(Cross-posted to Jack & Jill Politics)
This video should be broadcast loud and frequently across the country, in every barbershop, club, salon, office park, town hall, and anywhere else people gather. It's the greatest hip hop video of all time, as far as I'm concerned, which may be why it's blowing up on BET's video charts.
Please don't just play the video. Check out the artist, Bomani "D'Mite" Armah. He's probably got the most appropriate domain name ever in notarapper.com. He's a youth counselor, poet and more. We've had some interesting comments over the past week about hip hop, criticism of black folks, etc. Bomani brings a whole nother element to the discussion.
Warning, language is not safe for work, so put on some headphones or wait till you get home.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWqa7cbdOC8[/youtube]
Viewing entries in
Pop Culture
This video made the rounds late last week, but if you haven't seen it, catch it now.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o[/youtube]
Originally published in Baratunde's bi-weekly GOODCRIMETHINK column in the July 18, 2007 edition of Boston's Weekly Dig
I've lost a lot of weight. I know because everyone keeps telling me that I've lost a lot of weight. Then they ask, "What's your secret?"
It wasn't part of any plan, and I'll share the "secret" without ganking a basic concept from a late 19th century religious movement, packaging it into a DVD/book/CD and charging $29.95. Ready? I no longer eat dinner at midnight, lunch is my biggest meal, and my primary form of local transportation is walking--20 to 30 miles per week. I get exercise, and I get to experience the city.
I thought I'd bring you along with me on one of my regular routes from my apartment in Union Square, Somerville to the Mass General Hospital area. Transformers, roll out!
Our journey begins, as any real Boston journey should, at a Dunkin' Donuts. This one is at Prospect Street and Somerville Ave. I'll never be a real New Englander because I hate most things about Dunkin' Donuts. The donuts suck, and the "coffee" is just liquified sugar. There are a few redeeming qualities in this particular location, however. First, it's open 24 hours and serves as the second bathroom for my apartment. Second, it's open 24 hours and serves as a satellite police station for my apartment.
Now, head east on Somerville Ave, passing two of the six auto repair shops that dot my route. I'm sure these businesses will be replaced with luxury condos when the Green Line gets extended to Union next century. This building on our right with the perpetual soccer match on the screen is the Demosthenes Democratic Club. As far as I can tell, it's where Greek men go to avoid saying hi to me.
As we approach a right turn onto Medford Street, you'll see Target on the right. Living near a Target used to excite me. Then I found out Target allows its pharmacists to refuse to fill women's contraceptive prescriptions. They haven't gotten a dollar from me since, but I have considered donating unwanted babies.
Pass under the commuter rail overpass, and pause at Medford & Ward Streets, home of La Hacienda. A British taxi driver told me this place had the best pizza in the area. He was right. I recommend the four-cheese white pizza.
After a few more auto body shops and the hideous Twin City Plaza strip mall, Medford St. becomes Gore St. on the Cambridge side. There's another Dunkin' Donuts at Third St., this one protected by Cambridge's Finest. Keep walking straight, right through the Lechmere T stop onto McGrath Highway and alongside the Museum of Science. Be sure to yell "quack quack" as loud as possible at the Duck Tours. The drivers love when you do that.
Ahead and across Storrow Drive you can see the Charles River Park Apartment towers, the "If you lived here, you'd be home by now" people. What they don't tell you is that if you lived there, you'd also be broke by now. A one bedroom can set you back over $2,000 a month.
The downside of all this walking is the oppressive summer heat, but on hot days like these, it's nice to know I can pop in to the State Police Department at Storrow amd McGrath and walk out with a refreshing Coolata.
