This week’s issue of V Magazine had an interesting profile of Chris Croker, the YouTube star behind the infamous 2007 “Leave Britney (Spears) Alone!” video, who’s now featured in the documentary Me at the Zoo, which has been getting alot of buzz and publicity lately.
I’m intrigued to see what the fuss is really all about; not only did it get selected for inclusion in this year’s Sundance, but it’s also premiering June 25th on HBO. I’m especially curious since it seems the style of the doc is a somewhat scattered collection of his Youtube videos, response videos, and other miscellaneous Croker material.
Overall I feel kind of conflicted about the idea of a Chris Crocker comeback. On one hand, his interview with V Magazine made it seem like he has some substance and an interesting perspective of what it’s like to be gay and growing up in Tennessee. But on the other hand, while watching his YouTube videos, he also seems extremely narcissistic – me, me, me and more me.
A lot of his content and persona pertains more to the early Social Media internet famous era, when Facebook was still a new platform and most of our time was spent on either YouTube, Blogs, or MySpace. But with a fanbase of 100,000 Twitter followers and over 253 million YouTube views, he’s isn’t completely irrelevant and is well respected within the gay community.
So the real question becomes is he a genius or just another Internet fame whore attempting a comeback? I guess only time will tell. The only commentary and reflection I have is that it seems like the online world is quickly dividing itself between the content producers and the watchers and how your status quo is only based on how many followers you have.
Which really got me thinking — who was Internet Famous in 2007 and where are they today? I found a Forbes List of the top 25 Web Celebs of 2007, and it’s definitely a mixed bag compared to the current top stars of the web. Some are still around and popular like Perez Hilton, but most of their Internet buzz quickly faded away to make room for the next overnight meme.
Jessica Stam in Dior Couture, Anja Rubik in Anthony Vaccarello, and Karolina Kurkova in Custom Rachel Zoe Collection via FabSugar
On Monday night Vogue did a live broadcast of the Met Gala and the entire concept was pure genius. It was immediately ranked #2 as a WORLDWIDE Twitter trending topic, which is an incredible amount of online buzz for this type of event. It’s not surprising though; when you combine celebrities and high end couture, its fashion porn at its best. The online chatter and responses generated by the event alone were incredible.
The combination of the interactive experience of watching the Gala on Vogue while catching commentary on live Twitter feeds was so fun. It was such a spectacle seeing everyone’s ridiculous fashion choices and the wave of twitter trends that followed, from Marc Jacobs lingerie outfit to Anja Rubik’s naked dress and Beyonce’s barely legal sheer Givenchy number.
Marc Jacobs in Commes Des Garcon and Beyonce in Givenchy via StyleBlazer
I’m also miraculously linked to Ivanka Trump’s Instagram and got to see sneak pics of her getting ready for the event. It got me thinking about the future of entertainment and how the lines are so blurred; with online culture there’s almost no defining point when an event begins and ends.
There’s such a voyeuristic feel where we can peep into everyone’s lives and create these stories. From the celebrity tweets before they’ve arrived, to the post-show wrap-ups of the fashion bloggers commenting on everyone’s outfit. I’m thrilled to see more and more interactive cultural experiences as every minute detail unfolds online.
A new kind of Korean pop music has been taking over the American airwaves recently and it goes by the name of K-Pop. While on my recent stay in Asia I experienced this new wave of boy bands and pop music first hand. Not only are these groups huge in their own country, but they’re also turning their success into international fame. In Korea the term is “hallyu” which translates simply into Korean wave, or an influx of Korean culture into different foreign markets. It started in the 1990s with massively popular N*Sync and Spice Girls style boy bands and girl groups, and slowly over the years they’ve begun to expand their fanbase into different Asian markets and eventually into America. Everyone from The New York Times, to Gawker, and even The Guardian have written recent stories about the growing K-Pop phenomenon.
If you take a closer look, K-pop has actually been making huge strides in America over the last year or so. Girls’ Generation, one of the most popular K-Pop all girl groups, performed on the The David Letterman Show, and they also recently signed with Interscope Records to release their latest album in the US. Another girl group, Wonder Girls, even made a TV-movie for the TeenNick cable channel, which goes to show there’s definitely an expanding interest for K-Pop in tons of different American venues.
Last year one of the largest K-Pop production companies SM Entertainment hosted a sold out Madison Square Garden performance for their diverse roster of stars, some of which even covered American pop songs like Kesha’s “Tik Tok”, which is definitely an aesthetic parallel to the visual and musical component of the genre. Although K-Pop is popular in the US, it’s not as widely covered in the mainstream media, so the ardent fans are using Social Media and other platforms to really expand the fanbase and share in their adoration of this cult-like phenomenon. K-Pop music videos are some of the most widely watched clips on all of YouTube, with the recent Girls’ Generation #1 single “Hoot” racking up 2 million views on YouTube within 24 hours of it’s release.
