Blog is a Mix Tape

Song of the Week: International Players Anthem

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 21:16:51 -0700

International Players Anthem (f/ Outkast)

UGK

This is my favorite song right now by far.

This is my penance:
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AUTHOR: Jason Toney
TITLE: Bitches Ain't Shit but Hoes and Tricks: Sexism, Feminism and Denial in hip hop
STATUS: Publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: __default__
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CATEGORY: pop diatribe

DATE: 03/21/2004 02:38:16 PM
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BODY:
'Never lettin' ya leave, never lettin' ya go' - Amerie, Can't Let Go (All I Have)

Early in Chris Rock's Black Ambition Tour set, he jokes about his uncomfortable relationship with hip hop. Especially now that he has a daughter, he thinks more about the words. He notes, however, that women are always the people that seem to get the most amped when those misogynistic songs blare through the speakers. The lyrics could be

Stick it in her ass
Stick it in her ass
Hoes always love it
When you stick it in they ass

and what is seemingly every woman in the club saying as they grind up on their man or dance with their girls? 'That nigga ain't talkin' about me. Shiiiit. Holla!î

In LA, it's pretty much standard that you must rock something from the Snoop Dogg/Dr. Dre Chronic era in your old school set at the hip hop club. Probably the most misogynistic song on either the Doggystyle or Chronic albums is Ain't No Fun (If My Homies Can't Have None). Nate Dogg sings the smoothed out chorus over a silky 70s style soul loop on a song about passing a woman around like she was a joint.

The girls go wild. Every damn time. They laugh. They joke. They high five. 'That nigga ain't talkin' about me. Shiiiit. Wesst Side bitches. What?!î

The key women in hip hop seem to only broach the subject of this rampant sexism by suggesting their own sexual dominance. Missy Elliot's most recent hits all deal with her demands of men in the bedroom. On Ghostface Killah's Tush she says,

I really like you baby
Do you know how to wife this lady?
Give me what I want don't talk don't touch
Unless you got a bank account to make my face blush

Now shush
Eat my bush
And I can give you what you want
Make a wush

The implication being that she's as sexually aggressive as the men and, unless you've got the money to back up your bravado, you better do what she asks. That's great and all and I love a strong, sexually aware person but shouldn't women be demanding that same respect outside the bedroom? Li'l Kim and Foxy Brown have never gotten past the sex as a weapon ideology either. According to them, the only power women have is in the pussy.

Jean Grae and Ms. Dynamite aside, is the most accessible feminist voice in hip hop a man? Talib Kweli regularly broaches the subjects on his records. He consistently looks at the plight of black women in the world, if not in hip hop specifically, and rarely, if ever, makes sweeping generalizations about women in his word choice and metaphor. Is there anyone else out there challenging hip hop, challenging young black minds to consider women as something other than hoes, tricks, chickenheads, your baby's mamma, or big mamma?

Maybe it's Erykah Badu whose Worldwide Underground album might be the preamble to the future of hip hop anyway. From the outset, she has been a soul singer intricately tied to her love of hip hop. She challenges the hip hop generation to always re-evaluate what is accepted as true. On the single from Worldwide Underground, Danger, she looks at a common archetype in hip hop, the drug dealer, and showcases what the woman at home is doing while he's away or on lockdown. No hoes or tricks here just a strong woman taking similar risks as her partner whether she gets acknowledged for what she does or not.

But, perhaps, the truest commentary on where women in hip hop are takes place later on her album on the Love of My Life Worldwide remix. The guests on the track are Bahamadia, Queen Latifah, and Angie Stone - 3 powerful female MCs who haven't put out relevant commercial hip hop releases in 5, 10, and 20 years respectively.

But the ladies in the club are dancing and cheering. 'That nigga ain't talkin' 'bout me.'

Who is that nigga talking about then?

'Excuse me, miss. What's your name?'
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EXTENDED BODY:
Related:
hiphopmusic.com: Hip Hop Blogs - Blind to Gender Issues?
diesel nation: Hip Hop Hates Women
a day in a life: Black Females are Valued by No One
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EXCERPT:
That nigga ain't talkin' 'bout me. Holla!
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Bonus: Samhita sez

Double Bonus: The entirety of Beyond Beats and Rhymes on Google Video

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@away: Feels Like Home

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:42:43 -0700

Date Stamp: 04.21.07

A light rain covers San Francisco. It's 6:33 pm. I'm sitting in the mezzanine at the Hotel Metropolis trying to angle appropriately for the complimentary wifi that seems to elude me. Felicia and Melissa are napping in our kryptonite colored room. I've just coordinated dinner plans with some of my very favorite people like Mita and Mr. West and I trust that our evening will only begin with tapas.

