Chicken Noodle Soup
I've been inside all weekend with a cold. I've been trying to apply the traditional methods of drinking fluids such as organge juice for vitamin C and drinking tea; I've also been eating chicken noodle soup.
Which brings me to the topic at hand: "Chicken Noodle Soup"
When I first saw this video I couldn't believe it. I didn't understand why I saw a bunch of kids dancing like some minstrel show. And this comes out of Harlem?? I really need to move back home before the Harlem that I grew up with is gone.
In all fairness, DJ Webstar just picked up on what kids were already doing, it's not like he made it up himself. Furthermore the general idea behind the song and video is that people should dance and have fun and enjoy themselves. At least that's what I got from reading his interview on NobodySmiling.com. Granted, the kids who came up with this dance in all probability had no conscious knowledge of minstrelsy or even all the stuff that we've gone through in this country as Black people, so in no way is the Chicken Noodle Soup supposed to mimic minstrelsy. However, just because there is no intentional connection between the dance today and the shucking and jivin' we all know and love doesn't mean that abdication of responsibility to memory of those who came before us and shed their blood for our future is valid.
It seems that mainstream/commercial hip hop today in general is becoming a minstrel show, which is not some great epiphany. Little Brother put out The Minstrel Show in response to this unfortunate trend. Several years ago Spike Lee's Bamboozled also sought to address this issue. The most recent strike in the battle against modern day minstrelsy is Laffy Taffy Rots Your Teeth; you should really download this album if you haven't done so already (it's free). "Chicken Noodle Soup" just follows the mistrelsy trend (in my humble opinion).
Although the hook is catchy, the song gets annoying after you hear it a few times. New York hip hop will indeed make a comeback, but not by eating some chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side.
Which brings me to the topic at hand: "Chicken Noodle Soup"
When I first saw this video I couldn't believe it. I didn't understand why I saw a bunch of kids dancing like some minstrel show. And this comes out of Harlem?? I really need to move back home before the Harlem that I grew up with is gone.
In all fairness, DJ Webstar just picked up on what kids were already doing, it's not like he made it up himself. Furthermore the general idea behind the song and video is that people should dance and have fun and enjoy themselves. At least that's what I got from reading his interview on NobodySmiling.com. Granted, the kids who came up with this dance in all probability had no conscious knowledge of minstrelsy or even all the stuff that we've gone through in this country as Black people, so in no way is the Chicken Noodle Soup supposed to mimic minstrelsy. However, just because there is no intentional connection between the dance today and the shucking and jivin' we all know and love doesn't mean that abdication of responsibility to memory of those who came before us and shed their blood for our future is valid.
It seems that mainstream/commercial hip hop today in general is becoming a minstrel show, which is not some great epiphany. Little Brother put out The Minstrel Show in response to this unfortunate trend. Several years ago Spike Lee's Bamboozled also sought to address this issue. The most recent strike in the battle against modern day minstrelsy is Laffy Taffy Rots Your Teeth; you should really download this album if you haven't done so already (it's free). "Chicken Noodle Soup" just follows the mistrelsy trend (in my humble opinion).
Although the hook is catchy, the song gets annoying after you hear it a few times. New York hip hop will indeed make a comeback, but not by eating some chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side.
posted by Talib at 8:29 PM
1 Comments:
peace,
I work with a guy from Queens. I told him that song "set the race back 100 years", he looked at me like I was nuts.
I mentioned the minstrelsy, the other crazy songs that've come out that put us wayyy back- no dice. He swore up and down it was just a song.
This same Black man has two kids, has never married their mother, talks on his telephone all day with several different women all of whom talk loud enough for the entire office to hear, and just bought an SUV. I guess he can't see the ignorance for the stereotypes.
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