Pearsall said:
here's what it says:
"Baile funk might be the most exciting music in the world - it certainly comes from one of its most dangerous places"
now, the first statement is subjective; I think it's kind of fun as music goes, but 'most exciting'? nah.
but the second statement, surely, is quite accurate. the Brazilian slums are very violent places - is this in dispute?
i was referring to the front page and contents page of the magazine plus the article headline, which read respectively:
- "baile funk: guns and booty in brazil"
- "the sex-drenched funk of the favelas"
- "ghetto fabulous"
thus, before you've even started reading the article, it's made very clear that this is about sex, guns, bums and the ghetto.
for me, what's most interesting about funk is that it's a massive, homegrown, underground musical movement of many talented artists and well-organised entrepreneurs which has taken rio, brazil and the world by storm. its context - i.e. that it's done so in such adverse conditions - poverty, violence, corruption, lawlessness and persecution by the powers that be - is also interesting, but this is secondary. i think the way OMM presented this article overly concentrates on the fact that this is a bunch of dark-skinned poor people being highly sexualised and violent. which is not particularly positive.
saying that rio's slums ARE violent/dangerous is not a counter. i don't dispute this, i just don't think it should be focused on this way.
2stepfan said:
I think this is the basis of K-Punk's critique... that this image is not thrust upon hip-hop, it emanates from within it. I think he has a point
i agree - like the violent/dangerous comment above, i don't dispute that there is negativity and violence in hip hop. rather i'm saying that this is too often the focus of people's view on hip hop. i'd say that several people's comments on this thread are examples of this. anyone with more than a passing interest in hip hop knows that there is loads of positivity in the genre; that it's not as popular as 50 cent and the game doesn't mean it's less important in contributing towards what hip hop means or stands for.
Eric said:
>Baile funk might be the most exciting music in the world - it certainly comes from one of its most dangerous places.
One gets the impression that the reader is meant to understand a connection between these two things. This is somewhat objectionable IMO.
exactly
dHarry said:
Didn't anyone else think the piece was interesting for fleshing out the social backdrop to the music? I for one found it fascinating, and if it was accurate, I don't think it's possible to separate the context from the music "in itself".
Specifically if the bailes are run by drug gangs and the vocals are peppered with shout-outs to gang members, exhortations to shoot rivals etc., not to mention the crass sexual content, then for me this seriously complicates how the music is listened to.
yeah i thuoght the piece itself was very interesting and what it said about the social context in which funk is produced was fascinating. your 'if it was accurate' caveat is a biggie though!
i don't know much about brazil or baile funk, but given what i know about jamaica and dancehall, and how i see them reported in the media, i dno't think it's entirely unreasonable to infer that the same kind of gap exists in the reporting of brazil and funk.
e.g. a common criticism of dancehall (cf the sean paul review in this week's OMM and the revierw of beenie man's last album in the guardian in 2004) are that all the songs are about sex or about the artist's penis. this is quite clearly bollocks. yes, lots of them may be, but if you claim that, and focus on that, then you miss all the other subjects which are covered. i think claiming that funk is all about booty & guns, or hip hop is all about shooting & jail, or dancehall is all about buddy & punaany, inspires many people who don't yet know enough about those musics to subsequently see that whole genre in that way. which, i think, is wrong and objectionable.