Musically K-Pop shares tons of different similarities with Western Pop, Electronic Music and Hip Hop culture. A lot of the tracks are a perfect pastiche of over the top trance and electro with modern R&B and Hip Hop tropes thrown in for good measure. Famed East Coast Rap producer Swizz Beatz even recently partnered up with the Korean entertainment group O&Media to a create a cross-pollination of influences across the two diverse markets.
In a recent interview with MTV he talked about his admiration for the work ethic and marketing strategies within K-Pop culture, which is something he said was sorely lacking in American pop music: “They still do artist development [in Asia], where back here in the States, the labels and our culture lacks artist development,” he said. “Nowadays, an artist can go into the booth, put out a song the next day, and that person thinks that they’re a superstar. But within the K-Pop movement, artists actually go through artist development. They take music classes that allow them to be ready for when they do become that big star.”
Aesthetically K-Pop artists blend a huge mix of eclectic influences into their visual amalgam. Many of the K-Pop girl groups have styles reminiscent of the classic Fruits magazine candy colored Harajuku style with different contemporary stylistic changes and nuances, while the boy bands, especially the massively popular Big Bang, has a really diverse and far reaching palette that often times mimics and remixes popular western fashion trends.
At certain times they’re resembled classic but punky Ralph Lauren yuppies, to rocking old school Nike and Reebok sportswear, and recently they’re gone a little bit into the Lady Gaga route, with androgynous retro-cyberpunk costumes, mixed in with a little Harajuku avant garde street style and fully customized getups, awesomely displayed in their recent video for their single “Bad Boy” which oddly enough was filmed under the JMZ subway tracks in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (which is definitely another nod to their influence and appreciation of Western culture).
While I was in Asia I was so excited to see this K-Pop movement in all of it’s awesome poppy and eccentric glory from billboards to clothing stores, and even MTV Asia, and then coming back to the states it was interesting to see NYC and other markets really embrace this amazing new style of pop music. It’ll only be a matter of time before K-Pop has completely taken over the American charts.
Throughout the last year or so a new hip hop movement has emerged that many critics and fans of the genre has deemed “weird hip hop”. With their nonstop release of free mixtapes, weekly YouTube videos, and a new more accepting audience with an eclectic taste, weird hip hop has really become an underground phenomenon that’s bursting from every corner of the web. Beyond the relatively young and more tech savvy artists, weird hip hop has had a long and elaborate history in its rather organic and experimental evolution. We’re going to give you a little primer on the most important artists within the movement and exactly how they fit into some of the most exciting and next level music that’s being released.
If Cam’ron was white and from Portland, there would an endless amount of students writing their Graduate thesis’ about him instead of Beckett. Cam’ron and his Dipset compadres effortlessly cram as many Theater of Absurd non sequiturs and bon mots into a 3 minute song that makes Endgame look like Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark. He weaves complex narratives and nonsensical witticisms from intricate syncopated homonyms, self-created inside joke slang, and tongue twisting alliteration, all while maintaining the most astute anti-hero / stand up comic persona that’s ever been put on record. He’s from Harlem but his Dada overtones are straight out of the marrow bones wafting out of every Paris brasserie.
E-40 has been recording and releasing music longer then most of us have had fully developed ear drums. He personifies the authentic, never contrived brand of west coast experimental gangsta rap that is seen as an absolute pinnacle within the genre. From his use of extremely off kilter flows / cadences, and his creation of the some of the most innovative and commonly used slang has made him an absolute legend within the genre. He’s probably one of the most original and inimitable rappers to ever come out of the west coast gangsta rap canon.
The Wu Tang Clan has been creating some of the most innovative and absolutely avant garde east coast rap music since their inception in the early 1990s. From their use of eastern philosophy, martial arts metaphorical life lessons, and some of the most obtuse and abstract slang ever put to record, they’ve always been ahead of the curve compared to their mainstream counterparts, while at the same time being able to crossover and attain mass fandom. Every member contains their own amazing idiosyncrasies, but Ghostface Killah has some of the most avant garde and wtf rhymes that have ever been uttered. You could spend months just dissecting their catalogue and you would only be able to grasp a small portion of their prolific output.
