Shop Boyz “Party Like a Rock Star”: mocking metal? or celebrating it?
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
What do you think of this video?
Oh Word sees it as payback for all the years of white people making fun of hip hop:
imagine my joy when I saw a bunch of perfectly ignant crunk kids accidentally pissing on the whole concept of mainstream punk-metal. By being just as clueless and careless as the average comedy writer or rock band dealing in rap signifiers (SAT word alert) they’ve turned the tables on a 25 years worth of bad jokes by white people. Or to put it simply, Fred Durst and his ilk had no clue about rap and now it’s payback time. Half the K-rok crowd will laugh with it and half will be pissed but at least the playing field will be a little more even next time someone wants to pull out a whiteboy-goes-ghetto joke.
Or is this a sincere homage to metal? As Latoya recently pointed out, “a modified rock-punk look” is becoming popular among black and Latino kids. Is this just a natural extension of that?
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
rafi wrote:
I think this is may be a false binary.
To love metal is to embrace its ridiculousness. That’s true of rap music as well.
Over at Oh Word we love hip-hop so much that we mock it relentlessly.
Also the rap crowd has a history of simultaneously celebrating, laughing at and comparing itself to the rocker set. This goes back to playing new wave / punk rock clubs in the early 80s, Run DMC appropriating Aersosmith, Beasties spoof video for No Sleep Til Brooklyn, the Bomb Squad’s hard-rocking tracks, etc.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 9:01 am ¶
Wendi Muse wrote:
i read some of the comments on the youtube.com page for the video and noticed that (besides the racist messages some people decided to post with regard to the video and the race of the people performing in it) one of the youtube members noted that black people created rock and roll, inciting a mini debate about which race of people happened to be the originators of the music and subsequent lifestyle being parodied in the video.
some people feel that co-opting rock style or having an interest in the music is simply a re-claiming of an art form that they would consider their domain to begin with. . . obviously not everyone knows about the evolution of rock music from black southern folk/blues to a predominately white art form, but it’s interesting coincidence that black americans (via fashion and music-ahem, lupe fiasco, jay-z, and pharell) are embracing rock more and more…
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 9:27 am ¶
Jennifer wrote:
“perfectly ignant crunk kids accidentally pissing on the whole concept of mainstream punk-metal.”
I find it patronizing that Oh Word assumes that this band were “clueless and careless” in their parody. I know nothing about the band or the song’s genesis, so that may be true, but that statement is pretty condescending (and implicitly racist?).
I’m also fascinated by rafi’s idea that embracing rap or metal’s ridiculousness is part of the experience of loving it.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 10:10 am ¶
gandalf mantooth wrote:
Excuse me, has no one ever heard of Hendrix, Fishbone, Living Color, TV on the (d*mn) Radio for f***s sake? Y’all get to Netflix and rent a copy of the Afropunk documentary. Sheesh.
Whether or not you believe Black folks “invented” rock music, and thus have cultural ownership of it (and so cannot be called on appropriating it*), over time Black people have considered rock to be “White people”s music” by and large.
As to this song, I’m guessing — and I don’t think it’s a stretch — they came up with the concept after hearing the beat with the guitar samples. I don’t know if I’d call it a parody, though the rock fingers fireball at the end would be bloody genius were it an intentional parody. I mean that’s Spinal Tap level stuff.
Jennifer, Go read Rafi’s stuff @ Oh Word and come back and see if you feel the same way.
*racial essentialism with regards to music is a bogus concept.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 10:48 am ¶
nadia wrote:
while there was always black involvement in punk and hard music (bad brains, for example), it does seem to be ’safe’ enough now to put it on mtv. i’m close with someone who was interviewed in the afropunk documentary, and he’s talked before about the alienation he felt from black people for being “into white people stuff” and also, obviously, from the predominately white punk/hardcore community. it bothers him that the same kids who ostracized him because he was “into white people stuff” are now embracing this “afropunk” identity, which in it’s recent manifestations has little to do with punk, because now it is mainstream, safe, and sanctioned by corporate media outlets (gym class heroes). people who have never had anything whatsoever to do with punk culture are now totally into claiming afropunk identity–possibly as a reaction to narrow definitions of blackness? i know i felt validated when i learned about the recent muslim punk movement, because it always seemed like there was so little room for me to be myself. i’m interested in what other’s think about this.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 12:11 pm ¶
dnA wrote:
Don’t forget the Bad Brains and Black Jack Johnson.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 1:51 pm ¶
summer wrote:
This purely from an observational viewpoint and devoid of critical analysis, but until this post I never thought of the song as either mocking or celebrating metal. Every now and then genres cross over (Nelly and Tim McGraw’s song; Jay-Z and Linkin Park; Janet’s “Black Cat”). It’s just a refreshing change to the ear.
