Authenticity... again. Now with more historical and cultural context!

I mentioned this briefly in class today, but I've been thinking about it more since then.

Krzys asked us why we thought that middle class white kids liked NWA so much. I said that both Bob Dylan and NWA have an authenticity thing going. I didn't actually mean to answer the question, I just needed a vehicle to say that once I thought of it, so I tied it back in. Ha. In fact, I mostly had stuff to say about Bob Dylan.

But anyway, the extent to which Bob Dylan tried/succeeded in being authentic is pretty impressive. We studied him a lot last semester in history of rock music. Rock'n'Roll was in full force in the late 50's. While a couple folk musicians gained popularity (Guthrie, Pete Seeger) then, it was Bob Dylan that brought folk music to the mainstream in the early 60's. The folk music revival coincided nicely with the civil rights movement in New York at least, Bob Dylan writing about it often.

The authenticity part comes in because of how folk music changed rock music, which is mostly lyrically (at least, that's the relevant part. It worked stylistically also, of course). Folk brought activism and politics into rock music at a time when mainstream music had always had banal lyrics about puppy love and throwing parties. This mingling came later, though. When folk being popular was a new thing, folk musicians sought to separate themselves as much as possible from rock music and it's falseness. Fans and musicians dressed differently and opposed any poisoning of the authenticity of folk with rock influences (why Bob Dylan plugging in at the festival was such a huge disaster at the time).

The ironic bit of all of this, of course, is that stating rules and boundaries for folk music is somewhat contrary to the heart of the genre and rather inauthentic inherently. Theoretically, it would be about pulling influences from wherever felt appropriate, but that attitude in music didn't come until later.

This post seems pretty off-topic, so I'll backtrack to NWA and the Wire:

I see a common thread between the authenticity of Bob Dylan and that of NWA. In both instances, it's a little hypocritical (Bob Dylan will not ever really be on the receiving end of racism; NWA aren't quite as on the streets as you might guess), and in both cases, they were using authenticity to make popular a genre of music which contrasted the current mainstream. Bob Dylan brought folk out against rock, NWA brought gangsta rap out against... well, everything wholesome. AND lyrics/message were a huge factor in both!

As far as the Wire goes, it's not a musical artist of course, so that comparison is out the window. I do think it shares the slight hypocrisy in that any television show created for entertainment isn't going to be totally realistic, much like any real gangsta is not going to be in a recording studio. The idea that it's creators are ex-cops and such lends it some credence, though. The "lyrics" of the show, much like NWA or Bob Dylan, are pretty revolutionary. I think the dialogue is one of the strong points in the Wire, both for authenticity and entertainment.

vessels

I wasn't as excited about listening to Hwy 61 as NWA because I've unfairly relegated Dylan to the group of artists that every hipster ever claims to love.  Not fair, I know, and I like him more upon listening, though I still prefer Straight Outta Compton.

I second Rachel's idea that Bob Dylan's somewhat "ugly" reedy voice reflects beauty in ugliness, and I wanted to expand on it a little.  

Bob Dylan conveys beauty and sadness and love and all of that in a decidedly ugly vessel - his voice.

Humbert Humbert/Nabokov communicates horror and shock and ugly, unspeakable things in a really, really beautiful vessel - his words and his prose.

NWA delivers truth and rawness (both good and bad) in a shocking, vulgar, abrasive yet innovative way - their lyrics and beats.

David Simon delivers that same truth and rawness in a packaged-for-HBO-but-not-overly-glossy, realistic TV container - the dialogue and visual effects and cinematography.

So. It's all sort of circular.  Each of these artists, or groups of artists, is innovative in that they present emotions in a different way, or vessel, than is expected.  What is more surprising is that they all do it beautifully, eloquently, perfectly.  No one here matches up subject matter with a corresponding, expected style, and I think that's part of what makes them all so important, and maybe why we're studying them all in tandem.

 

I had this phase in eighth grade when I was still really into the Sex Pistols and Gang of Four, but I was also starting to get into fashion and wearing skirts and stealing my mom's jewelry.  My art teacher kind of raised his eyebrow at me one day, and was like, "Heels and pearls with a Ramones shirt?  really, Elizabeth?" I mean, he was kind of a dick, and I was pretty embarrassed initially - how do you defend that?  But the more I thought about it, the more okay it seemed.  If I was going to be a cliché by liking outdated punk music that wasn't very relevant to me as an upper-middle-class white girl, I might as well do it in a different way than every other grimy, well-to-do suburban kid in a Clash tshirt.  