Some might argue that Freestyle Fellowship doesn’t necessarily fit in with some of these other groups, but their progressive and next level records have decidedly laid the groundwork for every contemporary MC that might mildly pass within the “weirdo” conglomerate. They have some of the most mindblowing flows / cadences that have ever existed in rap music, which were very often based on the scatting and improvisation commonly associated with Jazz music. Every single member has their amazing individual flourishes, and especially Aceyalone and Myka 9 are two of the most important MCs as far as the legacy of their influence. Everyone from Bone Thugs to Anticon would have never had a blueprint if wasn’t for what Freestyle Fellowship was recording over twenty years ago.
Anticon took the blueprint laid out by Freestyle Fellowship and the entire west coast underground and expanded upon it into absolutely unheard of territory. For the last 15 years Anticon has released the most experimental and progressive hip hop that has probably ever existed in the genre. Besides the releases on their own label, if you sought out the solo albums and group affiliations of each member, there is an endless array of records one more mind-blowing then the next. Even if the collective never released another album, their catalogue will always be known as one of the most forward thinking and next level discographies in possibly the entire hip hop genre.
Southern Rap has always really had a special place in experimental and progressive hip hop. Over the last decade or so it’s really become more popular and radio friendly, but there’s so much innovation and raw energy behind so many artists that could easily be seen as the origins of the weird hip hop movement. Outkast has been releasing some of the most otherworldly and highly listenable rap music for the last nearly twenty years. Way before southern rap was accepted as a genre staple on the east coast, Outkast was making music that they wanted to hear, without contemplating if their fans would understand it. They’ve effectively created an amazing formula for themselves incorporating some of the best aspects of the diverse hip hop landscape; the raw 808s of Miami bass music, the experimental synth lines of Bounce and electronic music, and some of the most interesting flows and cadences that have influenced generations of Southern Mcs. Not to mention “Hey Ya!” by André 3000, is probably considered one of the best pop songs ever recorded; they can really do it all and make it seem effortless.
No mention of weird hip hop is really complete without talking about Kool Keith. He was almost similar to a golden era Lil B before the Based God was even able to lace up his Vans. From his early output with the Ultramagnetic MCs, to his increasingly strange solo albums, Kool Keith is a rapper who never ceases to amaze. Just a short listen of his outer space gynecologist concept album “Dr. Octagonecologyst” to his amazing smooth R&B 808-centric “The Personal Album”, you’ll begin to realize his catalogue is just as diverse and outlandish as the multiple personas he creates for nearly every album. He would have been right at home with Dali and Ernst in the Surrealist movement, eating snails out of a conch shell while coming up with non-sequiturs assembled from discarded napkin fragments.
Lil B has just as many fans as he has detractors, but no matter what you think of him, his massive online fanbase and prolific output has become one of the most substantial catalogues in experimental rap music. From his creation of the “Based” genre, a philosophy that incorporates free association rhymes gathered from your subconscious, he’s taken the innovation of the last 30 years of hip hop, put it all in a Cusianart and out comes the most amazing smoothie that appeals to even the most discerning of palettes. Through his innovative and steadfast approach to Social Media, he’s garnered a massive cult following that crosses all cultures, ethnicities, and demographics. He’s making some of the most progressive and experimental music that’s ever been released in any genre, while completely utilizing every tool within the hip hop canon. He’s abstract like Rothko, a maximalist like Hirst, with a touch of the tongue in cheek humor of Warhol or John Waters to boot; every song he releases is innovation in its purest form.
Beijing is a city bubbling with raw energy and creativity, and during my travels I’ve been absolutely amazed with the creative power of this city.
Within its enclaves, I discovered the Wuhao concept store. Hidden in a traditional style courtyard house or “siheyuan” in one of Beijing’s up and coming neighborhoods, Wuhao (which means five in Mandarin), is the only street sign outside the door. Once you enter the experimental store you’ll notice collections from various Chinese artists highly skilled in a wide variety of mediums.
From high end fashion to design pieces, this store exemplifies that notion that “Made in China” doesn’t mean poor quality products. When the owner, Isabelle Pascal, created the store a little over 2 years ago, her main goal was to defy all stereotypes while showcasing the abundance of talent available in China, which is evident in every piece that’s on display.
From Naihan Li’s furniture “Crates Series”, to the futuristic light reflecting gear by MPMP, and hats by Capouche, Wuhao is full of eclectic surprises. The shopping experience also feels like a euphoric dream. All of the retail pieces are displayed in separate rooms in a gallery style model.
In addition to curating luxury pieces, Wuhao also focuses on nurturing the artists it takes under its wing. It’s important to the owner, Isabelle Pascal, to provide support to the growing Asian Art community. The fashion / art world is very often fickle and they need the proper guidance to be put on the map and give their career a solid foundation.
