Music for a Monday: A New Era in Rap Semiotics

Fresh and clean--a new hope for America.

There is a new, well-intentioned Coca-Cola ad about black history which you may have seen at the movie theater or on television, as recently as last night during the Super Bowl. It looks like this:


The first time I saw this with my mans an' 'em, we laughed because it cuts off at 1963. Now, of course, I understand why--it's a poignant homage to Dr. King; the commercial is built on a foundation of inspirational acts carried out by seminal black figures; and you obviously can't get the entirety of black history into a 30-second commercial, so why not focus on some good stuff? I get that. And I also understand that Coke would like to make the points that it acknowledges black history, is proud of the contributions that black people have made, and has been around forever, its bottles changing with the times.

We laughed, though, because 1963 is more than 40 years ago, and a lot has happened since then. Cynical and race conscious, we laughed because it doesn't acknowledge the Civil Rights Act; because it doesn't acknowledge so many milestones, like the election of our first black U.S. Senators; because it seems to play into the fallacy that racism sort of stopped in the 1960s once people thought about it a little and formally (though not practically) eradicated the legacy of the Jim Crow system. It's not a bad commercial, it's just a little hollow.

It's also a reminder that racism, and all forms of bigotry, are alive and well in America. Even among people who might consciously tell you that they reject discrimination and don't adhere to an ideology of intolerance. You needn't look any further than what Joe Biden said about Barack Obama last week for proof. I don't think that Biden hates all black people, but it's also obvious, given his recent statement and other comments he's made, that the man has been socialized to believe in certain demeaning, stereotypical ideas. That he said something about Obama being "articulate" was especially bad given the word's connotations in a racial context. (Though, I also lament that we can no longer call a black person "articulate" if the characterization is apt. I use it as a compliment about whites all the time given that so many people--friends black and white, Digger Phelps, Beyonce--don't enunciate.)

I have to say that his use of the word "clean" was just amusing, partly because it's such an audacious and ridiculous insult and partly because it calls to mind Sleepy Brown. As I discussed with a friend over the weekend, had Biden called Obama "so fresh and so clean"--something which he sort of meant since he claims he was trying to compliment Obama for the newness, or freshness, of his ideas and the attractiveness of his optimistic rhetoric--he might have been able to launch a hip-hop campaign for the presidency, declaring Brown his running mate and embarking upon a Bulworth-like sequel of sorts.



Race, of course, is never far off in hip-hop. Whether it's an explicitly race-conscious verse or the self-conscious narratives constructed by our favorite black MCs that we then apply to lifestyles that we know, envision, or conjure, race is an inextricable part of hip-hop. But, sadly, so too is ignorance. No community is as intolerant of homosexuality; the rampant misogyny of much rap music has been thoroughly dissected; the common embrace and espousal of violence is unsettling; and so forth. A fan of everything from Black on Both Sides to "Pop That Coochie," I am not attempting to author some declaration that all hip-hop must contain uplifting messages and morally agreeable ideas. Not at all. I mean, for better or worse, the real version of 2Pac and Jodeci's "How Do U Want It" video remains among my favorites. But there's also nothing wrong with getting serious for a moment to call foul when it's appropriate.

Racism and prejudice are never far off, either. Many rappers traffic in stereotypes, and among this bigotry, antisemitism--or, to be more generous, stereotypes about Jews--remains common, among both rappers we revere (Nas) and those we don't (Jim Jones--at least, not lyrically).