Reading/listening/watching these things reminds me of that this overly sentimental anecdote, a little, because the work of these artists is unexpected, but not just for the sake of being unexpected.  Not for shock value.  They do it to highlight the importance of their message, of communicating these things to the general public, Maybe even to garner a bigger audience?  Because you are getting both people that are attracted to the aesthetic value and then people that are attracted to the feeling or meaning behind the work - the lyrics of the song, or the emotions portrayed, or the events written? I just thought of that last question.  I'm not even really sure about it.  What do you think?

The idea of Games

For the past two weeks, we have been talking about the game in the wire, and most recently in N.W.A. and Highway 61 revisited. The game is still something that is on the outside, the cops, drug dealers, the law officials, politicians. I do not see myself as any of these people, so it was interesting when we were asked to write about the games we play in our own lives. This brought the whole idea of the game inside for me. A game that I am deeply involved in and I hate but can’t get out of, is the game of hiding true emotions and intentions. If you say what you are really thinking, you lose, and if you don’t, you still loose. The adults always have the upper hand, but they too are caught in the net of fake smiles and kisses. The more I thought about it, it seemed that all of life was a game. Let’s play a game: Who could eat the most calories and not gain weight, who can make the most money, who can replace The United States as world leader. All of life is one game after another. The Pope himself must play the game every now and then.
Throughout the Wire, there were references to games being associated with children (The Nursery rhymes and the scenes of children playing games.)It seems (let me try to explain this), the idea of a game plays such a big role in our lives, that we begin learning it as children, and perfect it by the time we are adults. At least how good you are at it determines your success. It seems like the concept of games is like the concept of eating. If you can’t eat, you die. There are different ways of eating, different things to eat, and different ways that eating can go wrong. The game, an essential piece of life, but I guess not all games are bad. It is when the games go bad that it become a problem, a cancer that must be removed at all costs.

Studying NWA

This whole semester we have challenged ourselves to come up with a definition and have come up with various clashing definitions as to what may or may not fit under that label. Now we have NWA's Straight Outta Compton to qualify.

I feel this album fits with this class. It is easily the most vulgar and grimy of all the works we've looked at. The Wire is realistic in its crudeness so I hardly find it offensive and I doubt reasonable people would find it so. Banned from the radio and venues, the NWA sound blazed from the streets causing many who do not understand the culture uneasy. The inclusion of this work is only qualified in the sense that it was a hot hot issue about twenty years ago.

If this class was just about what could be considered literature then I would be hesitant to include NWA. Well, maybe just not in the good literature category. Straight Outta Compton's importance stems from its place in hip hop history as an originator. Actually, I've always wondered why every music magazine that made a best albums list since so and so year always placed Straight Outta Compton so highly while hip hop focused magazines never acclaimed it as so.

NWA featured one of the most prominent rappers of the 90s (Ice Cube) and one of the best hip hop producers ever (Dr Dre) but it never seems to exceed exceptional. Ice Cube is easily the best lyricist and his delivery is leagues above anyone else in the group. Dre's work is before it develops until his fantastic G Funk style. If we were to study a truly phenomenal rap album like Illmatic, Ready to Die, Madvillainy, or Reasonable Doubt and numerous others, then I think I would have been more excited when I saw we would study several different works in different mediums at the beginning of the year. As it stands, I think Straight Outta Compton is a fine work to study in this course due to its nature and historical importance

N.W.A and The Game

Like I posted in my other blog, I wasn’t impressed by N.W.A when I first listened to their album. They just sounded like the same ol’ rappers rapping about the same ol’ things. However, just to explore the possibilities I asked my boyfriend about them since he is more knowledgeable about rap in general. He said “I don’t even want to explain N.W.A to you ‘cause you won’t understand. They were the real O.G’s.”

