Monday, October 8, 2007

Everybody Loves Lupe; or, Back and Burned

This weekend I took my semi-annual pilgrimage to Playa del Fuego, a regional Burning Man event, for a low-key immersion in age-inappropriate behavior (watch the hip, watch the hip! And dear, please don't come near me with that body glitter; it enhances wrinkles). One of many rambling conversations was about the kids today and their destructive rap, with a lawyer, a teacher, and a civic activist/indy media person with a nonprofit startup representing the constitution, the schools, and the left, respectively but not exclusively, and me, the conscienceless artist (perspective disclosure: I'm writing it, and I keep on hoping to hell you're gonna pay me or love me for it, but even if you don't I'll keep doing it and expecting it, because that's the definition of artistry as well as of insanity).

Then on the way home, my Dearest Friend and I caught a few minutes of Kojo Nnamdi, where he had a hip hop discussion panel on. He promised to post the panel's favorite examples of "good" hip hop, and here they are. Panelist DJ Eurok says crappy bling-n-butt hip hop is the result of media ownership consolidation, and because I believe media ownership consolidation is behind just about every evil from lead poisoning to my running injuries, I say a limited "yay" to Monsieur Eurok.

OK, so a lawyer, a teacher, an indy media person and a poet walk into a bar, and....you don't want to hear the rest.

No comments: