Kelvin at Racialicious discusses one of the things I hated about Jody Rosen’s awful explication of what she terms the “DORF” phenomenon at Slate – namely, Rosen’s gross typing of what “actual living African Americans” listen to. Rosen’s piece, which excoriates Stuff White People Like Media like NPR, The NY Times Magazine, and Starbucks, for only playing or discussing music made by black people who are either Dead, Old, Retro, or Foreign, props up the Billboard Hot 100 list as a) more representative of what ‘actual living African Americans’ listen to and b) more progressive than the beard-rock of All Songs Considered by sheer virtue of Having Been Made By Black People.
Kelvin rightly points out that ascribing certain listening habits to ‘real’ African Americans (as opposed to those bullshit Oreos, am I right guys?) is a way of denying the tremendous diversity within the African American community and pigeonholing African Americans as belonging to one unified cultural movement. In it’s own way, it’s as stupid a statement as conservative takes on what constitutes ‘real America’ – as opposed to those commie-athei-fascist ACORN volunteers on the Left Coast.
I’d go a bit further in taking exception to Rosen’s argument: what Rosen doesn’t come to terms with is that the music that tops the Hot 100 list is not only routinely retrograde/anti-progressive in its aims and intentions (Eminem’s “Crack a Bottle”, Britney’s “3″, Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You,” – terribly catchy, but at the end of the day, it’s her “Stand By Your Man”) but many times is pitched at an audience averaging age 12, which explains why a pair of inane party anthems by the Black Eyed Peas spent a collective 26 weeks at the #1 spot this year. Twelve-year-olds – the least discriminating music buyers – are the target audience for Top 40 radio, which is why their tastes fuel the Hot 100 list. Aimed at adults who don’t want to listen to their era’s equivalent of The Archies or NKOTB, All Songs Considered isn’t interested in telling us about how interesting “Boom Boom Pow” is. And since this, in Rosen’s warped, infantalizing view of African American culture, is what is popular with “actual living African Americans,” this makes the (again, admittedly) beardy list produced (let’s be clear) not by NPR, but by NPR listeners suspect and not representative of All The Music That’s Out There.
Me? Yeah, I’m an adult white dude who listens to a shitload of DORFy music: Otis Redding, Fela Kuti, TV on the Radio. Right now I’m listening to the phenomenal new album by The Very Best, which consists of two European DJs and a Malawian-British singer, Esau Mwamwaya. It’s a fantastic new take on the Afro-pop/high-life sound and I would bet any song on it against “Boom Boom Pow” or “Crack a Bottle” or “Right Round.”
As evidence, here’s one of the songs on that album, the fantastic title track “Warm Heart of Africa,” featuring guest vocals by Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend.
You talk about DORF like it’s a bad thing.
Oct/090
Kelvin at Racialicious discusses one of the things I hated about Jody Rosen’s awful explication of what she terms the “DORF” phenomenon at Slate – namely, Rosen’s gross typing of what “actual living African Americans” listen to. Rosen’s piece, which excoriates Stuff White People Like Media like NPR, The NY Times Magazine, and Starbucks, for only playing or discussing music made by black people who are either Dead, Old, Retro, or Foreign, props up the Billboard Hot 100 list as a) more representative of what ‘actual living African Americans’ listen to and b) more progressive than the beard-rock of All Songs Considered by sheer virtue of Having Been Made By Black People.
Kelvin rightly points out that ascribing certain listening habits to ‘real’ African Americans (as opposed to those bullshit Oreos, am I right guys?) is a way of denying the tremendous diversity within the African American community and pigeonholing African Americans as belonging to one unified cultural movement. In it’s own way, it’s as stupid a statement as conservative takes on what constitutes ‘real America’ – as opposed to those commie-athei-fascist ACORN volunteers on the Left Coast.
I’d go a bit further in taking exception to Rosen’s argument: what Rosen doesn’t come to terms with is that the music that tops the Hot 100 list is not only routinely retrograde/anti-progressive in its aims and intentions (Eminem’s “Crack a Bottle”, Britney’s “3″, Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You,” – terribly catchy, but at the end of the day, it’s her “Stand By Your Man”) but many times is pitched at an audience averaging age 12, which explains why a pair of inane party anthems by the Black Eyed Peas spent a collective 26 weeks at the #1 spot this year. Twelve-year-olds – the least discriminating music buyers – are the target audience for Top 40 radio, which is why their tastes fuel the Hot 100 list. Aimed at adults who don’t want to listen to their era’s equivalent of The Archies or NKOTB, All Songs Considered isn’t interested in telling us about how interesting “Boom Boom Pow” is. And since this, in Rosen’s warped, infantalizing view of African American culture, is what is popular with “actual living African Americans,” this makes the (again, admittedly) beardy list produced (let’s be clear) not by NPR, but by NPR listeners suspect and not representative of All The Music That’s Out There.
Me? Yeah, I’m an adult white dude who listens to a shitload of DORFy music: Otis Redding, Fela Kuti, TV on the Radio. Right now I’m listening to the phenomenal new album by The Very Best, which consists of two European DJs and a Malawian-British singer, Esau Mwamwaya. It’s a fantastic new take on the Afro-pop/high-life sound and I would bet any song on it against “Boom Boom Pow” or “Crack a Bottle” or “Right Round.”
As evidence, here’s one of the songs on that album, the fantastic title track “Warm Heart of Africa,” featuring guest vocals by Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend.