Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: About Chris Brown

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  • Tom Semmens,

    Shorter Tariana Turia: Better a Brown bro than a Rihanna hoe.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • B Jones,

    Seeing as it's Friday, I'd like to let Rihanna have her say:

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Rosemary McDonald, in reply to B Jones,

    ++++

    Waikato, or on the road • Since Apr 2014 • 1346 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to izogi,

    That was a strange interview. Kim Hill grilled her on due diligence and really just showed that Tariana Turia didn’t have a clue about the ongoing record. First she was claiming they’d done some investigation and believed claims had been made up, then when Kim Hill started listing incidents, she claimed she didn’t know anything about it, but it didn't matter anyway

    Sounds like any John Key interview. The tactics are the same. " I don't know about that but what I do know about is...."

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to B Jones,

    I’d like to let Rihanna have her say

    'Take a beau'... surely?
    ;- )

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Grant McDougall,

    Slightly off-topic, but: Michael Woodhouse has repeatedly said that Chris Brown has yet to apply for an exemption. Could it be that his management are under the illusion, as a lot of Americans, Brits and Europeans, than piddly, little NZ is part of Australia, so having applied to go to Australia, there's no need to apply to go to NZ as well ?

    They quite possibly may try to fly out of Sydney / Melbourne / Brisbane, then find, oops, we can't. Or they will fly out, but won't make it past customs.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report

  • Rosemary McDonald, in reply to Grant McDougall,

    Surely his promotional team would be all over that....?

    You'd hope.

    Waikato, or on the road • Since Apr 2014 • 1346 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Sacha,

    Turia digs in even more defiantly on Morning Report today, and Kim Hill aint having a bar of it. Head-shaking denial of evidence. “I’ll support whoever I want” etc.

    Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing for Labour to lose Tariana Turia after all.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • izogi,

    From a couple of hours ago, Chris Brown tweets his thanks to Dame Tariana Turia and other 'strong women'. https://twitter.com/chrisbrown/status/649763104931209216

    Also reported by Radio NZ.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 1142 posts Report

  • Sue,

    it is totally fucked up that some leading Maori women in NZ are spending their time helping a rich rapper make more money.

    Why are they doing this?
    Why?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 527 posts Report

  • Alfie, in reply to Sue,

    Why are they doing this?
    Why?

    The only logical explanation is that they're naive and have been convinced by a silver-tongued promoter that it's actually a race issue.

    And not a single one of them bothered to do their homework before issuing a public statement. Not one. Shame on them all.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Sue,

    Why are they doing this?
    Why?

    The whole Maori/Hip Hop thing gets me. Hip Hop used to be a kind of Hippieish form of dance culture thing, Disposable Heroes, Michael Franti, The Beatnigs. The ethos was family oriented philosophy based movement of sorts, a kind of black Grateful Dead if you will.
    To call Chris Brown Hip Hop is stretching the genre to the extremes if you ask me but nobody did.
    As to why. I imagine some people take great pride in their ignorance.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Hip Hop used to be a kind of Hippieish form of dance culture thing

    you are thinking of one tiny slice of it.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Danielle,

    I don't think it's hugely helpful to use lyrics as a signifier of anything in particular, which is why I was rather less supportive of Odd Future being refused a visa. Lyrics can often be the sentiments of an adopted persona, or an expression of chutzpah or humour or a bunch of other things. His actions are what matters here.

    Been watching a stay-10-miles-away-from-this argument raging onTwitter and thinking about it.

    The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up' is an interesting example. If you saw the play the Big Day Out you may recall that when those lines came up in the chorus you could barely hear yourself think for teenage girls screaming them back. The words very clearly did not mean to them what they meant to outsiders.

    And there are tons of of examples of dodgy lyrics that aren't meant to be taken seriously or literally or are in character. There's a tradition of aggressively sexual acting-out that goes back to the blues, and it's not only men what invoke it. Check out Betty Davis sometime.

    But Chris Brown's do seem a little different. They are clearly more directly autobiographical (I don't think he's bright enough to create characters) and he's such a shit lyricist that it's hard to divine any wit or literary merit in them. They tend to just enforce the widespread impression that he's an awful person.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Rosemary McDonald, in reply to Russell Brown,

    The words very clearly did not mean to them what they meant to outsiders.

    One of the Young People sat her old ma down and explained this when she was challenged on her use of the word “bitch” in relation to a male colleague

    So, old peoples styles…

    https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=bitch%20definition

    the first listing will give one the now archaic definition.

    The Urban Dictionary on the other hand….

    Time Machine, anyone?

    Waikato, or on the road • Since Apr 2014 • 1346 posts Report

  • Musonda, in reply to Sacha,

    That's correct. Hip hop started as an expression of an oppressed urban minority, sometimes manifesting as rebellious partying - but also at times as militant and aggressive resistance to the political and cultural status quote. Run DMC, PE, NWA are just a few examples, and the reason why hip hop resonates in Maori culture.

