Thursday, October 30th, 2003

Whoa! The LA Weekly finally gets down and does a Dub cover story. Sure the piece (by Greg Burk) is coming years after I did all my shit for the Bay Guardian, and while he talks about dub and Rastafari being political, he doesn’t really go there (which may have a lot to do with his quaint, outmoded white-boy old-line notions of race and class, hmmm?) and I admit I feel some professional jealousy (which hey, I understand is NOT cool), but it’s mainly because this is a such a good piece. Definitely read it and tell all your friends. I am.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 11:38 am | 0 Comments

Tuesday, October 28th, 2003

SEAN JOHN USES SWEATSHOP LABOR

This story, A Hip-Hop Star’s Fashion Line Is Tagged With a Sweatshop Label, should be huge news in the hip-hop community. We could speculate why it hasn’t yet taken hold…for now, here’s hoping that at the least, it’ll shake some folks up. At best, I’d like to see a hip-hop fashion designer’s code of ethics, and Sweatshop-Free labels on all hip-hop wear ads and clothes.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 7:52 pm | 0 Comments

Monday, October 27th, 2003

Great event for a great organization for those of yall in the Bay Area…

GREG PALAST in A BENEFIT for MEDIA ALLIANCE

“Elections and the Media: From Florida to The Recall…

and on to 2004″

Thursday, November 6th at 7 p.m., Doors open 6:30 p.m.

King Middle School, 1781 Rose Street, Berkeley

Tickets are $10, *Advance Purchase Highly Recommended*

Students are $5 at door with valid ID

Buy tickets at http://www.media-alliance.org or

Call (415) 546-6334 x300

Greg Palast is a BBC commentator and Author of The New

York Times Best-seller “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy”.

He is generally recognized as one of the most important

investigative reporters working today and has uncovered

numerous scandals including the Florida purge of African-

American voters during the 2000 presidential election and

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s collusion with Enron’s Ken Lay

around California’s energy debts.

This event co-sponsored by KPFA 94.1 FM, The SF Bay Guardian,

New College’s Media Studies Department, and Working Assets

posted by Jeff Chang @ 8:28 pm | 0 Comments

Thursday, October 23rd, 2003

TURN ON THE RADIO?

This month’s Harper’s Magazine features an article called “Turn On Tune In: Toward A Progressive Talk Show” by Thomas de Zengotita (which I can’t link to because these geezers are Luddites). But hey, it’s an interesting read–one dude’s take on how liberals can take back talk radio from the Rushes of the world (while championing the word ‘progressive’, natch).

de Zengotita argues that a progressive needs to be angry, caustic, ironic, and truthful. It needs to call right-wing liars on their lying lies and do it with glee. It needs to be hip (we’ll get to the hip-hop part below), interdisciplinary, and nobrow. I found myself agreeing with a lot of the points–even if the guy’s humor was a little too, uh, ah hell let’s say it, tea-and-crackers-at-the-Club for me.

Of course, there are issues. There are always issues.

de Zengotita is, like a lot of them are, another frustrated white boomer with white boomer frustrations. Like so many other heart-broken white boomers once did, he believes the future of progressivism lies with us, the young people of the world. (He’s a professor too, so there you go.) But, alas, like so many other frustrated white boomers, he is mainly looking for another young frustrated white post-boomer to take up his generation’s torch. Like Souls of Mischief liked to say, that’s when ya lost!

He’s ignoring the realities of the hip-hop generation: polycultural, post-white, and proud.

As usual, boomer liberals are looking for love in all the wrong places. They are searching for the next generation folks that look and think like them to tell them what they wanted to say anyway. Doesn’t that sound a little self-defeating and Gitlinesque?

Here are just a few of the shows led by non-white post-boomers that already fit de Zengotita’s proposal:

Davey D and Weyland Southon–Hard Knock Radio, KPFA (Berkeley)

Cedric Muhammad–Sirius Internet and Radio One (Washington DC)

Adisa Banjoko–Sirius and KNEW (San Francisco)

The Poetess–Reality Talk, KKBT (Los Angeles)

Fidel Rodriguez–Divine Radio KPFK (Los Angeles)

Harry Allen and Rosa Clemente–WBAI (New York City)

Frank Red–The Dungeon (Sacramento)

There are many more.

