Will this rap song with a positive message get any play in the MSM? Will a rapper that is telling kids to quit acting like a punk and grow up resonate?
Okay, I'm a nearly 50 year-old white dude, so you won't catch me trying to be "all that" with the kid's rap music. In fact, I hate the stuff. [I was listening to Beethoven, Glenn Miller, U2 and The Police today, if that helps pinpoint me] HOWEVER... and this is a big one, too... I am compelled to pass on the latest tune from Mr. Bomani D. Armah, the self-proclaimed "not a rapper" rapper.
You may recall the last time Mr. Armah appeared on Newsbusters? He wrote a tune that appeared on BET TV called "Read a Mo F***ing Book". It was a tune that featured Mr. Armah seeming to attack the thug lifestyle and telling black kids to read a "Mo F'ing" book, brush their teeth, wear deodorant and to raise their own children, etc. It raised quite a stir last year.
Since I wasn't familiar with Mr. Armah's work at the time, I was a bit puzzled by it all. I couldn't be sure if he was denigrating the thug lifestyle and urging black Americans to better habits or what. I am now convinced that he was and he was doing so in the gutter language that he felt the kids would respond to. I cannot condone the language, but the sentiment is at least a good one. Personally, I can think of more upstanding ways to pass along a message of responsibility... but that's just little old, un-hip me.
Well Mr. Armah is back with a new tune called "I'm a Grown Ass Man."
Here he is telling young black men to raise their children, have grown up plans, and stop acting like punks. I have to say, it isn't just a message for black kids, either. It is a message that every American male-child should hear and hear often, black, white or what have you. It is also one that they are not getting as often as they should, sadly.
Now, one thing is for sure. You can bet that the MSM will ignore this tune. They won't want to be caught dead playing a tune that urges kids to grow up and act like a responsible men! It just ain't the with it thing! (um... do they even say "with it" anymore?)
Anyway, I love the jazzy tune under the rap, too. I can't help thinking of the work of Chick Corea when I hear it. There's some good stuff there. All I can say is hear, hear. Good work Bomani D. Armah.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
That quote on the end was
February 3, 2008 - 01:44 ET by tracheostomyThat quote on the end was awesome. Edit: Eh, shouldn't blow the whole "honor thy father and mother" thing in a single post. Let's just say I'm bitter about the Me Generation and leave it at that.
-PJ
"Trake: Your lofty convictions are another blemish on the rump of congregational sectarianism." -Tumbler 5/15/07
Well ---- I am as white
February 3, 2008 - 02:00 ET by RDWWell ---- I am as white bread as they come, but I must admit, it was worth listening to.
Mr. Huston, I must admit to having a similar play-list as yours.
Must be a generational thang.
It's a taste thing - I
February 3, 2008 - 15:33 ET by Lord ElicaniIt's a taste thing - I can't legally go drink at a bar yet,but the playlist bears a resemblance to mine as well.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet?
It takes talent
February 3, 2008 - 02:34 ET by Lame CherryEverybodies doing a brand new dance now
Come on baby do the locomotion
I know you'll get to like it if you give it a chance
Come on baby do the locomotion...........
The Ronnettes were black I seem to recall and yeah the song was about dancing, but everyone knew very well it was the double meaning of sex.
Lana Turner could dress up in white shorts in 1950 and be hotter clothed than naked women are now.
Great comedy, great songs, great poetry, great writing does not have to revert to profane ideas. The thing that is enticing is the double meaning that gets one to think the naughty things..........Elvis and rock n roll meant exactly sex, but it was music in the deep blues of black America, bluegrass of white America and that something meld of electric guitars. It was about emotion.
It is puzzling considering all a song takes is one riff, one chord on a change up, the chugga chugga motion heard in Johnny Cash's, I walk the Line to what here am I listening to in the Beach Boys power blues rendition of Locomotion.
Today though there apparently are no producers or engineers around to take Blondie's west indies Heart of Glass and amp it up to a hit with rock beat.
I recently contacted an up and coming artist who was doing the "fan thing" in talking to me and offered her a song to break her out with a platinum hit........her reaction was silence AS SHE DID NOT GET IT.