It seems fair to say that no rappers in recent times have done more to circulate commonly held misperceptions about Jews than the Dip Set, with Jim Jones being particularly noteworthy. If you listen to enough of Jimmy's music, you begin to think that he likely grew up convinced of an underlying veracity behind the traditional stereotypes that have allowed many to cast Jews as doctors and lawyers who sit around, Stonecutters-like, controlling the money, banks, and Hollywood. Jones has dropped jewels of ignorance:

- From "Bright Lights, Big City" - "Getting locked up for crimes and ya lawyer's ain't Jewish! (STUUUUPID!)/That's why I keep the attorneys on retainer"

- From "Baby Girl" - "Jewish lawyers, n***as, so I gotta beat the charges"

A "Jewish lawyer" has become a fixation for Jones, and when he invokes the idea in his rhymes, it appears as though he means for it to carry the demeaning regard fueled by myths. He wants a Jewish lawyer because the lawyer must be successful and must be plugged into a ruling clandestine cabal. The healthy proliferation of successful and prominent Jewish lawyers has done little to dissuade Jones, of course, but the ideas are nonetheless silly in how seriously they're presented. In fact, I wouldn't really be surprised to throw on the next Jim Jones LP and hear him peddling some conspiracy theory about Jews running U.S. foreign policy and planning 9/11. He'd name-drop AIPAC because uptown at Dip Set headquarters, real-world information filters into the collective consciousness before taking its place among the other skewed facts and half-informed ideas.

"Jewish lawyer" and its connotations seemingly appeared in a new form last year when Cam, on his seminal (no joke) "Y'all Can't Live His Life," unveiled what I suppose was meant as a synonym:

"Think my life a joke?/I been indicted folks/Do I like it? Nope/I'm under a microscope/A paid lawyer, word to mother, it's nice to know"

A "paid lawyer" was the new term. Quite obviously, one might prefer a paid lawyer to one whom isn't because a paid lawyer is probably better at the job. It's sort of like the distinction that's drawn on The Wire when people like Marlo talk about a "pay lawyer"--not a public defender--akin to the man, Maury Levy, who handled the Barksdale Crew's legal issues. But given the group-think that runs rampant in the Diplomat universe and allows the Set to carry on each others' beefs, conform to a shared lifestyle, and remain on the same page while receiving facials, presiding over the midnight bike club, and appearing on The White Rapper Show, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to assume that Cam might have picked up the idea Jim loves spouting off about.

As with all things Dip Set, this Jewish-lawyer phenomenon is simultaneously disconcerting and, precisely because of how fully they buy into it, amusing. It's absurd, and while you worry that it might take root in the minds of those who don't know better, at a certain point, you also just have to chuckle at such unbridled and vainglorious ignorance. I don't condone it, but I also think it's funny in a Joe Biden "what did he say?" kind of way.

In 2007, no song has been as infectious and likable as Rich Boy's "Throw Some D's," even if it did come out in October 2006. This gets back to my earlier point: say what you will about its content, but the beat knocks and the swagger of the track is ridiculous. I walk around my office muttering "Throw some, throw some D's on that bitch." As you might have expected from a genre of music in which imitation is more often the path to success than innovation, "Throw Some D's" has spawned notable remixes--Kanye's hilarious "freestyle" re-working and an artist-endorsed re-up with Andre 3000, Murphy Lee, Game, Lil' Jon, and Jim Jones. Sure enough, Jones's verse contains what sounds like the latest addition to the hip-hop semiotics of Jewish myths: the kosher lawyer.

"And we go hard/Zone 4 d-boy squad/We don't need the bars/Kosher lawyer, baby, just to beat the charge"

Sadly, it's possible that Jones is saying "cautious" or something made up, like "kosherist." But given his demonstrable preoccupation with Jewish lawyers, it seems more likely that he has simply created a new term that not only fits in with everything--the idiocy, the absurdity--of his earlier creations, but has the added, um, flavor of also being a wild misappropriation of the dietary adjective "kosher."

Only the Dips, the only other rap collective (other than OutKast) that could ever hope to provide a soundtrack to the Biden/Brown ticket.

- Rich Boy ft. Andre 3000, Murphy Lee, Game, Lil' Jon, and Jim Jones, "Throw Some D's"

- Kanye West, "Throw Some D's"
P.S. This Kanye version sounds like October 2003 mixtape-era Kanye, doesn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if dude's had these rhymes lying around since before he got that Roc-a-fella shine.

P.P.S. There's also this: