Finally Rich - Chief Keef

nm that's a p good piece

never forget that b dot posted this: http://rapradar.com/2013/01/07/12-underrated-albums-1-macklemore-ryan-lewis-the-heist/

This idea that "white people love chief keef because he is the Chief of Nothing and only poses a threat to other blacks in down-trodden neighborhoods" is so weird to me. Most white critics LOVED Public Enemy and the political rap of the late eightie/early nineties, partly because it was easy to legitimize as important music. And the idea that we are merely into aesthetics is wrong too I think. We do tend to get a kick out of whatever we can classify as "authentic" though - and I think that line of thought is discernible in both Deej's and J0rdan's approaches: Chief Keef can be legitimized because he is NOT a blog darling but a product of the streets of Chicago and so forth. Also, he's so young! Such perceived authenticity tends to fire up our aesthetic imagination, for better or worse.

the thing about being a white guy who listens to hip hop, which i generally don't complain about because it's obviously nothing compared to how actual minorities are treated within actual power structures of society, is that there's no right way to do it -- literally any position or taste you have can pretty easily be interpreted as, if not racist, than privileged, outsider, etc. if you like no rap, you don't like black people; if you mainly like conscious/political rap, you're out of touch with what real rap fans are listening to; if you mainly like gangsta rap, you're a voyeur celebrating violence and poverty; if you like all rap, you're just obsessed with blackness in a creepy way; and so on and so on. as a critic, you at least have the option of trying to explain why you like music and why you think it's good, but of course you have to be aware of how what you say can be used against you in these kinds of accusations.

This idea that "white people love chief keef because he is the Chief of Nothing and only poses a threat to other blacks in down-trodden neighborhoods" is so weird to me. Most white critics LOVED Public Enemy and the political rap of the late eightie/early nineties, partly because it was easy to legitimize as important music.

that was 20+ years ago and a lot has gone on in criticism since then. I think it's fair and true to say that white rap critics get excited about depictions of violence in black communities that generally won't affect them, that isn't a description of their life experience in any way - that tnr piece points out that this isn't a new phenomenon in white people engaging black art, rap is just the current space in which this dynamic is taking place.

I think it's weird that there's no debate about whether wealthy white record executives can sell thousands and thousands of Chief Keef records to middle class white suburban teens, just about whether a tiny handful of white hipsters can say they enjoy it on the Internet

I mean, I guess that argument was more popular in the 90s too, but i cant exactly blame J0rdan and N0z for treating Keef like any pop artist when he's running the same major label money gauntlet of Best Buy exclusives and 50
Cent guest appearances as, like, Dev.

that was 20+ years ago and a lot has gone on in criticism since then. I think it's fair and true to say that white rap critics get excited about depictions of violence in black communities that generally won't affect them, that isn't a description of their life experience in any way - that tnr piece points out that this isn't a new phenomenon in white people engaging black art, rap is just the current space in which this dynamic is taking place.

― too many encores (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 1:07 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yet why do white critics get excited about depictions of violence in black communities that generally won't affect them? Is it because they're racist or context-blind aesthetes who rise above the fray or is it because they see it as some sort of authentic manifestation of something that is larger and realer than themselves and that they can only take part in through art and shed light on through criticism, compensating for their status as outsiders by emphasizing aestehtics, language, thoughtful criticism, etc? I don't think any white critic wants to legitimize the violence, but many of us would say that the violence in the art is indicative of larger problems that the art allows one to address - preferably without mistaking the messenger for the problem itself, etc. And that acknowledging the pleasure that art gives us is not a retreat from reality but a way of acknowledging that a song about killing is still a work of art and not the killing itself.

My point is that this line of thinking does not posit a strict break with the reception of PE 20 years ago - but as the music has changed, so have the strategies for coping with it.

(ship otm, btw.)

It's not like some gross 50s hipster jerking off to field recordings, it's professional pop critics listening to one of the few rap albums in 2013 that has promotion behind it. If the problem is white people celebrating nihilism, start by blaming Jimmy Iovene

(it had promotion behind it?)

And the question people should be asking, of course, is why there are not more (great) professional black critics. That is pretty bewildering, actually.

It's not like some gross 50s hipster jerking off to field recordings,

And the question people should be asking, of course, is why there are not more (great) professional black critics. That is pretty bewildering, actually.

lol, no it isn't

Why not?

there ARE many great black critics writing about rap (although to make a list feels i dunno wrong?). thing is, one of them is/was Elliott Wilson, who is B.Dot's boss and doesn't really seem to be interested in using their site for serious longform criticism, which makes the whole catalyst of this controversy a little ridiculous.

