Rappers in Tutus and Tuxes
Last week I tried to get over my Why? obsession by "blogging it out," which only left me further pining after Yoni Wolf. So today (as I've been doing every day since the concert last Sunday) I went a googling Mr. Wolf for more pictures and articles to read on the new album, when I came across a review of Alopecia in the relatively new Reveille Magazine.
Now don't worry, this blog post is not going to turn into another gush-fest about how much I'm in love with Yoni Wolf or a brainstorm session about how to get said artist to fall in love with me. What I found in the Reveille article was a perfect description of what pop music has become in this day and age. Author Steve McPherson talks about the pop genre as having morphed into a "Katamari-like rolling ball of detritus." Dead on. I mean, we've seen "experimental rock" take off. We've come to enjoy, even expect, the melding of hip-hop and pop. And we've heard the fusion of international, soul, funk, and various other genres all together. So I really shouldn't be as surprised as I am to see that the Atlanta Ballet is now trying to cash-in on this ingenious idea of the genre mix-and-match.
That's right. Last Thursday, Outkast's Antwan "Big Boi" Patton teamed up with choreographer Lauri Stallings for six performances of the hip-hop inspired ballet, called "big." I guess I just can't picture ballerinas pirouetting to "Hey Ya" or "Miss Jackson." More fitting of hip-hop, I suppose, the ballet is laced with aerial dance moves, with the leading lady flying around the stage via ropes and a harness.
I only wish that I were in Atlanta to see the revolutionary show. Maybe they'll turn it into a feature-length film that we can all enjoy, featuring Peter Gallagher as the hard-ass dance instructor. This hip-hop ballet will be the brainchild of the rogue ballet teacher. It will get a standing ovation and feature a motorcycle...
But I digress. Big Boi's new venture was not the only surprise over the weekend. B
eyonce finally tied the knot with long-time BF, Jay-Z. They've been dating since 2002, which is like an eternity in Hollywood, and they didn't tell anyone about the wedding so it would be a nice surprise for all of us. Now, a lot of people in the celebrity gossip world have been saying that it's about time the two of them got married, and while I would tend to agree, I want to applaud them for taking their time to really think about it. Marriage is a big commitment. Even celebrities should not rush into it like Hollyweird wants us to. Way to go Beyonce!
Well that's all I've got for y'all tonight!
P.S. Radio K's in pledge drive mode this week. Listen and contribute at radiok.org.
Now don't worry, this blog post is not going to turn into another gush-fest about how much I'm in love with Yoni Wolf or a brainstorm session about how to get said artist to fall in love with me. What I found in the Reveille article was a perfect description of what pop music has become in this day and age. Author Steve McPherson talks about the pop genre as having morphed into a "Katamari-like rolling ball of detritus." Dead on. I mean, we've seen "experimental rock" take off. We've come to enjoy, even expect, the melding of hip-hop and pop. And we've heard the fusion of international, soul, funk, and various other genres all together. So I really shouldn't be as surprised as I am to see that the Atlanta Ballet is now trying to cash-in on this ingenious idea of the genre mix-and-match.
That's right. Last Thursday, Outkast's Antwan "Big Boi" Patton teamed up with choreographer Lauri Stallings for six performances of the hip-hop inspired ballet, called "big." I guess I just can't picture ballerinas pirouetting to "Hey Ya" or "Miss Jackson." More fitting of hip-hop, I suppose, the ballet is laced with aerial dance moves, with the leading lady flying around the stage via ropes and a harness.
I only wish that I were in Atlanta to see the revolutionary show. Maybe they'll turn it into a feature-length film that we can all enjoy, featuring Peter Gallagher as the hard-ass dance instructor. This hip-hop ballet will be the brainchild of the rogue ballet teacher. It will get a standing ovation and feature a motorcycle...
But I digress. Big Boi's new venture was not the only surprise over the weekend. B
eyonce finally tied the knot with long-time BF, Jay-Z. They've been dating since 2002, which is like an eternity in Hollywood, and they didn't tell anyone about the wedding so it would be a nice surprise for all of us. Now, a lot of people in the celebrity gossip world have been saying that it's about time the two of them got married, and while I would tend to agree, I want to applaud them for taking their time to really think about it. Marriage is a big commitment. Even celebrities should not rush into it like Hollyweird wants us to. Way to go Beyonce!Well that's all I've got for y'all tonight!
P.S. Radio K's in pledge drive mode this week. Listen and contribute at radiok.org.
