since when have the grammies had anything to do with quality music? if quality music happens to fit their agenda then maybe it gets a nod but is rare. this macklemore thing is really no kind of surprise. they did a whole segment featuring him then paid him off with an award. the music industry, even in its death throes, is sleazy as fuck. who cares if this idot, flavour of the week bullshit artist thinks his "good intentions" are meaningful?
And then we can listen to Bun B tell us how beat a bitch!
Seriously though, I like Macklemore. Not only because those dudes have put in work in Seattle and got this far completely independently, but because I'm okay with balance in rap. Why is it so bad to have one or two feel-good (and yes, oft-times corny) message songs to offset the thousands of "I'll steal/fuck/kill yo' bitch" songs all over the radio?!
Also, I think he understands clearly that his white privilege has him in a very awkward position. How comfortable are you white Strut rap fans with your white privilege??
Damn Staxwax, for somebody who doesn't care at all you sure seem to care a lot.
The unrepentant lapping up and celebrating of disingenious celebrity bullshit does tend to tick me off. I'll continue to air my grievances here as I see fit... You jonesing for the mackle?
edit: i see. Actually there is nothing wrong with balance in rap at all imo. i was only referring to what i was referring to though. Musically macklemore seems to be the pop rap equivalent of right said fred or some shit. to each his own.
LaserWolf said:
Maybe you wouldn't be so upset if you didn't follow hot97's twitter feed.
Ha! hot97s' morning show has good banter though, i enjoy it
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
Herm said:
And then we can listen to Bun B tell us how beat a bitch!
Seriously though, I like Macklemore. Not only because those dudes have put in work in Seattle and got this far completely independently, but because I'm okay with balance in rap. Why is it so bad to have one or two feel-good (and yes, oft-times corny) message songs to offset the thousands of "I'll steal/fuck/kill yo' bitch" songs all over the radio?!
Also, I think he understands clearly that his white privilege has him in a very awkward position. How comfortable are you white Strut rap fans with your white privilege??
Dude, get off it.
Yeah, he talks about white privilege from his ivory tower of the liberal Northwest. Then his white privilege steals him a Grammy from a more deserving black artist. Then he chokes up on the stage, saying after the fact...yeah, I was totally going to rep for you, dude, but got clammed up. What a chickenshit cop out. Either just take the award and move on...which woulda been fine. Or actually make the grand gesture. Don't half ass it...because that's what your white privilege has allowed you to do, both yesterday and today.
Seriously, fuck that sanctimonious assmunch.
Also, Macklemore did not invent the message rap by any means. He gets scolded for thinking like a white boy that everything has to have some clever, insightful message, leaving him as forced, contrived, phony, preachy, and a whole bunch of other undesirable adjectives.
to each his or her own, but i just have to say this "music" is a steaming pile of hot garbage. what exactly is redeeming about it on any level? is it supposed to be so bad that its "good"? it's not just that it's "corny", "white boy frat-esque" or "TMZ-esque", there is something really sonically offensive going on here.
I'm just hoping that Macklemore shows up here to concisely teach us how to be better people via a rap song. We really could use his positive influence, as could the whole world.
I was gonna say something about what's up with your man Gary Clark being in some kind of hat-share program with Pharrell, but will instead say this:
Watching this shit last night, I realized that that abominable Macklemore song has exactly one good thing about it: Even though the song proper is poorly-rapped, self-centered triumphalist bullshit, I feel like the chorus, the gently cracking see-saw of that lady's voice--the way it hugs itself and rocks between her dear-god-not-this-again weariness and her joy, a joy that, as utterly interior as it may be, is ultimately uncontainable ("...but she keeps me warm"--like, can't you see?)--has, in its fiber, something very real to say about the soul fatigue that must sometimes result from a life lived this way.
If you wanted to be a structuralist nerd about it, you could say that this is a shitty song that is notable for containing within it a moving comment about what it means to occupy a position in society and culture that is misrepresented and misunderstood thoroughly enough and often enough that one is forced to endure being the subject of shitty songs such as this one. Very post-something.
All I'm saying, though, is that that chorus really is some beautiful shit, especially for the radio. And if it took the existence and subsequent ascent of that shitty song to make that chorus--even just the sound of it--available to more hearts than it would have otherwise been, then I guess I'm okay with it.
Only there is a good amount of sincerity with Macklemore......He got charisma and is very like-able. So is Bruno Mars. He's obviously just as much a popstar as he is rapper If you can't deal, then you can't deal.
b/w
Macklemore > Kendrick performance-wise.
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
Herm said:
You didn't answer my question.
The first question? Whats wrong with having a couple message songs on your album? Well, let's see I've listened and loved possibly 5,000 different rap albums over the past 30 years that have each had at least a couple message songs on them. So where you think that's the problem, I have no earthly idea.