In any case, check out the Harper’s piece and if you agree with me, hell even if you don’t, hit them at mailto:letters@harpers.org

Here’s the letter I sent today…

To: letters@harpers.org

From: Jeff Chang

Subject: TALK SHOW WOULDN’T BE PROGRESSIVE IF IT WASN’T HIP-HOP

Re: “Turn On, Tune In”

As a loud and proud member of the hip-hop generation, who has spent years in activism and around community and commercial radio, actually subscribes to Harper’s, and has often admitted a throat-lumping nostalgia for the good old days of the anti-apartheid movement, I read “Turn On, Tune In” with great interest. I even agreed with most of Mr. de Zengotita’s points, especially his insight that progressivism can only be revived by my peers–the post-ironic, post-civil rights, post-political post-boomers.

So I found it amusing–in an Elvis Costello, “used to be disgusted” kind of way–that de Zengotita would, straight out the box, advocate for a SWM host, “an unmarked signifier”. Whoa. Doesn’t he realize that SWM-ness is just about the most *marked* signifier in the hip-hop generation? Do we need him to start picking up XXL along with his Harper’s down at the subway magazine kiosk? If he’s not proposing that Eminem be recruited, it certainly raises the question of who has any legitimacy with the hip-hop generation to step up to do this.

In fact, in the boomer liberal’s so-far-fruitless search to find someone just like them to say just what they want to say (inevitably, to people who look and think just like them), they’ve missed the fact that so-called urban radio is the dominant format for people under-30. Who does de Zengotita think young people are getting their cultural cues from? They’ve missed the fact that there are brilliant, witty, politically tough radio personalities like the Bay Area’s Davey D who already command passionately loyal young audiences. They’ve missed all the outrage young people have been directing towards ghettopoly radio–expressed, for example, in angry local boycotts of Clear Channel, and “Turn Off The Radio” campaigns led by hip-hoppers like Afrika Bambaataa and Dead Prez.

Same old same old.

Get with the program, yall. If you really want to get to us, you’ll have to get polycultural and post-white.

Peace,

Jeff

posted by Jeff Chang @ 9:03 am | 0 Comments

Monday, October 20th, 2003

Check out this heartbreaking, amazing piece of journalism by Vince Beiser, late of motherjones.com, for the Los Angeles Times Magazine on Pelican Bay.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 8:27 am | 0 Comments

Thursday, October 16th, 2003

Support this!

HARD KNOCK RECORDS PRESENTS WHAT ABOUT US?

A HIP HOP COMPILATION THAT SETS OUT TO EXPOSED THE CONSEQUENCES OF WAR AND HOW IT AFFECTS OUR COMMUNITIES.

Oakland, CA – Hard Knock Records has just released the highly anticipated album “What About US”. The compilation is a critical response by the Hip Hop community to what has taken place since the tragedies of September 11th. “The concept behind the creation of the album is in the title “What About US?” states Executive Producer Nick Huff. “The media portrays the Hip Hop generation as apathetic and materialistic but never supports artist that have something to say about what is going on in their communities.”

When asked why most of the Hip Hop community is critical of the wars in the Middle East Nick responds: “Because we know that the majority of the consequences of the war will affect our communities the greatest. The Billions of dollars, possibly Trillions before it’s all over, that are being spent on the defense budgets are not coming from taxes to the rich or from corporations because they are getting their taxes cut to “Stimulate the Economy”. The bulk of that money is coming from programs that actually need the money the most like public education, after school programs, childcare for low income families, Medicare. These programs which our communities need the most are the ones taking the biggest cuts because we don’t have lobbyist to speak for US. Is this what president Bush meant when he promised to leave no child behind?”

Hip Hop Pioner and activist Davey D sets the tone for the compilation in the intro by stating, “When you listen to this album “What About US?” keep in mind that we finally get to put our perspectives out there. That’s the perspective of young people, the perspective of young people of color, all those individual folks who come from all different backgrounds who were absent at the table when they were calling all these experts to tell us why we need to go and engage in the different wars and pass various laws for the security of this country. The things that have been prescribed by the people in leadership are not the only solutions and so on this album you will hear the perspective and solutions offered from a whole lot of other people, who I think make the majority of this country.”

