rolling regional thug thread 2012

who is the rappper Armstrong

orlando rapper who noz wrote about recently on redbull & id written about in blog posts on fader

who has been RICO'd

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/noz-pit-stop-orlando

tbh was never completely sold on his music -- he picked good beats & seems to be the real deal or w/e but i kinda was 'ok' w/ it the way i am w/ alley boy

http://www.chicagonow.com/becoming-nikki-lynette/2012/10/1492/

that's an interesting essay

that reese footage is so terrible.

honestly, it gets to the point where i don't even really want to follow hip hop anymore. and i'm not saying hip hop causes these things, but 25 years of rubbernecking at all this pain and violence and nihilism has just made it to the point where esp keef & reese & this stuff has no appeal to me really at all. just a more dead-eyed thudding version of shit i've been listening to since nwa & geto boys, and nothing changes, nothing is really learned from all of it. hell you could go back to schooly d who could be reese's grandfather. i remember reading that keef's MOM is 31 years old. seven years younger than me. i wish someone could help these kids or make things better for kids that grow up in those neighborhoods but i doubt that will happen, and hip hop sure hasn't helped. 10 years from now keef & them will be right back where they started probably. just not much fun or life in a lot of this music to me anymore. and part of me feels gross for having vicariously looked on for so long.

this line from jordan's review of keef stuck out to me i remember:

As sociology, the mixtape reinforces just how and why violence is rooted in underclass communities, and though Keef has already been blamed for its perpetuation, at the age of 16, he's still years away from fully understanding the context in which his music exists

which j0rd u are a good writer and the review was well written but it's not sociology, that would suggest that something is being learned or discovered, it's just voyeurism for most of us.

that's an interesting pair of posts

i still believe there is an inherent value in the visibility of ppl in marginalized communities. it's not the reason i listen to it, although it can be wrapped up in it? partly rationalization sure, but i mean, this stuff does force you to be aware of something you would otherwise ignore

but its important not to pretend that just being 'aware' of this stuff does anything positive in & of itself

which j0rd u are a good writer and the review was well written but it's not sociology, that would suggest that something is being learned or discovered, it's just voyeurism for most of us.

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, October 25, 2012 1:36 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark

this may be true... i think personally GBE's music has been eye opening to me at times. as i've said when i've written about them, there's something very different & unique about their delivery and i think there is something to be learned in both that and the content of their music about how current teens in those communities think and feel. in many ways it's a reinforcement of things that rap has taught us/displayed for years, but in other ways i think it's something a bit different.

xpost

I guess the question is how noticing your 'awareness' will influence the people you are aware of?
A) The media attention has probably boosted some egos.
B) The negative media attention in the wake of something like today's Reese video is bound to start some discussions, for better or for worse, and not just by queasy middle class rap aesthetes.

And so on.

queasy middle class rap aesthetes.

ok bro

mostly i just don't find it very good as music either. keef's music feels pretty dead end philosphically and aesthetically to me. he's going to find himself in the same box that, say, an early 80s hardcore band did...his sort of singleminded, tunnel vision minimal nihilism is really the only thing that's going for the music, and i doubt he'll ever be able to do a better version of that than he did on his early singles/youtubes, if he's successful, he's only going to be farther removed from the world that he expresses now, if he tries to change or expand, he's just going to be more like every other rapper and maybe a less interesting version.

i'd gladly place myself in that category btw - not meant as a diss at all

feel myself agreeing with a lot of m@tt's points.

I read this blog post a while ago and I've been thinking a lot about it as well. on keef and the vicious cycle and all that:

http://wohhiphop.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/chief-keef-my-lovehate-relationship-with-chicago/

Now this is pretty troubling:
https://twitter.com/DJKENN_AON/status/261519231869415425

? i thought that's what we were talking abt? or is because of who tweeted it?