I urge you to go check out the store if your travels bring you to Beijing, China. You won’t be disappointed.
The last few months have definitely seen tons of new cultural backlashes emerge on the Internet, and none have been more interesting to watch and dissect then the majesty of Lana Del Rey. From her self-produced YouTube hit “Video Games”, Del Rey rose from a meager viral hit to an Interscope record deal in a matter of a few months. Almost as immediately as her video was reaching millions of views, the Social Media bandwagon began heralding her as the downfall of authentic indie culture as we know it. Not to mention her signing with a major label and subsequent poor / ill-prepared SNL performance, which eventually made the backlash movement delve into overdrive as she became a perpetual trending topic for all the wrong reasons.
One of the most important questions and cultural signifiers that’s raised within this indie-meme is does she really deserve such an onslaught of negative criticism, and how does the culture of Social Media change the landscape and sway the opinion of the masses? It seems that a lot of the discussion of Lana Del Rey almost sidesteps the actual quality of her musical output, and instead focuses on her aesthetic being sold to the masses under the guise of indie credibility.
People are used to the svengali wrangled boy bands and pop groups that have existed as long as popular music itself, but they aren’t as comfortable with being sold what seems like a pre-packaged all encompassing musician within the realm of the indie sphere. From her name change, to her earlier more mainstream oriented material, and the nonstop Instagram pictorials with her Real Housewives pouty duck lips du jour, and “gangster Nancy Sinatra” pandering, no matter how authentic or contrived the mélange actually was, it had literally every tastemaker and even their most uninformed underlings crying fowl.
Even Brian Williams, who wouldn’t even qualify as a Guided by Voices cool dad, jumped on the anti Del Rey bandwagon when Gawker released a snarky email he sent to their Media chief Nick Denton, but is all of this hoopla just the Internet overreacting as it always does? Sure maybe her image was a little too grungy polished, like the fashionistas who spend $3,000 to look homeless, but is her music really of such low quality too deserve such a massive indie-meme backlash?
Sometimes what happens especially with Social Media is these trends or anti-trends kind of snowball quickly accumulating muster from minute specks of gravel. Once Pitchfork picks it up, then it’s The Fader, then Gawker, and it eventually trickles down to every grassroots blog and Tumblr with an attaché RSS feed. Hipster Runoff, probably the all time most important meta-scathing hipster blog, even temporarily changed their name to the “Lana Del Report” and for a few days they had literally up to the minute coverage of every tiny revelation in the Lana saga, which was especially honed and perfectly articulated in their infamous Content Farm post that critiqued the way indie blogs feed off of alt-memes just to satiate their audience’s thirst for negative criticism and new culture to dissect and disarm.
Overall it’s really important to take a look at how Social Media can alter and affect the sway of public opinion, even in these micro-genres and indie circles. There’s definitely some aspect of Del Rey’s aesthetic and output possibly being contrived, but with the advent of technology and instantaneous sharing of opinions, these memes and their subsequent backlash can literally take form overnight. Sometimes it’s important to not formulate an opinion until the entire picture presents itself. The majority of this happened way before her major label debut was released, and then after it came out and was number one in 11 albeit mostly European countries, their was then the inevitable backlash to the original backlash, which goes to show how quickly these things can emerge and dissipate, just to make room for another indie-meme to be roasted over the coals.
Since the early 2000s reality shows have completely taken over not only television but pop culture as a whole. MTV has been slowly changing their network into a reality based free-for-all since the 1990s when the The Real World was established, but the 2000s were really the origin of a mass across the board reality show influx. Social Media also became popular around the same time and it seems like both of these now commonly accepted institutions have started to ebb and flow into one another and are sharing many similar cultural aspects.
MySpace was almost an incubation period for social media; all the kinks were still getting worked out, Blingees made loading pages almost like an off road course, and the visual format seemed like it took precedence over the actual function of the site, but when Facebook started rearing it’s monolithic stature, the entire world of social media was torn asunder. That’s when the real similarities and gray area between reality show culture and social media really started to emerge. Facebook has organically (and rather artificially) become a virtual parallel to the docu-reality series that have forever changed the landscape of television and our perception of cultural constructs.
One of the most similar aspects between social media and reality shows are the construction and evolution of archetype abstractions. Every reality show casting director talks about the extremely specific almost algorithmic equations they use when formulating a new show. They need Character A. to react to Character B. so Constant C. can interject creating a whole new set of variables for D, E, and F to become flustered with; and then this process repeats throughout the season, accumulating steam along the way for the inevitable finale / reunion where the whole process begins anew.