I'm very happy.

I've twittered about random things like leg cramps and Dixie bands and cannoli while I've been here and they are all true. I'm still battling the muscle tightness that cropped up last night at the Element Lounge. MJ's web 2.0 birthday party featured some ridiculous pop confection - at least 4 songs featuring Fergie and the Timbaland/Nelly Furtado/Justin Timberlake hit twice - along with the requisite megamixes and reggaeton and after trying to play it cool and take it easy, I was overcome. We danced it out. We walked it out. We got George to break it down. And then, because I'm old, the back of my right leg seized up. It hasn't quite relinquished it's hold.

This should be a problem because we spent the day walking the city. Breakfast at Cafe Mason was followed by a cable car ride to The Buena Vista and many an irish coffee, many a joke, and one camera lesson on the wonder of the macro feature and food shots. We then trekked through North Beach and found the "WashBaG crawdad feed" that featured the most excellent Dixie Band covering some of your 80s favorites including Rockwell, Phil Collins and the Eurythmics. We didn't stop there.

Can't Stop. Won't Stop.

So we continued on through the Italian rooted enclave until we found Mara's Italian Eatery and had the finest of pastries, gelatos and coffees before walking back to Union Square and then on to the hotel.

In betwixt all that, I've seen Smokler and Tim Ferriss and Jaschu. I've danced with strange women and been drunkenly encouraged by strange men. I've discussed local politics and web industry gossip and eaten my face off.

I've felt both special and normal at the same time. I've felt at home.

Huh.

So, if this feels like home what does LA feel like to me right now?

A question for another day, methinks.

This post's playlist:

1. To Dry Up (feat. Charlotte Savary) by Hope & Sorrow
2. Don't Sit on the Pickets by Racetrack
3. Morning Child by 4Hero
4. Interlude by Jay Dee aka J Dilla
5. You Broke My Heart by Cavalry of Light
6. Sweaty Wet/Dirty Damp by Gameboy/Gamegirl

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@sxsw: Do You Blog on the First Date?

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 07:47:54 -0700

I am fiending for Samhita's discussion of this panel as this, Rachel Kramer Bussel's wonderful participation notwithstanding, was both the worst and most enjoyable panel experience I had as an audience member at SXSW.

The scene: Room 10AB on the third floor of the convention center, 5 women (all white), all claiming to be bloggers (I think I'd only put RKB in that category), all paid sex columnists (again, RKB's experience puts her on a different playing field), all not very connected to this wired/interactive world and me sitting next to a fuming poorly compensated brown feminist whose head nearly exploded with each panelist comment. About halfway through the panel, I couldn't even look at Sam. I would just put my hand out and whisper, "Be easy" and try my best to stifle my guffaws and chortles.

Now let me preface this by saying that I have no quarrel with the concept. There is a long history of sex being an important part of SXSW. My first year here, I spent a good amount of time at parties with Halcyon and Tassy. The Sex and Computational Technology panel the day before was one of the most academic experiences I've ever had. I also see value in hearing from bloggers who are paid for their craft and am quite curious about how relationship dynamics get played out when you throw our online identities into the mix. In fact, I've been thinking a lot about that as a couple I know has been dealing quite publicly with a tough time in their relationship. I've also seen blog nerds here talk about how they met online via blogs and are married now or in a committed relationship.

Hell, I'm pretty sure MJ and Jason's wedding will be liveblogged or twittered.

The problem here is that this was a nuts and bolts conversation about how traditional media sex writers are navigating their traditional media forays into the digital space. RKB snuck in an anecdote or two about same sex relationships but this was an entirely white hetero, traditional relationship kind of situation with people not talking very much about "interactive" issues. There was the bold and inaccurate statement that men aren't blogging about dating and sex (and when did those two words become synonymous?) which completely ignores gay bloggers (I can name 5 gay bloggers [of color] off the top of my head who have very publicly talked life and love...in fact, with sexuality as a key identity factor for them in their online spaces, those topics are maybe the crux of their blogs), spiritual bloggers (for whom romantic love, sex, etc. are significant factors in their faith based lives and online identities), teens who might have entirely online romantic relationships in spaces like myspace, facebook and livejournal, and on and on.

