i called my cousin franklin to put him on to a new artist i'm feeling right now. granted, he's starting to blow up a bit, being featured on MTV, a song on Madden '09, and releasing a new album last week with Mos Def and the Roots. but still, i'm bumping K'naan's 2005's freshman album, The Dusty Foot Philosopher. i haven't even heard anything from the new album, and I'm kinda afraid you. his freshman album is laced with themes of finding strength in ones self and through one's God, criticizing the hip-hop industry for losing it's message, and making ends through whatever means possible (not to mention skillful delievery and flawless signifying).
i'm afraid the new album may not relfect such themes now that he has found relative success. moreover, the first album tends to reflect my personal journey right now. not that i'm struggling on the streets of Somolia or anything, but just being able to identify with it in terms of trying to figure our God's plan, identifying my goals, and trying to dodge technical rationality to achieve my means.
but those are the reasons I like him. I've been trying to put him down with everyone else because I just think he's a cool new artist, and I like to be up on things before they get big and overly popular. Yet, whien calling cousin Franklin about him, he accepted the invitation to give him a listen out of politeness and curiosity, but then told me about a book he was reading, which was directly linked to what i was doing in my own artist recommendation.
in a nutshell, the book he was reading, "Nation of Rebels", Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter discuss how counter culture became consumer culture. how the subculture dedicated to refusing cultural trends and popular fashion as now become popular in and of itself. it discusses how the capital marketplace has not only acknowledged this subculture, but has marketed to it, catered to it, and has now made it the consumer culture right under it's own nose. take, for example, Urban Outfitters. stores of this type sell gear, clothing, accessories, and arbitrary articles solely for the purposes of completing ones rebel attire. Apple, in and of itself, was initially a rebellion against the PC world, a refusal to conform to the corporate paradigm, a subscription to that which was against the grain. artist that were once underground and of faithful, massive following, were uprooted to the mainstream to capitalize on said fans and garner more through their "underground, mainstream image"(right, TV on the Radio, N.E.R.D, T.I., etc.)
don't get me wrong, for almost all of these artist, it's their dream to make it big anyway. the book is not criticizing the artists, or the stores, or the manufacturing company. it's criticizing us. all of us that have fallen victim to captalist marking to the counter culture of non-capitalism and non-conformity. it criticizes why we're so quick to pay extra to be so different, when it's really making us a part of the very culture we are trying so hard to differentiate from. the message wasn't to not be a part of it, but to think first, and really analyze if what you're doing is truly what you're trying to do. counter culture isn't buying a pair of torn jeans from Express, it's going to the thrift store and buying jeans someone else has worn out - sending the message to pop-culture that you refuse to pay out the ass for basic clothing.
yet, somewhere, that message became popular, so the Express jeans went on sale, and now everyone is a rebel. and if everyone is a rebel, no one is. (thanks Incredibles.)
this brings me to why I'm so adamant on plugging k'naan right now. because he's not in the mainstream (yet), I find some satisfaction in playing him in my car and my guests ask, "wow, who's that?" and i reply, "yeah, no one knows about this artist yet, he's good, here, listen to track 5..." because i'm a jerk. as much a jerk as anyone else. and nowadays, we all want to be a part of something that no one else is a part of, only to turn around and get everyone else to be a part of it.
think about it. that's all i'm saying.
ps. k'naan is the truth though. i'll check out the new album soon and let you know. peace.
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