Labels: celebrities, Lady Amy, music
This entry was posted by Lady Amy, on
Monday, April 14, 2008.
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hahaha...center stage! nice! and yes, the whole ballet with a twist look how cool ballet can be has gotten old. still, i'd very much like to see this new show...
I wish it featured Andre 3000 as one of the dancers!
I don't know how I feel about this. I'd totally see it, but if I was a hip-hop purist/fanatic, I would be kind of offended: "Hey rich white stuffy people, it's okay to like hip-hop!"
Proving to the stuffy people that hip-hop isn't all about guns and bitches is one thing, but totally watering it down and taking away any subversive ethic kind of defeats the point of hip-hop. At least Yoni is independent to the core and lyrically doesn't compromise any true hip-hop values. He knows how to blend the pop side while keeping the grit.
I don't think you can assume this is made for "rich white stuffy people" to make it okay to like hip-hop -- why does a genre have to fit into a specific norm, especially when the whole point of the venture (in this case, a ballet) is a collaboration. And it's not like Big Boi or Outkast have never crossed genres before.
i'm kind of offended at the implication that ballet is for rich white stuffy people. it's not. it's a dance of the people, chris. hello! welcome to what's been happening at smaller time dance theaters around the country for a very long time...integrating other musical forms and getting away from ballet's stereotypes. how about "hey kids people who might not normally go to a ballet, it's ok to enjoy ballet!" why would we assume the target audience is people already attending ballet and not those already into hip hop? if i were a "purist" on either side, maybe i'd be angry, but it's sort of silly to be a musical purist at all, because music/dance/expression is all about collaboration and trying something new, isn't it?
ok, rant over. seriously, though. labels are for canned goods. not artistic expression.
In the article Big Boi talks about trying to get hip-hop lovers to see a ballet and essentially getting the "rich white stuffy people" some exposure to hip-hop.
And Brigitte, as Mr. T. says, "Table the label. Wear your own name."
yeah! seriously, though. collaboration is good. and Big Boi should maybe learn to table the label too.
First of all, Outkast isn't hip-hop. And that's the reason this whole project seems silly to me. Placing a "hip-hop ballet" in an arena made for ballet, probably tickets given first offer to Atlanta Ballet ticket-holders, won't attract hip-hoppers. In a perfect world, your idealism would make perfect sense, but targeting ballet to hip-hoppers and hip-hop to balleters isn't on equal ground. One is going to win out and it's going to be the people that are already going to ballet, not ones that are used to paying 5 bucks to go see the local hip-hop crew at a bar downtown.
As far as musical purists go, if any genre deserves to have them, it's one that has deep sociological roots entrenched in classism, racism, and oppression. Plus, I just explained how Yoni manages to try something new while still holding onto traditions of hip-hop, not co-opting them.
Chris, hip-hop has been a co-opted genre of music the mid-80s -- I don't know how you could possibly argue that the genre of hip-hop is less deserving of supposedly being co-opted than any other genre of music. Look at the history of music itself -- would you say that blues or jazz doesn't deserve to be used in any other form than its origins? Jazz / blues certainly has just as deep of sociological roots as hip-hop does. And how do you define what "is" and "isn't" a particular genre? If Outkast "isn't" hip-hop, then what is? Why does it matter if they have delved into different musical styles, that because of that they are not deserving of using the genre itself?
i don't have to be an idealist to say that collaboration is a good thing. i also stand by the fact that collaboration of hip-hop and ballet has already been going on for quite some time. also, not all ballet (as i was trying to say in my comment) is targeted to rich people who can spend $50 on a ticket. there are plenty of dance/ballet companies who charge much less and are accessible and for whom collaboration would be targeted at both ballet and hip hop fans alike. how would adding ballet inherently water anything down about the music? how would adding dance, which also has roots in classism, racism, and oppression, take away those elements from the music? and if this is a more accessible non-purist hip hop pairing with a big time not exactly for the people ballet company, than they are just taking what has already been happening and marketing it to a mass audience. so maybe this performance is only going to co-opt the traditions of hip-hop but that doesn't mean that the idea of collaboration between ballet and hip-hop is automatically going to eradicate the roots of hip-hop and water anything down.
wow, amy, good post! we haven't had a real discussion like this in a long time on the blogulator (correct me if i'm wrong). good blog topic!
also, don't worry, i'm still working on a "get yoni to marry you" plan...
Why are you still ignoring what I commented about Why?
