I actually see where you're coming from and I have debates like this with friends often. I believe most people are contradictory, I know I am! I try not to be, but... I can be vain and neurotic and impressionable yet I should know better! You could be an underground producer articulating radical ideas and still (secretly) love designer clothes and girls and cars! I forgive that as I have the same impulses. Nelly is young and I think most young people are especially contradictory. I always think how Malcolm X grew as a man - where was he in his youth? I think the most contradictory rapper out there after Tupac is Nas - one minute he's Nasty Nas, the ill MC, the next Nas Escobar, a playa rapper, and part of The Firm. A lot of hip-hoppers never forgave him for 'selling out' after Illmatic. Yet, correct me if I am wrong, but he is the only mainstream MC to question the current US foreign policy on his latest album. On his last album there was a song which sampled Toto's Africa and spoke of the way in which some young Black men in the US aspire to rock jewels that are mined in Africa by exploited Africans - it was a very commercial R&B beat but the content was very conscious. Also, unlike myself, Nelly has not had the opportunity to attend college and read and learn and be exposed to a range of information and ideas in concentrated form (most of my higher education was paid by the government too!), but I feel he has the openness to learn and grow and he will. A lot of my friends used to call Wyclef Jean a sell-out but I said, as a Haitian-American he has broken through barriers by setting up companies and negotiating with multi-nationals and using his success as a platform to share his cultural experiences and address the prejudices experienced by Haitian Americans. So for all the contradictions, there are some positives. It's hard for the dispossessed and marginalised to relate to a post-capitalist mentality when they have in fact never been a part of capitalism itself, so I think this is a phase. I guess the real fault lies with US radio - if it played Nelly, then Jurassic 5, then UR, young people would be exposed to a range of ideas and possibilities and it would break down stereotypes. Maybe Nelly's music per se is not as inspirational as some others, but within the context of his career, him coming from a broken home, and experiencing a lot of instability in his early life to go on to build up companies, employ friends, there are some positives.
> From: Lester Kenyatta Spence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [313] Religious Producers > Date: 15/09/2002 6:48:10 > To: Cyclone Wehner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > CC: 313 Detroit <313@hyperreal.org> > > On Sat, 14 Sep 2002, Cyclone Wehner wrote: > >> I respected TP's post, but in defence of Nelly, who gets a lot of flak, he >> is a really real person. His music is party music and actually quite >> positive for his genre of hip-hop - he would have more cred if he were more >> 'gangsta' or hardcore, but he refrains from that. He does a lot of social >> work and gives back to his community in St Louis and has given his friends >> jobs in his mini empire, and that's a positive, conscious thing. And, I have >> to say, he is one of the most down to earth and gracious superstars I have >> ever interviewed (three times now). He is very humble about his success too. >> In many ways he is like a lot of young men of his age, still finding his >> way. Music can be inspirational and positive in many ways maybe? (I love the >> song too, production is hype!) > > Cyclone, I'm feeling you. ON the one hand, Nelly IS a cool brother. I've > played ball with him a couple of times and on one level he is totally > UNASSUMING. > > But this doesn't mean his music is uplifting and inspirational. I > definitely get conservative (in the intellectual sense) on issues like > this. Let's just take the words to one of his songs and compare them to > the words of something that IS viewed by most as inspirational. I don't > think there is any comparison. I can respect that he's trying to find his > way, but even when TP was a sloppy alcoholic, I bet he moved more people > in an inspirational manner than Nelly. > > > peace > lks > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