A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS FROM THIS ALBUM WILL BE DONATED TO UNDERGROUND RAILROAD AND THE KPFA APRENTICESHIP PROGRAM.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 9:20 am | 0 Comments

Thursday, October 9th, 2003

More exit polling data, this time parsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, showing that even Latinos and women supported the recall in greater numbers than expected. The other piece that is interesting is that 25-29 year olds–the same cohort that came up during Prop 187, 209, 227 and 21–were defiantly against Arnie. Very interesting stuff.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 9:01 am | 0 Comments

Wednesday, October 8th, 2003

Great albums demand great writing, for the latest evidence see this piece by OutKast Is Good – Sasha Frere-Jones on Outkast. Brilliant.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 8:27 pm | 0 Comments

Wednesday, October 8th, 2003

An exit poll from the San Jose Mercury News confirms that young people voted for Arnie and the recall and against Prop. 54 in huge numbers. In fact, folks around my age–the so-called “Gen X”–led the voting for the recall and for Arnie. Other interesting things: 18-29 year olds led the voting for Peter Camejo, Bustamante was weakest among 30-44 year olds. The exit poll does not break down race and gender within the age brackets, unfortunately.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 1:23 pm | 0 Comments

Tuesday, October 7th, 2003

Gray Down, California Gets Terminated

And so it comes to this. The least liked California politician since Richard Nixon gets the big Foot In His Ass. The Democrats are left in complete disarray. California suddenly becomes a swing state for Bush-Cheney-Rove 2004. There’s never been anything like this in history.

First let’s point fingers, OK? Davis fucked off 4 years of boom by pissing off everyone in sight, especially progressives, people of color, and youth. At the beginning of the recall campaign and all the way through, Davis tried to run hard to the left, the Democratic Party base. In the end, they told him to take his gray suit home.

Bustamante fucked off a fat lead by disappearing at the second debate, and then deciding to blow off the youth vote. While Arianna stumped on the campuses, and Arnold played up his cool factor on the small screen, Bustamante did zero messaging to young folks. This guy was supposed to be our future? He was saying “No recall” and “Vote for me”. Consistency and coherence, thy name is not Cruz. And he couldn’t even say the word “Negro” correctly.

(As for me, that was the shittiest-feeling vote I’ve ever cast in my entire life. One of these days when I say “No more”, I’ll really mean it.)

There may be a realignment happening here, amongst new young voters. Look at the vote for Prop 54, the beginning of the end of Ward Connerly’s gonad-grip on California. It went down in flames, by nearly the same margins as the recall. The numbers ain’t in yet, but my bet is that young folks came in and voted down Connerly’s ignorance-as-an-excuse in huge numbers—and then turned around and voted for the recall and for Arnold Schwarzenegger. There was coherence and consistency there, even if it wasn’t what you wanted to see. It was like: we don’t have patience for bullshit anymore. Here we are now, entertain us.

So now cue Arnie as Robert Redford as The Candidate: “OK, what do we do now?” Arnold immediately becomes a national playa. The Dems are left with no bench and at the top of the salary cap, kinda like George W’s Rangers or the gotdam Knicks, and they have to be staring down 2006 with a feeling of doom. I bet Martin Sheen’s phone is ringing off the hook right now. Robert Redford is only a part-time resident. And Rob Lowe’s already defected.

There will be much fallout. Californians can expect more tax inequality, huger budget deficits, steeper cuts in human services and education, softer environmental regulations, and gridlock gridlock gridlock. Schwarzenegger will be on a charm offensive, trying to fill Reagan’s shoes, but the Democratic-controlled Legislature (plus Cruz is still in office) will be holding a grudge like a mic.

Yet the biggest implication of this election is that—thanks to this groping, grinning, Germanic Kennedy in-law—Bush-Cheney-Rove could have Cali in the red column for 2004. Wow. Think about it. The whole calculus of the presidential elections is suddenly up for grabs. George W. Bush has no love lost here, but he also did not compete seriously for Cali during 2000. Imagine Arnie turning on the campaign money tap for Shrubbie. The result: non-stop commercials of Cali’s big gun and the failed Air National Guardsmen airing beginning September 11, 2004. That’s worse than gangsta, it’s horrorcore.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 10:33 pm | 0 Comments

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