Category — Music

“sure, I know that you are tired of hearing about it, but
most repeat the same theme over and over again, it’s
as if they were trying to refine what seems so strange
and off and important to them, it’s done by everybody
because everybody is of a different stripe and form
and each must work out what is before them
over and over again because
that is their personal tiny miracle
their bit of luck”

– Charles Bukowski, “me and faulkner”

* This post’s title is from the same poem and is not necessarily my perception of music.*

Allie’s brought us back to hip-hop, once again providing some good points. Points I very much agree with on some level. (It’s funny that this conversation is happening on/because of my blog, since it began upon my first mention of hip-hop ever and my street cred is barely worth noting.)

If you haven’t already, go read Allie’s post before you start this one, because I’m not planning on doing a lot of framing here. But I will do just a bit. . . .

You’ll all remember that Lex originally asked Allie how she could decry misogyny in hip-hop yet read (and enjoy) Bukowski. I followed that by saying that I agree that tolerance of certain themes ought to span various forms of media. Allie’s basic premise is that while Bukowski and rappers discuss the same things, they do so in very different ways. Bukowski as a broken man, rappers as glorified sex kings. It would be hard for me to disagree with that assessment.

Obviously, they are different in style and presentation. Bukowski’s got more emo in him than most rappers. (I’d even say that Bukowski’s edge is often times much sharper than hip-hop’s.) Perhaps they’re even different in intention, but we can get carried away assigning motive and intention to artists when we really have no clue.

However, this argument against hip-hop rests on the assertion that in order for art to be valuable and worthy (?) of our consumption, a) it must reflect the brokenness of humanity and b) the artist must be willing to recognize his brokenness.

If art really is about humanity, though, recognition isn’t required. A lot of us, no matter how “broken” we may be, refuse to admit it. In fact, we do our best to shout, show, et. al. the exact opposite. If art is about reflecting and exposing something within universal humanity, then hip-hop ought to count, if not for its accurate depiction of how many cultures and (American) subcultures view women and sex (not to mention its political statements, stories of broken homes, etc.), then for its accurate reflection of how many (if not most) people deal, at least publicly, with their brokenness.

Isn’t pride, after all, a form of brokenness?

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Okay, okay. I get it. I’m supposed to blog at least every other day. Other people, they can take breaks. But not me. I’ve already shown what’s up my sleeve. You know I can do daily, if I want. I’ve no one to blame but myself. The Record fans have put in their calls, and I’m a woman of the people, for the people, so after a week’s hiatus, here I am.

That’s my big, dramatic way of saying: “This one’s for you, JSmo” . . .

. . . who asked this morning, “What’s up with the no blogging?” To which I responded, “What? I blogged on Thursday, right? I don’t normally do weekends.” And she, being the best sort of fan, quickly pointed out that it wasn’t Thursday at all, but Monday! Jeez. My calendar senses are seriously failing. Last week, I thought the 21st might have been the 3rd. I thought yesterday might have been May 2nd. And now this.

So what’s my excuse? I don’t have one. But if I had to come up with some:

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As you regular readers know, we’ve been discussing workout music and the merits of hip-hop. The following are the thoughts I had while working out yesterday about why hip-hop doesn’t alter my thoughts or attitudes the way it does for some people. Bear in mind, these are the most rudimentary of thoughts. There’s a good chance that I’m going to say something that sounds ridiculous. You might even get riled up about a few of them. Just remember, I might not mean what you think I mean or even what I’ve actually said, since I haven’t fleshed this out. But, on with it. . . .

I’m not pro-misogyny or pro-violence or pro-arrogance, which all get featured in hip-hop sometimes, but I’m also not pro-promiscuity or pro-anti-God, which get featured plenty in rock. You could maybe argue that hip-hop is a movement, a lifestyle, that acts on these themes, but even if we got past the drama and show factors, you’d be hard pressed to convince me that rock isn’t just as infiltrated with an “undesirable” lifestyle.

Lex brought up Bukowski, alluding to the discrepancy of tolerating themes in one media form and not another. I think he and I are on the same page there.

Sure, there’s always a line, and I’m not saying that there’s never a time to be cautious or that God doesn’t ever direct us (as individuals) not to partake in particular media. But I’m just gonna go ahead and say that I watch, listen to, and read media with all the elements I listed above.

And I don’t feel bad about it.

There was a time when I did — like the HS year I gave up television because I realized, as I was watching 90210 (which was forbidden), that I wasn’t offended by the pre-marital sex. Instead, I caught myself thinking, “Well, they’re 21.”

So I determined to cleanse myself of such attitudes by not watching TV.

But that wasn’t the answer. Turning off the television never kept anyone a virgin.

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Well, I walked/jogged 6 miles yesterday. I didn’t really intend to, but Caelyn fell asleep about two minutes before I got back to our apartment, so I kept going.

This gave me plenty chance to try out different types of workout music. I started with a mix of bright, poppy tracks from artists like Belle & Sebastian, Stereolab, Olivia Tremor Control, Beulah, Animal Collective, Apples in Stereo, Caribou, Of Montreal, Vampire Weekend, etc. (Okay, I cheated once and listened to the Beastie Boys. Tell me you like the Beasties, Allie.)

Then I gave a few minutes to, wait for it, Christian hip-hop. I figured this was a decent way to test the effectiveness of hip-hop’s beat and answer some complaints about hip-hop’s “negative” content. After all, “Words come easy but don’t mean much, when the words they’re sayin’ we can’t put trust in.”

Finally, I decided to give Tom Cruise’s wife some credit and put “Stronger” on repeat.

Say what you will about Dawson’s Creek and her crazy husband. The facts remain: Katie’s in my age bracket with a kid close to the age of mine and she’s not lookin’ too shabby.

Now, this test isn’t exactly fair, because I didn’t give equal time to each kind of music. I was only walking at an “exercise” pace for about an hour, fifteen. (I strolled around for a while after the 6 mile mark because Caelyn wasn’t awake yet.) I should also mention that the wind was pretty serious yesterday and I had to stop a few times for C.

But, outside factors aside, here’s what I gathered:

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The iMac is taking a vacation with the beach ball. Chris is checking him into his hotel as we speak. So unless something changes, I’m about to have to relinquish the PowerBook to the powers that make money. I’ll still have the iPhone to check on your blogs and such, but I wouldn’t count on much commenting/responding or posting.

I’m kind of too tired to write a good post anyway. We spent the weekend “Spring Cleaning.” I went through every single inch of space — closets, cabinets, laundry room, under the bed included — in this place. You wouldn’t believe the number of bags and boxes that made it to Good Will! We purged everywhere and reorganized the kitchen, the bathroom, our closet, and Caelyn’s closet. And then I cleaned — as in dusted, vacuumed, disinfected — yesterday, so feel free to come on over and snoop. Things are just as clean on the inside as they are on the outside. Plus, Chris put up these cool lights on the balcony, which makes it perfect for relaxing. There are things I don’t like about summer, namely heat and wasps, but there are at least two things I really love about it: sitting outside at night and flip flops.

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