"son/daughter, we are spending most of our savings and taking out massive loans for your college degree! What are you going to do with this fantastic opportunity? BTW if your answer is not 'become a doctor/lawyer/banker' I will smack all the black off of you"

haha can you imagine Theo telling Cliff he was gonna go write for The Source

I'm sure Theo Huxtable would have been a great rap critic but as long as people do become other things than lawyers, doctors and bankers and some even have a talent for writing I should think there would be room for a few critics as well?

i do think plenty of rap critics would love depictions of violence in neighborhoods closer to them too, look at odd future

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah DJP

replace 'black' with 'yellow' and that is my life

I think slavery, nepotism, institutionalized racism, the slow death of print news media and the devaluation of writing as a paid skill shouldn't have happened either but guess what

honestly surprised how many people have responded to solange's tweets etc by skipping past "yes some good points, but i know what i'm doing as a critic" and going straight to "stfu hater!"

xp dayo, it's only going to be magnified in the Ivy environment too, because those schools are crucibles for doctors/lawyers/bankers/professors/businessppl; the only ppl of color I know that don't fall into those buckets are either singers from musical families or come from super, super rich families and never had to worry about having a career that made money

come from super, super rich families and never had to worry about having a career that made money

haha these are like all the people I know from school and I always rmde a lil' when I see on my fb feed that one of them just signed w/ a 'literary agent' or w/e

of course I also rmde when I see that they went to law/business/med school

are there no honorable professions left anymore

I think it's weird that there's no debate about whether wealthy white record executives can sell thousands and thousands of Chief Keef records to middle class white suburban teens, just about whether a tiny handful of white hipsters can say they enjoy it on the Internet

whiney's all for knocking white hipsters, but don't take away their ability to make money by reviewing rap albums, come on!

whiney is great at seeing creepiness in all things but his own creepiness

are there no honorable professions left anymore

software! (he says with zero self-interest, none at all)

come on croup, u really can't be trolling that hard, dude? I'm OUT HERE protecting the $150 Jayson Greene made of Chief Keef, gtfo idiot

you want people to leave white hipsters alone and fight the real enemy, i get it

maybe ppl are just skeptical that the only thing underlining critical raves of chief keef is the excellent quality of his music

well yes, because the music is straight-up garbage

It's not like some gross 50s hipster jerking off to field recordings, it's professional pop critics listening to one of the few rap albums in 2013 that has promotion behind it. If the problem is white people celebrating nihilism, start by blaming Jimmy Iovene

― so far, so good... solange! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 7:40 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Like Macklemore!

since when are professional pop critics not gross hipsters jerking off anyway?

i'm saying hipsters aren't writing these reviews in a bubble and J0rdan, who also reviews like Justin Bieber records, is reviewing a pop phenomenon like he would any other thing vetted by a major label.

Also, yes, I'm ALL IN 100% for knocking on white hipsters, especially since they're doing way more disgusting things with black music than "writing positive reviews of it"

eg: www.facebook.com/events/408203589260930

http://www.facebook.com/events/408203589260930

i know you're still hard on hipsters, it's just sweet to see you sympathize with their desire to review pop product on the internet even when you know how it's part of a horrible system

i never said it was part of a horrible system? why are you putting words in my mouth you fucking creep

i mean i thought you might throw those fools into the fire and leave the critic game to those in the know, but here you are pointing out how they're only following orders

can i put forward that there are a lot of conflicts w/in the black community that keef is underlining so when white ppl are perceived to be taking sides in that it probably seems a bit weird too

i.e. generation gap is obviously a HUGE thing. & there's also class & geography.

so when Hip White Critic does his ACTUALLY DUBSTEP IS KIND OF GOOD to gangster rap there are all these other dimensions to it

i can tell you being in nyc for 3 months that simply the level of segregation here isnt even on par w/ how it is in chicago ... you dont have middle class Lincoln Park (chicago) white people living in Bronzeville in chicago, but they waltz around harlem (many parts of) like they own the place etc. it's just a completely different level of interaction.

i think one of the things about keef is he makes guys like this seem Really Old

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktSslqEcTRE
I chose this example b/c it sounds like French is biting a Keef hook

aw, the google cache for "A Match Made In Harlem" has expired already

n.o.r.e. doesn't really need help seeming old

lol internet white guys get crazy defensive if anybody suggests there's cultural tourism present in getting excited about "nihilism" in black music (not a shot at u deej, though I still think yr nuts to rep for this guy's rapping)

kind of feel keef's defenders are leaning a biiiiit too heavily on the "young people like him, u old" defense

not saying it's inaccurate but it's not great criticism

it's not music criticism, we're talking about the controversy

i think if deej and j0rd fail to see the forest for the trees it's from being in chicago during keef's rise -- i've been writing about local rap passionately for ages and basically bending over backwards to avoid the kind of hyperbolic homerism they keep setting off all my red flags for

when bossman signs his 3 million dollar interscope deal we'll look pretty foolish

lol

he signed a 2.5 mil sony deal 8 years ago -- that kind of thing going nowhere is exactly why i go "who fuckin cares" when people trot out the supposed hugeness of keef's contract

if they weren't going to be extraordinarily overpriced I'd buy you a pair of beats by keef's for xmas next year