jkwhut said:
>Isn't the real question now: who is minstrelling, not who's
>being minstrelled?
>
>Your corollary between blackface and thugged out videos is
>an apt one, but the fact is where white people once profited
>off the exploits of poorly paid and demeaned black
>entertainers(minstrel era), the corporate structure now
>consists of a number of blacks profiting off it as
>well...including the artists themselves.
>
>No white guy is telling Lil Jon to act a fool in those
>videos or yell catch phrases: he's doin it to get
>significant paper himself.
>
>Is this worse or better than the blackface era? I don't
>know.

WHAT?!?! ARE YOU S E R I O U S?!?!
This can be compared to....the fact that minstrel show actors + actresses technically did not HAVE to take those jobs....but they wanted to act/sing/get exposure. And that was the only avenue. Li'l Jon is worse--and I don't know en'thing about his life, so I'm assuming this one here---because, this time around in the minstrel game, **HE** CREATED HIS MINSTREL PACKAGE and brought it THEM.
I'self look at it, not as "the white folks running AOL Time Warner are really exploiting my people" (as true as this is in the earthly sense), but rather "the Devil, who cannot create anything and who has been determined to kill God's creation, is really destroying all people.


taward said:
These artists have chosen music as their career,
>their lively hood. This is how they eat. Therefore, if any
>artist claims to not want to sell as many records as humanly
>possible is just not being honest. And if that means not
>deliberately alienating and isolating the masses (those who
>buy albums) then so be it, but that doesnt mean they arent
>"true to their style" (whatever the fuck that means) No
>matter how you slice it, its a job, and you do what you have
>to do to eat. Now as far as selling out, thats simply a
>load of shit. That is the rhetoric of self proclaimed
>hip-hop aficionado(ie rap snobs)


Do you have even a clue of what the term "sell out" means?
It is a given these days, that there are record labels with BIG MONEY that can get you bomb studio access + promote your album + get you on radio + video + etc. But the terms are conditional--big money labels will do this only for a particular kind of music of their choosing. Technically, they COULD sign and promote the hell out of an "underground" artist talkin about "underground" ish. But the labels selectively CHOOSE to sign and promote mind-bullshit. An mc once told me that label cats were in the room with him while she was writing/working on a song and THEY were *making mild revisions of her lyrics*. BEP made a choice mid-career to make music whose SOUND was worlds apart. (More power to them!) And people look at this as insincere and "fakin the funk". I myself don't care. (I agree with you about the j.o.b. side of things. You just seem to not understand that THIS is the definition of the term "selling out".)


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____________________________

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performing in Chicago on:
-Wed 12/17 @ Darkroom
-Thur 12/18 @ Funky Buddha Lounge
-Sat 1/3 @ Subterranean