theloop21's Blog

Bill O'Reilly says Marc Lamont Hill, a writer for TheLoop21.com and an African American Studies professor from Columbia, looks like a drug dealer.

For the past two years, Drake has been one of the hottest acts in hip-hop. From high profile guest appearances to a ubiquitous presence on urban radio, it is nearly impossible to follow hip-hop and not get regular doses of the Toronto-born rapper.  

 
I hate him.
 
There I said it.
 
To be clear, I don’t have any personal beef with Drake. While I’ve never met him, I don’t doubt that he’s a decent and well-intentioned person. Still, I hate him. And you can’t stop me. Why? Because he represents several things that I find troublesome about the current mainstream hip-hop scene.
 
First, there’s the music. While there’s no doubt that Drake is very gifted— even if he too often wastes his talent making radio-friendly confection—he leaves much to be desired as an rapper. Instead of relying on his intellectual and artistic gifts, he too often resorts to tired concepts, lazy punch lines and predictable one-liners. This wouldn’t be such a problem if he weren’t constantly being hailed by the rap world as a dope lyricist rather than what he actually is: a pop song writer.
 
To call Drake an MC in a world that still includes Black Thought, Lupe Fiasco, Jean Grae, Pharoah Monch, or even Eminem is an insult to people who think. As evidenced by his humiliating Blackberry “freestyle” on Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 radio show, Drake has mastered neither the art, science, nor stylistic etiquette of MCing. From his frantic attempts to stay on beat to his inability to improvise even slightly, Drake represents a dangerous historical moment in hip-hop culture where rapping has overshadowed other dimensions of MCing, like freestyling, battling, and moving the crowd.

In addition to his lyrical deficiencies, there is something naggingly inauthentic about Drake. And nope, it’s not because he’s a half-white Canadian named Aubrey whose original claim to fame was playing Jimmy Brooks on the teen drama Degrassi High. While such information does nothing to enhance his street bona fides, it certainly doesn’t merit missing him outright. After all, some of hip-hop’s greatest talents (whether they admit it or not) have come from a variety of privileged race, class, and geographic backgrounds. Also, despite being a running buddy of Lil Wayne, Drake’s raps don’t include drug dealing, poverty, violence, or any of the other stale tropes of ghetto authenticity found in mainstream hip-hop narratives. Still, his persona and music feel like the product of industry cynicism rather than an organic outgrowth of hip-hop culture.
 
From his faux-Southern accent to his corporate-funded “street buzz,” Drake has been perfectly prepped to become hip-hop’s version of a boy band. Take one look at Drake and you can almost hear the calculations of greedy record execs looking for the next crossover act: Preexisting white fanbase: check. Exotic Ethnic Background: check. Light Skin: check. Celebrity Cosigners: check.

And the list goes on… Sadly, such paint-by-the-numbers thinking not only forces Drake into the public sphere, but also excludes more gifted artists who don’t fit neatly into the prefigured boxes of industry honchos.
 
Read the rest at TheLoop21.com.

Marc Lamont Hill is Associate Professor of Education at Columbia University. He blogs regularly at MarcLamontHill.com. He can be reached at marc@theloop21.com.

Want to know what to watch this weekend? Here's TheLoop21.com's new movies list for films being released today: http://theloop21.com/entertain ment/new-movies-opening-may-21

If you want to know what's coming up next week, here's the new movies list for May 28: http://theloop21.com/entertain ment/new-movies-opening-may-28

IN THE LOOP WITH… Misty Copeland

“It’s so easy to feel like race isn’t an issue anymore because of Obama but I really still feel like it is a big issue. I feel like it’s something I see and deal with everyday in my field.”- Misty Copeland

Although her own career was severely limited due to her race, when film legend Lena Horne passed away she was credited with paving the way for countless black actresses and singers working today. But one corner of entertainment still looks very much like it did when Horne struggled to break through more than fifty years ago. According to an analysis by the New York Times there have been only two Black women in history who have achieved the rank of principal at any of America’s most prominent classical ballet companies. Widespread speculation says Misty Copeland, a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), will become the third.

During our chat, Copeland, ABT’s first Black soloist in more than thirty years, noted that Black male ballet dancers seem to have found wider acceptance. While observers have chalked this up to the scarcity of male dancers in general, Copeland goes further.

“Black men have been principal dancers at major companies for years but they’re not the ballet. The ballerina is what symbolizes the ballet and I think it’s hard for a lot of people to see Black women, who they may consider too strong or too harsh,” in certain roles Copeland said.

“The classical ballet world is all about tradition. The families that support the ballet don’t want to see something that they’re not used to seeing and I think that a Black woman in the role of ballerina is just too much for them to take.”

But Copeland is not deterred. While her fans, (including actress Victoria Rowell) speculate that she might soon become the first Black principal dancer in ABT’s seventy-year history, Copeland already has her eyes set on other goals.

“I’m really into fashion and am in the process of launching a dancewear line in August,” and contrary to the stereotypes about ballerinas she added, “I love food,” and “my favorite CD at the moment is [the rapper] Drake.”

Claim to Fame: Soloist with the American Ballet Theatre, currently performing at the Metropolitan Opera House now through July 10th. Ticket information can be found here: http://www.abt.org/

Affiliation: American Ballet Theatre

Education:  Southbay Ballet and American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company (for a year)

Currently Resides (city or region): New York, NY

Read the full interview at TheLoop21.com and view her photo gallery