That he is obviously treating it as promotion for Reese?

oh ok

DJKENN ‏@DJKENN_AON
TRU STORY RT @BingOfPLE These hoes is be acting up.... But lil Reese don't be lettin em

yeesh

man - that's just about the only way this thing could get any worse - them basking in the attention.

i dunno that we're reading that right

mostly i just don't find it very good as music either. keef's music feels pretty dead end philosphically and aesthetically to me. he's going to find himself in the same box that, say, an early 80s hardcore band did...his sort of singleminded, tunnel vision minimal nihilism is really the only thing that's going for the music, and i doubt he'll ever be able to do a better version of that than he did on his early singles/youtubes, if he's successful, he's only going to be farther removed from the world that he expresses now, if he tries to change or expand, he's just going to be more like every other rapper and maybe a less interesting version.

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, October 25, 2012 1:40 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hes already got a follow-up track that is blowing up.

brb gonna go dig a hole and never come out ever again

i dunno that we're reading that right

― fanute da croupier (D-40), Thursday, October 25, 2012 3:18 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk his recent tweets/retweets are along the same lines

hes already got a follow-up track that is blowing up.

― fanute da croupier (D-40), Thursday, October 25, 2012 2:19 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm not saying he won't blow up, or be successful. he might or might not, and to me it doesn't really matter too much to what i was saying.

also these are just personal feelings, lots of ppl seem to be pretty wrapped up in the idea that keef "means" something or is something new i guess, but it doesn't really feel like anything to me, or at least anything i'm very interested in listening to.

mostly i just don't find it very good as music either. keef's music feels pretty dead end philosphically and aesthetically to me. he's going to find himself in the same box that, say, an early 80s hardcore band did...his sort of singleminded, tunnel vision minimal nihilism is really the only thing that's going for the music, and i doubt he'll ever be able to do a better version of that than he did on his early singles/youtubes, if he's successful, he's only going to be farther removed from the world that he expresses now, if he tries to change or expand, he's just going to be more like every other rapper and maybe a less interesting version.

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 25 October 2012 19:40 (46 minutes ago) Bookmark

idg why this stuff (which i agree with) is equated to "not finding it very good as music"?

honestly, it gets to the point where i don't even really want to follow hip hop anymore. and i'm not saying hip hop causes these things, but 25 years of rubbernecking at all this pain and violence and nihilism has just made it to the point where esp keef & reese & this stuff has no appeal to me really at all. just a more dead-eyed thudding version of shit i've been listening to since nwa & geto boys, and nothing changes, nothing is really learned from all of it. hell you could go back to schooly d who could be reese's grandfather. i remember reading that keef's MOM is 31 years old. seven years younger than me. i wish someone could help these kids or make things better for kids that grow up in those neighborhoods but i doubt that will happen, and hip hop sure hasn't helped. 10 years from now keef & them will be right back where they started probably. just not much fun or life in a lot of this music to me anymore. and part of me feels gross for having vicariously looked on for so long.

great post m@tt.

that video is horrible. wtf is going on with these kids seriously

lots of things which go back decades

same shit going on across the country

i'm not saying he won't blow up, or be successful. he might or might not, and to me it doesn't really matter too much to what i was saying.

also these are just personal feelings, lots of ppl seem to be pretty wrapped up in the idea that keef "means" something or is something new i guess, but it doesn't really feel like anything to me, or at least anything i'm very interested in listening to.

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, October 25, 2012 2:27 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i just mean that i think ur perspective is pretty otm as far as the potential downside. i think hes got a longer run than the 'early youtubes' tho based on the singles that have surfaced so far

i also dont think that this is as new as its being made out to be. its just that a lot of stuff that might not have been as public in the 90s is super-available now.

b.c internet

/social media

i'll agree that it's important not to act like this is only happening in hip hop but that hardly leaves the music community blameless if this kinda shit is treated as SOS especially if it's used as fucking marketing material

yeah def. you would kind of hope that a side effect of talent being identified (and record deals given) in this situation is some form of mentorship from some figure these kids respect. i know this video is old btw i just mean in general. what will def jam do now?

xp

big pun actually got caught on camera pistol-whipping a woman. did u have these ~complicated feelings~ when listening to pun?