Offer someone a hit worth 100 million dollars as I prefer being anonymous and she could not fathom the workings of it.
I do not believe there is a person alive in a band today with the least instinct in music...........and rap is nothing but talentless foul mouthed thugs who have no command of language nor music. They stole what was the raw ability of James Brown in his rap he created and bastardized traditional African chant music to make work easier.
Armah looks like Randy Moss, a 70's Mod Sqaud square. What a joke. It's as easy as ABC as the Ronnettes sang about.........they can't even get to A.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
LC: The Ronnettes were
February 3, 2008 - 02:40 ET by tracheostomyLC: The Ronnettes were black I seem to recall and yeah the song was about dancing, but everyone knew very well it was the double meaning of sex.
o_O . . .?
Um. . .I didn't.
"My little baby sister can do it with me. . ."
???!!!
WTF Lame, are you serious?
-PJ
"Trake: Your lofty convictions are another blemish on the rump of congregational sectarianism." -Tumbler 5/15/07
Very interesting video, I
February 3, 2008 - 03:38 ET by wiwfVery interesting video, I liked it!
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
→ Ronettes???
February 3, 2008 - 08:19 ET by Cool ArrowThe Locomotion story as I remember it was not the Ronettes, but Little Eva.
Carole King had a babysitter, Eva. Carole wrote the song and Put Little Eva in front of a microphone.
I think I'm right on this one.
♣ a seal
You're right... I don't
February 3, 2008 - 08:44 ET by motherbeltYou're right... I didn't know about the Carole King connection; but The Locomotion was Little Eva.
And it wasn't sex, LC, it was a dance. That was in the days after Chuck Berry's "The Twist." Everyone was trying to get in on the "new dance" craze: hence the Locomotion, the Mashed Potato, the Monkey, the Swim, etc.
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." -Sigmund Freud
I think he really is trying
February 3, 2008 - 08:38 ET by motherbeltI think he really is trying to get a message out.
I don't take issue with him for using the "rap" genre to do it, since that's what the kids are listening to (Kind of like "Christian Rock). But if a white person implied that you have to talk trash and use profanity and vulgarity to "get through" to black kids, the outrage would be deafening. (However, that applies more to the "Read a mo'f-ing book" than to this one.)
OT Warner: my musical tastes are about as eclectic as yours...my CD holder in my car contains Sinatra and Bocelli, Def Leppard and Nickelback (and I still love The Police, although I don't care for Sting's stuff since he left them).
This story is DOA
February 3, 2008 - 08:16 ET by vaboxrboyYes, Fellas,
You most certainly are out of touch as Rap has been dead for the past 2 years. None of the top selling singles or albums since 2005 have been by rap artists.
The kids do know "Read a Book" however. I work in a school library and on occasion-when the song was new- I would tell them to read a book and they would giggle. The language is awful including f-bombs and the n word. These songs are novelty at best. Trash with a message-great!
And let's not forget the most important issue in all of this- it's white kids that are buying-or used to buy- these albums. The target audience that you are imagining don't have disposable income for entertainment.
I am a black guy living in a white upperclass neighborhood and if I had a nickel for every white kid that disturbs the quiet with his booming hip hop music, well I'd have more than Fifty-Cent!
Actually you are very wrong
February 3, 2008 - 17:00 ET by WisdomActually you are very wrong with your assessment of sales by Hip-Hop artists. The artform is far from dead. I will give you the results of U.S. album and single sales in 2007.
Althought you are somewhat right about album sales as only two Hip-Hop artists were in the Top 10 (Fergie #8, Kanye West #10); You are way off when it comes to singles and radio play.
In the Top 10 most played songs on the radio in 2007, Hip-Hop was responsible for six of them, including ALL of the Top 5. In the Top 10 best selling singles, Hip-Hop was responsible for ALL but two of them. (Plain White T's #2, Avril Lavigne #4).
http://www.infopleas...
