Reality on the run (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cahiers_du_2006) wrote,@ 2009-05-21 18:06:00 |
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Notorious (George Tillman Jr., 2009)
I hated Biggie and Tupac when they came out. That's because their biggest fans in my school were goons who knew nothing of Erik B. & Rakim, KRS One, or say anything that wasn't top 40 radio. So I always sort of equated them with lameness. Basically the people who loved them best seemed to be poeple who weren`t fans of hip hop, knew nothing about it, and didn`t care. My little sister had a framed portrait of Tupac in her bedroom. In it he stood, shirtless, sneering at the photographer, his boxers showing, hand flipping the bird. Her second favorite recording artist was Ricky Martin.
In hindsight I guess you can say that they cracked some sort of code in the business because they were able to sustain the degenerate misogeny of their more hardcore peers (Ice Cube, Ghetto Boys, et al) but at the same time aspired to some kind of superstar royaly status. They wanted to be 2 Live Crew and Elvis at the same time. I remember hearing that Toronto rapper speaking on some panel at Ottawa U, what`s his name - K-Os - he said something like this: the trajectory of rap can be compared with rock. If Rakim is like - I dunno - Chuck Berry or something - then Puffy and all them could be considered hip hop's glam period. Where it`s all about flashy clothes, babes, and jewlery. There you go. Biggie = Gary Glitter.
Don't worry. I'm already undergoing treatment for my acute playa-hating disorder.
I hated Biggie and Tupac when they came out. That's because their biggest fans in my school were goons who knew nothing of Erik B. & Rakim, KRS One, or say anything that wasn't top 40 radio. So I always sort of equated them with lameness. Basically the people who loved them best seemed to be poeple who weren`t fans of hip hop, knew nothing about it, and didn`t care. My little sister had a framed portrait of Tupac in her bedroom. In it he stood, shirtless, sneering at the photographer, his boxers showing, hand flipping the bird. Her second favorite recording artist was Ricky Martin.
In hindsight I guess you can say that they cracked some sort of code in the business because they were able to sustain the degenerate misogeny of their more hardcore peers (Ice Cube, Ghetto Boys, et al) but at the same time aspired to some kind of superstar royaly status. They wanted to be 2 Live Crew and Elvis at the same time. I remember hearing that Toronto rapper speaking on some panel at Ottawa U, what`s his name - K-Os - he said something like this: the trajectory of rap can be compared with rock. If Rakim is like - I dunno - Chuck Berry or something - then Puffy and all them could be considered hip hop's glam period. Where it`s all about flashy clothes, babes, and jewlery. There you go. Biggie = Gary Glitter.
Don't worry. I'm already undergoing treatment for my acute playa-hating disorder.
