Canadian Rap

I was watching the canadian music channel and was a bit stoned and came to a realization: they actually play songs with a video that goes along with the music! wow, what a novel idea! somebody should do that in he united states, instead of airing road rules or cribs or the real world 32 times a day. what ever happened to showing music videos on the channel that is supposed to show music videos? it's like the old cliche, "dance with the one what brought you".

the other thing i noticed was i was watching rap videos in french. i couldn't understand it any less than an american rap video. a lot of gesturing and mugging for the camera, flashing bling but without the same level of production values and extravagance we are accustomed to in the united states.

here's what got me the most: there was a rap video where you never see the actual rapper. he's rapping about something, and there's a white guy reading a newspaper in a diner and he looks really stressed out about something. he's the one the rapper is talking about, and he's the protagonist. WHAT THE FUCK!?!?! a honkey is actually the hero? clearly these canuck hip-hoppers don't get the art form at all. white guys can't be the good guy, they're not even supposed to be benign or neutral. they're supposed to be crooked cops with a hot temper, an old uptight business guy who owns the media banks and country club, cracking a bullwhip in the cotton field, or a judge. that's just the way it is. if you see a white guy in a rap video you can just assume that he's the bad guy. it's like any action movie ever made: the guy with the foreign accent (usually german or russian) is usually the terrorist that has the uncanny ability to spot the local renegade flatfoot's wife amongst the hostages. that's how it works. (sidenote: there used to be a lot of arabic/muslim terrorists in movies right up until spetember 11th, then it was verboten to portray them as the kind of people who would do such a thing, which they in fact did). i wonder if it's taboo to have bad guys with irish accents in english movies?

i know feel like the reverse racism in rap videos is perpetuating the problem. all crackers do is punish the brother, whether as a slave owner, policeman, loan officer or judge. i typically forget the fact that i'm white until it's pointed out to me by someone else. sometimes i feel that black people are intent on keeping the divide between us, and that attmepts to bridge the gap are rejected on the grounds that they need to "keep it real" and not sell out and play the white man's game. i don't think i'm in the game, because i'm still poor and owe lots of money to the government. in the white man's game i think i'm just a benchwarmer. i don't remember who said it, but when asked how to end racism and bigotry he said, "stop talking about it". so i will.