And I’m pretty sure that the DJ is ?uestlove. The MC at the end talks about how Nutter is what Philadelphia needs. He provides a “breath of fresh air.” Once Nutter got going, I was feeling him. The only thing I can think that compares is the time I saw Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick get down with Biz Markie. But the rhetorical flim flam here can be spotted with ease….

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

In realtity, what ever parts of our culture become mainstream will affect their preceptions of us and their interactions.

How we treat each other sets precedent for how others will treat us.

In response to my request for data, my younger fraternity brother cited The Black Image and the White Mind by Entman and Rojecki…and also the recent poll conducted by Cathy Cohen out of Chicago for her Black Youth Project. What I’m going to do here is respond to him…minus the smackdown. The bottom line? There is a difference between blame and responsibility. We have the responsibility to carry ourselves with dignity and honor, regardless…but we are not to blame at all for what Imus said.

My younger fraternity brother (I’ll call him “Pup” for short) cites Entman and Rojecki in order to show that black people have some responsibility for how whites think of them. Here are Entman and Rojecki’s central findings:

Our findings show that in a variety of ways across the diversity of genres and outlets, the mass media convey impressions that Blacks and Whites occupy different moral universes, that Blacks are somehow fundamentally different from Whites…

We also find a major difference between the surface and deeper levels of media content. At the surface, any examination of the media reveals evidence of enormous progress…..Yet at deeper levels, negative images abound. (pp. 6, 7)

Now my counter-argument was twofold. First that the desire of blacks to get other blacks to “act right” in order to pursue citizenship has a LONG history, going back over 100 years. In his work Before the Ghetto, David Katzman points out that middle and upper class blacks even in the 19th century consistently blamed poor blacks for racism, arguing that their behavior brought this on.

Though there is a lot of history behind this claim (Dubois and Washington make similar claims, as does Malcolm X and Martin Luther King in the more contemporary era), there isn’t much data. In fact, we know through history that the opposite is true–that however civilized black people acted, whites subjugated and in many cases terrorized them.

In the contemporary moment, we’ve got all types of examples of righteous behavior, of black people being humane towards each other, towards non-blacks, and towards nature. But what dictates what is sold on the market–what becomes mainstream–are the preferences of the mass market. What Entman and Rojecki do is show the content of these preferences. Blacks participate in this in as much as black actors and performers need jobs…but blacks do not “create” these images. Rather, a small percentage of blacks choose to participate–but these images existed before some of us began the modern day minstrel show, and they’ll likely continue after they’re gone. And lest Pup think that history plays no role in this, check out the quote below:

…Whites’ attitudes on race and perceptions of Black behavior reveal a necessarily simplified but understandable mode of thinking that arises from the absence of regular, close interaction and from largely hidden but lingering cultural influences. (p.7)

Where do those “lingering cultural influences” come from?

My second argument was that even many whites who have close contact with other blacks evince negative attitudes towards them. There is a burgeoning literature on the role of racial context on racial attitudes. How does living near middle class blacks influence white attitudes? How does living near blacks period influence white attitudes? James Jackson, Vincent Hutchings, Cara Wong, and others have recently conducted a large scale survey on black, Latino/a, Asian American, and white attitudes. Their findings suggest that when whites live closer to blacks, their negative attitudes about blacks increase.

Now if the “positive black images” argument was correct, we’d imagine that whites who live around “upper class” blacks (or “blacks who act right”) would have better attitudes than whites who live around working class or poorer blacks right?

Nope.

Finally, Pup brings up a whole host of citations from Cathy Cohen’s project, noting that most black youth find rap distasteful–at least the stuff played over the airwaves.

Now if blacks are actually responsible for our depiction in the media here, this piece of data would go the opposite way. That is, most black youth would be ok with the current form of rap music, and those of us representing the old school would have to go toe to toe with the kids in order to get them to act right.

But that’s not what we’re seeing here.

