African Americans comprise somewhere around 17 percent the people in the United States, or about 40 million souls. Considered on their own, this is less than the population of Spain and about twice the population of the Benelux countries.
Which means, if an African American artist wants popular success, they have to succeed with white audiences. This includes the most gritty, real, Afrocentric Hip Hop -- which is actually quite popular amongst white college kids. Jazz, Blues, Rock... all the indigenous musical art forms of the United States have their roots in African-American culture, but an international success because non-African American people listen to it. I don't think most African American artists mind this -- it's how they make a career out of music. I think that they want to remain connected to the culture into which they were born, but do they really want to be only connected to their 'own' culture? The lesson I take away from Detroit Techno is that the African American originators remained true to their roots, but were perfectly willing to incorporate influences from European music. I think that behind the desire for black Techno artists to connect (or re-connect) with black audiences also has to do with the culture around techno's creators and fans. These were guys -- like a lot of the Hip Hop originators -- were middle class, and well educated. They are the upwardly mobile minority of the minority. On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 8:30 PM, darnistle <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On 2/19/2013 3:17 PM, [email protected] wrote: >> >> >> http://www.spin.com/articles/skrillex-diplo-boys-noize-a-trak-detroit-techno-potato-kevin-saunderson-dog-blood >> >> >> m50 >> > > > This is one of my many pet-peeves, but why does everyone who courts > commercial success trot out "punk" as a framework for what they're doing? > Skrillex/BoyzNoize seem to produce party-music-du-jour and seems about as > "punk" as KC and the Sunshine band (not to belittle KC). > > It is interesting to contemplate Saunderson's comments that it used to be > that techno was originally a black thing, but now has morphed into a > commodity of white culture. I understand that it was bound to happen as the > music took hold outside of the black community and began to be internalized > and expressed in a manner more akin to local dispositions. (sorta like the > black Madonna or Chinese Buddha). I try to use this line of thinking to > buffer the uncomfortable thought of how Euro DEMF has become over the years, > but I won't dredge up that topic again... > > After watching the video, my lasting impression is that the association of > Skrillex/BoyzNoize with Detroit is precarious and superficial at best. I'll > give them credit for at least giving Saunderson the stage at the center of > the video, but they're obviously trying to suck on the Detroit teat to > solidify their street cred. Does Saunderson's allusion to the > wonderbreadification of techno prove to the viewer that these guys are the > realdealness after all? > > I can't help but feel like this promotional video was a Situationist > "recuperation" in action. > > -- > {}0+>|
