Group Video - Culture of Cool

Click Here for the video!

Two Perspectives on Hip-Hop/Rap - Which Do You Agree With?

I don’t really listen to a whole lot of hip-hop or rap because I was sick of its hyper-masculinity front. It seemed to me that all the popular rappers had the same goals; get money, get women, get power, be violent. None of these things ever appealed to me, so I never really listened to much of the genre. I have noticed a slight shift, though. I have noticed recently that there are a lot of rappers who are pointing these types of things out and are calling out all the rappers who think that those things are good goals. This was the type of rap that I could relate to.

In our class discussions about the world of Hip Hop and its pushiness with hyper-masculinity, I was reminded of some videos I had recently seen. The first video is by a rapper named Hopsin. I stumbled across this video on YouTube and was a little shocked by the message in his song. The song is completely focused on people who think that smoking weed, getting drunk, and being promiscuous are “fun” and pointing out that they aren’t going anywhere in life with these behaviors. In the song, Hopsin blames rap music for exposing young people to this set of beliefs and blames parents for not being strict enough:

           

“Man I hate rap, but if the shoe fits wear it.

I’ve become a freak of nature all the kids stare at.

Who walk around bumping RAW with the shit blaring, saying fuck school and dropping out like a miscarriage.

I’m embarrassed, and I’m ashamed I’ve played a part in this devilish game making your common sense perish.

But I ain’t taking the full blame cause most of you chumps running around here ain’t never had strict parents.”

Another interesting part of the song is when Hopsin states, “Man, why do black people got to be the only ones who can’t evolve. Cause you in the streets acting like a Neanderthal.” This ties in with our discussion in class about how the culture of hip-hop and rap music has not done anything to help stereotypes of African Americans. These things are what are putting people in this “box” that they can’t seem to escape from.

 (skip to about 1:00 for the beginning of the music)

There was another side of the story, though. Another rapper, Mysonne, responded to Hopsin’s song and even included him in the video. In Mysonne’s song, the two seem to agree on most things, but Mysonne points out some things that he feels Hopsin didn’t think through all the way. Mysonne’s song states that sometimes when you live in lower class, poor neighborhoods you have to try and make something out of nothing. Sometimes selling drugs or stealing is the only way for some people to break out from the binds of poverty. Mysonne also touches on the topic of violence. As Hopsin said black people are acting like Neanderthals, Mysonne says that sometimes they’re men at war, stating that sometimes violence is the answer when you can’t ignore it. In Hopsin’s song, he states that a “real nigga” is one that doesn’t need to say it and brag about it, but Mysonne’s response is that if they don’t let people, then rappers will get the wrong impression of them and sometimes showing how far you’ve come will empower kids to know that anything is possible.

            Both rappers point out good things, but start to have some conflicting messages. I honestly disagree with some of Mysonne’s points, in regards to violence and bragging about power. Hopsin’s song is harsh, but it’s supposed to be a slap in the face. Who’s side do you agree with?

Can You Really Do Everything Better Than Me?

            I think everyone knows that song that has seemed to become a theme song for feminism. You know, the one that goes, “Anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you. No you can’t, yes I can, no you can’t, yes I can.” This seems to be the age-old argument: who’s the better sex, men or women?

            In the song, the two list all the things that they could each do better than the other. Men and women have always seemed to argue this and I think that it’s all kind of silly. In my opinion, there are women that can do things that men can’t and there are men that can do things that women can’t. But why on earth are we still arguing about this? Is it maybe because feminists are too sensitive? I think that some of them are.

            Let me preface this next section by saying I am NOT trying to make an argument that men are better than women. I’m merely pointing out some personal observations.

            Feminists have been fighting for years now trying to show everyone that women deserve equal rights as men. I whole heartedly agree with this, but only if the women are truly more qualified. I know that women have gotten the short end of the stick in the past, but that doesn’t mean that we should be over accommodating for them now.

Picture this:  a company is looking to hire a new person and receive many applications for both men and women. They look them over and realize the John is the most suitable person for the job. But then they realize that their company already has a lot of men, so they look for the most qualified woman. She has nowhere near the experience or qualifications as John, but they decide to hire Jane just to make their company more diverse.

Is this actually empowering to women? The only reason that Jane was hired was because she was a woman. John was realistically more equipped and qualified for the job, but they still gave it to Jane. They gave her the job only out of pity for women. I feel like this is falsely giving women empowerment.

Feminists fight for equal rights, and maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like we’re pretty close. It would be naïve of me to state that they are completely equal. But it seems that women are automatically offended because women don’t get certain jobs or positions. I can name many female directors, writers, producers, CEO’s among other prestigious jobs and they deserve to be there. But I don’t think that women should expect to get special treatment only because they were treated poorly in the past.

Can Women Stand Tall In The Music Scene?