By this he meant that the group members in N.W.A were “real” and what they rapped about they meant and probably had done—unlike most of the rappers today. They were drug dealers in Compton, and not just the kind that sell weed here and there. Basically, they were legit. Knowing that, I can see the value of studying their songs more now. They weren’t rapping about topics that sold, they were expressing their world or at least how they saw it (like Sam commented on my blog). Their raps are a way of reasserting their power—the cops might have the law on their side, but they have the freedom to disregard the law and are willing to suffer the consequences of it. Catchy lyrics like “Everwhere we go they say [damn!]/N W A's fuckin' up tha program” says two things to me: They realized they were rapping about taboo subjects and they played by their own rules. N.W.A’s group members were fearless of the law and it’s consequences. If someone disrespected them and broke their rules, their solution was simple—kill or seriously hurt that person. (“The police are gonna hafta come and get meOff yo ass, that's how I'm goin out”) And even if they did get caught, they wouldn’t be held down for long. (“And if I ever get caught I make bail”) I’m not sure how many people they actually killed, but that’s the message they send. And, they sent this message through catchy songs that had even the white middle class listening to them. Using the police and the illegal activities that they do as topics for their songs is the ultimate slap in the face for the law. It’s almost like they tease the law by confessing to their crimes, knowing that the police wouldn’t be able to arrest them for it. In this sense, N.W.A played by their own rules and won “the game.”

Bob Dylan & The Game

Lolita, Bob Dylan, and NWA all play the game in different ways. They all attempt to play the game by not being mainstream. None of these artists would be considered pop-culture. They all have elements of counterculture. The majority of people in America play the game by being successful, but this group of people does not conform to the usual route of getting successful. An indication of success is making a lot of money. These players of the game have achieved that in an unusual way. On the surface, these artists could be ignored. These artists require a deeper look to be appreciated.

Lolita's subject matter is shocking. It is disgusting, but it is beautiful. It is about a child molester. When we took a closer look, we found molestation is not what the work was about. It is about the way it was written and the prose. Lolita is unusual subject matter that will not produce piles of cash, but did because it was executed perfectly.
Bob Dylan has an unusual voice. Simon Cowell, American Idol Judge and Expert on all things good, said that Dylan has a terrible voice. It is his lyrics that make the music worthwhile. Anyone can have a nice singing voice, but few can create poetry and social commentary in their lyrics. He is a success and is one of the most respected musicians, but for all practical purposes, his voice is not the norm of beautiful. Dylan commanded attention despite his imperfections.
NWA's subject matter and language is offensive. It gave voice to injustices and an underrepresented sector of people. They aren't offensive for the sake of being offensive like so many rappers are. Like the other two, they present their views in a way that is not mainstream. They cannot be compared to their contemporaries only. They have to be examined on thier own merits.

Dylan/The Wire and The Game

I know we've talked The Wire to death, so I'll be brief with this part. The Game in The Wire is all about individuals doing whatever they can to either advance themselves or just prevent themselves from falling into a worse position. McNulty admits after Kima is shot that to him the case is all about making himself look good. Wee Bey does a lot of dirty work to stay on Avon's good side. Bodie agrees to kill Wallace so that Stringer won't see him as weak. Omar kills and steals to make a living. When someone messes up, they have to deal with the consequences. D'Angelo is almost convicted of murder, so he gets bumped down the chain and has to work his way up again. Little Man shoots a cop, so he is killed. Prez is punished for hitting a kid unjustifiably by having his gun taken away and being confined to the office. Basically the game is harsh and it's every man for himself. 

Bob Dylan is completely against this way of playing the game. His game is to speak out against those who are all for themselves. Bob Dylan isn't about money and personal advancement, but rather peace, equality and pretty much making fun of anyone who does care about material things. "Like a Rolling Stone" is a good example of Dylan's lack of respect for people who place too much importance on tangible things. The subject of the song used to have money and dress well, and s/he didn't pay any attention to the misfortunes of others ("You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns when they all come down and did tricks for you"). This person has now fallen- s/he has been taken advantage of, has to compromise with the tramps, and has no place to go. Dylan advises that s/he pawn his/her diamond ring and insists that s/he has nothing to lose and no secrets to hide anymore. Bob Dylan's game is that he won't play the game that Avon and his men play in The Wire. D'Angelo gives up 20 years of his life in prison so that his family can keep living the high life, but here is a quote of Dylan's that I've always really liked: "What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to." There are tons of Dylan songs that express this same sentiment. He is always rooting for the underdogs, those that don't have all the money and power, because he believes the things they do have are much more important.