Social Media has become a similar half-fabricated / half-actualized venue that allows it’s participants to write their own storylines as they shape and mold the outcome through their personal online tableau; a cryptic little tweet here, a specific photo vaguely framed there, an eclectic Spotify playlist that seems incongruent at first but slowly reveals abstractions in the sense of a fiber optic board game. All of these little details, whether purposely articulated or by accident, add up to an online persona that can be every bit as simulated as the most elaborate reality show scenarios. Social Media allows us to change as little or as much of our own reality to create a linear or abstract storyline that ends up personifying our own persona construct.
Another major parallel between reality shows and social media is the ease of it’s participants to take part in the contruction of their persona. That’s one of the major flaws reality show casting directors have talked about since the massive proliferation of reality shows since the 2000s. It used to be easy for them to find the rough and tumble hillbilly with a heart of gold, or the housewife with golden locks and an armful of existential crises to match, but now everyone is way too self-aware of what casting directors are looking for, and they come to the auditions already in “character”, or they say something like “I’m the such and such arche-sterotype you’ve been looking for”.
The same exact thing has happened on social media. Instead of organically articulating exactly what comprises themselves on a visceral level, people create versions of themselves that are more palatable both in the real world and in online venues; not in the context of “I don’t want my boss to know I went to Hooter’s with my gram-gram for Easter”, but more so that they’re sculpting and purposefully editing out or exaggerating their own online persona to appeal to a seemingly larger audience. Even if you’re 100% authentic in real life there’s still aspects you might edit out within social media to present a more well-rounded auto-tuned version of yourself. It’s kind of like how MSG evens out the five main tastes to create a more pleasurable but inherently banal palette, some people use social media to quality control their own organic shortcomings. The same way reality shows have catacombs overflowing with 14-hour-a-day editing kiosks, social media can be used to crossfade or edit out our undesirable facets only to heighten and spotlight our glorious and nutrient rich accomplishments.
The Internet and especially new web culture have completely ushered in a new era of cultural reinterpretation and repurposing. A large part of the underground artistic movements that are occurring online are sourced from previously existing culture. The idea of sampling or remixing has become so commonplace for a net artist or a tech savvy Millennial, that sometimes no one stops to think if their reinterpretation is actually accomplishing something new. There are definitely positive and negative attributes to this vantage point of creating new cultural models based on the old culture, but is this movement really benefiting the culture as a whole, or is it simply regurgitating the old principles without expanding on them?
The rapper / singer / former Degrassi maven Drake recently made an interesting statement on his blog about his decidedly negative outlook on the culture perpetuated by Tumblr:
“I’m really scared for my generation, you know. The thing that scares me most is Tumblr. I hate what Tumblr has become. Because it like, it reminds me of those clique-y girls in high school that used to make fun of everyone and define what was cool, but in five years, when you all graduate, that shit doesn’t matter. No one gives a fuck about that shit. Instead of kids going out and making their own moments, they’re just taking these images and living vicariously through other people’s moments. It just kills me. Then you’ll meet them and they’re just the biggest turkey in the world. They don’t actually embody any of those things. They just emulate. It’s scary man, simulation life that we’re living. It scares me.”
Although Drake the musical artist has definitely had some backlash from the hip hop community for his Woody Allen-esque softly crooned testimonials, he definitely makes an astute point about the possible negative aspects that Tumblr culture creates. A massive part of Tumblr are the Notes and Reblogging features that allow someone to grab content for their Tumblr without having to actually create any of it on their own. It’s similar to someone curating an art show or a compilation where their keen eye is the only lens that creates the overall aesthetic of the package. When a compilation, a mix, or an art show is put together well it really highlights the astute focus and necessary editing that goes hand in hand with a competent curator. Within culture there’s a practical use for the curator, even with online culture, but what Drake mentions, and is definitely commonplace within some social media platforms, are the people who only create their brand through the culture and abstract identities of other brands and entities.
The Internet and especially new web culture creates an atmosphere where the physical origin of this media becomes extremely secondary, and it’s really easy to forget that almost everything that exists online comes from the real world. Besides of course CGI graphics created with computer programs or other forms of entirely computer created content, almost everything else existed in a physical version before it landed online. Every single old press photo of embarrassingly dressed celebrities, magazine advertisements from the 70s, old TV show clips, Z-movies, ironic / un-ironic / post-ironicclothing; it all existed before the Internet and someone had to take the time and effort and their insightful aesthetic lens to actually archive or capture it to be preserved in the digital realm. Besides for user created content, a large amount of the clips on YouTube are from dusty rundown VHS bungalows or someone’s grandma’s attic ensconced treasure chest. It’s not that simply recycling this culture negatively impacts it, but it’s important to remember that the Internet is merely a point in its destination, but very often not the origin.
