Archive for the ‘Hip Hop Musings’ Category
Rudy Ray Moore — Dolemite, The Signifying Monkey, and Brer Rabbit
Rudy Ray Moore–comedian, actor, singer, and the “godfather of rap”–passed away last week. He was 81.
Remember Dolemite?
That’s Rudy Ray Moore.
On Friday, the New York Times published his obituary. After chronicling some of his more foul-mouthed and explicit exploits, the obit points out–
Mr. Moore could be said to represent a profound strand of African-American folk art. One of his standard stories concerns a monkey who uses his wiles and an accommodating elephant to fool a lion. The tale, which originated in West Africa, became a basis for an influential study by the Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., “The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism.”
In one of his few brushes with a national audience, Mr. Moore, in a startlingly cleaned-up version, told the story on “The Arsenio Hall Show” in the early 1990s. Other characters he described were new, almost always dirtier renderings in the tradition of trickster stories represented by Brer Rabbit and the cunning slave John, who outwitted his master to win freedom. (emphasis mine)
If we ever become museum with a curator and extra space, maybe we could develop an exhibit that explores Brer Rabbit’s influence in blaxploitation films and hip hop.
There’s quite a bit, really. From Brer Rabbit of Coonskin to B-Rabbit of 8 Mile, the influence of the trickster using his wits and his words is hard to underestimate in hip hop and its forbears.
And though Rudy Ray Moore may have been a little more vulgar than the folktales he updated, let’s not forget that Brer Rabbit himself was no saint.
For example, consider Brer Rabbit’s frequent visits to the house of “Miss Meadows and de gals.”
Miss Meadows and the gals live together in one house, have no visible means of support, and are often courted by Brer Rabbit, despite the Misses and Little Rabs at home. Smoking cigars and playing piano weren’t the only things they were doing, I’m sure.
Categories: Brer Rabbit, Hip Hop Musings, Rudy Ray Moore, Storytelling |
Chris Brown is Accidentally Making The Wren’s Nest Popular
Because Lain is a nerd / Executive Director of a non-profit, he tracks how many people visit our website, read the blog, etc. It’s a good way for us to see if our primary (only?) marketing effort is working, plus he’s a major fan of things like charts. Again, nerd.
The other day he noticed that we had a HUGE traffic increase. The same thing happened the next day. What gives, we asked?
The answer is: Chris Brown, heartthrob and enormous R&B star.
You see, a while back we wrote about how much preteen girls love Chris Brown (OMG a lot!!!!) and included the above picture to illustrate how totally hot he is.
Then, sometime last week Google Images changed their algorithms or logrollings or something and, somehow, we became the first result when you search for “Chris Brown”. Seriously, try it.
Hilarious, right?
Even better is the fact that all of the people (read: teenage girls) searching for “Chris Brown” see the following picture when they’re seeking out their man:
Now, I know that some people prefer the awkward scene above to Chris Brown, but I can’t imagine there’s a ton of overlap between our fans.
… or is there?
Hi new Wren’s Nest blog/Chris Brown fans! Have you heard our theme song? I think it’s right up your alley.
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Maybe Mr. Brown will take our present collaboration to heart and record an R&B version of our theme song. I smell Top 40!
Categories: High School Hijinx, Hip Hop Musings, Marketing Tricks, Really?, Technological Advances |
Taking our show on the road
People call Lain and I a lot of things: charming, good looking, dashing, hilarious, a “young punk” (Lain only), genius, humble, even “qualified”. But today we were called something so unprecedented, so exciting, so confusing– we were beside ourselves.
Folks, we were called PROFESSIONAL BLOGGERS. Egads!
(Yep, these two totally non-awkward people.)
As part of a Writer’s Conference at Inman Middle School, today we spoke to an energetic eighth grade class about the merits of blogging. Once we got past Lain’s “cool” last name (they were finishing up MacBeth), we dove right into the exciting and money-filled world of professional blogging. Or, you know, what we do.
We mainly focused on what makes a blog different than other written sources, types of blogs, what makes a good blog, and why it’s totally hip to be a blogger. We’ll be repeating our shtick two more times this week.
