Promotion for Jay-Z’s forthcoming hip-hop album has begun, and some of Talk TV’s most hyperbolic infotainers have helped to build buzz by briefly responding to being mentioned (negatively) in one of his new songs.
In many ways, Limbaugh and O’Reilly didn’t actually respond at all (as you can see from the YouTube clips above). They simply note the fact that this hip-hop celebrity has “dissed” them. But the revelation is seemingly offered up to their respective viewing audiences without any angst or indignance. They simply laugh it off, even feigning pride about the fact that such a mention proves their own success (Limbaugh’s spin). O’Reilly just asks the audience to compare a clip from Jay-Z’s music to the work of Otis Redding, the distance between those two musical figures being supposedly laughable in its self-evidence.
I’m actually looking forward to Jay-Z’s next album, which is something like his third or fourth such musical offering since declaring retirement several years ago. As a native Brooklynite, I am partial to the stylings of S. Carter, and not just because he was raised in a housing project complex in that same New York borough that isn’t more than 20 minutes from Canarsie’s Bay Vew Houses, where I grew up.
Jay-Z’s new album, The Blueprint 3, is set for a September 11th release. In conjunction with the release, he is offering a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden on that same day. It will raise money for the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund. Kanye West and Rihanna are among the artists scheduled to take the stage with him that night.
September 11th is symbolically important for Jay-Z, but not just for the reason you think. His 2001 CD, The Blueprint, was released on the same fateful date that year. And while Americans were shocked and devastated by the collapse of the Twin Towers, his album was still shooting up to the top of the charts, a testiment to the singleminded rabidity of Jay-Z’s fans. Even as they hunkered down amidst the tragedies and uncertainties of that horrible day, they were lining up to purchase his music, a mix of “street knowledge,” masterful poetics and hyper-real storytelling.
Jay-Z is the reigning king of hop-hop, even in “retirement,” and he is such a towering figure in the sphere that he gets deployed by scholars and critics to explain, say, America’s contemporary global hegemony and its potential points of vulnerability, a dynamic unpacked by Marc Lynch in Foreign Policy earlier this summer. Lynch compares the tightrope walked by a 21st century global superpower to the difficult choices Jay-Z has to make when faced with the option of responding to pesky public attacks from less powerful hip-hop foes.
But what should Jay-Z do when his own attacks against the media punditocracy are ostensibly not even dignified with a full-throated response?
12 Responses to Jay-Z, O’Reilly, and Limbaugh, Oh My!
_perplexed_ - August 27, 2009 at 4:26 pm
sLimbaugh’s response was about as articulate as Jay-Z’s attack…
stinkcat - August 28, 2009 at 7:43 am
“But what should Jay-Z do when his own attacks against the media punditocracy are ostensibly not even dignified with a full-throated response?”Perhaps he should learn a little humility. After all, the world of Rush Limbaugh and most conservatives does not revolve around him.
rightwingprofessor - August 28, 2009 at 9:06 am
Why does this guy have a blog on the Chronicle website, and what the )(* does this have to do with higher education? Did Jay-Z graduate high school?
hoodlib - August 28, 2009 at 10:04 am
Thanks John for passing on the clips from the Comedian and the “moderate” (ha!) Billo. Unfortunately, they did not engage Jay-Z in a dialogue; but they seldom do with anyone. I appreciate your humor about Jay-Z since his retirement: success in music, philanthropy, and marriage to a beautiful and talented woman. I cannot wait for my retirement.
nlincolnhanks - August 28, 2009 at 10:44 am
Why is there a political blog on the Chronicle? I don’t understand how giving Mr. Jackson a soap box conforms with the mission of the periodical. It seeems very out of place to me in a professional journal.
dogood1776 - August 28, 2009 at 10:53 am
Do any of you actually believe that Jay-Z’s politics should be taken seriously by anyone? I was listening to the radio on the way to work yesterday and heard that Anjelina Jolie was considering entering into politics. Madonna angered her audience recently by espousing her ploitical views from the stage.But you know, when I think about it, these song-and-dance men (and women) have about the same amount of experience our current President had when he threw his hat into the ring a couple of years ago, so why not? Gosh, we have gone a long way down the tubes! As Chris Rea sang a few years ago, “This ain’t no technological breakdown; this is the road to Hell”
dogood1776 - August 28, 2009 at 10:59 am
Why should I care about Jay-Z? Who is he to me? Angelina Jolie says she wants to get into politics. Madonna gets booed off the stage overseas for espousing her political beliefs during a concert. Where on God’s green earth are we going as a society? These folks are just song-and-dance men and women. Nothing more.
greeneyeshade - August 28, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Slow news day….or is the Chron adding a comics page?
jms948 - August 28, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Hey, give Mr. Jackson here a break. I’ve only read a few sentences of this blog, but that was enough to convince me that this Jay-Z fellow is a man to be admired, respected, and quoted whenever possible. Way to go John–another job well done…jms–H.R.I.M.
minnesotan - August 28, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I don’t know why we should take someone seriously who takes Jay-Z seriously. Limbaugh and O’Reilly, as much as I think they’re wrongheaded in their politics, at least know that much.
marktropolis - August 31, 2009 at 11:03 am
Wow, an anthropologist writing about the social and political influences of one of the giants in a cultural genre. “Song and dance men”? Could you be any more dismissive of tjis particular art form? Granted, you may know nothing about hip hop, its history, its political and cultural underpinnings, but do you have to have a PhD for your voice to have any relevance? Let’s see here, anthropology is “the study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture.” And Jackson is commenting on a particular cultural event. Now there’s a stretch.If you don’t like what Jackson is writing, don’t read it. I’m sure if *you* had a blog, it would be filled with eloquent musings of an academic nature, above reproach, and purposefully unpolitical. Also, last I checked, this isn’t a “political” blog. It’s a blog. Written by an accomplished anthropologist (who may in fact have a PhD!). Does he talk about politics? Yes. He also talks about race, and music, and books, and…Maybe Jay-Z doesn’t have a graduate degree. But he is one of the most influencial cultural figures in the mix. An anthropologist talking about culture. Who’d have thunk it.
charliemarlow - September 2, 2009 at 10:08 am
Sarah Palin