I like the song. It’s different. Nice to hear someone step out of the box. As for the kids, two 14-yr olds I know LOVE it. One is a black boy who loves hip hop and rock, rides skateboards and wears his pants “skater-punk not thug” saggy. (his words)
As for the parodying and air guitaring in the video, who knows if that was the original intent of the song, or just the direction the director wanted to take it in.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 2:09 pm ¶
deb wrote:
What rafi said.
Remember hippy-trippy PM Dawn’s “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss,” or Lupe Fiasco’s skate-rap hit “Kick, Push?” I mean, rap is always trying to push the envelope. So basically, that Shop Boyz video doesn’t faze me much.
Now, I still don’t know what to make of that Trace Adkins country-Hip-hop(?) song “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.”
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 2:25 pm ¶
Vee wrote:
How do I feel about the video?
I like it. It is entertaining. I don’t think it is an intentionally mean parody, nor offensive.
Looks like some young kids having fun. I really doubt anyone looking at the video would get upset. Note, I really don’t feel anything or get upset when I see picture of white college students dressing ‘gangsta’ for those special parties. I think they look as funny as a number of rappers. Just my view.
Uhmm, Black people were listening to rock back in the 90’s, 80’s and 70’s. I would never enter an argument about the origins of rock because I don’t think it can be disputed. Does any race own a genre? I can’t enter that fray because I would rather kick back and enjoy the music.
Everybody makes fun of hip-hop even rappers like De-La Soul. I don’t really think these guys are making fun of the rock lifestyle-if there ever was one rock life style. I really do think they are simply having fun, which is what I like about the video.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 2:40 pm ¶
dnA wrote:
When me and my best friend were skaters in high school, we got harassed everywhere we went. It was almost always the same jokes, like “AAAAA, THIS NI@@A GOT A SKATEBOARD! WHERE YOU ROLLIN TO??” I can remember skating through the hood and having ten year olds point trigger fingers at me.
Who’d have thought that years later, skating would be Hip-hop. Thanks Lupe.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 3:48 pm ¶
Riddler wrote:
Not a mockery. Has anyone listened to the lyrics? (In all seriousness, I know that can be challenging for non-rap fans.)
He says: “party like a rockstar
do it wit da black and da white
like a cop car.”
If anything, the song (and the video) are about crossing gaps, not mockery.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 3:57 pm ¶
ZENTRAEDI wrote:
First of all, the Shop Boyz had a recent interview in SOHH.com on June 1st. Here’s a quote : “We’re not using nothing. We’re just promoting to live free, to party. If you look at their [rock stars'] parties, the way they live, the way they move, it’s almost like they don’t care about what whoever feel,” Sheed told SOHH. “We feel like that, but we’re not trying to be exactly like them, we just like their lifestyle…like a religion almost. It’s a lifestyle. We make a different kind of music, we don’t believe in a lot of things they believe in, but we do believe in one thing, that’s that partying. And we’re bringing that.”
“We’re not saying that we’re rock stars. We’re not saying that we know anything,” Fat explained. “People look at the word rock star and say, ‘ok, they’re trying to be rock stars.’ The key word is ‘like,’ party like a rock star.” If you actually read the interview it’s very clear that these guys are typical vapid Atlanta rappers who just make the kind of novel, disposable club music that keeps the majority happy and dancing, and makes the minority fringe “real hip-hop” backpacker types pull their hair out.
