Ancillary question that has no material benefit to the research--Is there any kind of trend nowadays that addresses the dichotomy between the bling and the "we're poor outsiders who hate the establishment"--but tell them where the good jewelers are.

I think moving beyond the dichotocmy is what much (not all) "Gangsta" thing was about - at least the version that made it bigtime. It was about "yeah we are poor outsiders and we are coming for your stuff - but not as revolutionaries; we're we are not out to overthrow the system; we are out to move to the top of it cause we're tougher, meaner and hungrier. " And there are a lot reasons that strain was more commericailly sucessful than others (including other strains of Gangsta.). It appeals more to advertisers; what better way to sell shit than with music that spends time telling you life is all about getting rich, buying fancy stuff, and buying women (cause women are all for sale). And it appeals to white kids cause all the pimp/ho/gangsta image plays to sterotypes that are out there anyway. And of course mixed in with it is other stuff. There is the party/have a good time stuff. There is still a little political stuff that creeps into even mainstream hip/hop. And it is not that any of this was inauthentic. I just think that one particular strain of Gangsta that was always there got pumped up a whole lot bigger than its natural size cause it was a good way to sell shit, and to cripple more dangerous versions.

Deb, my Black Star CD is AWOL (which annoys--I think it's in my closet somewhere), but they're one of the (later than the period you suggested) things I was thinking wouldn't make you twitch.

Plei, cool - I can always order a song off iTunes, if you can think of a title.

Gar, I suspect you're right, which is one reason I was on what was considered the wrong side of the "explicit content labeling" divide. Bottom line is, I don't hand money over for something I'm allergic to, or that benefits the KKK or Aryan Nation. Why the fuck would I be willing to hand a thin dime over to someone to reward them for mysogeny or Jew-bashing? That kerfuffle, in my eyes, was all about commerce and nothing about creative freedom. Being a parent is hard enough, especially when the one child is a daughter. Why should I enrich someone who thinks women are commodities? Fuck that.

Nic once said that, if the revolution this country needed so badly ever came, it would be because a single black mother living with four kids in a one-room apartment in Detroit or somewhere finally decided she'd had enough. And I once got into a heated conversation with a black friend of my sister's; she was defending the stance straight down the line until I said that, bottom line, sisters were getting pissed on and no matter what colour the dick was, the colour of the piss never changed. That got her thinking instead of knee-jerking.

So when the whole "why you keepin' me down?" is coming from someone with eighty million dollars and three kids with three different women he can't be bothered to even disguise his contempt for, he has zero cred with me.

I tell you, those eleven hours of conversation at FUBU this week? They were not boring.

But I just came home to an email from Daymond. Let the games begin...

Deb, Definition, RE-Definition, and Brown Skin Lady would be the tracks I'd suggest. (You know, the ones I'd send if I could find the thing!)

Deb, Definition, RE-Definition, and Brown Skin Lady would be the tracks I'd suggest.

Excellent! I'm on it.

I have the prologue, the thing that sets up the storyline, written in my head. Need to discuss with Daymond.

I said that, bottom line, sisters were getting pissed on and no matter what colour the dick was, the colour of the piss never changed.

Hey deb, here's a hip hop news site. It caught my eye, because it's running an article about the maker of Cristal being less than thrilled that rappers like his bubbly. [link]

How in hell did I forget Coolio? I remember wanting to go upside his head with something heavy for being a humourless, dour prick over Weird Al's wanting to filk Gangsta's Paradise. As in, dude? You are really NOT all of that. Shut up and let the boy make you even more money.

True, true. But I loved the song, though, and the hip-hop kids around the Long Beach Poetry scene were totally into it.

edit: holy SHIT, I remember the Prophets! Wow. Lot of water under the bridges between now and the Panther years.

I've seen them play once -- I was literally the only white guy at their Long Beach show, and I was working for their label. Nicest guys, and MAN they showed the upstart little rappers how it was done -- no sampling, no scratching, just blistering energy and percussion. Absolutely amazing show.

Oh, excellent site! Thanks, Cindy. Marked. Also, Cristal was to the fore in NY. It's okay - I've had it before, what with the whole rock and roll thang - but there are champagnes I like better that cost a lot less. Gimme a 1990 Pom or a 1995 Veuve any day. I think this one is really popular just because it's so damned pricey. It's less about the bubbly than it is about the bling, the equivalent of those damned gold chains and diamond studs.

I loved the song

So did I. I got violently earwormed with it and had to listen to Nirvana to make it stop. But that's what made it so filkable.