Turning things around: the SALEM controversy
Now that Salem's KING NIGHT is actually out, we at soldout (AKA the salem-superfan-superfascination site) are enjoying mainstream reviws of the album. Naturally, more than one have noted the interesting mix of musical styles that Salem blend--shoegaze, rap, drone, pop, screw, crunk--and we have to nod to Pitchfork for making a Werewolf Bar Mitzvah comparison. However, we were surprised that instead of commending the group for bridging the gaps between these vastly different styles, some reviwers have taken to suggesting that the group's intents were based on racial appropriation. While we're open to hearing everyone else's opinion on our favorite trainwreck of a musical group, we're not so sure what to think of reviwers who so casually throw around terms like racist and minstrelsy.
To wit: the esteemed twitter music critic 1000timesyes aka Chris Weingarten vs our own Dr Z
Those terms are heavy, loaded and easy--or, to put it much more casually, them's fightin' words. But maybe it is we who are missing something? For us, t's not a black and white issue (pun... indented). So the soldoutmusic.com members who are online at 11 AM on a Friday (read as: Liz Raftery is innocent in all this) are discussing...and we hope you'll join in. Note: this conversation is UNEDITED.
Kristin: Wow. I'm really surprised by that well-written and thoughtful review. I guess it takes more than 140 characters to do that kind of thinking!
Marley: Since when is rap the same as minstrelsy...? Even saying it offhandedly, as in this piece, or overtly like whats-his-face tweeter-blogger-whatevs...it brings up much bigger issues of appropriation and identity than either reviewer, much less Salem, want to approach.
next time we interview them, we should ask if Jack's raps are racist.
Dr Z: I think that "minstrel" and "exploit" imply cynicism, whereas Jack really just loves Gucci Mane. I also don't hear the 'ebonics' (really? you want to make a claim about insensitivity and can't even use "AASE"?) that Weingarten hears. I just hear a blurred white kid who probably talks like a slurred dumbass all the time. AASE also has a lexicon of its own, which I don't think Jack uses.
"It's all blurred out, bitch, I can't see ya." He doesn't use "nigga." Does he use "I be?" (As if we could actually make out his lyrics.)
If Weingarten et al think Jack is a minstrel, appropriating blacks, due to the CONTENT of his lyrics, then obviously Weingarten is the one with black people problems. (Does he think all rappers want to "bind your hands and feet" and urge their rape victims to not "make a peep?")
Is there a single example of an actual black person, better yet an actual black rapper, best yet an actual black Southern rapper, calling Salem racist? Or is it just the Weingartens and Liz Lemons of the world *CONDESCENDINGLY* and *PATRONIZINGLY* being offended on Gucci's behalf? It's sad to me when a critic with a platform is so caught up in invented race issues that he loses the ability to actually use his ears. This guy doesn't see anything sonically interesting in the record either. Not a word about the non-rap stuff either. It reminds me of how pop-haters judge great songs based on the audience instead of, well, the songs.
Marley: using terms like racist and near minstrelsy--without backing them up beyond "it's rap" puts the focus on the reviewer and not the music. it's cheap.
TO BE CONTINUED.
Marley
Are there other discussions out there that directly oppose these views? Ones that might suggest that the band is inclusive, breaking new ground or what have you?
Also... do we know that they're NOT racist?
Marley
also does @1000timesyes he not know THAT THEY SMOKE CRACK!? and are from detroit? anyone who has even seen those kids knows they're not from an upper class background. They are white, though. undeniably. Point being: we're not talking about class. It's just race/culture signifiers in music here, y'all.
I mean. If you wanna talk about privleged white boys... maybe you should check out this new group I just heard about... vampire weekend? I hear they can autotune oxford commas.
Russ
Marley:
Is the white kid who grows up surrounded by rap racist if it's what he knows?
See: JACK DONOGHUE. also eminem. do not see: vanilla ice.
Russ
Look, I'm not saying SALEM isn't the product of putting a bunch of monkeys in a room with cough syrup and muddy synths and having them write the aural version of blissed-out Hamlet, because they are. But the music those bunch of monkeys make is fucking gorgeous and horrifying.
Reader Comments (4)
If they're racists: who cares?
Katy Perry's quite possibly a homophobe, but her music is brilliant. (I'm in the minority on this.)
Dr Z:
As a fan of authentic cherry chapstick, I find Katy Perry's reference to something tasting akin to it disrespectful.
I just really don't like Katy Perry. I'm not a sexist, though, FYI.
as an authentic fan of kissing girls... aw I dunno there's a katy perry joke in there i'm just too tired to find it.