The students all chose topics they were passionate about and wrote mini-blog posts, which they then edited with a partner and presented to the class. Topics included Colts v. Patriots, Homework v. No Homework, T.I. v. Lil Wayne, Randy Moss v. Va Tech, the attractiveness of Chris Brown, the musical stylings of Chris Brown, the dancing ability of Chris Brown, and Classic Rock v. Alternative Rock.
(Professional eye-catcher and middle school girl favorite, Chris Brown.)
Lain and I somewhat arbitrarily chose our favorite blog, included below. Guest blogger Kiera Hicks wrote a treatise on the merits of recently incarcerated rapper T.I.
“I think T.I. is better than Lil Wayne because his lyrics talk about his life and what he has been through.
He doesn’t talk about a lot of sex, he is honest, he doesn’t smoke a lot, and he helps out his community and tries to make his life better.
Lil Wayne doesn’t have music for adolescents. Lil Wayne’s appearance to me is very unprofessional. I have never seen Lil Wayne wear anything other than a Bape Nape, pocket, white shirt, jeans, and shoes.
T.I. has a professional style of dressing. T.I. has his own style.”
(Indeed.)
Kiera, the moment you trade your love for T.I. for a love of turn of the century folk writers, give us a call.
Categories: Amazing Britches, Failed Attempts at Looking Reputable, High School Hijinx, Hip Hop Musings |
That New Kanye West Video
It’s no secret that I’m into hip hop.
Working at the home of Joel Chandler Harris has only intensified my appreciation, what with issues of dialect, dual personalities, and stories deeply rooted in race, class, and region.
Plus, working on Saturdays has given me an opportunity to watch hip hop videos, especially when it’s quiet and I’m bitter about not having a traditional weekend.
Kanye West is one hip hop personality that I appreciate.
He’s as literate as he is brash (and boy is he brash!), and has a way of honestly framing his own contradictions that I don’t think many hip hop artists have been able to touch.
Recently Kanye has been in the news pretty much solely for being a brat, and just when you think he’s spoiled, stale, and maybe even a little washed up, he hits you with a video like this one. Wow.
(The staff at the Wren’s Nest can’t stop watching this one)
Zach Galifianakis, the ostensible star of this video, is a very funny comedian with an unwieldy last name. I love that this video is silly, but beautifully shot, seemingly earnest, and somehow poignant.
It’s not easy to overlook the fact that it’s a white guy giving voice to a song written by a black guy. Joel Chandler Harris, anyone?
Categories: Hip Hop Musings, Shirking Responsibility |
On Celebrity
Though Intern Amelia and I are terribly famous ourselves, we had a real brush with fame the other day at lunch.
Running some errands in the neighborhood we stopped into Chanterelle’s and headed straight for the cafeteria-style line. I already knew what I wanted, so I was glancing around in line and did a double-take.
Sitting nearby was none other than Young Jeezy.
Some of you old folks may not be familiar with this thing called hip hop, but let me tell you, the kids love it. While it may not be particularly relevant to the Wren’s Nest, hip hop is terribly relevant to West End.
Plus, as I’ve touched on a little bit here before, many hip hop artists are inextricably linked with the trickster hero. For the most obvious homage, look no further than Eminem’s character in 8 Mile: B. Rabbit.
Or, really, look no further than Brer Rabbit’s big road on the plantation and B. Rabbit’s 8 Mile Road in Detroit.
While running into Young Jeezy at lunch may not be as relevant a celebrity encounter as, say, having Sir Salman Rushdie ask to have his picture taken with Brer Rabbit, it’s pretty sweet nonetheless.
By the way, who is the celebrity here?
Rushdie is great, but I’m pretty sure Brer Rabbit is the original gangsta in this case. Thanks to Steve Enniss for the photo.
Hey Profess – Sir Rushdie, wanna hang out at the Wren’s Nest when you get back in town?
Categories: Celebrity Requests, Fame and Fortune, Hip Hop Musings, West End |