This is not a homage to metal. This is not re-claiming an art form. This is not embracing afro-punk. This is a homage to smoking weed, snorting coke, drinking, cars, jewelry, blowjobs, pussy and fighting off envious males. This is a world that consists of going out on Friday and Saturday to a hot, packed nightclub with your entourage of weed-carriers, walking past the tribe of jealous Dalits all crowded together in the dance floor as you make your way to the VIP room so you can do your dirt in peace and wreck the place for a few thousand dollars.
Think I’m stereotyping these guys? I’m becoming increasingly convinced that most non-ghetto consumers of rap and cultural critics don’t actually understand the lyrics, the dialect of the rappers in question, but can only make out the hook and a few words here and there.
Last Verse
Bitches wanna marry me
They see me they just might panic
My ice make em go down quick
Like the TITANIC!!
Translation: When girls see my expensive platinum and diamond encrusted jewelry(proof of my high status and resources) this activates neural circuits in her brain which secrete Dopamine and Norepinephrine, thus leading to her excitement and lust for me. In a display of affection, she then proceeds to deep throat my hog.
Carmen made a reference to Latoya’s statement about urban fashion: “I was shocked to see one of my hood relations come to the house looking like me in my high school days – shocking day glo hair, ripped bell bottom jeans with lacy overlay, tiny baby tee, belt with a skull and crossbones. Checking out the fashion of young teens in the more impoverished areas, it looks like hip-hop style is so yesterday.”
Okay, you cannot take a sample size of..1 and make such a huge extrapolation. That style of tight fitting clothes, skulls, chains and shite is from Dipset, and only a small subculture in the northeast trying to be uber-cool dresses like that. If you’re a black or hispanic guy and walk in any ghetto of this country with tight pants on and a chain hanging out of your pocket with a tight skull t-shirt you are going to get clowned and called gay. Straight up. There is no ghetto interest in rock history or culture, from the Bronx to Anacostia in DC to the 5th Ward in Houston. Only tiny groups, and they know enough to hide it, hang in packs or move. You can only get away with that in the suburbs or good neighborhoods.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 4:38 pm ¶
summer wrote:
Uhm, ZENTRAEDI, just broke it down so “it will forever and consistently be broke!”
(one of my fave love jones quotes)
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 5:00 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Zentraedi –
One person was referenced, but that is my personal experience with it. I live in the burbs and work in DC – I know what I see. And if the majority of hood fashion places like Last Stop, Dynamics, Melinda’s house of fashion (though I think they may be out of it), plus stores that have cheaper clothes have skulls, crossbones, and other such accessories on display it is officially a trend – the same way you can buy bamboo earrings at H & M.
Besides – Carmen’s in NY. If she noticed it too, something is up.
I’m not sure where you got the tight jeans/tight shirt thing from. I didn’t say the kids I saw looked like the cast from Wassup Rockers. (besides, isn’t that a bit more of an emo (tight pants)/Abercrombie (tight shirts) kind of thing? Guys are still on sneakers, bright shirts, white tees. The more bold have the bigger belt buckles and such.
The girls have appropriated more of the rock look in their day-to-day wear – but that’s kind of how it i with most fashion trends.
Also, note – I stated in the original comment that music tastes HAVEN’T shifted.
I don’t see much of a Cam’ron (aka Mr. Pink) influence around here, but I don’t pay much attention to Dipset.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 8:14 pm ¶
Mina wrote:
“I’m becoming increasingly convinced that most non-ghetto consumers of rap and cultural critics don’t actually understand the lyrics, the dialect of the rappers in question, but can only make out the hook and a few words here and there.”
That so applies to me.
I mean, the “Party Like a Rock Star” video reminded me of the “Nadtai Tsug Bayas” video by Lumino – here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XqR740BzO8
I like the hook, but I have absolutely no idea what Lumino’s saying. I couldn’t even find the lyrics online.
I did get the lyrics to “Le Rage” by Keny Arkana, but that’s only because I found a version of the video with subtitles here:
http://www.last.fm/group/Revolution+Music/forum/15085/_/34642/2
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 9:54 pm ¶
deb wrote:
On the flip side, I can’t help but think about that video/song by The Offspring “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”. When it first came out, it seemed like it was promoting white pride. I don’t know, maybe I was overthinking the thing.