BARATUNDE THURSTON IS A COMEDIAN AND AUTHOR LIVING IN SOMERVILLE. HIS COLUMN RUNS BIWEEKLY IN THE DIG. WALK YOUR INTERNETS TO BARATUNDE.COM, AND THEN SWEAT ALL OVER
I know I haven't posted much original blog stuff in the past week, but hang in there. In the meantime, I'll keep sharing cool web finds like this ridonculous YouTube video
Technorati Tags: britain's got talent, paul potts, singing, youtube
My friend and social network expert extraordinaire, danah boyd, is curious about how/why people use the messaging service, Twitter. After seeing (via Twitter) that my boy Jason Toney posted his responses publicly, I was inspired to do the same. danah's got questions. I've got answers.
note: you can follow my tweets right here.
1. Why do you use Twitter? What do you like/dislike about it?
I started using it at SXSW 2007 as a way of
- alerting fellow conference goers of my impressions of panels, concerts and whereabouts
- finding out the same from them
- replacing Dodgeball, which I never really liked
- pure communication. I had lost my speaking voice, so my tweets supplemented that
Now I use it as a micro-blogging tool providing updates on everything from my emotion at the moment to funny observations to short opinions on the news. I also:
- carry on conversation threads with twitter friends
- post links to some of my published blog and podcast entries
- use it as a light social bookmarking tool, visiting recommended links from friends
- use it as a light RSS reader, with some friends being blogs like Ars Technica or TechCrunch
If RSS readers and widgetized portals are an abstraction of the online experience, then Twitter is an abstraction of this abstraction. I like it because it gives me just enough access to a wide range of Internet functionality. Dodgeball was great for declaring and discovering one's location, but that was too limiting
Twitter is a micro-blogging, micro-email, micro-IM, micro-newsreader, micro-chatroom, tool which is very easy to use. I like it for its versatility and the many interface modes it supports. I find myself switching from IM to Web to Twitterific to SMS seemlessly depending on my circumstances
Dislikes. Not many. These are more "would like to haves" I I agree with Jason that a warning about SMS traffic should be prominent from Twitter. Even the mobile IM client gets overloaded and bogs down my phone from time to time.
2. Who do you think is reading your Tweets? Is this the audience you want? Why/why not? Tell me anything you think of relating to the audience for your Tweets.
I have many different networks of people in my life. The folks following my Tweets are part of the new media, SXSWi, wacky web kids network. I would actually love it if more of my networks were in my twitter world, most notably comedians, political activists and more of my personal friends.
This is the quandry I face with any network-based communications/publishing platform: my people are too dispersed across several platforms or not on any at all. Facebook grabs my college folken. IM is good for work people and friends with gmail. Flickr is very narrow.
What I'd really like is if Twitter had some gateways between it and my status message on these other platforms. I completely stopped updating my Facebook status once I found twitter because Twitter was superior. I just feel bad that my Facebook folks are missing out.
Right now, I leave my facebook status as: www.twitter.com/baratunde
3. How do you read others' Tweets? Do you read all of them? Who do you read/not read and why? Do you know them all?
I generally keep Twitter running on my BlackBerry via Google Chat. If I'm at my Mac, I leave Twitterific on. Twitter is the stock ticker of my social web world. I don't feel the need to see every single message, but am happy knowing that I can drop into the conversation at any moment and see what's up.
Aside from my wacky web friends, I use Twitter to follow commentary by influencers I respect, such as Robert Scoble. It absolutely made my day when he responded to one of my Tweets. I've heard of this man for years and never come close to engaging with him, but the day his tweet started with "@baratunde" I thougt I'd die. It was like Michael Jordan mentioning my name at a press conference or something -- what an acknowledgment
I miss the tweets of Leo Laporte, but I've pretty much gotten over it.
Generally, the tweets I read are a way of maintaining a link to people I've met but maybe didn't know that well. It's a way of keeping the conversation going well beyond the initial handshake
I've only "left" one Twitter friend so far, and that's because he Tweets in German, and I don't understand that language.
I've been tempted to leave @spin several times because he uses Twitter as a long form stream of consciousness which happens to be broken into 140 character chunks rather than writing for the 140 characters. He is by far my most prolific Twitter friend, but I've stayed on.