           With all this talk about the worlds of Comedy and Sports being predominantly populated and run by males I couldn’t help but think about a world pertinent to me personally: the music scene. I’ve been lucky enough to play in a band for the past 8 years of my life. We play in Indianapolis regularly and around other places throughout Indiana. I couldn’t help but think about the music scene I’m apart of and how it is very similar to every other facet of life: it’s pretty much a dude ranch. There are hardly any girls in the pop-punk/alternative music scene.

            I have first hand experience with this because the singer of my band is actually a female. People are often impressed on how well we match up with other heavy hitters in the music scene in Indianapolis. People or other bands that haven’t seen us before are always telling us, “Oh you guys have a chick singer? That’s awesome!” They are always somewhat surprised. Do they think a chick can’t hold her own in this scene? That seems to be the stereotype. There are quite a few bands out there that seem to be helping break this stigma. The most common and well known is definitely Paramore, but some other bands that help break the stigma are Flyleaf, IWrestledABearOnce, Veara, Skillet, Formulas, amongst others. Girls are finally seeing that they can be apart of any genre and no only the stereotypical pop or acoustic/singer-songwriter or country genre. Some of the bands listed are even heavier metalcore/hardcore bands.

            I know that there is that common stereotype that women are not as up-to-par as men in most things, and pop-punk/alternative music is no different. I will admit that being a drummer, I have had the stereotype in my mind that girls just fundamentally cannot play drums as well as boys. I had that mindset until life punched me in the face with some super talented musicians. From the Georgia-based pop punk band, Veara, Brittany Harrell kills the drums! She is one of the tightest pop punk drummers out of most of the bands I’ve heard in the genre. Then I was at an event here at Ball State and had my world rocked by the local jazz band, Trackless. Their female drummer had more soul and flavor in her playing than I could hope to have in mine. Both instances really opened my eyes and showed me that women really can do anything men can do and just as well, if not better! 

Reputations are the new Brand

            In class, we talked a lot about the importance of branding for companies. We discussed how it’s not just a product that they are selling, but really it’s a lifestyle. They try to make the customer think that they are participating in something bigger when they buy their product: that the customer becomes apart of the “insert-company-name-here” family.

            Let’s look at Starbucks for example. Starbucks definitely sells more than just coffee. They are selling you an idea of being apart of a large group of people who are hip, successful, and trying to change the world. Starbucks engages in a lot of philanthropic organizations, so we think that if we buy Starbucks coffee, we’re supporting these types of causes. Also, Starbucks is seen as something of a “higher end” product. Celebrities, movie stars, film producers, and the wealth always seem to have a Starbucks cup in their hand. If we buy Starbucks coffee maybe we can feel famous for a little bit. If you really dissect what you see around you when you’re in a Starbucks, some of these ideas are pretty obvious.

            Starbucks isn’t the only guilty one. Almost all companies use branding as a way to create a “culture” related to their product.

            But there is a contrasting opinion out there. This month, I went and saw John Graham speak. John Graham is one of the founders of a very successful Public Relations company, Fleishman-Hillard. In his speech he mentioned that he noticed a trend of companies focusing more on their reputation as opposed to their brand. This really got me thinking.

            I think that people may eventually pick up on the fact that they are buying into more than products with big name companies. They will notice this and then think to themselves, “Wait a minute. I don’t want to support big-wig corporate stuff. I want to be counter culture. Maybe I shouldn’t buy so much Starbucks and start buying that really cool independent coffee company that’s really genuine.”

            People are drawn to honesty and transparency in companies. I think it’s good that companies are putting more focus on their reputation as opposed to spending a lot of time and money on creating a brand. This is a more genuine approach in my opinion. 

"Soul Pancake" website: Alternative Media

When we started talking about “alternative media”, it took me a second to really grasp an example. We are so surrounded by social media these days that it’s hard to find something that is solely idea driven as opposed to profit driven. When I finally thought of an example, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

For those of you who love “The Office”, you should know Rainn Wilson. If you are unfamiliar with the name, that would be the actor who plays Dwight Schrute. Rainn Wilson created a website that I have found recently that is simply beautiful in so many different ways. It’s called “Soul Pancake”. This website has so much to offer it’s incredible. Most of it is spelled out clearly in their mission statement on the homepage.

This is a great example of something that is idea driven! In the “Conversations” tab, you can sign in with your Facebook information and start “answering life’s biggest questions”. Have a question that you are just dying to get answers for? Post it! Anybody who accesses Soul Pancake’s conversations tab can read through the submissions and decide to respond. I’ve posted two questions so far and had great results! Both times I had people respond with different opinions and answers, which is just what I wanted! This is a place where you can get a lot of diverse reactions/answers and really get a great result from posting a question.

The website has a lot more to offer from great videos streaming from their new YouTube channel to activities that help you maybe get a little more out of life.

If you want a website to really get your creative juices flowing and really engage in something that will get your brain wheels turning, log into Soul Pancake. This is the perfect example of giving a voice to “other” people, as an alternative media should. Go get and share some ideas!