough "rhythm"

or wait, that's sasha frere-jones. simon reynolds said that british indie fans didn't listen to r&b or hip-hop, which is probably true. point redacted.

more offended by his comparing it to a penis, myself

Reynolds' line about the nazi helmet is in response to LL comparing himself to Hitler, no?

nazi dickhead ll cool j