Another tangent on the concept of repurposing culture are the recent influx of massively popular capsule collections that have popped up at H&M, Target, and other mass retailers. A large portion of the interest for these collections is both the lower price point that allows the mass market to own a brand that might otherwise be out of their price range, and to also resurrect certain aesthetics and cultural motifs that otherwise would have slowly faded into obscurity. One of the most recent collaborations that’s set to go on sale this week is H&M teaming up with Versace. In a recent article on MTV.com both Nicki Minaj, Big Sean (a rapper on fellow fashion provocateur Kanye West’sG.O.O.D. Music record label), and Donatella Versace discussed why right now was the perfect time for a capsule collection at H&M:
Donatella could clearly sense nostalgia was in bloom. “It’s a moment that I felt was the right moment,” she said of launching the mass collection. “It’s a lot of requests for Versace iconic pieces like printed shirts, and everybody is doing homage to Versace so I decided to give them the real thing to H&M, to the kids!” she smiled.
What’s different about this concept is the culture is being repurposed and relaunched by the same person (or at least related to) that originated it. As Nicki and Big Sean discuss in the article, there’s been a long standing love affair between the hip hop community and the Versace sense of gaudiness and absolutely outlandish ornate prints. The Notorious B.I.G, famously referenced the label in the J.U.N.I.O.R. Mafia song “Get Money“ with the lyrics “My Moschino ho, my Versace hottie“ as well as him and P.Diddy garishly dancing around in matching Versace silk shirts in the video for the track “Hypnotize”.
P. Diddy and The Notorious B.I.G rocking Versace in their video for Hyptnotize
The real question though isn’t whether or not there’s an audience for this capsule collection, but is it really beneficial to the brand, the aesthetic, and the Versace legacy? You can still find vintage Versace pieces on Ebay, Etsy, and other high end consignment shops, sometimes at a very similar price point to the new H&M collection, but is there some aspect of authenticity getting cleansed from history by reinterpreting your own landmark prints and aesthetic? There’s a facet of it that’s almost nice of Donatella to dramatically decrease the price points of their staple Italy via Miami via Guido Renaissance prints, but as we’ve seen with similar capsule collections from Missoni, Vera Wang, Stella McCartney, and couture hologram himself Mr. Lagerfeld, the original price points are tripled and sometimes quadrupled in the resell market on Ebay and other sites. Even though aesthetically the collection definitely maintains the original vision of the best Versace garments, doesn’t it make more sense to just buy an original vintage Versace piece instead of waiting all night in line to wail along with the throngs of agitated shoppers grabbing at racks of a derivative take on a classic fashion totem?
More then anything there’s positive and negative aspects to cultural reinterpretation and repurposing. A lot of it has to do with the intent and the overall contribution it’s making to the culture. Even if someone curates their Tumblr with content solely created by other people, it’s still possible that their astute lens will positively accomplish a new vantage point or way of considering culture that wasn’t previously articulated. It’s always important to remember that a large portion of Internet culture was harvested from physical artifacts, and someone somewhere had to put the effort and consideration in to archive and purposefully capture these items so they could live on in the digital cloud of perpetuity. It’s not bad to repurpose and reinterpret as long as it’s expanding the culture instead of diluting and diminishing its original impact.
For as long as rap music and hip hop culture have existed, its been known as one of the most hyper-masculine genres. A lot of hip hop culture is based on machismo and posturing to the point where hyperbole eventually becomes actualized. That’s why its interesting to see that rap culture and male culture to a certain extent has become more androgynous over the last few years. Not that it’s become an entirely effeminate day at the spa across the board, but here and there a tinge of a cultural upheaval has become a much more common occurrence.
What’s really interesting is that the very early aesthetic if not directly was at least partially inspired by gay culture. The very origins of some rap DJs and early rap records got tested out in New York City gay clubs before they had a chance to make it to the boombox, and on top of that many early rap songs were derived from disco hits. One of the earliest and most famous was The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” which was based on a few second breakbeat from the Chic track “Good Times”. Beyond the musical inspiration for rap origins the clothing was also appropriated or sampled at least partially from gay culture. If you look at very early hip hop clothing from the late 70s to early 80s it was tons of leather and spikes, and gauntlets and chains; it was almost an urban spin on the collective aesthetic between punk and gay leather clubs.
