12/25/2023 0 Comments Lil uzi xo tour life cover![]() I think it made me not very accepting of the trap sound/aesthetic at first." To be honest, that shit scared the f- out of me. Me and my sisters saw one of our cousins get shot right in front of the grocery store. "It was hella rough growing up in the streets. Though he grew up in North Memphis -"basically up the street from where Yo Gotti and Moneybagg Yo are from," Daz tells me - he went the opposite route of the city's contemporary trap rappers. Similar to Chance, whose musical narrative belies the oft-told gangland tales of Chicago's South Side, Daz is crafting a more nuanced memoir. Daz Rinko's six-song EP Black Boy Joy, released last Friday, bears little resemblance to the pimp-and-hustler prototypes and Tear Da Club Up Thugs that put his city on rap's map in the '90s. The same could be said about a 21-year-old from Memphis whose music is the total antithesis of his hometown's trademark gangsta walk. In the midst of so many black bodies meeting tragic ends at the hands of the state, the adoption of Kendrick Lamar's "We Gon' Be Alright" as the unofficial anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement became a brash statement of resistance.ĭaz Rinko's new Black Boy Joy EP is a different sound and sentiment coming from Memphis. But this generation is flipping that script. Just as bebop birthed the cool, in part, as a repudiation of Louis Armstrong's perma-smile, the performance of happiness by black artists has long been a taboo tantamount to selling out. Yet hidden behind the labored look of mean mugs and ice grills lies something deeper. But now it's like a lot of black people have a pride in being who they are and understanding that is a part of the black experience." "N- kinda ran with that in the '90s and that's why there were so many fabricated hood n. "Bigger than hip-hop, I think there's always been a quiet conversation and joke that, if you're not hard, if you're not from an impoverished neighborhood, if you're not certain constructs of a black stereotype, then you're not black," as Chance explains on What's Good. In a genre where the stereotypical cliché is easily converted to cachet, his unmasked enthusiasm strikes an oddly defiant pose. The movement definitely owes its rise, in part, to the praise-tinged optimism that fueled Chance's Coloring Book mixtape to crossover success. Carefree images of black men and boys have become so ubiquitous, flooding social media timelines, that the rapper may not recall tweeting the hashtag #BlackBoyJoy from his own account following his spirited appearance at the 2016 MTV VMAs more than a year ago. "I never heard of 'black boy joy' until this year," he said on a recent episode of the NPR podcast What's Good with Stretch & Bobbito. But in one year, it's become the new archetype.Įven its ambassador, Chance the Rapper, admits being confounded at how rapidly the viral trend caught fire. It wouldn't be worthy of celebration if the public expression of black masculine joy wasn't seen as such an anomaly. Of course, the absurdity behind #BlackBoyJoy, as the male-affirming counterpart to the #BlackGirlMagic movement, is the mere necessity of its existence. Never in the history of this country has the depiction of black men been more extreme or divisive: We're presidential. Prince Be was, in that moment, reduced to a humorous footnote in early-'90s hip-hop and hardcore continued to reign supreme.Ĭhance the Rapper, at last year's MTV VMAs, where his #BlackBoyJoy was quite palpable. The catalyst had come weeks earlier when Details magazine quoted Prince Be saying, "KRS-One wants to be a teacher, but a teacher of what?" But KRS's response, as the self-proclaimed purveyor of real hip-hop, was also viewed as a repudiation of P.M. Dawn concert at Manhattan's Sound Factory, KRS-One bumrushed the show and pushed Prince Be off the stage. ![]() Then, he met the wrath of the Blast Master.ĭuring a P.M. He sampled British new wave band Spandau Ballet, of all things, to become the first black rap act atop the Billboard 100 with "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss." He wore silky flowing garments and his dreads in an updo. He rhymed about unrequited love with a delicate lilt. Dawn lead represented a much softer strain. While Snoop and Dre were indoctrinating Middle America in the chronic fundamentals of a "G Thang," the P.M. The year was 1993 and Prince Be was everything rap was not supposed to be. "Introduce the melancholy / I've felt since last I saw you." - P.M. Lil Uzi Vert, caught surfing the crowd at Coachella last April, released his album Luv Is Rage 2 last week.Ĭhristopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella
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