Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Lil' Debbie and the hip hop authenticity problem



My Boston Phoenix colleague Chris Faraone, as for-realsy a hip hop writer as they come, was giving me and bloggers like me shit the other day for constantly throwing shine, as I think they say, at fake-ass "hip hop" on sites like this. "How would indie rock chumps like it if me and all my fellow hip-hop writers looked for the shittiest, least talented bands in order to endlessly and quasi-ironically applaud them for sub-mediocrity and inflate their artificial buzz bubble? No way they'd hate it as much as I hate neophyte critics who clearly didn't grow up on hip-hop but take pride in propping exploitative nu-rap garbage."

I probably wouldn't mind, I said, because music is stupid. Ultimately, , and I take his point about the dumbing down of what constitutes hip-hop in the national entertainment dialogue as a vaid one, although I do think it's a little weird to still believe in the authenticity fairy at this late stage in the game. What's more "authentic" than Kitty Pryde, I said, a girl who thought it was fun to make music, which she then did, and as a result people liked it? That's the Platonic ideal of the beauty of music right there isn't it?

If it makes purists feel better, I said then, I'm not writing about people like Pryde, or Kreayshawn, or the dozens of new iterations of the same, from a hip hop perspective, but rather from an internetty pop cultural perspective. (Also I will put my academic internettable-jailbait-laptop-rap-wave credentials up against anyone. I'm the top guy in the field.) My suggestion would be to maybe don't read general pop culture blogs if you don't want a general pop culture perspective on general pop culture, generally.

Keep that in mind when watching this new joint from Lil' Debbie then. I'm not posting it as an example of the noble hip hop genre as such, but rather as the pinnacle of another important cultural artform: drunk girls who wear shorts real-good-like and talk about idiotic shit while their friend holds a camera.  

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17 comments:

said...

I like Squirt better but I love Debbie.

said...

Yes, I like her too, just not her music so much.

said...

That was...something.

said...

Short-wearing is one of the original elements of hip hop.

Anonymous said...

Shorts and syrup... the essence of pure hip hop.

Greg said...

Is their anyway to view the conversation thread without a facebook account?

said...

I mean, I could paste it all, but it's pretty long, and you're honestly not missing too much.

Greg said...

Also, early Kreayshawn sighting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfiAjNf3QJA&list=FLTJKGr3vKx0VL0IoM8SLW6g&index=1&feature=plpp_video

said...

aaawwww, she looked so cute and innocent back then! even when she's serving up bumps off her thumb.

Anonymous said...

bro u really are the king of no flo pedo wave. lol.

luke said...

Found my calling finally.

Adm said...

To someone that's been listening to hip hop music for a long time, stuff like Kitty Pryde seems like it's making a joke out of the music you love. I just did a little math and I've been listening to rap for a little over 20 years, probably longer than she has been alive. My opinion, she makes rap music for people that don't like rap music. If you said to someone listening to say, Nas, "Oh this is cool, but have you heard this new Kitty Pryde banger?" 99% of the time they wouldn't like it. Basically people can argue as much as they want, but I think her music sucks and there's nothing anyone could say to convince me otherwise. I'm 30 years old, a stubborn old man. I just wish she would use some other vehicle to express her creativity. Why does it matter to me? Couldn't tell you, but I know I'm not the only one.

said...

I see your point I guess, but I don't understand why one person making something you think is bad takes away from your enjoyment of the other people make it you think are good. There's always great music being made no matter what people are talking about/writing about online at any given time.

said...

You spelled valid wrong. That's just lazy writing Luke. I think you should stop writing about Kitty Pryde, even though I don't know who that is. And also dubstep. And music in general, your taste is appalling.

said...

Yeah it is.

said...

I'm hoping severe liver damage shortens her career.

said...

I thought Tumblr-wave slutcore Adderall rap was the official term?

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