With hip hop culture being one of the most experimental genres of course the aesthetic eventually mutated into tons of different forms over the years and quickly progressed away from its origins to a more urban sportswear look that came in the 1980s and 1990s with Run DMC and their Adidas partnership, and tons of other highly sought after hip hop brands like Troop, Fila, Nike, Coogi, Puma, and countless others. Eventually this aesthetic changed again in the late 1990s to early 2000s and gigantic triple XL everything became the standard hip hop wardrobe.
It wasn’t until the late 2000s that the hip hop aesthetic made a return to a more fitted, and less comically oversized look. Around this same time androgyny within male culture overall became more of a culturally accepted aesthetic. The infamous metrosexual movement in the 2000s (as expertly satirized on South Park) made it okay for men to care more about their physical grooming and a feminine style without suffering the risk of mockery from their male counterparts. As this trend progressed in the mainstream it eventually made its way into hip hop culture.
Kanye West, who has received his own fair share of sexuality comments, was one of the first rappers who made it okay to be seen in the front row at a Galliano show accompanied by Taz Arnold in leopard print leggings (again immortalized on South Park on the classic Kanye gay fish episode) while at the same time maintaining at least some element of street cred within the music industry. Kanye was more of an isolated example at the time he first started immersing himself in the world of fashion, but eventually it became okay for hyper masculine rappers to reference these haute couture designers and still maintain a sense of bravado on their songs.
The last few years has really expanded on what Kanye quasi initiated and now androgyny in rap music has really come to the forefront of the hip hop cultural discussion. One of the main if not the most vocal advocates of this new culture is definitely Lil B. Even before he named his most recent album I’m Gay (I’m Happy), he was lacing his dada based raps with tons of almost gender neutral sentiments. Although Lil B says that he’s 100% straight, he constantly refers to himself as a pretty bitch, has repeatedly called himself a f****t and lesbian on tons of different tracks, and he constantly refers to his wardrobe as “tiny shirt tiny pants” which is a direct inversion of the initial bigger is better aesthetic. Because of his extremely out there album title Lil B has spoken on numerous occasions about the role of sexuality and androgyny in rap music and more then anything he refers to his perception of hip hop culture as all accepting genre with no judgment towards any minority group.
One of the most interesting aspects about this discussion is the sharp contrast between the experimental nature of rap music and its sometimes extremely strict rules of conduct. It’s something that’s completely modern in nature in that it’s the only genre that is entirely based on sampling other genres, but at the same time its aesthetic for the most part has strictly defined rules about what’s acceptable. Something like skinny jeans have really only been worn by men for a few years, and when sub-sects or small areas of the rap community began wearing them, there was a huge backlash in both interviews and songs from the more traditional rap artists. Even recently the rapper Danny Brown was in talks with 50 Cent to be signed to his label G-Unit and one aspect that made the deal fall though was that Danny Brown wears vintage rock t shirts and skinny jeans and has half of his head shaved with an almost wavy pompadour, and even though he’s one of the most talented underground rappers right now, his aesthetic was enough of an issue to sour the deal.
That’s what’s really interesting about the current rap climate and even how androgyny is perceived in different cultures across the board. There was an article in The New York Times recently about a trend among gay men in New York City that wear pumps and stilettos with their otherwise masculine outfits (which is also something that’s been a constant on The Real Housewives of Atlanta since Season 1). On the runway and with street fashion especially in Japan and Europe male leggings have become at least somewhat commonplace for more experimental aesthetics.
In tons of different cultural arenas male androgyny has started to make headway as a more accepted form of expression, and its interesting to see that even in the hyper masculine climate of hip hop culture there’s at least a tinge of that happening, even if the proponents are few and far between. Andre 3000 was wearing absolutely garish almost drag-esque costumes for years, and even the ultimate anti-hero “your rapper’s favorite rapper” Cam’ron was absolutely infatuated with the color pink for a year or so in the early 2000s, to the extent that he was constantly seen hopping out of his custom Laffy Taffy pink Range Rover in head to toe pink chinchilla that looked like a cotton candy factory imploded. Of course Camron and his Dipset cohorts also came up with the well known “No Homo” adlib, its still interesting that hip hop culture has evolved to the point where you can maintain a sense of hyper masculinity while still immersed in an almost Lisa Frank esque aesthetic. Hip Hop culture will probably always have a complicated relationship with androgyny but at least over the years its scope has expanded to start including more experimental aspects that truly hark back to its groundbreaking origins.
