Awright, I'm out of the Dizzee argument, since Simon says it's over (okee), and it's admittedly getting a bit ridiculous anyway, which we clearly all realize. Some of the latest posts are good, but they're also starting to sound like a) "My country is more diverse than yours!" and b) the retardo arguments I'd overhear (but, thankfully, never participate in) about "this is not punk rock!" "No, this is totally punk rock!"

Briefly, though, I would say to Luke (more on some of his older posts later, perhaps) that neither the beat nor the vox for "Get Ur Freak On" sound very hip-hop either. Sure, there's lotsa Jamaican influences in Diz etc., but there's lotsa Indian influences in that Missy track. Does that make it "not hip-hop"? And, to parallel Simon's question about Justin a while back (which, yar, Luke's not interested in): what's at stake in Dizzee not being hip-hop? I hear it and I hear hip-hop. That's all. Oh, and would he be receiving such mainstream acclaim if it wasn't hip-hop? (Or reducible by many people to hip-hop?) I would never claim to approach Dizzee from the perspective of someone who knows, well, anything about the history of jungle in the UK (I grew up in rural NY, kids), but neither would I ever claim to care, and I think my perspective is both valid and the one that most people will be approaching Diz from from now on, so probably worth considering.

And to Mark I would say that sure, Brooklyn ain't Idaho, but you wanna put Boise up against the Lake District and see which one comes out on top, punk? Yep, the US has more of a racial divide, but it also has a higher and more evenly-distributed minority population, so it's really been forced to deal with that issue more than the UK has. Maybe Harm wants to chip in here and challenge us all to quote some goddamn statistics, you blowhards? Yeah, probably should. But I'll say this: the US's racial politics, while hardly ideal, are definitely not what they're portrayed as in foreign correspondence.

Oh, and as for geocentrism, maybe I should make that anxiety-of-influence post, eh? Hmm...
posted by Mike B. at 12:10 PM 0 comments