4. What content do you think is appropriate for a Tweet? What is inappropriate? Have you ever found yourself wanting to Tweet and then deciding against it? Why?
I avoid the super personal that may involve others not down with Twitter. I won't post Tweets about my love life or use friends' names. I use the same rules as blogging but have to be more careful because Twitter is such an easy, impulse-driven tool.
The fact that updates are so short removes a lot of the thought process which would go into a blog entry and perhaps slow down my urge to publish.
I try not to Tweet when I'm very angry. I also try to keep a lid on information which is professional in nature (client work I'm doing) or sort of unconfirmed (like my audition for a certain TV network. I don't want to put that out there until I get it!)
5. Are your Tweets public? Why/why not? How do you feel about people you don't know coming across them? What about people you do know?
Absolutely yes, but if I were not pursuing a public career, I doubt they would be. As with most social media type tools, I view Twitter as part marketing. It's another "thought outlet" for me and the brand I'm building as a comedian and political satirist / analyst and all around guy to know. Twitter is primarily a publishing platform for me, and Iwant as many people to see them as possible.
I want folks to know that I'll tweet about CES and SXSW and George Tenet's punk ass book and the DC Comedy Festival. Twitter regularly rives a good portion of my web traffic (18 5 percent over the past week), and it's a piece of my overall media empire.
Twitter is a way for people to get to know me, and I'm cool with that.
6. What do i need to know about why Twitter is/is not working for you or your friends?
Twitter does not work with friends who are essentially private in the old school way. Many friends don't see the point of it at all and think they would have nothing to share. Most of my friends have no idea what Twitter is or that I use it. It's a very niche tool which only exists for the plugged in or the super-curious willing to experiment with being one of the plugged in.
Many of my friends still don't use IM, so Twitter is just insane.
Technorati Tags: danah boyd, twitter
UPDATE: SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED. they decided to focus on the Virginia tech thing. The show will air at some point and be less about Imus, which is good. In the meantime, keep the comments coming, and if you want, leave voicemail on my call in line. I'll do my own podcast on the subject based on your input! Voicemail number is in the sidebar to the right. Or just call 254-247-3228.
The good folks at Radio Open Source have invited me on the air for a third time, this time the subject is Imusness. From the show page:
Race, class, and language. The Right is defending Imus by claiming that African Americans use that language…so let's take their argument head on. Should we discuss who -- in this country of free speech -- can use derogatory language about race? Can the youth say it; Chris Rock; only African Americans? Have we reached a point that it shouldn't be cool for anyone -- anytime, to use that language?
Nother, in a comment to Open Source, 4/13/07
They also link to Michelle Malkin’s version of the argument.
The show airs live tonight April 19 at 7pm - 8pm eastern, and you can grab it online.
I've been inundated with Imusness for the past week, talking about it, doing standup about it, writing my Weekly Dig column about it (runs next week). I count at least 10 issues raised by the event, but on this subject of "who can say what." In essence, folks are saying, "black folks say it. so can I." Here are some of my thoughts.
1. criticism of rap is cool, but it's not a simple problem
as black folk, we DO need to challenge the uglier images of ourselves promoted by us, especially in the form of the worst commercial rap music. i don't think it's as simple as "stopping" misogynistic lyrics. You can't just tell people to stop doing something even if it's in their interest to do so. We all know McDonald's is unhealthy, yet its business continues to grow. Rap music is big business owned and promoted by corporations whose profit-driven motive cannot be ignored or underestimated.
2. Imus is your embarrassing dad trying to be cool
He failed in this instance because of a combination of factors: he wasn't funny but just mean, and he attacked the wrong people. Also, those words just sounded so very wrong coming from him. He is 67 years old and, racist or not, no one over 50 has the right to say the word "ho" whether directed at peers, scholar-athletes or sex workers. You know how awkward you feel when your parents wear their caps cocked to the side and try to use the language of your generation and tell you how "fly" you look? Suddenly, you don't feel so "fly," just ashamed, and you want your parents to just be quiet.