    Turia's support is reflexive because there is undoubtedly a racial element here. There is just never this level of vitriol when a white person with priors tries to visit (that I recall anyway).

    But, just for complete clarity, I think Chris Brown is a douche, and I hope he gets banned.

    Since Oct 2015 • 4 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Musonda,

    Turia's support is reflexive because there is undoubtedly a racial element here.

    For sure. They just need to pick a more deserving person to support. One who has not continued being violent would be an obvious start. A local popular figure, even moreso.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Musonda, in reply to Sacha,

    Agreed.

    Since Oct 2015 • 4 posts Report

  • izogi, in reply to Musonda,

    I hope he gets banned.

    A minor point, but he’s already banned from entry. :)

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 1142 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Musonda,

    That's correct. Hip hop started as an expression of an oppressed urban minority, sometimes manifesting as rebellious partying - but also at times as militant and aggressive resistance to the political and cultural status quote. Run DMC, PE, NWA are just a few examples, and the reason why hip hop resonates in Maori culture.

    The first wave of hop hop – Kool Herc, Kurtis Blow, the Sugarhill Gang – was mostly innocuous party rhymes. It wasn't until the 1980s that it really took on a resistance voice. I have mixed feelings about commercial hip hop from the 90s on. But when you look at the sparse crowd Public Enemy drew last time through – mostly white dudes my age – it's pretty clear that the culture moved on.

    Turia's support is reflexive because there is undoubtedly a racial element here. There is just never this level of vitriol when a white person with priors tries to visit (that I recall anyway).

    Yeah ... but. It only really became an issue because Chris Brown had already been refused entry to other countries, which is the trigger under our law.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Musonda, in reply to izogi,

    Oops, yeah, his denial of an exemption would be very justified.

    Since Oct 2015 • 4 posts Report

  • Musonda, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I don't want to defend Brown - or Turia, just to point out that it seems as though every corner of the media/political establishment has coalesced far more quickly and effectively in their opposition to Brown than would be the case if he wasn't brown (the colour).

    I'm not saying that means they're all racists, but as Kanoa pointed out, there seems to be two sets of standards.

    Since Oct 2015 • 4 posts Report

  • chris, in reply to Danielle,

    I don’t think it’s hugely helpful to use lyrics as a signifier of anything in particular

    Absolutely, in this context where both the attacker and the victim are pop stars, at best it’s a tangent at worst it’s downright dangerous line to pursue. Above B Jones posted a track from two years before the assault as Rihanna having her say. Fortunately she didn’t post this incredibly ambiguous track recorded 9 or so months after the attack.

    or its sequel:

    Or some other similarly offensive artifice (Video SNFSFW)

    If the lyrics had any tangible bearing perhaps the first place one would look would be those of the leaked Chris Brown and Rihanna’s duet during there brief reunion 2012-2013.

    Sometimes lyrics might be a strong indicator sometimes not, some lyrics are pure autobiography, some just scratch the surface, some are pure fiction. Lyrics can inform attitudes, but there’s nothing unique about the attitudes Chris Brown appeals to and perpetuates. This is not about age:

    It’s about violence.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Russell Brown,

    The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up' is an interesting example. If you saw the play the Big Day Out you may recall that when those lines came up in the chorus you could barely hear yourself think for teenage girls screaming them back. The words very clearly did not mean to them what they meant to outsiders.

    Well, I'm no doubt in a minority, but I used to be a Prodigy fan back in the day (first half of the '90's, when they were blowing up. 'Music for the jilted generation' was a huge release that more or less completely captured both the rave and the indie kid market. 'Smack my bitch up' was released as a single a few years after that, in 1997). I'm now firmly in the 'ex-fan' camp, with 'smack my bitch up' having a lot to do with that (that, and the music getting lazy and shite).

    I'm hardly the type to call for the fainting couch and the smelling salts at the first whiff of scandal, but something about the obvious pleasure they took in using that particular wording, and their half-hearted 'no, we didn't really mean it like that' defence, really put me off. The final nail in the coffin was Liam Howlett's 1999 solo mix release, which included the original 1988 track that they sampled: Ultramagnetic MCs 'give the drummer some', which included the full phrase 'smack my bitch up, like a pimp', which he cut and repeated and brought front and centre in the mix to really drive it home. Wasn't impressed.

    I know word definitions change and have a certain contextual fluidity, but I guess I'm too old school to let that one slide.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • nzlemming, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Far out. The Chopper Read who visited New Zealand was comedian Heath Franklin playing the part of Chopper Read.

    And the West Memphis Three were, y’know, innocent.

    No-one said Willie was bright.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

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