Way before MTV started showing videos around the clock in the early 1980s music was primarily an aural medium. There was always the visual element of magazines, posters, and sparse television programs, but for the most part unless you attended a concert the only visual element you had of your favorite band was their album cover and if you were lucky maybe a few page spread in Rolling Stone. MTV completely changed this concept and from there on the visual aspect became just as or even more important then what the music sounds like. In the new web era of unlimited bandwidth and non-stop visuals from YouTube, Tumblr, and every other media platform (twit pics I’m lookin’ at you buddy) music has become just as visual as movies or television. So much so that there’s been micro-genres sprouting up where the visual element is almost more concrete and substantial then an actual unified musical aesthetic.
The extremely recent Tumblr incubated micro-genre of Seapunk is definitely the best example of this concept. Witch House, the micro-famous / micro-infamous genre that had some critical fanfare in 2010 has a real definitive visual aesthetic that accompanies the sound, but the sound itself is also really specific and pretty easy to nail down. Seapunk honestly seems like the first musical sub-genre that’s invented for and by the Internet where the visual element is more concrete then the sound itself.
Seapunk is kind of an inside joke of a joke which isn’t too surprising considering it’s fiber optic origins. Web celebrity and all around digital hooligan Lil Internet said he came up with the term from a dream he had and from then on, as most Internet concepts seem to do, it became viral in a matter of months. Seapunk can be loosely described as the 90s early Internet cyberpunk culture filtered through a utopian glossy gif aesthetic of dolphins, yin yangs, CGI rendered dreamscapes, and everything aquamarine you could possibly cram into an animated gif. It’s kind of like if that Kevin Costner box office bomb Waterworld was shot on the Internet with a 4D camera and then turned into a elaborate Tumblr theme.
Actually the visual element is easier to describe then the musical aesthetic if that even seems possible. Part of that is due to the extremely short time span it’s been around for. Only a handful of artists are producing music under the Seapunk umbrella, and out of those there’s only been a handful of label releases besides for the abundance of web only Seapunk mixes, which is definitely a parallel to the witch house movement. The first official release was the Coral Records compilation Seapunk Volume 1. There’s definitely a similarity in the sound across the whole compilation, but more then anything it’s a genre where the visual element is a much more concrete tangible concept.
The sound on the compilation spans everything from old school jungle, rave, and breakbeats you might have found in London in 1995. There’s also some aspects of the lo-fi chillwave sound, but with an overall aquatic kind of shimmery vibe. If you sat down and listened to the whole compilation you could probably pick out 15 – 20 genre elements which are then rearranged and put back together in a familiar but decidedly off kilter fashion. As with so much other new web culture, Seapunk takes the last 20 or 30 years of electronic music history and even visuals and completely Cuisnarts them into an entirely new sound and visual aesthetic.
That’s one of the most interesting aspects of Seapunk which is definitely become a common theme for new web culture in general. It’s a musical genre that’s based more on the visual then actually how it sounds, which is something you can really only pull off on the Internet. It’s like when a new brand launches or an esteemed company releases a new product. Before you even use it or have a chance to buy it you’re introduced to it through the visual element; the type of the package, the logo, the actors in the commercial representative of the potential audience’s demographic. Before you actually make a purchase the visual element is the first thing that gets you to the store to even contemplate buying it.
That’s kind of what Seapunk has done. In the last few months there’s been so many Seapunk Tumblrs popping up, Seapunk photos where everyone’s hair is turquoise, Ecco the Dolphin screen captures, and enough yin yang animated gifs to fill an aquarium. Before you even have a chance to listen to the music you’re already so familiar with how the music looks that it changes and affects your perception of how the music sounds.
That’s one of the concepts the new web culture has accomplished that’s extremely hard to pull off in other mediums. It’s the visual abstraction of the genre that personifies the music, instead of people’s perception of it being defined by it how it sounds. It literally sounds like how it looks, but unless you’re online or familiar with new web culture, that concept is extremely confusing. That’s what the Internet has accomplished over time almost by accident. No matter what creative endeavor someone is working with, the Internet has the capability of merging all the preexisting mediums into an entirely new blurry amalgam that’s made from the parts of the old model but looks nothing like the history it was conceived from. Seapunk may be only the beginning of a cultural evolution where all of our senses could potentially be engaged in a medium instead of the conventional aspects we’re used to. In a few years people might be talking about how a new song tastes or smells instead of how it sounds, and considering what’s happening now, that really doesn’t seem too surprising.
Note: We want to credit the seapunk graphics and images to artist Kevin Heckart who is the main artist behind the Seapunk aesthetic. We’re sorry that we didn’t give credit earlier to Kevin Heckart for his artwork. Thanks.
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