I mean, there’s “the white guy” who, with his “lily white ass,” wants to be cool, down, hip, black? a mack, etc. Basically, he’s a “wannabe” but he comes off like a baffoon because he’s trying to be something that he’s not. The message seems to scream: “Wigger, you are NOT cool! So you really need to leave the jungle music, low riders, b-boy posturing, gang mentality and all that other low-life crap to those people because they get it.”
Or again, maybe I’m overthinking it.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 11:02 pm ¶
Karen wrote:
No, I don’t think it is either. It is just another of the 2,532 ways of saying the same thing(that every other song says).
Let’s party…
Posted 09 Jun 2007 at 11:01 am ¶
Karen wrote:
The song isn’t really saying anything about Rock music. The video is probably like that to fit the hook.
Posted 09 Jun 2007 at 11:02 am ¶
accooke wrote:
I think Zentraedi’s comment doesn’t really get to the heart of the matter, sorry. No matter what the “real” sentiments or artistic purpose Shop Boyz intended, once it (or any work of art) moves into the public sphere, it becomes “cultural property,” meaning that the audience “puts the finishing touches” on a work of art. It belongs to the culture now, and so can’t be interpreted in any one way, regardless of lyrics, directors, or critical reviews–the proof of this is the ongoing discussion about an openly sexist, transparent (although funny ) song.
Doesn’t anyone remember when Paul Stanley from KISS made the statement that n*****s shouldn’t play rock and roll? That they should stick to their own? This was when Living Colour had come out, and formed the Black Rock Coalition. So the scene where the Shop Boyz are painted up like KISS, in this new context, takes on a variety of meanings now: it could be “vapid” and just for show, or it could be a satire of the exclusionist/racist/sexist rock world (and it still is, by the way), it could be a direct reference to Paul Stanley…get me? It could even be a sign of solidarity with BRC…or maybe a statement that the rock lifestyle is shallow–punk bands (when there was such a thing) used to use this tactic all the time. They’d appropriate a persona embodying everything they hated, and have that persona sing the lyrics. Check out “I want to be a cowboy” by the Vandals.
Who knows? there is a great symbolic statement in the suped up car blowing up, then becoming a giant hand (a symbol Ibelieve started with Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, and was appropriated by the metal culture…so even then, the “art” becomes something else when the culture participates in its creation.
By the way, all the comments up here really got me thinking. Thanks!
Posted 09 Jun 2007 at 12:40 pm ¶
Mina wrote:
“while there was always black involvement in punk and hard music (bad brains, for example), it does seem to be ’safe’ enough now to put it on mtv.”
Did anyone else here see Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” video when it was on MTV all the time? That’s one of my fond childhood memories (from back when I first got interested in popular music).
http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1536036&vid=9128
Posted 09 Jun 2007 at 6:41 pm ¶
Angela wrote:
But what about Fall Out Boy featuring a black gospel groupin the video and having Kanye West remix their song This Ain’t A Scene (It’s An Arms Race)? I’m always irritated when racists come out in arms over things like this (black people appropriating “white” culture), but the reverse gets no response.
As for the afropunk movement, I live in N. California and while I’ve yet to see black men wearing tight jeans, there has been an increase in young black men riding skateboards and young black girls rocking the emo-style (though, that could be because that is the only type of look cheap stores like Forever 21 and Citiwear are selling these days) and day-glo hair (though, Kelis rocked it when she first came out and Keyisha Cole has Kool-Aid colored hair).
Personally, as a black woman who has drifted away from the typical hip-hop scene over the past five years to indie rock and rock-infused r&b, the vitriol spewed by whites into the indie scene towards black people (at least from what I’ve seen online) makes me pause considering the fact that sub-cultures have traditionally been formed to counteract the main culture–so for members of sub-cultures to share the same hatred for blacks as the main culture, it seems to me that they’re just the main “culture” dressed up in different clothes.
Posted 10 Jun 2007 at 2:13 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Great points, Angela.
May I ask what rock-infused r & b you are listening to? I’ve been spinning Van Hunt and Van Hunt alone for way too long…
Posted 10 Jun 2007 at 4:50 pm ¶
Angela wrote:
Res, Kelis in her Neptunes days (Kaleidoscope & Wanderland), some Fefe Dobson. And I love Van Hunt–classic artist that was slept on!
