Yeah, I guess my point is that the music of the 21st century Black proletariat itself is nihilistic. I’m not making a judgment on that whether that’s good or not politically, it just is what it is. I think often there is a refusal by critics to examines nihilism as a central animating force in every form of politics. Like 21 Savage says in his song Nothing New,
"Anger in my genes, they used to hang us up with ropes (21)
Civil rights came so they flood the hood with coke (Real)
Breakin' down my people, tryna kill our faith and hope (Hope)
They killed Martin Luther King and all he did was spoke (21)”
The lyrics of this song are nihilistic about a lack of hope for any type of Black liberation. Gone are the dreams of Civil Rights, Black nationalism or anti-colonial rebellion. The reality is that most Black leftists and critics refuse to engage with the fact that nihilism animates most political thought even among those on the Left or in modern Black liberation struggles. It’s why afro-pessimism is so popular these days amongst the Black left intelligensia. I think you can understand history and still be nihilistic. Trap as Jesse McCarthy writes about is in some ways the purest form of American nihilism which is part of why it has had crossover appeal in addition to the racist white consumption of Black murder music, but even that consumption is rooted in a racist nihilism. I hope this makes sense.
I could sense something was off about this film. The argument that the critical apparatus was destroyed by the same historical trauma the film attempts to treat, making the film's failure structural rather than personal, is the kind of insight that makes you put the essay down and stare at the wall for a minute.
Prince Kudu Ra doing lit criticism....now yall know yall in trouble. Absolutely, loved this piece.
PTA’s biggest mistake was pissing all over Thomas Pynchon’s novel and shitting on its timeline. As such, OBAA never gets in sync, feels like an inside joke, and no matter how great the cinematography or brilliant the performances … feels like a preachy little morality tale that is too precious for its own good. What’s worse is that is its goal. Whereas Kubrick’s film takes dead aim at its era, it doesn’t gaze at itself; it doesn’t preach or moralize; it saturates with deadpan observations; and, above all, it respects its audience. PTA overthinks, Kubrick’s matter-of-fact.
Yeah, I guess my point is that the music of the 21st century Black proletariat itself is nihilistic. I’m not making a judgment on that whether that’s good or not politically, it just is what it is. I think often there is a refusal by critics to examines nihilism as a central animating force in every form of politics. Like 21 Savage says in his song Nothing New,
"Anger in my genes, they used to hang us up with ropes (21)
Civil rights came so they flood the hood with coke (Real)
Breakin' down my people, tryna kill our faith and hope (Hope)
They killed Martin Luther King and all he did was spoke (21)”
The lyrics of this song are nihilistic about a lack of hope for any type of Black liberation. Gone are the dreams of Civil Rights, Black nationalism or anti-colonial rebellion. The reality is that most Black leftists and critics refuse to engage with the fact that nihilism animates most political thought even among those on the Left or in modern Black liberation struggles. It’s why afro-pessimism is so popular these days amongst the Black left intelligensia. I think you can understand history and still be nihilistic. Trap as Jesse McCarthy writes about is in some ways the purest form of American nihilism which is part of why it has had crossover appeal in addition to the racist white consumption of Black murder music, but even that consumption is rooted in a racist nihilism. I hope this makes sense.
I could sense something was off about this film. The argument that the critical apparatus was destroyed by the same historical trauma the film attempts to treat, making the film's failure structural rather than personal, is the kind of insight that makes you put the essay down and stare at the wall for a minute.
Prince Kudu Ra doing lit criticism....now yall know yall in trouble. Absolutely, loved this piece.
PTA’s biggest mistake was pissing all over Thomas Pynchon’s novel and shitting on its timeline. As such, OBAA never gets in sync, feels like an inside joke, and no matter how great the cinematography or brilliant the performances … feels like a preachy little morality tale that is too precious for its own good. What’s worse is that is its goal. Whereas Kubrick’s film takes dead aim at its era, it doesn’t gaze at itself; it doesn’t preach or moralize; it saturates with deadpan observations; and, above all, it respects its audience. PTA overthinks, Kubrick’s matter-of-fact.