Macklemore didn't just do a couple innocent message songs. He did a grip of the most heavy-handed, sanctimonious, unsolicited-youth-minister-style rap songs I could possibly ever imagine. I know he's got his funny party songs to go along with those, but if the likes of KRS and Kweli have had to have been told to STFU for being too preachy over the years, this dude needs his lips sewn together with barbed wire.
That macklemore is full of shit. If he didnt want the grammy, he should have pulled out, not accepted or given it to someone else instead. Whats the point in accepting it then tweeting it should have gone to someone else and giving radio interviews saying someone else should have gotten it. Dont talk about it, be about it. Crocodile tears.
Ha ha. Did you lose the office pool or something? Almost everyone says they shouldn't've won. Has anybody ever accepted a hand-me-down Grammy?? Serious question.
Actually there are many examples of artists not accepting, refusing or passing awards to others if they felt strongly enough about it in some way or another. Macklemore is really a punk to make such a huge point out of being undeserving and pointing out who should have won before and after the event, except for in the actual moment, when he accepted the award without mention of any of his misgivings. That's the dictionary definition of a bullshit artist. Not that i actually give a shit about award shows, macklemore, kendrick lamar etc. etc. - i just couldnt help noticing due to the excessive amount of attention this was given. Also a bitch move to send someone a private message and then display it to the whole world afterwards to prove how cool you really are. All of this was in the hot97 twittter stream after he went on there to harp on about KL should have won. Just bag the bitch ass award for your bitch ass record and stfu without all the pulling of hair out of white pop rapper guilt.
Not for nothing. But on the first award, he did start in with the whole not needing a label and they started the music immediately to cut him off. No big deal. But I'm guessing the music industry does not want that message to catch on.
Mix that with the performance and I think it it showed some courage on his part. I understand that sticking up for gay marriage nowadays might not be risky to your career as it once was. But it still is in hop hop no?
In any case. You seem to have some salt in your wounds with dude. If you really don't like dues music, you should really not let it bug you this much. And just ignore it totally.
Also, I think he understands clearly that his white privilege has him in a very awkward position.
I'm not sure he does. I feel like if he really understood, he would work on rapping better.
How comfortable are you white Strut rap fans with your white privilege??
Speaking for myself, only so-so. I think about it a lot, and it taints a not-inconsiderable portion of my listening, honestly. If it didn't, though, I think I'd feel even worse.
I'm old enough to still be mildly shocked when I talk to white rap fans--or white sample-spotters or white black-gospel fans et cetera et cetera--who don't seem to have given any serious thought to the role that race plays in their consumption. I don't expect dudes to be self-flagellating while banging them some Maze or whatever, but I'm surprised at how thoroughly some folks are able to compartmentalize this stuff. I blame the internet.
I blame irony. He calls out privilege while he uses it for everything it's worth.
One can acknowledge the problem and apparently all their work is done. Admitting is the first and only step these days. By simply owning up to it, people are somehow absolved of actual responsibility to be part of the solution.
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
bassie said:
I blame irony. He calls out privilege while he he uses it for everything it's worth.
One can acknowledge the problem and apparently all their work is done. Admitting is the first and only step these days. By simply owning up to it, people are somehow absolved of actual responsibility to be part of the solution.
^^^On point.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
Okay, so as a Hip Hop loving white dude who also raps, what's he *supposed* to do? Hate on and/or question every other white dude who also loves it?? Rep the hardest, most righteous (or the most thuggish, most ignorant) Black artists to offset his whiteness? Quit (what I'm sure is) his dream job just to not upset the handful of people who are very clearly bothered by his success?
And don't say "give the Grammy to Kendrick" 'cause a) you know damn well you fools will call it a publicity stunt when the rest of the workd applauds him for his selflessness and b) you guys don't even care about the Grammys, 'member??
Jethro Tull knew their heavy metal Grammy was robbed from Metallica but Tull still accepted it with grace and then mocked it in concert. Macklemore should have just kept his mouth shut and we all would be blaming the Grammy voters.
In any case. You seem to have some salt in your wounds with dude. If you really don't like dues music, you should really not let it bug you this much. And just ignore it totally.
Not at all. I havent given him any thought or time apart from coming on here to assert my opinions of what a bitch he is based on what i ascertained after the rap aspect of the grammys - what with this being the strut, all topical and hip hop related and stuff.
Honestly, other than going on the strut and concluding he must be a ' punk (...) bulshit artist (...) bitch' i've invested zero time or attention.
No skin off my back, really, that kind of thing is a breeze to me - denouncing, insulting or cussing out this that and the other requires next to no emotion or effort on my part.
