Random thoughts on Jared A. Ball Four Part Series, " Hip-Hop and the Corporate Music Industry"

1. I recommend reading all four parts. I was charged with reading the third part and questioned several of his premises - he wrote them as unexplained assumptions - but they were in fact set forth in earlier parts and were well defined.
2. Never used the term post-colonialism...really striking and powerful.
3. Title of the third part is interesting, 'Colonialism is the lens and hip-hop is the mirror.' There is that common assumption that hip-hop is about 'bad urban stuff' because it reflects the true gritty life of  Blackness. Ball does a good job dismantling this theory without explicitly doing so - when viewed with the colonialism lens selected by Ball, hip-hop functions as a mirror of white America's self-interested perception of Black America.
4. Crazy wack writing argh...he needs an editor! I was trying to read his writing with the understanding that it must be perpetuating his theories but really I just think it's not well edited. "This decision, it must be noted, also affects my own beloved Washington, DC Pacifica Radio affiliate..." (I don't think it needs noting but if you think it does - just write it!) "Most recently examples of this include the successful lobbying... (Wordy! Just write, 'Recent examples include..." or at least use a comma to distinguish the subject of the sentence) "Pertinent and entirely related that" (Redundant!)
5. D'Mite's Read A Book is hysterical and witty and way too catchy. I do appreciate Ball's comments that perhaps BET was willing to disseminate the video - despite it falling outside the mainstream themes of hip-hop - because it puts the pressure on the individual to change without critiquing or pressuring the system.
6. D'Mite's song Down Witchu is odd. The entire song is a super positive anthem all about being non-judgemental. Oh, ya know, except for that one verse at the 2:45 mark: "You can be straight or gay or a little confused, I might not be amused, but I'm cool witchu." WTF!
7. What do you think of D'Mite's Grown Ass Man? I found it really thought-provoking and interesting. Similar to Read a Book, it encourages its audience to be a good father, value land over other types of property, become educated...both songs are pretty elitist. I'd be interested in what our guest speaker has to say about them.