Brown students enjoy many privileges, one of which is distance from the music typically played on mainstream radio stations.
This is not true for everyone, but I have managed to slide by for three years with almost no exposure to two of the most popular musical genres in the U.S. — rap and country.
I'll admit that I'm not a fan of either — the highest country threshold I can tolerate is Jenny Lewis — and I recognize the racial and socioeconomic factors that contribute to their status as common musical pet peeves. I also realize there is far, far more to them than meets the ear of someone listening to content-void Top 40 singles.
That said, after doing some surface research — that is, listening to Rhode Island public radio stations for a few months — I noticed some curious repeated tropes. And by curious, I mean easy to make fun of.
Rap and country predominantly depict two extremes of the American landscape — the inner city and the countryside.
But these genres are strikingly similar in their narcissistic glorification of their own demographics. After hearing Snoop Dogg use his own name in just about every number during last year's Spring Weekend performance, I was expecting this trend in rap, but not in country.
These parallel modes of self-referential adulation are evident in the catchy, but excessively played, "Black and Yellow" by Wiz Khalifa and "This is Country Music" by Brad Paisley.
Both address listeners directly to inform — or convince — those in hearing range that the song is about a way of life they can relate to.
"Yeah, uh huh, you know what it is / Black and yellow," Wiz Khalifa repeats. No, Wiz, I don't. Is that some kind of insect pattern? And if we all "know what it is," why are you telling us about it?
Wiz Khalifa is actually paying homage to his hometown. The obscure reference, which he nevertheless presents as universal knowledge, stems from the colors of Pittsburg professional sports teams.
Paisley similarly announces that "this is your life in a song," "a road that takes you home" and "right where you belong." If everyone who has heard that song belongs in the country, why doesn't it have a higher population density? Of course, the song is meaningful to many people, but the way he expresses this is like a popular kid in high school granting someone — and by no means everyone — access to his clique.
These two examples are particularly revealing in dialogue with each other. Rap paints a picture of a fairly new hedonistic gangster lifestyle, whereas country takes nostalgic listeners back to more innocent times and idyllic places.
"This is Country Music" sounds like a defensive response to rap and other genres considered cooler: "It ain't hip to sing about tractors, trucks, little towns and mama / Yeah, that might be true. / But this is country music and we do." Another hit country song, "Kiss My Country Ass" by Blake Shelton, is more direct: "If you're a down home, backwoods redneck, hey, come on, stand up and raise your glass. / But if you ain't down with my outlaw crowd, you can kiss my country ass."
"Black and Yellow" also demonstrates paranoid awareness of its opponents, contrasting the non-inclusive "you" with "them haters." It betrays a belief that where there's a proud "us," there's an equally in-your-face "them."
Don't get me wrong — mainstream country and rap music can be inspirational and fun to sing along to. The only thing that offends me is that, if these genres represent the urban and the rural, what is out there to glorify the day-to-day humdrum of suburbia?