I mean the answer is 'yes' for me & probably for you too but im just saying, this isnt some new thing its the same horrible shit that has been happening

but now we're confusing wires, bc hip hop doesnt actually celebrate this kind of shit -- beating a woman is (i hope??) still not really all that fucking cool to anyone whereas homicide & drug dealing still are ostensibly at least in the context of the music

to me, a lot of this shit is as likely to make me reconsider the shit that ~isnt~ 'real' but still talks about a lot of gun talk & shit like that. it just makes it feel really inappropriate & ridiculous. it raises the bar as far as the uniqueness required for me to enjoy rap music that is so violent. etc. I mean i was never a big gibbs fan or w/e -- not saying he's fake, just that there's something that doesnt really impact me about it that does exist for keef n them, that makes its gun porn that much less appealing to me.

i'll agree that it's important not to act like this is only happening in hip hop but that hardly leaves the music community blameless if this kinda shit is treated as SOS especially if it's used as fucking marketing material

― let's have sex and then throw pottery (forksclovetofu), Thursday, October 25, 2012 2:54 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i dont think ppl are about to market him as a woman-beater. id bet my ass Def Jam drops him

to me, a lot of this shit is as likely to make me reconsider the shit that ~isnt~ 'real' but still talks about a lot of gun talk & shit like that. it just makes it feel really inappropriate & ridiculous. it raises the bar as far as the uniqueness required for me to enjoy rap music that is so violent. etc. I mean i was never a big gibbs fan or w/e -- not saying he's fake, just that there's something that doesnt really impact me about it that does exist for keef n them, that makes its gun porn that much less appealing to me.

― fanute da croupier (D-40), Thursday, October 25, 2012 2:57 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i realize theres a lot here im not quite unpacking. isnt 'real' = aesthetically unconvincing & novel & some other stuff too

Well, Gibbs paints himself as the worst scumbag of all time, but because it's so obviously artful and syllable packed, the moral flag isn't waved.
Keef and them have a primitive, brutal sound, and so when real life brutality wells up in its wake people (understandably) shy away from the aesthetics as well. I try to keep the two as separated as I can myself, hence "queasy middle class rap aesthete".

big pun actually got caught on camera pistol-whipping a woman. did u have these ~complicated feelings~ when listening to pun?

i mean, i was younger then and felt different i guess, i dunno. tbh having a kid kinda changed (for me) the way i see a lot of this stuff, it's a lot harder not to see them as kids, and now like keef is young enough and i'm old enough for him to *be* my kid...& having a little girls it's harder to not think about stuff differently or feel differently about it.

deej my point was that it's been the same shit for years, before big pun...dre & dee barnes, etc....

it's almost like a super depressing groundhog's day that i kinda feel like not watching anymore.

i haven't really thought about gibbs for awhile, seems like he's kinda gone now anyway right?

i think its not that its obviously 'artful' its that its obviously constructed? in that case, doesnt it fail at its intended goal?

it's almost like a super depressing groundhog's day that i kinda feel like not watching anymore.

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, October 25, 2012 3:12 PM (42 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i totally get this & am not mad at it

i mean, writing abt this now i feel an extra responsibility to cover it the right way, esp since 'coverage' feels more like 'broadcasting' than ever before for me. just by giving air time ur sorta endorsing it. w/ blogging i was never worried that the miniscule readership i had was going to imitate the art or w/e

i think its not that its obviously 'artful' its that its obviously constructed? in that case, doesnt it fail at its intended goal?

― fanute da croupier (D-40), Thursday, October 25, 2012 9:13 PM (45 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What's the difference between artful and constructed again?