There is a casual tendency to take kneejerk reactions against black people in cases like this. Although it’s usually presented as “tough love” or even as “old school” there is really only one word for it: accommodationist. We’ve got to fight against this tendency with all of our might, whenever it rears its ugly head.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Russell Simmons is having a closed door meeting with hip-hop execs and urban community members.

Kevin Powell oversaw a conversation on Power 105.1, which has announced that it is changing its format significantly:

KEVIN POWELL, noted writer, political activist, and hiphop historian, has been invited to lead a live radio discussion on the aftermath of the Don Imus situation AND the state of hiphop today, on New York City’s number one radio station, Power 105.1 FM. In an historic move, Power 105.1 is eliminating advertising for one day to open up its airwaves to highlight the changes the station plans on making in its content and presentation.

Monday, April 16, 2007
8AM-10AM EST
Power 105.1 FM radio in the New York City metropolitan area
OR you can listen on the web at www.power1051fm.com, keyword LISTEN OR LISTEN LIVE

“This is a bold move,” says Kevin Powell, “and a very necessary one. The people at Power 105.1 recognize how influential radio is for young Americans. For Helen Little, the Program Director, to do this says that there are some of us in the entertainment industry who are taking seriously our responsibility to our society, and to our young people. The time for change is now. This movement is not about censorship. It is about balance and diversity and not adding any further to the violence, excessive materialism, and sex and sexism already present throughout American popular culture, including hiphop. And we need radio stations, magazines, video shows and networks, websites, and record labels around the country to follow the Power 105.1 model and have the courage, too, to say enough is enough.”

(Thanks to Angela Garreston for the passage above, and thanks to the NHHPC list on yahoo as well.)

So much for thinking that MCs wouldn’t go unscathed.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

But look watch shorty get sicker
Year after year
While he’s thinkin’ it’s beer
But it’s not but he got it in his gut

So the day is winding down and I’m thinking I can find a nice link that tells me what it is, if it isn’t beer.

Bingo.

So what makes malt liquor different from beer?

Two things prevent normal lager beer from achieving higher levels of alcohol. First, yeast cannot break down “unfermentable” dextrins. Think of these as long chains that are simply too big for a little yeast cell to feed on. Because the dextrins cannot be devoured by the yeast and turned into alcohol, they remain behind in the beer to provide body and flavor. Second, yeast is a living organism, and it dies when the alcohol level rises above a certain level; the yeast is essentially killed by the alcohol it has produced. This ends the fermentation, again leaving behind a portion of unfermented sugars that add body and flavor to the beer.

But with malt liquor, some things are done differently.

One: The mash contains 10 to 20% dextrose, sugars that the yeast can go right to work on. (The mash is usually made up of 50-60% malt, 30-40% corn grits and 10-20% dextrose. This produces a mash with a higher original gravity, i.e., a solution with more fermentables, hence the use of the phrase “high gravity lager” by brewers who want to brew malt liquor without the taint of the name “malt liquor.”)

Two: Heartier strains of yeast, such as those used to ferment wine, are used. These yeasts can tolerate a higher level of alcohol and higher brewing temperatures. (In addition to producing more alcohol, these yeast can also produce some wine-like flavors, which provide a portion of the basis for claims of “tastes like champagne.”)

Three: The “secret ingredient” that sets malt liquor apart from strong lagers — an enzyme called alpha-amylase is added to the mash to break down the longer chains of dextrins, so virtually all of the sugars become fermentable. This means that the brew will have more alcohol and fewer residual dextrins, therefore less body and flavor.

In summary: Stronger yeast have more sugars to work with and produce a beer with more alcohol, less body and some unusual flavor notes. Voila, malt liquor.

I’m not only living in the home of The Wire…but also the home of the modern 40 Ounce as we know it. Go figure.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I think I cribbed this meme from one of my man Gary Dauphin’s, deli.icio.us links.  Whatever the case, another Michigan alum answers the question definitively.

For a longer list check this one out.

Now check the dates out on these posts.  I wonder how long it’ll be before bloggers are digging for old posts like DJs go digging in crates.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites