The defeatism of Republican contrarianism
randomities, vol. 14: "At least Republicans are honest about racism." And?!?
So I was watching an interview with Styles P on AllHipHopTV months back. The discussion suddenly veered from his Verzuz preference to his Trump preference. AllHipHop co-founder Chuck Creekmur inquired about him previously saying he preferred Trump to Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Styles doubled down by saying he still feels that way about the two-party system.
“I can see Trump’s racism,” he said. “He’s blatant with it, I can see where he’s coming from.” While he was right that “Hillary and the blues tend to use Black people,” I don’t understand how the natural conclusion is then to advocate for the party that’s merely honest about being racist and eager to conserve systemic oppression.
It just feels like...if you have two restaurants in your neighborhood, and one has a habit of undercooking chicken, and the other is called “The Undercooked Chicken Palace,” would you patronize the latter just because it’s honest? Or would you think about not going to either place and trying to get the non-cooking chefs off the block?
Styles’ comments reflect a sentiment that too many Black men are expressing in the lead up to this election. Distrust for the “Democratic plantation” was at the heart of Kanye’s Trump support. Waka Flocka recently hinted that he feels like Trump is a better President than Obama. Chance The Rapper went from stumping for Hillary in 2016 to supporting Kanye by tweeting, “Black people don’t have to be Democrats.” We absolutely don’t, but that doesn’t mean go Republican.
The Washington Post reported that Black men are one of the most “coveted” demographics in this coming election. A more recent report suggests Trump may get more support from Black men than the last election, with nearly 1 in 5 people Black men approving Trump’s job. Perhaps in the midst of our relative privilege as Black men we’re too easily susceptible to contrarianism, to Blexit bluster, to conspiracy theories, and half-baked thought processes. Political strategists know this.
There’s a looming threat of Trump enacting and reversing policies to hurt women and the LGBTQ community. These actions may not directly affect straight Black male bodies, but they affect their lives. It’s time to care about people other than ourselves. If you don’t want to vote, fine, but celebrities especially shouldn’t be making themselves a tool for a hateful administration.
Seeing 50 Cent openly advocate for Trump (after previously condemning his racism), is another disappointing moment from this election season. The past year has evaporated any inkling of illusion I had of mainstream rap music being inherently anti-establishment or even liberal. A lot of Black entertainers have decided to choose their bank account over their race, knowing that the conservatives they’re emulating do the same thing — to the detriment of all poor POC.
For the “regular” Black men supporting Trump, it makes sense to be disappointed with Democrats, but that doesn’t mean support the deeper evil—that’s worse than complacency. At that juncture, it’s time to accept that Black liberation can’t be found on either side of the binary.
quick takes
The final debate showed that oppression and fascism goes across the aisle. Trump, if nothing else, kept his foot on Biden’s neck about being just as bad as him. When he referenced the picture of a cage in a detention center, and how people thought it was from Trump but it was really from Obama (who deported more people than any President), I had to laugh inside. I wasn’t looking at the screen but I’m sure Biden went beet red. Or if he had a conscience, he would’ve.
I think I’m going to go long on this, but beyond the Trump support, celebrities have been showing that they live in a different world all year through their incessant flaunting. Cities were burning, people were protesting, jobs and lives were lost, but these goofy ass entertainers want us to ogle their new house, car, or jewelry. They want us to think if we can’t afford a luxury lifestyle we’re unworthy. And then they want us to support their next project. What a dynamic. We once marveled at the celebrity bubble, now many of us are disgusted by it.
bars of the moment
I was apart of VICE/Noisey’s super necessary, insightful Unpaid Royalties package devised by Kristin Corry. Here’s my piece on the NYPD's rap unit targeting drill rap. Here are some quotes from some of the other stores:
What the stories in Unpaid Royalties show is this: The music industry needs to evaluate its broken structures—and use the shards that remain to do away with nepotism, unequal pay, and all the inequity that bars Black creatives from any tangible sense of ownership.
Kristin Corry in Black Artists Built the Music Industry. It's Time They Got Their Dues piece
"If you go back to the 50s, it's the exact same character sketch today: African-American, poor, looking for a way out of their circumstances, and using their talent as a way out. That is easy to exploit: 'Let's give them a little bit, and they don't even know the value of what they're selling us for this little bit.'"
Eric Holt in Drew Schwartz’ Black Artists Are Still Getting Ripped Off the Way Little Richard Was piece
"I would rather that these large institutions be dismantled than reformed. The larger the scale of these things, and the more they're making, the more they're ultimately just exploiting people. It's kind of like talking about the police force. If we're talking about reform, that's nice, it's a step forward. But ultimately, I would prefer abolishment."
Joshua Virtue in Drew Schwartz’ Major Labels Are Donating Millions for Racial Justice. That Isn't Enough piece
The world of pop, in its everything and yet nothing state, requires participation in a game that is predicated on stripping Black artists of their identity in order to render them hypervisible and disappear them at once.
Briana Younger in From Prince to Whitney to Nicki: The Plight of the Black Pop Starpiece
Amid the turmoil of a pandemic that has disproportionately affected the Black community, during an ongoing movement that demands justice for Black Lives, there's never been a moment riper for a robust Black press. The call to "amplify Black voices" only further magnified how many had been silenced, and still are. Days after protests erupted in response to George Floyd, Black staffers in predominantly white newsrooms were banned from covering protests. Other outlets were accused of only paying white editors for video appearances. During a time when Black lives and voices are on the line, who can we trust to record history? And how did we end up in a media landscape with very few options for Black writers?
Kristin Corry in The Co-Opting of Rap Criticism Is About More Than Just Music piece
artifact
Malcolm X on the importance of Black people throughout the Americas uniting, as well as the independence of Africa. The best thing we can do is express solidarity with those in Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, and other countries being destroyed by imperialism and fascist African regimes.
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Venmo: Andre-Gee