3. has my comedy ever embodied self-deprecation that is specifically about being black?
Yes my comedy has made fun of me being black (friend chicken, kool-aid, for example) because that's a part of me. I've also made fun of being an American, liberal, Bostonian and other aspects of my identity. So no, I won't stop doing it, and I don't think other comedians should either.
check out the audio or transcript from NPR's On The Media last week. Leon Wynter makes some great points about appropriation of black culture that I sort of respond to below
4. Do others, i.e. non-blacks, interpret this kind of self-deprecation as an opportunity to adopt that language?
yes, others "outside the family" constantly try to appropriate inside language for their own purposes, usually to gain some sort of street or hip cred. This is not a simple issue. I would never attempt to appropriate inside jokes from Thai culture, for example, because Thai culture is not POPULAR. I get no validation from society regarding my image when I do Thai things.
Yes, we're dealing with sensitivities of group pride, ownership and comfort along with who is "allowed" to say something or not.
But we're also dealing with big business and popular culture. It's hard to blame the white executive that greets a new black employee with "Sup son!" because to him, that language isn't necessarily "black" inasmuch as it is "cool." What that executive needs to ask himself is would he greet a young white employee the same way or with "hey dude." Executives should stay executives either way.
Our current culture conflates to an extreme degree elements of the black experience with coolness, and the danger is for some non-black person to attempt "cool" and come off as offensive, completely unintentionally. There is also damage to black people, even globally because commodification of culture is rarely without its costs.
Those elements of black culture that are being sold to society at large are caricatures of a slice of the black experience: baggy pants, the n-word, nappy, hos, etc. The popular culture hasn't found it fit to sell perseverance, faith, creativity and strength -- all equally important aspects of black American identity.
The packaging of black culture has deprived black people of their humanity in many ways. Our culture is just another product to be picked up and reused by whomever. This Imus incident and Michael Richards and <insert 1,000 examples here> make me look -forward to the day when we can just be human beings again.
5. A hodgepodge of other issues
- Freedom of speech means the government can't lock you up. It doesn't mean the people have to like it or put up with it. It doesn't mean you have a right to broadcast it everywhere you want and expect no consequences. Part of freedom of speech means dealing with the repercussions.
- Risky comedy still has to be FUNNY. Imus consistently fails the funny test
- Disrespect for women sells across ALL races. It's not just black rappers. Ever seen a car commercial?
- The industry of "shock jocks" is irrelevant in an era of beheadings-on-demand via YouTube
- Asking why Imus got fired for saying this thing is like asking why Scorcese got an Oscar for The Departed. Both men are being recognized for their entire body of work and finally got what they've earned :)
- and many more things...
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I know it's short notice, but I'd love you get some feedback and your own ideas about this issue of language, race, and "rules" before, during, or after the show tonight.
I'll integrate all that into a podcast of my own on goodCRIMETHINKcast
When I was at Podcamp NYC just over a week ago, I was interviewed by the folks behind the video podcast, Question of the Week. Their question that week was, "Are you good enough?"
Check out my answers and the answers of others in this fun, short podcast. Subscribe to it if you like. They do a question, well, every week asking people in NYC various things. You can also watch the video right below, of course. Recognize anyone in the artwork?
Online Videos by Veoh.com
Thanks, Nick and Kathryn!
To all the bloggers, podcasters, news websites, TV people and everybody else. It's over. The plausibly fake news stories are done. We get it. APRIL FOOLS!!! Ha. ha. ha. h-- Oh, nevermind.
Tell me when it's over.
I saw some great SXSW films at this theatre (and plan to review them all soon). It's an interesting move to the heart of 6th street (think Landsdowne in Boston). One of the employees explains more. He's so right about the pizza. Best I had in Austin.
Conspiracy theorists everywhere experience a global happy ending. Check out the story.