As a matter of fact, I can do it again now without as much as a flutter of the heart:
Fuck macklemore, fuck his PC gay is ok message, fuck his music, fuck his award, fuck his whole team and fuck anyone that rides for him.
There. Im perfectly happy and relaxed and about to watch a documentary on Alfred the great, without giving it a second thought - and I can assure you i will spend zero time or attention to his output in the future - apart from maybe randomly coming across it at any future kindergarten partys I might be forced to attend.
Dont let my opinion upset YOU though. Rather, consider partaking of it as a privilege.
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
Herm said:
Okay, so as a Hip Hop loving white dude who also raps, what's he *supposed* to do? Hate on and/or question every other white dude who also loves it?? Rep the hardest, most righteous (or the most thuggish, most ignorant) Black artists to offset his whiteness? Quit (what I'm sure is) his dream job just to not upset the handful of people who are very clearly bothered by his success?
Make like El-P, Yelawolf, Rittz, etc. and without effort show how your white skin doesn't have to be the prime identifier.
And I'm not bothered by his "success" in the least. I just think beyond making a single catchy pop song, he's full on baloney in every way...and therefore doesn't deserve respect in serious rap circles.
Pop success is measured in sales/exposure, so those accolades are undeniable.
Or we have different ideas of what corny is. For example, that video that Rootless posted is very corny, but nowhere near as corny as a white dude changing his name to a more Black sounding name to hide his whiteness.
Shit that is intentionally corny I don't consider corny 'cause duh, that's the point.
All I'm saying, though, is that that chorus really is some beautiful shit, especially for the radio. And if it took the existence and subsequent ascent of that shitty song to make that chorus--even just the sound of it--available to more hearts than it would have otherwise been, then I guess I'm okay with it.
That's kinda been my take on the Mack's hits. Rhymes are not good, beats are ok, but the choruses are good hooks.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
staxwax said:
fuck his PC gay is ok message
How he puts that sentiment across is whatever, but anyone who'd shit on the actual sentiment itself...
Comments
come on dude, he has evolved
b/w
since when have the grammies had anything to do with quality music? if quality music happens to fit their agenda then maybe it gets a nod but is rare. this macklemore thing is really no kind of surprise. they did a whole segment featuring him then paid him off with an award. the music industry, even in its death throes, is sleazy as fuck. who cares if this idot, flavour of the week bullshit artist thinks his "good intentions" are meaningful?
Seriously though, I like Macklemore. Not only because those dudes have put in work in Seattle and got this far completely independently, but because I'm okay with balance in rap. Why is it so bad to have one or two feel-good (and yes, oft-times corny) message songs to offset the thousands of "I'll steal/fuck/kill yo' bitch" songs all over the radio?!
Also, I think he understands clearly that his white privilege has him in a very awkward position. How comfortable are you white Strut rap fans with your white privilege??
The unrepentant lapping up and celebrating of disingenious celebrity bullshit does tend to tick me off. I'll continue to air my grievances here as I see fit... You jonesing for the mackle?
edit: i see. Actually there is nothing wrong with balance in rap at all imo. i was only referring to what i was referring to though. Musically macklemore seems to be the pop rap equivalent of right said fred or some shit. to each his own.
Ha! hot97s' morning show has good banter though, i enjoy it
Dude, get off it.
Yeah, he talks about white privilege from his ivory tower of the liberal Northwest. Then his white privilege steals him a Grammy from a more deserving black artist. Then he chokes up on the stage, saying after the fact...yeah, I was totally going to rep for you, dude, but got clammed up. What a chickenshit cop out. Either just take the award and move on...which woulda been fine. Or actually make the grand gesture. Don't half ass it...because that's what your white privilege has allowed you to do, both yesterday and today.
Seriously, fuck that sanctimonious assmunch.
Also, Macklemore did not invent the message rap by any means. He gets scolded for thinking like a white boy that everything has to have some clever, insightful message, leaving him as forced, contrived, phony, preachy, and a whole bunch of other undesirable adjectives.
to each his or her own, but i just have to say this "music" is a steaming pile of hot garbage. what exactly is redeeming about it on any level? is it supposed to be so bad that its "good"? it's not just that it's "corny", "white boy frat-esque" or "TMZ-esque", there is something really sonically offensive going on here.
Watching this shit last night, I realized that that abominable Macklemore song has exactly one good thing about it: Even though the song proper is poorly-rapped, self-centered triumphalist bullshit, I feel like the chorus, the gently cracking see-saw of that lady's voice--the way it hugs itself and rocks between her dear-god-not-this-again weariness and her joy, a joy that, as utterly interior as it may be, is ultimately uncontainable ("...but she keeps me warm"--like, can't you see?)--has, in its fiber, something very real to say about the soul fatigue that must sometimes result from a life lived this way.
