Cue the world's smallest violin, etc. Since I do not live in a cave, I have some idea of where power and influence reside in our society. So I understand why articles like this appear above the fold on the front page of our Paper of Record. The editorial staff recognizes the need to pander to the same cohort that reads the Escapes section each Friday and salivates over purple prose describing hot-stone massages at exclusive resorts in Scottsdale and private dirigible rides over Richard Branson's private Carribean island. But I doubt any actual human being has much sympathy.
Really, it would be too cruel to increase marginal tax rates now, when John McAfee is down to his last $4 million.
Somehow I doubt this would have persuaded the kids even if it weren't largely a strawman argument.
I'm not sure who Nasir is talking about here, specifically. Hip-hop actually does a pretty good job steering clear of minstrelsy. Admittedly, one always has to be careful with this stuff. History is a bitch; no matter how hard you try, no amount of self-awareness and winking can erase the power of centuries-old racist tropes. Still, I most definitely admire Nas's commitment to curmudgeonliness, and it's both startling and refreshing to hear this sort of old-school racial dialogue today, with zero tolerance for purported irony and repurposing and reclaiming and all the other buzzwords we know so well. The old-school approach is good by me, even if it sometimes overshoots the mark. I am beyond tired of the insistence of willful and ignorant persons alike that race is no longer a subject fit for consideration in modern life, that it's become irrelevant to the daily experience of humans, like alchemy or the Seattle Pilots. Truly, it's hard to see how anyone could make this argument without being willful about it. Maybe they want to put their troubled consciences to bed; possibly they are sick of watching what they say and looking for the chance to try out some killernewmaterial. We have a substantial segment of Americans convinced that the guy we just elected President with a substantial majority of votes was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, because—well, he just seems different. They're not sure why, they can't put their finger on it, but the fellow just doesn't seem like one of us. It is an obvious fact that millions of our citizens actively and conciously believe in white supremacy. Their numbers are shrinking, percentage-wise, as the country gets browner, but they're not going to go down without a fight. They are getting louder and louder. We desperately need to talk about race.
Also, if you're really feeling mean, you might point out that this beat is better than some of the lesser efforts on Hip Hop Is Dead and Untitled.
Recent Comments