I am curious to where you got your information because it is incredibly inaccurate. And it is not ONLY White kids buying the albums, it is about 70%. And the "target audience" didn't need any "disposable income" for this "Read a Book" sketch because it was a free video distributed through the web.
Charts
February 3, 2008 - 17:14 ET by vaboxrboyIf you look at the billboard charts, there is a difference between hip hop and rap. None of the top acts were rappers- some were hip hop, but there is a differece. Just like between country and bluegrass or rock and roll and adult contemporary. Subtle, I know, but the article was aimed at a rap artist.
And you are right, Read a Book was all over Youtube. I saw the full version there after seeing the censored version on BET. It's only a story if there's money involved and no MSM is going to be concerned too much with anything free on the web. No money to be made there by anyone other than Youtube and other services and we know that the MSM is fighting them- hello, writers' strike -over just that issue.
I applaud the guy for his effort, but he will go the way of Will Smith and Hammer in a matter of weeks.
I agree that Billboard does
February 3, 2008 - 17:30 ET by WisdomI agree that Billboard does try to make a distinction between Hip-Hop and Rap. But to say "none of the top acts were rappers", I have no idea what you mean. If you are referring to JUST album sales, where I mentioned only 2 were in the Top 10; you have Kanye West (rapper), and Fergie who does rap but mostly sings, and works directly with Hip-Hop producers and markets to that audience. Other than JUST album sales, rappers have flooded the mainstream charts. And Kanye West had the highest first week sales (957,000) of the year and second-most in the last decade, only behind another rapper, Eminem. If Kanye's album had come out at the beginning of the year, he would easily be in the Top 5 most selling albums of the year.
And with this guy who did "Read a Book," I wouldn't call him strictly rap. This music is Hip-Hop in its purest form (this new song, not the "read a book" song...lol). I disagree he will go the way of Will Smith or Hammer because he won't get nearly as big as them. He will maintain his own audience and the Hip-Hop crowd will like and respect him, unlike with Will Smith or Hammer, who were kind of like puppets.
WOW! What a tangent....
February 4, 2008 - 00:14 ET by vaboxrboyRead the article and see what it's trying to address. Just the coverage of the guy, not his popularity. But as I stated in the original post- DOA as no one knows his name, but the first video was viral for the 15 minutes everyone is due online.
Let's focus on something more important. Funny, that seems to be a common thread among many emails.....
I read the article, watched
February 4, 2008 - 01:10 ET by WisdomI read the article, watched the video, and understand the point completely. All I was doing was addressing your specific inaccuracies and clearing that up. That's how the "tangent" started. I was skimming through the comments and saw a blatant inaccuracy and made sure that was adjusted.
I don't understand: Do you
February 3, 2008 - 11:03 ET by balboaI don't understand: Do you want all the MSM outlets to do a story on this guy? Should he be the top story on the six o'clock news?
Good Point!
February 3, 2008 - 11:21 ET by vaboxrboySounds like fodder for E! or Entertainment Tonight.
"I don't
February 3, 2008 - 11:46 ET by Warner Todd HustonOh, we know. We know.
Thanks for conveniently not
February 3, 2008 - 12:03 ET by balboaThanks for conveniently not answering the question.
→ Bal
February 3, 2008 - 12:08 ET by Cool ArrowI was already aware of this guy a couple of months back and it wasn't very high on my radar either.
Now the Fifty cent comment about Barack getting killed if he's elected was significant though. Just from the standpoint that I don't think we need that kind of out loud rambling.
♣ a seal
Should he be the top story
February 3, 2008 - 12:13 ET by motherbeltShould he be the top story on the six o'clock news?
Why not?
It IS a "man bites dog" kind of story....
I just think you could point
February 3, 2008 - 12:21 ET by balboaI just think you could point to a million different stories that no one has covered and ask "Why". But to point at one and blame the liberal bias seems pointless.
I see. So you come to a site
February 3, 2008 - 13:23 ET by Warner Todd HustonI see. So you come to a site where the ONLY reason for its existence is to point out the liberal bias in the media and you complain that it is pointing out the liberal bias in the media?
Interesting.
