Re: ON "MARXIST" AESTHETICS & PUBLIC ENEMIES -- REJOINDER

[davidmci@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (David McInerney)]

Friday, December 8, 1995, Ralph wrote (in response to Brian):

>>Rap may be offensive to the ears of a John Coltrane Jazz fan, but
>>it -does- contain a metric beat, a developed artistry, and
>>at times a developed political stance (witness Public Enemy).
>
>And didn't I say that this is precisely the kind of rationale I
>oppose?  I don't care about political stance, least of all of
>nationalist scum like Pubic Enemy.  As for artistry, how many of
>these people can sing or play instruments?  I can go to the zoo
>for that kind of artistry.
>

I have to agree here with Ralph's first point.  PE are misogynistic,
homophobic, chauvanistic Farrakhanites -- anyone who doubts me should check
out the lyrics to 'New York Post' or 'What Kind of Power We Got?' (vocals
on both by Flavor Flav -- it seems 'juice man' Flav carries the 'bad boy'
tag for PE, while the "developed political stance" is enunciated by the
"hard rhymer" Chuck D -- who's a "hard daddy") ...  On the musical content,
I can see the appeal in PE's musical and vocal style, as opposed to the
lyrics ...

>>If the left intends to make inroads with the next generation,
>
>My judgement of their degenerate culture is not predicated on
>making inroads.
>

The rappers seem to be making "inroads" of some sort -- the question is
*what* sort of inroads, *where* does their appeal come from, and *how* are
the left going to make similar inroads ...  I don't think that the left can
simply substitute "bad" lyrics for "good" ones -- Christians have already
tried this with death metal and it simply created a parallel culture
amongst cordial-drinking Christian youth -- sometimes a totally drug-fucked
death metaller would come over to Christ, but I know at least one who left
Christ for dope ... The point is to make a sustained, concrete analysis of
the what and where in order to find a way in which the left can make
inroads -- this probably won't be by imitation.


Mr. David McInerney,
Political Science Program, Research School of Social Sciences,
The Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T., AUSTRALIA  0200.
e-mail: davidmci@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; ph: (06) 249 2134; fax: (06) 249 3051




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