Not to be confused with Ta-Nehisi Coate’s criticism last week of Cord Jefferson’s “rape apologia”.
Here is Jefferson on a young Chicago-based rapper named Chief Keef. Keef is a member of the Black Disciples gang and he tweeted in approval of the recent death of a rival gang member:
As its name portends, “I Don’t Like” is a musical rundown of the things that chap Keef’s hide, including bitch niggas, snitch niggas, and fake shoes. The video he recorded to accompany the song depicts him and his friends smoking a lot of weed, passing around a handgun, and dancing around his grandmother’s house shirtless.
Jefferson continues:
Fortunately for Keef, it’s unlikely that a rumor about him being involved in any sort of gun violence will hurt his career. Getting put on house arrest for a weapons charge was the initial fuel for his reputation’s fire, and this latest controversy bolsters that reckless young hellion image. Besides that, the list of rappers charged with gun crimes only to emerge mostly unscathed is long and star-studded, including T.I., Corey Gunz, Beanie Sigel, Gucci Mane, Soulja Boy, Prodigy, Ja Rule, Young Jeezy, Fabolous, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Lil Wayne, and Jay-Z, to name a few. Keef’s alleged ties to violence and the tools of violence are being frowned upon by many in media currently, but these sorts of ties are nothing new or unique in the rap world.
This is what rap music is about. This is the center of rap and young black kids are more likely to buy into it. This brings to mind a post by Jack Hamilton who attempted earlier this year in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting to defend rap:
But if you don’t like rap music—a genre that contains multitudes—because of a self-satisfied moralism, or because you’re scared of it, or because you wish those people would stop talking about their problems and get out of your television and radio and kids’ bedrooms: well.
And I’m not just talking about the American right, I’m talking about all the well-meaning white folks who’ve told me how they want to like Lil Wayne but lo, the misogyny, the violence, the drugs. But, but, I’ll say: Bob Dylan aced misogyny; the Rolling Stones sang about violence; the Velvet Underground knew their way around some drugs. Yeeeah, but it’s different, they’ll say, elongating that “yeah” with conspiratorial inflection: you know what I mean. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.
This argument is laughable. First, when people say that they hate country music is that anti-white? Second, songs on violence or misogyny from white artists are the exception. They are the rule in rap.
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I don’t listen to much rap, but anything that gets liberals to show their intellectual hypocrisy and double standards are a-ok in my book.
How awesome would it be to have some indie rock band be as violent and misogynistic as the average rapper? That would cause so many SWPL heads to explode. I’d add those to my iPod.
“But if you don’t like rap music—a genre that contains multitudes”
Hamilton sounds like a sophomore English major who just read Walt Whitman.
“I’m talking about all the well-meaning white folks who’ve told me how they want to like Lil Wayne but lo, the misogyny, the violence, the drugs. But, but, I’ll say: Bob Dylan aced misogyny….(etc) ”
The mainstream Right always retreats because it argues by conceding Left’s main point and then sheepishly arguing around the margins. Here, Hamilton’s imaginary interlocutors would never admit that they just can’t stand hearing Negro war chants or mating calls, so they look for other reasons for dislike rap.
Hell, I can’t stand contemporary black music because it is created for black tastes, down to the angry or caterwauling black voice. That’s why I don’t like black rap or R&B but will occasionally be in a mood for Eminem or Eastern European rap.
Yes, that last point was bait for my fake-Greek faggy fanboy Nikos.
rap music is here to stay if for no other reason that it is very masculine and white girls cannot get enough of it
Preach brother Anti-Racist. Please also address our question about Women of Color delivering justice to white females. What do you promote? Speak because we value your intelligent voice and we grow impatient with your failure to speak to your Soldiers.
Sales of rap music is on a steady decline since 2007.
IP bans, please
I don’t really care to analyze rap music. If it speaks to the African American experience, so be it, it doesn’t interest me. They do seem to grow out of it, and prefer more mellow black music, like R&B, as they age.
Anti-Racist, I think I love you.
Please also address our question about Women of Color delivering justice to white females.
I think we all need to see Chuck’s take on this important issue.
“Women of Color” is a radical liberationist construct that attempts to wield a radical collectivist autonomy in the name of ALL non-white women. The problem is that within this collectivist construct is the Angry Black Woman (ABW) WHO REPRESENTS both the glue and the solvent in this LIBERALLY constructed collective.
Which brings us to rap. The ABW doesn’t really like rap because it represents black male degeneracy while in the minds of liberated “white” people it represents black male success, confidence, swagger, virility, etc. This scenario generates incredible hatred in the heart of the ABW. In turn, the ABW attempts to deflect her hatred for the degeneracy of her fellow black “man” onto the liberated and self-annihilating “white” liberal. This cycle of suppressing hatred for those who you really want to love (your fellow black Supremacist) while expressing hatred for those that you really have no desire to love (white people) is a vicious and self-destructive cycle.
Angry Black Woman…
Because there are NO Black Supremacists…
The proof is in those pudding raps.
This clown’s punishment is mandatory mooching off grandmother. No wonder there are so many Angry Black Grannies (ABG’s).
Bob Dylan aced misogyny
Little-known fact: during the 60s, many women needed professional counseling to address the fear that Bob Dylan was lurking in every shadow, ready to mumblerape their ears off.