I've always wondered why you come here? Yet, the mystery rolls on.
lol, good point
February 3, 2008 - 13:27 ET by botglol, good point Warner
Supreme Court, National Security, Borders, Fiscal Restraint, my litmus test for President.
WTH
February 3, 2008 - 14:17 ET by balboaWell I can tell you it's not to bask in the glow of your brilliant observations.
Some stories here are very good. Then there are yours. I reserve the right to point that out.
Actually, you have no
February 3, 2008 - 14:24 ET by Warner Todd HustonActually, you have no "rights" here at all. You post because the Newsbusters folks LET you post. Heck I post because they let me! I am a correspondent and don't have any more "rights" than you do here.
Still, I usually mark my success by my enemies. With you as an enemy, I am more sure than ever that I am on the right track.
I didn't really mean
February 3, 2008 - 14:40 ET by balboaI didn't really mean "rights" in that way, but I get your point.
You don't have me as an enemy, but rather as a critic.
Warner the Principal?
February 3, 2008 - 15:04 ET by shawn228You would definitely be a interesting high school principal Warner. There would be no school funded sports, no music you deem obsene, no protests and if in your own words loud mouth, half sentient, snot nosed petulant punks got out of line, there would be serious hell to pay.
Sounds like it would be a fun school. At least they would have the free speech to critique any religion except for Christianity.
"Suck it"
Pop Tech
Shawn the nose-tackle?
February 3, 2008 - 15:06 ET by botgi doubt Warner is a principle and i doubt you are a nose-tackle. What does either have to do with anything?
Supreme Court, National Security, Borders, Fiscal Restraint, my litmus test for President.
botg
February 3, 2008 - 15:13 ET by shawn228The average NB poster would be crushed a NFL nose tackle botg. I don't know how I would stop Shawn Alexander. If someone asked me how to run a school, I would have no problems with it. I also appreciate it if you let Warner speak for himself, because he told me he does not usually bother responding if there are over 70 posts. See this is wasting a post right now:-)
"Suck it"
Pop Tech
Um... what was I supposed to
February 3, 2008 - 15:22 ET by Warner Todd HustonUm... what was I supposed to respond to here again?
lol Warner
February 3, 2008 - 15:29 ET by shawn228Instead of using the usual Warner response "just read the post/thread" I admit I did not actual ask I question, I did more of statement, While I have your attention though, do regular rap songs gets lots of attention from the msm?
"Suck it"
Pop Tech
Hey, I saw a dog earlier
February 3, 2008 - 15:41 ET by balboaHey, I saw a dog earlier today helping an old lady across the street. But do you think the MSM will report it? Doubt it.
bal
February 3, 2008 - 15:46 ET by shawn228It might be an example of liberal bias is she was a member of PETA :-)
"Suck it"
Pop Tech
shawn
February 3, 2008 - 15:38 ET by botgeach job requires a different skill set and approach. I did not see the relevance in artificially placing Warner in a principals role any more than placing me or you in a nose-tackle role.
Supreme Court, National Security, Borders, Fiscal Restraint, my litmus test for President.
botg
February 3, 2008 - 15:43 ET by shawn228Chances are you or I will never be the POTUS. It does not stop us from offering our opinions on how to do the job right? In the original post to Warner, I specifically linked to where warner offered his opinion on how he would deal with something as a high school principal, so yes it does have relevence, but I really don't want to debate this with you, it is a moot point. If you feel I should not have used the analogy, I take it back okay ?
"Suck it"
Pop Tech
OK, bal, maybe not the LEAD
February 3, 2008 - 16:25 ET by motherbeltOK, bal, maybe not the LEAD story on the 6 o'clock news, but it is an interesting item for the "in other news" or "entertainment" segment..so why not include it?
In other news....Rap music has a reputation for promoting a lifestyle of flash and promiscuity and sometimes violence. But now, a well-known rapper has turned his talent to promoting more tradtional values and personal responsibilty.
(over video of Armah)
The rapper is Bomani D. Armah, and he is telling young black men to raise their children, have grown up plans, and stop acting like punks.