Of course co-opting hip-hop isn't anything new, and yet, many artists like Why? are able to do something new with the genre while still being true to what the genre was founded upon. I also hate Beastie Boys, Usher, Eminem, P Diddy, the list goes on...
I also hate when "artists" co-opt jazz, blues, reggae, or any other sociologically rooted musical genre. It always sounds and feels fake, forced, and overly glossy. But yes, many artists once again utilize these genres in a way that transforms/revitalizes them but still stays true to their origins (Tortoise expertly melding the looseness of free jazz with the intensity of rock vs. P Diddy lazily rapping on top of a cock rock guitar riff to advertise a giant lizard movie). See the difference?
I know nothing about the ballet other than what is written here, and like I said, I'd totally see it to find out more about it. If you look back, my original statement was simply "I don't know how I feel about this." I'm not going to totally dismiss this, but I could easily see this going completely wrong. Kind of like MTV's "hip-hopera" version of Carmen.
Does no one see any tiny bit of what I'm saying? Is every commercialized genre cross-over immediately viable simply because it's supposedly trying to bring two kinds of music/art-lovers together (which I still maintain this is failing to do)?
i see what you're saying, i just didn't think that you could make a blanket statement about ballet and hip-hop (which i felt you were doing here) and i didn't agree with what you first said about bringing hip-hop to stuffy people who like ballet. i just didn't think it was that simple: ballet=one thing and hip-hop=another and that combining them will always mean a loss for hip-hop, not ballet. that's all i was saying. in this case, yes, it is a mass market example of a combination that probably does want stuffy theater goers to be introduced to hip-hop,but outkast isn't real hip-hop anyway, so what's the problem?
True, I guess what it boils down to is I'm sick of the term "hip-hop" being used to describe pop music sung with fast rhymes, then throwing that on top of ballet and little to no actual link to hip-hop is left. But you guys are totally right in saying that there's no reason to be surprised by this example in particular - it's just an extreme example of what's been happening in the mainstream to hip-hop since its popularization years ago.
Could I see in some capacity a hip-hop/ballet crossover that would be successful? I suppose, but I would be truly surprised if ballet dancers and choreographers would throw down at a Baltimore club with Mullyman. It's a lot easier for ballet organizers to approach the king of gentrified Top 40 radio and say, hey would you like to tour our facilities and work together?
Oh boy, a lot happened on the blog while I was at class! You kids sure do love to bicker.
I think you are both right. Brigitte, you are correct that ballet is not just for the stuffy, rich, white old dudes - there are plenty of ballet companies that do more experimental (and cheap) performances. I don't know that the Atlanta ballet would be one of them, though.
And Chris, yes, this is likely just adding a gallon of water to and already pretty thin punch. Sure, Outkast is probably not Hip Hop but what really is? Hip Hop has gone through so many transformations that it's kind of hard to determine what "real" hip hop is anymore. But I don't really want to get into that because I agree that Outkast wouldn't qualify regardless.
I don't think any of you understand the real problem here, which is that ballet sux. I attended my sister's recitals for years, so I know this to be fact. Also, what kind of dance is constructed so that women with bigger breasts cannot succeed in it? Blasphemy!
Also, I hate dancing in general. But I did know all the words to "Bombs Over Baghdad," so I'm siding with Outkast. Wait, that's one of the sides, right?
Also, I was really confused that Chris kept referencing Yanni (sic) as a good, smart musician. I now realize the source of my confusion, and I'm disappointed that it means Chris is yet to come into the light.
yeah, who gives an f in music is co-opted or unfaithful to its origins?
"stealing ideas and making something your own is the essence of life."
-some dude i overheard at lunch (not really)
p.s. all of chris' statements about the origin of hip-hop and genre-taxonomy remind me why i stopped caring about the lame, music reviewer approach to music and realness and embraced my new doctrine for music (art):
i don't care who or what made this sound (art), but i like it for the time being and therefore, it's alright and acceptable to me. and nuts to the dissenters!!
art!
So art isn't a social force?
I feel sorry for those who naively believe that art can change the world, but I feel even more sorry for those who believe that art should only be enjoyed/dissected on a personal, individual level.
What the hell would we or any other art-lover have a discourse about on this site or anywhere else?
who said art isn't a social force? i don't think anyone is saying it should ONLY be enjoyed/dissected on a personal, individual level. there are ways to have discourse about art without reducing it.
even the "art for art's sake" movements ended up using art as a social statement/force. doi!
when one starts sentences with "i feel sorry for..." it becomes less like discourse and more like a lecture...and just the tiniest bit condescending.
i also just want to point out, before i leave work and the blogulator behind for the day, that in all the discussion we've forgotten perhaps the most important piece of news on lady amy's post: wedding bells for Beyonce and Jay-Z! now there's a collaboration i think we can all get behind.
