There were two main reasons as to why the VMA's were a total shit show this year...and we'll pretend the other years don't count right now. I'm sure the first thing that comes to mind is Kanye West's twelve minute acceptance speech for the Video Vanguard award, but that's not one of the two reasons. The first reason starts with Rebel Wilson and her choice to make light of the police brutality in the United States currently. "I know a lot of people have problems with the police, but I really hate police strippers," she said, dressed in a police uniform, before taking it off to reveal a bodysuit reading "F**k Tha Stripper Police." To really add insult to injury, she performed that little bit before introducing the Best Hip-Hop Video.
Anyone with half a brain could understand that hip-hop and the most legendary rappers use hip-hop specifically to speak out against injustice within and against the black community, so props to both the writers and the poor excuse of a comedian that is Rebel Wilson; for making a completely distasteful and dismissive joke before giving out an award that has to do with a genre that has helped draw attention to the plights experienced by people of color. There's millions of things that are funny or that you could choose to make light of, so why would you choose the most prominent issue where people are consistently dying because this problem exists. It really goes to show the state of things, where the deaths of unarmed people is fodder for terrible writers at MTV, but it is MTV so what can we really expect from them?
Now, onto the next one...obviously this is in reference to Nicki Minaj calling out Miley Cyrus for her previous remarks about Nicki. In an interview with the New York Times, Cyrus was asked for her thoughts on the Minaj-Swift feud from weeks ago.
"I didn't follow it. You know what I always say? Not that this is jealousy, but jealousy does the opposite of what you want it to -- that's a yoga mantra. People forget that the choices that they make and how they treat people in life affect you in a really big way. If you do things with an open heart and you come at things with love, you would be heard and I would respect your statement. But I don't respect your statement because of the anger that came with it. And it's not anger like, "Guys, I'm frustrated about some things that are a bigger issue." You made it about you. Not to sound like a bitch, but that's like, "Eh, I didn't get my V.M.A.""
Instead of addressing Minaj's message, which was strictly about the barriers that black women face in the music industry, Cyrus focused on how it was said. By doing that, Cyrus displayed the same white feminism Swift did, and dismissed the long history of black women being told to bury their justified anger, to calm down and express their fury at systemic inequities in a "polite" manner.
Don't for one second think that Taylor Swift is an activist for women, Swift and Cyrus will parade as activists for all women, while simultaneously promoting their white feminism by refusing to acknowledge the plights women of other ethnicities and social classes continue to face to this day. We live in a society that will paint Nicki as a villain for calling someone out on their bullshit comments, but will treat Cyrus like a victim for a situation she chose to put herself in.
What people will also fail to discuss is the ridiculous amount of appropriation Cyrus participates in on a regular basis. Even at the VMA's, Cyrus wore fake dreads and I will bet money she did not take into account the meaning and origin of dreadlocks. Dreadlocks have an origin dating back to ancient Egypt and the Horn of Africa. In Rastafarian culture, dreadlocks have a deep and profound significance, the locks represent a lion's mane and Yeshua (Jesus) in his Kingly character.
So Cyrus throwing on a wig and dedicating her latest single (performed at the VMA's) to smoking weed, is just a blatant disrespect for every aspect of the culture she is trying so desperately to appropriate and become a part of. It's 2015 and there are actual social justice movements being created and pushed, so anyone with half a brain in their head does not have time to deal with Cyrus and her bullshit brand of activism while she disrespects another culture as a whole.
Devon Pyne for RAPstation.com
RAPstation Thought Box: Two Reasons Why The VMAs Were A Sh!t Show
There were two main reasons as to why the VMA's were a total shit show this year...and we'll pretend the other years don't count right now. I'm sure the first thing that comes to mind is Kanye West's twelve minute acceptance speech for the Video Vanguard award, but that's not one of the two reasons. The first reason starts with Rebel Wilson and her choice to make light of the police brutality in the United States currently. "I know a lot of people have problems with the police, but I really hate police strippers," she said, dressed in a police uniform, before taking it off to reveal a bodysuit reading "F**k Tha Stripper Police." To really add insult to injury, she performed that little bit before introducing the Best Hip-Hop Video.
Anyone with half a brain could understand that hip-hop and the most legendary rappers use hip-hop specifically to speak out against injustice within and against the black community, so props to both the writers and the poor excuse of a comedian that is Rebel Wilson; for making a completely distasteful and dismissive joke before giving out an award that has to do with a genre that has helped draw attention to the plights experienced by people of color. There's millions of things that are funny or that you could choose to make light of, so why would you choose the most prominent issue where people are consistently dying because this problem exists. It really goes to show the state of things, where the deaths of unarmed people is fodder for terrible writers at MTV, but it is MTV so what can we really expect from them?
Now, onto the next one...obviously this is in reference to Nicki Minaj calling out Miley Cyrus for her previous remarks about Nicki. In an interview with the New York Times, Cyrus was asked for her thoughts on the Minaj-Swift feud from weeks ago.
"I didn't follow it. You know what I always say? Not that this is jealousy, but jealousy does the opposite of what you want it to -- that's a yoga mantra. People forget that the choices that they make and how they treat people in life affect you in a really big way. If you do things with an open heart and you come at things with love, you would be heard and I would respect your statement. But I don't respect your statement because of the anger that came with it. And it's not anger like, "Guys, I'm frustrated about some things that are a bigger issue." You made it about you. Not to sound like a bitch, but that's like, "Eh, I didn't get my V.M.A.""
Instead of addressing Minaj's message, which was strictly about the barriers that black women face in the music industry, Cyrus focused on how it was said. By doing that, Cyrus displayed the same white feminism Swift did, and dismissed the long history of black women being told to bury their justified anger, to calm down and express their fury at systemic inequities in a "polite" manner.
Don't for one second think that Taylor Swift is an activist for women, Swift and Cyrus will parade as activists for all women, while simultaneously promoting their white feminism by refusing to acknowledge the plights women of other ethnicities and social classes continue to face to this day. We live in a society that will paint Nicki as a villain for calling someone out on their bullshit comments, but will treat Cyrus like a victim for a situation she chose to put herself in.
What people will also fail to discuss is the ridiculous amount of appropriation Cyrus participates in on a regular basis. Even at the VMA's, Cyrus wore fake dreads and I will bet money she did not take into account the meaning and origin of dreadlocks. Dreadlocks have an origin dating back to ancient Egypt and the Horn of Africa. In Rastafarian culture, dreadlocks have a deep and profound significance, the locks represent a lion's mane and Yeshua (Jesus) in his Kingly character.
So Cyrus throwing on a wig and dedicating her latest single (performed at the VMA's) to smoking weed, is just a blatant disrespect for every aspect of the culture she is trying so desperately to appropriate and become a part of. It's 2015 and there are actual social justice movements being created and pushed, so anyone with half a brain in their head does not have time to deal with Cyrus and her bullshit brand of activism while she disrespects another culture as a whole.
Devon Pyne for RAPstation.com