To put it plainly, I was mortified.

And I didn't even go into the panel looking for that kind of commentary but for it to be so blatantly unacknowledged and innacurately portrayed blew my mind.

I wanted more discussion of relationship dynamics in the online world. I've written occasionally about relationship stuff (both in the courtship and erotic senses) over the years and I know of situations where people have battled online about their love. Is this helpful or harmful? Are there any thoughts about how the online world effects intimacy? Does writing about sex and love online change the power dynamics in a relationship? If you're a better writer than your blog love partner, do you win more arguments, get resented, unfairly have an advantage? Does online writing about sex and relationships allow for more cross-cultural understanding in inter-(pick your term) relationships?

Discussions of editorial battles, statements like "women are bitches" and generalizations about this creature known as man earn you no kudos here. Let's get deeper.

Please.

Before Sam's head explodes.

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@sxsw: The Ramble

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:27:22 -0700

I'll come back to a lot of the things I'm going to touch on here more deeply later (particularly twitter, the digital ethnorati panel, and the new "online identity" conversations) but here's what my very tired brain is thinking about:

Twitter:

How did I stay connected to people at SXSW before twitter?
I do have unlimited text on my phone, right?
Twitter is not for your personal conversation. Let's try a one interaction AB conversation (and use the @username convention) and not AB AB AB AB AB AB where I don't know if you're talking to me or not. Remember we don't all have the same friends. We do still have IM and Direct Message and E-Mail for that.
It is not rude to stop following someone.

People:

Samhita and Erica are some of my new favorites. Get Familiar.
Laina and Ms Jen are now officially part of my sxsw inner circle
I'm awfully excited I finally got to meet Rox and RKB in person
It's nice being able to talk work stuff with work friends like Amy and Cruftbox at SXSW
George, Lynne, Tiffany, Lainie, and Tracy are all my ace #1 peoples but you know this

Parties (one word thoughts):

Panels:

Business Side of Web Design

I really need to come up with the "Agency Constitution" for my production team
I really need to form a production philosophy that we'll adhere to. A mantra, if you will (and not negative ones like "No more phases" and "Not a production issue").
I don't have any design/agency/business role models. I should get some.

Emerging Technology and Social Trends

Summary thought: Now that people have developed online identity, they are now seeking a sense of place and that often means at points where online and offline worlds intersect.
We really need to stop thinking about offline and online as separate.
public vs. private is still a huge (and unsolved) issue.
SF nerds name-check plazes all the time but I don't think it has much average user application (or provides a service that people are clamoring for)

Every Breath You Take

New etiquette rules really need to be established for online and mobile communication
Reputation, Identity, Presence, Nameplaces - these are my kinds of buzzwords
How does the desire for someone like me who wants a persistent online identity exist at the same time that many people (particularly young people) like the concept of disposable identity? Are their tools and applications that can make the web better for both types of folks?
What about those who want no online identity but still wants the tools that are increasingly requiring identity creation?

Production 2.0

Short form/online content creators are mostly thinking about how to navigate big media negotiation instead of thinking much about the new challenges they face as their content gets monetized (unions, guilds, talent, production value)
I don't know enough about the VLOG community

User Generated Content

This requires it's own post.

The Digital Ethnorati (questions)

Do we get to self define ourselves as the "Ethnorati"?
When unexpected communities begin using a tool in unexpected ways, is there a kind of "byte flight" where the intended/existing community leaves for other options? (See Orkut, see fotolog, See even Friendster)
I'm not sure I subscribe to the assumption that online access is for all (at least not in the "a laptop in every living room, a broadband connection in every wall" kind of way it was discussed here)
Are there companies thinking about technology tools from ethnic/geographic perspective? Who are they? Who is running them?
Aren't the tools being created from a commerce perspective different from the ones that academia and/or socially progressive organizations need in the communities they service?
Does perception matter in this case?

Dan Rather Keynote

snooze

(This isn't done but I want to get it live. Many many links to come)

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