I wanted my last post on immutable mobiles to be one of reflexivity. I have found that each week after the posts have gone up, everywhere I look I see cultural artifacts and media that shed even more light onto the topics of this course. I recently viewed Conan O’Brien’s parody of Rebecca Black's, Friday, entitled, Thursday. As not to repeat Taryn’s great blog about media imperialism from Tomlinson’s article, I want to instead talk about the viral video as one that raises some deep questions about the representations of race within popular culture.
The verses from Conan’s parody I want to draw on are the following:
Why is there a rapper here?
Why exactly am I here?
Did I just rhyme here with here?
I am getting out of here!
That was a rapper.
Which makes this a real song.
Fun fun fun fun...
The interesting thing that Conan draws on is the fact that within the Rebecca Black video, an African American male rapper appears in the song. Drawing from Gilroy’s discussion of the Black Atlantic, it is interesting that having an image of a black rapper seems to make the song appear more real. While this may seem ordinary I have to ask:
Is African presence in popular music seen to be a validation of what is deemed ‘real’ music?
Although it may not have been his intention, Conan seems to indirectly get at an important issue within the music industry. Yes popular music is seen to follow a standardized formula, but is the presence of race now a part of that formula? By placing the line: “That was a rapper. Which makes this a real song”, rap music could be viewed as also being parodied in the video. When I initially saw Thursday I thought it was very clever. However, when I watched it again and heard how race was sung about, it made me wonder what the real message of the video was. Although Thursday is humourous, it seems to shed a negative light on the quality of rap music. While not a fan of rap music myself, I feel that it contributes greatly to the music industry and to diversity in popular media. I want to ask if others believe that the appropriation of race within this video could be seen as making a statement about the validity of African American music? If so, do other videos, which also feature African American’s, fall under the same critique?
I think this is definitely one of those interesting moments where comedy is able to shed light on a serious question within society. The issue of race and music is not a new one, and this video demonstrates the complex negotiation in popular culture between what makes something successful and what makes it parody. Regarding the authenticity of music, there are clearly complex elements at play within the original and subsequent parodies of this video. Conan is not the only one to pick up on the presence of the black rapper in a white suburban music video. When Colbert performs Friday on Jimmy Fallon's show they also emphasize this element, poking fun at that which seems to make music "authentic". Race is obviously a complex issue and one difficult to tackle, even in something so seemingly simple as this parody. But perhaps parody is never simple.
ReplyDeleteIt could also be that in every new pop song, theres some element of Rap music that ensures the music will reach a larger demographic than the teeny boppers or pop fans. Think of Katy Perry dancing around with cupcakes on her bra while Snoop Dawg raps in the background on a cotton candy cloud, Christina Aguilera and Redman in Dirrty, Britney and N.E.R.D, etc. Whether its to give the music "authenticity" or not is something which clearly begs more research, but certainly music trends have shown that integration into songs has created more positive reviews of the song in the charts.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as we live in a capitalistic society, couldn't it be possible that rap is integrated because "cash rules everything around me...sayin' dolla dolla bills 'yall."
I think both of you have raised some important issues with regards to my question about race. I agree with Marie that capitalism plays a key role, and if it sells, Hollywood will use it.
ReplyDeleteI think there are several claims of authenticity in hip hop music, race being only one of them. Another way that hip hop artists try to prove their authenticity is by emphasizing the community in which they identify. It seems as though hip hop artists also place a lot of emphasis on their bond to “the streets.” Street credibility is an important symbol in the hip hop culture and those who lack this, which are typically those from the suburbs, are usually considered to be “fake.” I think Drake is one of the only exceptions to this claim of being an “authentic” rapper.
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