If you wanted to be a structuralist nerd about it, you could say that this is a shitty song that is notable for containing within it a moving comment about what it means to occupy a position in society and culture that is misrepresented and misunderstood thoroughly enough and often enough that one is forced to endure being the subject of shitty songs such as this one. Very post-something.
All I'm saying, though, is that that chorus really is some beautiful shit, especially for the radio. And if it took the existence and subsequent ascent of that shitty song to make that chorus--even just the sound of it--available to more hearts than it would have otherwise been, then I guess I'm okay with it.
b/w
Macklemore > Kendrick performance-wise.
The first question? Whats wrong with having a couple message songs on your album? Well, let's see I've listened and loved possibly 5,000 different rap albums over the past 30 years that have each had at least a couple message songs on them. So where you think that's the problem, I have no earthly idea.
Macklemore didn't just do a couple innocent message songs. He did a grip of the most heavy-handed, sanctimonious, unsolicited-youth-minister-style rap songs I could possibly ever imagine. I know he's got his funny party songs to go along with those, but if the likes of KRS and Kweli have had to have been told to STFU for being too preachy over the years, this dude needs his lips sewn together with barbed wire.
PLAESE TO MAKE HIM STOP!
pics of your sufferation in the struggle or it didnt happen
Not for nothing. But on the first award, he did start in with the whole not needing a label and they started the music immediately to cut him off. No big deal. But I'm guessing the music industry does not want that message to catch on.
Mix that with the performance and I think it it showed some courage on his part. I understand that sticking up for gay marriage nowadays might not be risky to your career as it once was. But it still is in hop hop no?
In any case. You seem to have some salt in your wounds with dude. If you really don't like dues music, you should really not let it bug you this much. And just ignore it totally.
Speaking for myself, only so-so. I think about it a lot, and it taints a not-inconsiderable portion of my listening, honestly. If it didn't, though, I think I'd feel even worse.
I'm old enough to still be mildly shocked when I talk to white rap fans--or white sample-spotters or white black-gospel fans et cetera et cetera--who don't seem to have given any serious thought to the role that race plays in their consumption. I don't expect dudes to be self-flagellating while banging them some Maze or whatever, but I'm surprised at how thoroughly some folks are able to compartmentalize this stuff. I blame the internet.
I mean, has dude even seen Swing Kids?
One can acknowledge the problem and apparently all their work is done. Admitting is the first and only step these days. By simply owning up to it, people are somehow absolved of actual responsibility to be part of the solution.
^^^On point.
And don't say "give the Grammy to Kendrick" 'cause a) you know damn well you fools will call it a publicity stunt when the rest of the workd applauds him for his selflessness and b) you guys don't even care about the Grammys, 'member??
Not at all. I havent given him any thought or time apart from coming on here to assert my opinions of what a bitch he is based on what i ascertained after the rap aspect of the grammys - what with this being the strut, all topical and hip hop related and stuff.
Honestly, other than going on the strut and concluding he must be a ' punk (...) bulshit artist (...) bitch' i've invested zero time or attention.
No skin off my back, really, that kind of thing is a breeze to me - denouncing, insulting or cussing out this that and the other requires next to no emotion or effort on my part.
As a matter of fact, I can do it again now without as much as a flutter of the heart:
Fuck macklemore, fuck his PC gay is ok message, fuck his music, fuck his award, fuck his whole team and fuck anyone that rides for him.
There. Im perfectly happy and relaxed and about to watch a documentary on Alfred the great, without giving it a second thought - and I can assure you i will spend zero time or attention to his output in the future - apart from maybe randomly coming across it at any future kindergarten partys I might be forced to attend.
Dont let my opinion upset YOU though. Rather, consider partaking of it as a privilege.
Make like El-P, Yelawolf, Rittz, etc. and without effort show how your white skin doesn't have to be the prime identifier.
And I'm not bothered by his "success" in the least. I just think beyond making a single catchy pop song, he's full on baloney in every way...and therefore doesn't deserve respect in serious rap circles.
Pop success is measured in sales/exposure, so those accolades are undeniable.
But then I'd just be sitting here masturbating...
You always fall back on those lcd, you-hate-him-for-his-success barbs, all the while missing the nuance of what's actually being said.
It's okay though. You are just being you.
Just to keep this all in perspective, Drake won the award last year and Eminem seems like a shoe-in for whenever he puts out an album. So.
Shit that is intentionally corny I don't consider corny 'cause duh, that's the point.
Grammy awards are voted on by people in the industry, which includes.....(gasp!) many, many black people.
Not sure how dude can be accused of "stealing" one.
http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/grammy-awards-voting-process
That's kinda been my take on the Mack's hits. Rhymes are not good, beats are ok, but the choruses are good hooks.
How he puts that sentiment across is whatever, but anyone who'd shit on the actual sentiment itself...