>Can't we have nothing just for US? We gon' drop it if it
>don't smell right no more. This has been the ethos in effect
>since the great murder, the supreme kidnapping. The masses
>of us have left Jazz, Blues, an tap dancing in the dumpster
>of the African American experience, to be picked up and
>raised by others, brothers and sisters having to go tour
>Europe an Asia where folks of different hues pack the venues
>
>This confuses me as now the same thing happening to hip hop
>now is the same thing that has happened to all forms of
>black music throughout the ages.

its a pattern. because we're still colonized. everything we create is first denigrated by the larger society, than accepted/appreciated. then exploited. (maybe the exploitation comes after the denigration, and before the accepted/appreciated phase).

as a matter of fact, it goes like this:

denigration
exploitation
deniggration (co-optation, SEE: elvis, benny goodman, vanilla ice, beastie boys -- i'm not ready to throw eminem in that category yet)
appreciation (after its been deniggerized)

and we, basically, on the one hand have this drive to create and keep it moving. and, on the other hand, this resentment of when things get taken over and mainstreamed which makes us reject stuff once its played. (sometimes this is conscious, but mostly its not). but how many black folk be buying blues records? jazz? we tryin to get back, but really don't make up the primary consumers/audience anymore.

and, to a large extent, i think this has happened and continues to happen in hip hop.

keep in mind that i'm not saying that a white audience for black cultural creations is in and of itself a bad thing. but exploitation, co-option, and misappropriating the culture are.

i mean, especially in the light of gregory hines passing recently... when i was growing up, and before he came out on the national scene, when i thought of tap dancing, i thought of white folks on broadway w/ sequins and top hats.

i knew nothing of the nicholas brothers, bojangles robinson, the history of the art form, going back even to africa (sand dances, etc). i was blown away at that, cuz i thought it was some yt stuff. cuz we had ran from that so far and so long ago.

it took gregory hines, and savion on his heels, to bring this to our attention.






peace & blessings,

x.

"I'm on the Zoloft to keep from killing y'all." - Iron Mike