Then maybe a comment from him, and a comment or two from people who listen to rap.
I can picture that; can't you?
motherbelt
February 3, 2008 - 17:06 ET by balboaIt's absolutely newsworthy. But, I don't believe the fact that I'm just hearing about this guy is a failing of that gosh-darned liberal media bias, but of the media in total.
Are the conservative news outlets all over this story?
Well, bal, you did argue in
February 4, 2008 - 08:19 ET by motherbeltWell, bal, you did argue in the beginning that it wasn't newsworthy:
I don't understand: Do you want all the MSM outlets to do a story on
this guy? Should he be the top story on the six o'clock news?
To me, that's in implication that it's not newsworthy.
And my response was "why not?" Considering the other mindless trivia they include in their broadcasts, I thought it was reasonable that the might include a blurb on this.
Yes, I know, they can't include everything, and someone will always find one story more "newsworthy" than another....and the argument over what is and isn't included can go on forever....
WTH -
February 3, 2008 - 13:37 ET by drillanwrGotta admit to being an HUGE Eddie Money fan. Wasn't a song of his that I didn't crank up to speaker-blow and dance around the house to ...
... all I ask is that you
February 3, 2008 - 13:44 ET by Warner Todd Huston... all I ask is that you don't say you dance in your underwear, there, Tommy Cruise.
LOL
WTH -
February 3, 2008 - 13:54 ET by drillanwrHeh!
No FOTLs or BVDs here ... Only Vanity Fair.
'None of the top selling
February 3, 2008 - 14:46 ET by Evoke'None of the top selling singles or albums since 2005 have been by rap artists.'
I'm in my 20's and I can tell ya the audience for this music (mostly surburban white boys, which I am not) isn't out buying "singles or albums". They're downloading it for free! Where have you been?
Downloading
February 3, 2008 - 16:10 ET by vaboxrboyThey aren't tops there either. It's passe.
You are correct that there
February 3, 2008 - 17:09 ET by WisdomYou are correct that there are many people downloading music for free, as that is happening in ALL genres of music.
But, as I stated above in response to vaboxrboy, the information presented was vastly inaccurate that "none of the top selling singles or albums since 2005 have been by rap artists." Based on album sales, single sales, and radio play, Hip-Hop has been by far the most successful genre of music. Vaboxrboy had tried to make the case that it was "dead." And based on sales and airplay, it is alive and thriving.
Noting the argumentative
February 3, 2008 - 16:44 ET by drillanwrNoting the argumentative trend in the posted replies to WTH's bringing this particular "rap" story to the NB's attention, may I stick my toe into the barracuda infested waters and just mention that bad "rap music" DOES get plenty of attention in the MSM, to the degree that it seems to be highlighted as a thuggish sub-culture, and it's "musical" message is always counter-productive, and often times extremely violent. FNC's Bill O`Reilly has carried several stories (and anti-artist campaigns) regarding such rap music.
While I have no use for the music myself, I do respect its right to free speech ... So, I DO believe a story about a good, strong and positive message in rap music to a culture that surely needs it IS mention worthy ... as it should be in the MSM ... who seems to have loads of open air time to fill now that they are no longer reporting on the war in Iraq because it's successful.
There ... I'm done.
Hey, I'm right there with
February 3, 2008 - 17:02 ET by motherbeltHey, I'm right there with you, drill...look at my post above, responding to balboa.
I even wrote the possible story! (and I think I did a good job! LOL) I think it would make a good "cultural" story...as I said, it IS "man bites dog."
I completely agree. But I
February 3, 2008 - 17:19 ET by WisdomI completely agree. But I feel like if Bill O'Reilly were to do a "story" on this song, he would still find some way to get his personal slant against rap music into the story and still express his negative sentiment. He would still act like this kind of "positive" rap music represents about 1% of the artform, when really it is nearly 50% (in my opinion). The corporate record labels and heads at outlets such as MTV and BET, just refuse to promote this form of rap music. They are afraid to break the mold, even though this kind of positive, non-violent form of music has proven to sell, as shown by such artists like Kanye West and Common.