Heeeellllllll yeah!
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"I feel sorry for those who naively believe that art can change the world..."
That's pretty cynical; I feel like it depends what you mean by changing the world. I think it can make a big impact in one person's life, and how that change affects their choices and all the people with whom they ever interact, no one knows. For many of my ballet students last year, it was a profoundly important event of their year. Most of them knew nothing about ballet, nor do their families probably take them to shows or could afford to send them to lessons. We danced to Vivaldi's "Spring" concerto, while wearing Murakami-inspired costumes. It was a melding of Italian classical music, contemporary Japanese design, and ballet neophytes. My students, over a year later, still say "hi" to me in the hall, call me their ballet teacher, and share their love for dancing with their friends (even my one boy, Armando!)
I think innovation, even if it's just melding two things in a new way, is advancing popular culture. That doesn't mean I'll like it, but I value the creativity.
I'm excited about the Beyoncé/Jay-Z union, too! And she doesn't have to worry about whether or not to change her last name because neither of them have one, right? So convenient.
9:18 PM
Thirty! 30 Comments! Has this ever happened?
Sorry for being condescending, I suppose Sean succeeded in irking me with his "music reviewers are lame" comment - that's my people, yo!
And there's a difference between believing art can change people's lives and art changing the world (one gives art too much credit, the other doesn't). You used art to change those kids and their families' lives, Nicole, and that's awesome. I just thank sweet baby Jesus that you didn't arrange it all to a T-Pain song.
OOH, Chris is a musical elitist, sitting in his ivory apartment, listening to his fancy records and laughing at small-minded townsfolk like us that listen to our mainstream music. Well, Chris, I like T-Pain!!
no, not really. 31 comments!!!
i know i'm late to this, i paid attention over the afternoon, but i've been relatively busy today, so i couldn't jump in until now... this is all probably for the best, i'm not in the mood to step on any toes ...anyway, i'd like to take some of the ideas offered above and throw my own little twist on all of this.
***
I've participated in some pretty lively debates with you folks about the meaning of art, pop-_____, and lowest common denominators. I am by no means the most cultured of the bunch here, in fact, by many standards I'm probably the least cultured. I'd be in over my head, except that I'm so damn cocky that it doesn't seem to ever matter. In this case I think it provides me with a certain perspective here that I think Josef would probably appreciate.
I've argued in the past that art only has aesthetic value, while I never truly believed that, it sure was fun to see folks (specifically you guys) twist in agony over my oversimplification. I guess that's my own favorite form of art (agitation).
Anyway, here is my point, this is the part that Joe is going to like. Art is evolution.
Art, as I understand it, is a form of evolution.
Art, in its basest form, is communication. It's just sharing something. Perhaps you're just sharing it with yourself. Regardless, it's new information, and it has been created.
Evolution in its basest form is convenient mistakes in communication. Perhaps it's cancer, and perhaps it's a new trait that helps a goat see more shades of grass in order to find the better grass to eat. Regardless, it's new information, and it has been created.
In evolution, diversity is the best way to have excellent results. The more variations you have, the more likely it is that you'll get new and even more interesting mistakes. Crossbreeding is always smart though, it's a fantastic way to trade genetic rarities. Even if these rarities aren't expressed, they'll get passed along to further generations that may need to use them later.
Art has mistakes all the time, disco anyone? (am I right? can I get a hey-oh??) If art is indeed communication, like evolution variation... AND crossbreeding should be encouraged. Pure breeds are rarely if ever an evolutionarily sound advantage. Sure, you might lose the art (idea) you thought you needed, but you'll gain a whole new creature that carries the best (and worst) parts along for the ride to the future. Maybe it's not the creature you thought you wanted. What you're missing though, is that this is what the creature needs to do if it is going to pass on its genetic codes (ideas).
Paal, what the HELL are you trying to say??
Hip-hop ballet is probably good for both hip-hop and ballet.
They each get to pass along their key components, and although we may lose their own distinct messages, we will instead be rewarded with a new, and hopefully more powerful message in return.
If this new message sucks, well, then hip-hop ballet will die.
IT'S EVOLUTION BABY.
(I suggest playing "Do the Evolution" by Pearl Jam now)
We may also have a record for the longest comment ever - PAAL!
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