Posted 10 Jun 2007 at 6:14 pm ¶
Blanky wrote:
I dislike both current metal and current hip-hop, but if it brings cultures together, cool.
Posted 11 Jun 2007 at 7:25 pm ¶
Yori Kim wrote:
I like the tune of this song, I don’t find it offensive–I think everybody should be able to enjoy whatever music they want to listen to because music isn’t originally about race, it’s about the music. And haven’t some people heard of Jimi hendrix? Lenny Kravitz? Living colour? It’s bizarre how some people think it’s new for black people to be involved with rock/punk music.
Posted 13 Jun 2007 at 11:40 am ¶
Drew Hinshaw wrote:
White people have been stealing Black peoples music and Black people have been stealing White peoples music since plantation owners gave their slaves a violin and said, ‘here, play me some that music you people love so dearly.’ To even call it stealing is to be priggish about it. Little, if anything any of us do can be considered inheritly African or European. U-S-A.
The difference is that, historically, Blacks have pushed for musical forms where cross-racial borrowing was more permissible — like the Blues — while White musicians, traditionally, have tried to reinforce racial differences — like in Minstrelsy. White people couldn’t just play the blues, they had to step outside of themselves to do that.
This is true even until today: think of all the self-induced angst Eminem went through to be a earnest white rapper. All the guilt, themes of criminality: “How the fuck can I be White, I don’t even exist?” Eminem had to step outside of himself to rap. Meanwhile, Jay-Z can endorse Budweiser and still be Jay. Or Afrika Bambaata can sample the Beatles, Led Zeplin, Grateful Dead, whatever, and still be 100 percent hip-hop.
Moreover, Black people who turn white are rarely so subject to ridicule in the mainstream media as White people — how many Jamie Kennedy-type, “Steve Martin Bringing Down The House” kinda movies can you name? Sidney Poitier can come to dinner, but its somehow against the laws of Limp Bizkit can’t talk Black: “that’s like hearing a cat bark,” said Carlos Mencia. Never mind that even George Bush’s Texan accent owes its regional pecularities to the Africans who were brought there. Somehow, Blackness is something you adopt in jest, not earnestly. So this song is just making “White” a stylistic preference name the way “Black” is often confused for one.
Or as Toni Morrison wrote, “It is our ability to forgive which constantly confuses those who think they can sag their pants or braid their hair and know something about the splendor of being who we are.”
The way this song stigmitizes Whiteness may be obvious. But its all within bounds, and its hella funny. Totally, dude.
Posted 17 Jun 2007 at 5:14 pm ¶
DAF wrote:
In an interview last night, Gene Simmons (of KISS) said it himself- Rap stars are the new Rock Stars. Rock stars used to be the ones living in excess- but now they seem to be bent on being ‘just like the fans’. Rap stars, however, have taken the excess and run with it- and been very successful.
Besides, KISS and rap go way back…”Funky Cold Medina” samples “Christine Sixteen” by KISS; Rev Run’s “The Way” samples “God of Thunder” by KISS; Gene Simmons video for “Firestarter” is nothing but a Rap video with a 56 year old white guy…so it would not be surprising if KISS endorsed this appearance.
Posted 28 Jun 2007 at 12:59 pm ¶
juz-chillin wrote:
I don’t think the song is racist or is a parody of the rock version, and I love it. It’s all about makin’ money and livin’ the life. But just a little “screet” knowledge for Riddler to correct his post:
#
Riddler wrote:
Not a mockery. Has anyone listened to the lyrics? (In all seriousness, I know that can be challenging for non-rap fans.)
He says: “party like a rockstar
do it wit da black and da white
like a cop car.”
If anything, the song (and the video) are about crossing gaps, not mockery.
Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 3:57 pm ¶
You ain’t got a clue what you are talkin’ about. They are talkin’ about runnin’ dope in the white and black caprices that look like investigator cop cars. Why the hell do you think he even said cop car if he was trying to make a bridge gaps between cultures. They are just stackin’ cash, not hatin’ on any race or genre of music.
Posted 01 Jul 2007 at 9:19 pm ¶