Will hip-hop vocalist / producer Kanye West, as one blogger has insightfully observed, become the next African-American male to live his public existence as a symbol of the race divide’s vitriol? Will he become a scapegoat for white obsessions over the threat Blackness purportedly represents?
The virtual flood of racist, expletive-laden tweets that followed the artist’s brief rant at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards suggest a strong “Yes.”
As many know, West interrupted singer Taylor Swift during her “Best Female Video” honor and acceptance speech, taking the mic to tell her, and all watching, that, “Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all-time. One of the best videos of all-time!”, referring to Knowles “Single Ladies,” which had also been nominated.
West’s rude and abortive outburst drew loud, droning catcalls from the audience, while an embarrassed and stunned Swift stood, shocked and still, before being escorted gently from the stage.
Excellent NY Times pic by photog Christopher Polk, above top, documents Kanye West’s September 13, 2009 bogart of MTV’s Video Music Awards 2009 stage. The act led to his web site apology, above, that same night, but not before he was ejected from Radio City Music Hall.
Best part: Taylor Swift’s “Huh?” expression, and the fact that the hostess in the back doesn’t even know what’s happening yet, either.
Who’s the hardest? In the above photograph by BET exec Stephen Hill, rapper/entrepreneur Jay-Z, right, and I take a break from our semi-annual lunch at New York City’s Sequoia restaurant to reenact a dramatic scene from the 1981 sci-fi horror film, Scanners.
To watch him make my head explode, tune in to Black Entertainment Television, next week, Thurday (9/10) eveningnight/Friday morning, atmidnight7 pm, and check out Food for Thought: Conversations with Jay-Z.
There, for a whole hour, Hot 97 NY on-air personality Angie Martinez, sportswriter Stephen A. Smith, and I will take turns ice-grilling America’s most wanted emcee about his music, business, and philosophy. Make sure you peep it. I think it’ll blow your mind, too.
I wouldn’t put Old Spice on a boil. This commercial, “Different Scents for Different Gents,” by Nike’s longtime ad agency, Wieden + Kennedy, though, is packed to the nooks and crannies with machismo. In fact, I may buy some just to stick on the shelf. You know: To unduly impress the wife. Now, all I need is a gallon-jug of Hai Karate and I’m strizzaight.
To make them appear more like a typical Angolan family, Marge has also been given a black Afro hairstyle instead of normal blue bouffant, while Lisa’s hair is stood up on end in short braids.
The image also shows the family dressed in clothes bearing traditional African designs and they are all wearing flip flops.
To be clear, this change was not made to the actual animation, but to print advertising being shown in the broadcast area.
Let’s hope so, and let’s trust they won’t be put off, here, by dumb, cloying marketing at its worst, and, in so doing, avoid what’s still a very funny show.
VIBE’s 1997-1998 syndicated TV show was an utter mess, as the dates of its miniscule timeline suggest. For some reason, its creators didn’t see, and were completely unable to translate from print, the dynamic and sparkly juxtapositions that made the magazine, at its peak, an unusually incandescent hit. (The periodical was completely uninvolved with the TV broadcast.)
The program always felt sluggish and old. (Hiring Sinbad, right, as the second host, after comic Chris Spencer’s anemic few months, did little to correct this.) It was as if someone had found a tattered, bled-through copy of the magazine in a trash heap, saw the name, liked it, and decided to make a program with it out of whatever stage props they had on hand. When it debuted, I watched it at a nearby bar with others from our office, but almost never after that. It’s not a high point in the magazine’s hallowed history.
There’s one moment from VIBE I remember, however, and it’s the only bit I ever saw there that not only still cracks me up, but that, to me, hinted at the show’s possibilities.
I’m so tired of TV commercials with dancing by wack b-boys. But in this spot for T-Mobile’s Sidekick LX, music, editing, and, especially, performances work together to create something truly outrageous. You may have seen the 30-second version of this ad on TV. That’s the 1-minute take, above. Get down.
When I noticed a lot of my fellow Twitterers sporting stylish, 1960s-style customized avatars, I asked how they were doing this.
I was quickly turned on to MadMen Yourself. It’s a promotional site for MadMen, AMC’s hit series about randy ad execs in JFK’s America. (Season 3 of the award-winning drama starts August 16.)
Those are the results, above, says the UK’s Telegraph: “Brown skin instead of their usual yellow,” right.
The program always felt sluggish and old. (Hiring Sinbad, right, as the second host, after comic Chris Spencer’s anemic few months, did little to correct this.) It was as if someone had found a tattered, bled-through copy of the magazine in a trash heap, saw the name, liked it, and decided to make a program with it out of whatever stage props they had on hand. When it debuted, I watched it at a nearby bar with others from our office, but almost never after that. It’s not a high point in the magazine’s hallowed history.
