Back To This...

Sooo...

I am admittedly late on most things. I have to say. My daughter was playing the Travis Barker mix of Crank That Soulja Boy when she was here over Turkey Day. Now don't get me wrong, I had heard the song and all. But I was not aware of how much of a phenomena it was.

I heard Scarface from the Geto Boys make a joke that he wanted DeAndre Ramone Way (that's what his momma dem named him) to maek his website and do his promotions. I saw 50 Cent hanging out with him on YouTube and all that stuff. I learned of his song being on Entourage and just the wave of publicity and notoriety that the songs gets. I did some background and this Soulja Boy thing is the blazing out of control. All of this was done via the internet (MySpace and YouTube) which are interesting considering the choke hold that Corporate America has on the radio and television.

I can't help but wonder if people are REALLY that into it or is it just like watching a train wreck.

One thing I do know is that my man Spencer told me when he was here a few weeks ago that the revolution would not only not be televised, but he said it wasn't even going to happen. Black folk ain't gonna fight for nothing as long as we can "Superman that ho." It's a wrap.

DeAndre gets a lot of praise from me in that he has done this on his own. But what becomes problematic is watching Interscope jump in and cash in on his hard work. It is also problematic that it is viewed as a trend in the industry. Wikipedia writes, "Critics and hip-hop figures such as Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Jermaine Dupri cite Soulja Boy as artistically typical of contemporary rap trends such as writing for the lucrative ringtone market, and the ascendence of "Southern hip hop", emphasizing catchy, mindless music that discards rap's traditional emphasis on message." That is frightening considering the economic state that we are in and how lacking our educational system is at the moment. If the trend is towards "mindless music" I fear what is next.

I was on the phone earlier with a friend - well, person that I know from another country who told me that she liked the song and thought it was cute. I explained to her in my standard method that if she thought dancing monkeys was "cute" then I could see that. This person in particular is the same individual who praises the brilliance of such artists as Zion I. I was met with a sigh of disgust. I went on to explain that as someone who hangs out with Black and ironically exclusively dates Black men I would hope that she understood the greater issue at hand when presented with Soulja Boy vs Zion I. Surely they can coexist, but why does one overshadow the other.

The conversation went a bit further before I decided that I needed to go. I didn't want to be "cute" myself so I went back to address my thoughts on the world wide interweb in the hopes that I would get 23 million people to care about what I had to say - along with others - and maybe buck the trend.

There is room at the table for everyone. Ike Turner died a few weeks ago. Will Soulja Boy replace him with a greater musical legacy for Black music?

Like I said, I am proud of the young brother and happy that he is making his. But I just wonder if the market would have responded as well if he was actually saying something. And if not, why? That is the question we need to be asking consumers. Because it can no longer be blamed on record labels or the artists. The consumer has the dollar-power to shape the market and they should be responsible as well as the rest of us.

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